📖 Biblical Definition
The heart that refuses instruction. Proverbs returns to this theme repeatedly as a marker of the fool, the scoffer, and the stiff-necked. Proverbs 12:1: Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge: but he that hateth reproof is brutish. Proverbs 15:5: A fool despiseth his father's instruction: but he that regardeth reproof is prudent. Hosea 4:6: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee. Unteachability is not stupidity; it is a moral posture — the refusal to receive correction precisely because correction would require change. The unteachable man can be brilliant; his problem is not intellect but will. The biblical cure is humility (Prov 11:2; 15:33: before honour is humility) and the fear of the LORD (which is the beginning of knowledge, Prov 1:7). The teachable man learns; the unteachable man does not, and his unteachability is itself the judgment that comes upon him.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Refusing instruction; the fool's marker.
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The disposition that refuses to be taught — by parents, mentors, Scripture, or the Spirit; named in Proverbs as the marker of the fool ('he that hateth reproof is brutish'); the deepest foundation of every other folly.
📖 Key Scripture
Proverbs 12:1 — "Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge: but he that hateth reproof is brutish."
Proverbs 15:5 — "A fool despiseth his father's instruction: but he that regardeth reproof is prudent."
Hosea 4:6 — "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Defended as 'thinking for myself'; Scripture diagnoses it as the heart's refusal of life.
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The unteachable heart hates knowledge — and that hatred destroys. Hosea names it as the cause of national ruin. Recover teachability as a virtue: humble hearing, slow speaking, willingness to be wrong. Without it no other wisdom develops.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Hebrew musar — instruction; Greek paideuō — to instruct.
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['Hebrew', 'H4148', 'musar', 'instruction, discipline']
['Greek', 'G3811', 'paideuō', 'to instruct, train']
Usage
"Cultivate teachability as a virtue."
"The unteachable heart starves itself."