June 10, 2025 - Proverbs 26:11 - "Like a Dog to His Vomit"

Proverbs 26:11

"As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly."

This verse illustrates the natural corruption and depravity of man apart from the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. It highlights the persistent nature of sin in the unregenerate heart and underscores the need for the sovereign, effectual grace of God to bring about true and lasting salvation.

In ancient Israelite culture, dogs were considered unclean animals, often used as metaphors for those outside the covenant (e.g., Gentiles or the impure—cf. 1 Samuel 17:43, Philippians 3:2). The image of a dog returning to its vomit was repulsive and vividly communicated the loathsome nature of sin and the folly of unbelief and false profession.

The fool in Proverbs is not just intellectually deficient but morally and spiritually bankrupt, one who despises wisdom and instruction (Proverbs 1:7). Returning to folly, like a dog to vomit, shows the deep-seated nature of sin that cannot be cured by mere instruction or outward reform. Nothing less than the sovereign work of the LORD Jesus Christ in redeeming the sinner and the Spirit of Christ drawing them to Christ can accomplish the work of salvation of which God is the Author and Finisher (Hebrews 12:2).

What then is the spiritual significance of a fool returning to his folly like a dog to his vomit? Who are those so described in this scripture?

1. Those totally depraved and corrupted in their souls and flesh

This verse is a stark reminder that, apart from the sovereign grace of God in Christ and His redeeming, justifying death on the cross, sinners will always return to sin. The heart, left to itself, is enslaved to corruption. Jeremiah 13:23 -Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil." John 8:34 -"Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin."

Just as a dog is instinctively drawn to its filth, so is the natural man drawn to his sin. Grace must do what man cannot—save and keep the sinner from the way he would continue to go without the sovereign work of God in Christ, by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:8-10).

2. False Converts and Professing Fools

Peter quotes this very proverb about false teachers and apostates: 2 Peter 2:20–22 "For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ… the latter end is worse with them than the beginning… But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again..."

Here, Peter speaks of those who had a form of the knowledge of the Truth but were never truly taught of the LORD Jesus by His Spirit. They cleaned up externally, perhaps even influenced outwardly by the preaching of the Gospel, but eventually reverted to their former ways. This is not the loss of salvation (which is impossible for the elect), but the revealing of the sin and unbelief of an unchanged heart.

By contrast, the one who is born again (literally born from above, John 3:3,8) does not return to his old ways of sin and unbelief in the same enslaved manner as he once lived. Though the believer still has the flesh, he has been made a new creation in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." He is no longer under the condemnation of his former father, Adam, but now been put in Christ and under His Headship, whereby all things are new with regard to pardon from sin, justification before God, and sanctification full and complete already in Christ and His finished work. The Spirit of God has given such an one a new heart to serve Christ, and not the adamic flesh, and never to return to that former life of condemnation. Ezekiel 36:26–27 "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you... I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes..."

It is the work of the triune God in choosing out those that should be saved, and the Son of God coming in the flesh to earn and establish that righteousness necessary for God to justify them, and in time the Spirit of God calling each one to Christ. Kept as little dogs eating crumbs of mercy from the Master's table, Matthew 15:27-29. No longer returning to vomit, but longing for that Righteousness of God, imputed in the LORD Jesus Christ.

The fool returns to his folly because he has never known Christ, and therefore pursues his own way. Only Christ, the Power and Wisdom of God, has saved and keeps each of God's elected ones (1 Corinthians 1:24). The one made wise unto salvation by God in Christ hears His voice, follows Him, and does not return to the ways of death (John 10:28).

Proverbs 26:11 is a vivid illustration of what man is without grace—a fool enslaved to sin, repeatedly returning to the corruption of a false way and dead works. But the grace of God in Christ not only warns us of this reality, it delivers the elect from it. By God's sovereign will, His people are redeemed, justified, called, and preserved, never to be lost, never to be like the dog returning to its vomit. Jude 24–25- "Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy..."

This is the triumph of sovereign grace in Christ—not merely saving us from folly, but keeping us in Christ forever.