The Fox and the Hedgehog

The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.

These enigmatic words were written by the Greek philosopher and poet Archilochus, who lived more than 700 years before Christ. What did the philosopher mean by this? Maybe he intended this saying simply to encourage thought and discussion. Following his lead, I think there’s a lesson here for each of us.

Foxes are found almost everywhere. They are members of the canine family, which includes dogs, wolves, and jackals. Foxes are generally smaller than other canines, and they are omnivorous. They eat almost anything, from insects to birds and small mammals. They raid nests for eggs and eat various plants, grasses, and berries. They cover a wide area, as much as ten miles while hunting and foraging. Since early times, foxes have had the reputation of being clever or cunning (cp. Jesus’ words in Luke 13:31-32). The philosopher seems to be pointing to this cunning when he writes: “The fox knows many things.”

Hedgehogs are small, spiny mammals, like small porcupines. They are found in many parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. They got their English name because they are often found in and around hedges, bushes, and undergrowth around trees. They sleep underground in dens or rocks. Like foxes, hedgehogs are omnivores: their diet includes insects, toads, frogs, and some snakes. They also eat birds’ eggs, mushrooms, roots, berries, and fruits. Unlike foxes, they do not forage over large areas but instead remain within a mile or so of their dens. If a hedgehog is attacked by some larger mammal, perhaps even a fox, its defense is to roll up into a tight ball and use its sharp quills to protect its head and belly.

When we consider hedgehogs, we see little creatures who are careful and who simplify their lives. Maybe the philosopher had this in mind also, when he wrote: “The hedgehog knows one big thing.”

War and Peace

Scholars who study the works of Archilochus suggest that this proverb was his way of explaining his decision not to be a soldier. They usually cite another of his poems, where he remembers a warrior’s shield that he discarded near a bush before retreating from the battlefield:

Life seemed somehow more precious. It was a beautiful shield, but I know where I can buy another one exactly like it.

In other words, he dropped all pretense of being a soldier and ran for his life. He knew you can always find another war or buy another shield, but you can’t find or buy another life once it’s gone!

Taking the fox-and-hedgehog proverb, the poet might be saying the smart “foxes” of war know many ways to fight battles and to kill one another, but the “hedgehog” knows one big thing: he lives longer if he chooses not to fight.

Going From “Good” To “Great”

In his book Good to Great, author Jim Collins is interested in understanding and communicating what it means to turn a good business into a great business. Among other things, he discusses “the hedgehog concept.” He starts with Archilochus’ statement that “the hedgehog knows one big thing.” Then he suggests that visionary business leaders must be hedgehogs; he writes:

They must know how to simplify a complex world into a single, organizing idea — the kind of basic principle that unifies, organizes, and guides all decisions. That’s not to say hedgehogs are simplistic. Like great thinkers, who take complexities and boil them down into simple, yet profound, ideas… leaders of good-to-great companies develop a Hedgehog Concept that is simple but that reflects penetrating insight and deep understanding.

If you accept this philosophy, then Collins’ concept is a simple but profound idea, which may be expressed this way:

• First, figure out what is really important, and then focus on that; in other words, “What is the one big thing?”
• Then, take everything else you know (like the “many things” the fox knows), and understand how all these other things can supplement and strengthen the one big vision of what you want to accomplish.
• Finally, pursue the one big thing with all your resources and all your energy.

It seems that “one big thing” is a unifying and organizing principle that can be applied both to a business and to one’s life. Find it, focus on it, and follow it.

What Is The “One Big Thing” In Your Life?

The hedgehog knows one big thing.

The beauty of the poet’s statement is that we can all ask ourselves, “Am I a fox or a hedgehog?” Or, to put it another way, “Am I going in too many directions at once? Am I spreading my true self too thin? Do I need to refocus on the one goal which is really important to me?”

Is there one really big thing that I know? And can I make the other things that I know serve the “one big thing?”

Learning “many things” or having much knowledge is beneficial, especially as tools for having a productive, satisfying life. Learning “many things” about the Bible can also be beneficial in search of a spiritually satisfying and ultimately productive life.

However, one of the greatest benefits of learning is to be able to distinguish early on between what is essential and what is not essential, between principal matters and secondary matters. In short, between one big thing and many things.

Bible Examples of The “One Big Thing”

What does the Bible have to say about the “one big thing?” Quite a lot, I think, if we go looking for it.

What is the “one big thing” in your life? What was the “one big thing” to the writers of the Bible? What is the “one big thing,” the unifying principle that guides how you live, what you do, and how you treat one another? What was Christ’s “one big thing?”

Maybe you already have your own ideas, and that is fine. It might be good to share them with one another. In the meantime, I’ll share with you some of the ideas I’ve had about this question:

Ever learning, but never able. (2 Timothy 3:7 KJV).

In 2 Timothy 3, the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy about certain men (and perhaps women too). They had been believers in Christ but had lost sight of what was really important about the gospel. Paul said these men had become lovers of themselves, proud, conceited, lovers of pleasure, and despisers of good men (vv. 2-4). It is a terrible list of indictments. Then he writes that these men were “ever learning, but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.” (v. 7). This sounds a lot like the fox knowing many things, but apparently not being able to grasp the one great thing, the truest and most important piece of knowledge.

Along the way, these believers had become entangled in worldly values and worldly pursuits. And they had lost their clear vision of the “one big thing.”

The most important knowledge, which makes sense of any other knowledge, even in the Bible, is the good news of the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. Some Bible believers may spend too much time chasing the sensational new idea, the extraordinary insight that might set them apart from others. But for what purpose? Along the way, they may be losing sight of the really important things about the gospel, what Jesus called “the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith.” (Matthew 23:23 KJV). But one day the foolishness of such men will be made known to all, because in their infatuation with exciting “little things,” they have lost sight of the “one big thing,” the real gospel.

If, like the hedgehog, we know the “one big thing,” then we know that our only security and our only hope is in the promises of God, as guaranteed in the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. When Christ asked his disciples, in Matthew 16, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”, he got a reply from Peter which exemplified the idea of the “one big thing”:

You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God. (Matthew 16:16).1

The man Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God, the living guarantee of the promises of God, and in the words of Jesus himself:

On this rock I will build my church. (v. 18).

If we believe this, then we must stand in that place, upon that rock where Christ’s ecclesia is found. And we must never stray away from its security.

The One Great Commandment

The critics of Jesus were following him around with the purpose of trapping him in his own words. One of them tested him with this question. “Which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” (Matthew 22:36). Without hesitation, Jesus answered by quoting the Shema (from the Hebrew word “Hear!” in Deuteronomy 6:4), the foundation commandment of the Law:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39; cp. Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18).

This sounds very much like one more facet of the Scriptural answer to my question: “What is the one big thing?” The greatest fact in this universe is that “the LORD our God, the LORD is one.” And the one commandment, the one overriding goal, the “one big thing” in life must then be: “Love and serve the LORD God with all your devotion, all your strength, all your knowledge, and all your purpose.”

“One Thing I Do Know”

In John 9, Jesus healed the man born blind. The Pharisees began to question the validity of this miracle, even resorting to threatening the young man’s parents (with exclusion from the synagogue: v. 22). Finally, they went after the young man himself:

A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.” He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” (vv. 24-25).

In this world, lots of arguments swirl around all the time. Sometimes, like the Pharisees in this story, people put out false reports (“This man Jesus is a sinner!”) or use threats to get their own way. The man who was born blind confessed to knowing little about any of these details. But there was “one big thing” this fellow did know: “I was blind but now I see!” That was enough. That knowledge brought him to his Savior, who loved him, healed him, and gave him a bright future along with new eyes. That was enough.

Do You Know “One Big Thing”?

Do you know “one big thing”? And is it the gospel of the Kingdom of God and the Name of Jesus Christ?

Don’t be satisfied with saying, “Of course I know the Truth!” That wasn’t what I asked. What I asked was: “Do you know the gospel as the “one big thing?” Is it the most important thing in your life?

Call it “the gospel.” Call it “the Truth.” Call it “the way of the Lord” (Acts 18:25) or “the way to be saved” (Acts 16:17), if you prefer. But don’t just say you know it. Say it is the only thing that really matters to you, and everything else is secondary.

But please don’t say it if you don’t mean it.

Christ The King is Coming!

There is “one big thing” each of us knows, the “one big thing” which far surpasses in importance the “many things” pertaining to the world around us.

If I were a hedgehog, here is the “one big thing” which I truly know:

Once, I was blind, but now I see there is one true God, and Jesus is His Son. He loved me and died so my sins could be forgiven. I take bread and wine to remind me of that sacrifice. I will do my best to serve God. I will seek forgiveness when I fall short. I will always try to help others. I don’t know when Christ is coming, but I do know Christ the King is coming.

Christ the King is coming.

  To set up his throne.

Royal son of David,

  To the world unknown.

He with might and power

  Will return again,

Not as lowly Jesus,

  But as king of men.2

It stands to reason that, in God’s world, the “one big thing” needs “one big hope” to complete it. And thank the Lord, the Bible supplies it!

George Booker,
Austin Leander Ecclesia, TX