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Proverbs xxvi, 4, 5

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The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 25, 1866

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 29, No. 3.

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Proverbs xxvi, 4, 5.

By Horne

“Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.”
“Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.”
A CHANGE of circumstances changes moral things; therefore contrary things may be spoken together in moral things, on account of the difference of circumstances.
Thus, in Prov. xxvi, 4, 5, we meet with two precepts that seem to be diametrically opposite to each other: Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou be like unto him; and, Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit. But if we attend carefully to the reason which the sacred writer subjoins to each precept, we shall be enabled satisfactorily to account for the apparent repugnancy in the counsels of the Israelitish monarch; and it will be evident that they form, not inconsistent, but distinct, rules of conduct, which are respectively to be observed, according to the difference of circumstances. The following observations on the two verses just cited will materially illustrate their meaning.
A fool, in the sense of Scripture, means a wicked man, or one who acts contrary to the wisdom that is from above, and who is supposed to utter his foolishness in speech or writing. Doubtless there are different descriptions of these characters; and some may require to be answered, while others are best treated with silence. But the cases here seem to be one; both have respect to the same character, and both require to be answered. The whole difference lies in the manner in which the answer should be given.
“In the first instance, the term, ‘according to his folly,’ means in a foolish manner, as is manifest from the reason given: ‘lest thou also be like unto him.’ But in the second instance they mean, in the manner in which his foolishness requires. This also is plain from the reason given, ‘lest he be wise in his own conceit.’ A foolish speech is not a rule for our imitation; nevertheless our answer must be so framed by it as to meet and repel it. Both these proverbs caution us against evils to which we are not a little addicted; the first, that of saying and doing to others as they say and do to us, rather than as we would they should say and do; the last, that of suffering the cause of truth or justice to be run down, while we, from a love of ease, stand by as unconcerned spectators. The first of these proverbs is exemplified in the answer of Moses to the rebellious Israelites; the last, in that of Job to his wife.—It was a foolish speech which was addressed to the former:—‘Would God, that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord! And why have ye brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there?’ Unhappily, this provoked Moses to speak unadvisedly with his lips; saying, ‘Hear now, ye rebels, must we fetch you water out of this rock?’ This was answering folly in a foolish manner, which he should not have done; and by which the servant of God became too much like them whom he opposed. It was also a foolish saying of Job’s wife, in the day of his distress: ‘Curse God and die!’ Job answered this speech, not in the manner of it, but in the manner which it required. ‘What, shall we receive good at the hand of God; and shall we not receive evil?’”
In all the answers of our Saviour to the Scribes and Pharisees, we may perceive that he never lost the possession of his soul for a single moment; and never answered in the manner of his opponents, so as to be like unto them. Yet neither did he decline to repel their folly, and so to abase their self-conceit.” Fuller’s Harmony of Scripture, pp. 17, 18.—Horne.