Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 26:4
Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.
4, 5. according to ] Let not your answer be according to his folly in foolishness; but let it be according to it in appositeness.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Two sides of a truth. To answer a fool according to his folly is in Pro 26:4 to bandy words with him, to descend to his level of coarse anger and vile abuse; in Pro 26:5 it is to say the right word at the right time, to expose his unwisdom and untruth to others and to himself, not by a teaching beyond his reach, but by words that he is just able to apprehend. The apparent contradiction between the two verses led some of the rabbis to question the canonical authority of this book. The Pythagoreans had maxims expressing a truth in precepts seemingly contradictory.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Pro 26:4-5
Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him
Answering a fool according to his folly
The ambiguity in these verses lies in the connecting words according to, which are here used in two different senses.
Answer not a fool according to, i.e.,, not in a manner agreeing with his folly, lest thou become as foolish and perverse as he. Answer him according to, i.e.,, according to the nature and desert of his folly; so as best to meet and refute it. (E. Pond, D. D.)
The treatment of a fool
There are many cases in which a fool is to be heard, and not answered at all. When a scorner reviles us, it is needless to reprove him for it. Our Lord often kept silence when impertinent questions were asked Him. But silence cannot be the rule in every ease. In many cases it is proper that a fools words should be answered, only you must take care in answering not to imitate him. If he speaks unreasonable, profane, peevish, or passionate words, you must not answer him in his own style. You are angry at him for his folly, and reprove him for the extravagance of his behaviour, and therefore you cannot but confess that yourselves are worthy of a very sharp reproof, if you behave like him at the very time that you are testifying your displeasure at his conduct. It becomes not the followers of Jesus to return railing for railing, or one angry reflection for another, but in whatever manner others talk, our tongues ought still to be governed by the law of meekness and charity. (George Lawson, D. D.)
The scorner answered
A certain preacher had wrought his best to benefit his audience; but one of them came to him, and somewhat rudely remarked, Your preaching is of no use to me. I do not believe that I have a soul; I dont want to be talked to about an imaginary hereafter. I shall die like a dog. The minister calmly replied, Sir, I have evidently failed through misapprehension. I did my best for the good of all my hearers; but I prepared the entertainment under the notion that I was catering for men with souls. Had I known there were creatures present who had no souls, and would die like dogs, I would have provided a good supply of bones for them. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Reply to scoffers
It is stated by one of the biographers of John Wesley that while he was staying at an hotel at Oxford for a few hours, some wild young men, who were aware of the fact, took occasion to play a joke upon him. Coming suddenly into the room where he was sitting, they exclaimed, Oh, Mr. Wesley, the devils dead! The aged saint arose, and placing his hands upon the heads of two of the young men, he said, with a voice full of pity, My poor fatherless children, what will you do?
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 4. Answer not a fool] On this and the following verse Bishop Warburton, who has written well on many things, and very indifferently on the doctrine of grace, has written with force and perspicuity: “Had this advice been given simply, and without circumstance, to answer the fool, and not to answer him, one who had reverence for the text would satisfy himself in supposing that the different directions referred to the doing a thing in and out of season;
1. The reasons given why a fool should not be answered according to his folly, is, “lest he (the answerer) should be like unto him.”
2. The reason given why the fool should be answered according to his folly, is, “lest he (the fool) should be wise in his own conceit.”
“1. The cause assigned for forbidding to answer, therefore, plainly insinuates that the defender of religion should not imitate the insulter of it in his modes of disputation, which may be comprised in sophistry, buffoonery, and scurrility.
“2. The cause assigned for directing to answer, as plainly intimates that the sage should address himself to confute the fool upon his own false principles, by showing that they lead to conclusions very wide from, very opposite to, those impieties he would deduce from them. If any thing can allay the fool’s vanity, and prevent his being wise in his own conceit, it must be the dishonour of having his own principles turned against himself, and shown to be destructive of his own conclusions.”-Treatise on Grace. Preface.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
How can these contrary rules be reconciled, answer him not, and answer him?
Answ. Easily, by considering the difference of persons, and times, and places, and other circumstances, and of the manner of answering. And such seemingly contradictory precepts are not only used by, but are esteemed elegant in, other authors.
Answer him not, when he is incorrigible, or when he is inflamed with passion or wine, &c., or when it is not necessary, nor likely to do him good.
Answer him, when he is capable of receiving good by it, or when it is necessary for the glory of God, or for the discharge of a mans duty, or for the good of others.
According to his folly; so as to imitate his folly, by such passionate, or reproachful, or foolish speeches as he useth to thee.
Be like unto him; show thyself to be as great a fool as he.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4, 5. Answer notthat is,approvingly by like folly.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Answer not a fool according to his folly,…. Sometimes a fool, or wicked man, is not to be answered at all; as the ministers of Hezekiah answered not a word to Rabshakeh; nor Jeremiah the prophet to Hananiah; nor Christ to the Scribes and Pharisees; and when an answer is returned, it should not be in his foolish way and manner, rendering evil for evil, and railing for railing, in the same virulent, lying, calumniating, and reproachful language;
lest thou also be like unto him; lest thou also, who art a man of understanding and sense, and hast passed for one among men, come under the same imputation, and be reckoned a fool like him.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
4 Answer not the fool according to his folly,
Lest thou thyself also become like unto him.
After, or according to his folly, is here equivalent to recognising the foolish supposition and the foolish object of his question, and thereupon considering it, as if, e.g., he asked why the ignorant man was happier than the man who had much knowledge, or how one may acquire the art of making gold; for “a fool can ask more than ten wise men can answer.” He who recognises such questions as justifiable, and thus sanctions them, places himself on an equality with the fool, and easily himself becomes one. The proverb that follows affirms apparently the direct contrary:
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
4 Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. 5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.
See here the noble security of the scripture-style, which seems to contradict itself, but really does not. Wise men have need to be directed how to deal with fools; and they have never more need of wisdom than in dealing with such, to know when to keep silence and when to speak, for there may be a time for both. 1. In some cases a wise man will not set his wit to that of a fool so far as to answer him according to his folly “If he boast of himself, do not answer him by boasting of thyself. If he rail and talk passionately, do not thou rail and talk passionately too. If he tell one great lie, do not thou tell another to match it. If he calumniate thy friends, do not thou calumniate his. If he banter, do not answer him in his own language, lest thou be like him, even thou, who knowest better things, who hast more sense, and hast been better taught.” 2. Yet, in other cases, a wise man will use his wisdom for the conviction of a fool, when, by taking notice of what he says, there may be hopes of doing good, or at least preventing further, mischief, either to himself or others. “If thou have reason to think that thy silence will be deemed an evidence of the weakness of thy cause, or of thy own weakness, in such a case answer him, and let it be an answer ad hominem–to the man, beat him at his own weapons, and that will be an answer ad rem–to the point, or as good as one. If he offer any thing that looks like an argument, an answer that, and suit thy answer to his case. If he think, because thou dost not answer him, that what he says is unanswerable, then give him an answer, lest he be wise in his own conceit and boast of a victory.” For (Luke vii. 35) Wisdom’s children must justify her.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
To Answer or Not Answer A Fool
Verse 4 directs that the fool not be answered when it is evident he has no interest in truth, is concerned only in debating the unreasonable, or desires to provoke you to anger, Pro 23:9; Pro 29:9; Rom 12:17; 1Pe 2:21-23.
Verse 5 directs that the fool be answered when there is reason to hope such will help him, or reason to think, silence will be regarded as weakness of your cause and contribute to his conceit, Mat 16:1-4; Mat 21:24-27; Pro 3:7; Pro 28:11; Rom 12:16.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(4) Answer not a fool.Comp. Pro. 1:22.
According to his folly.Do not lower yourself by disputing or arguing with him; he will not take in your meaning, and will think he has got the better of you, perhaps will insult you. It is noticeable that our Lord never answered a question which should not have been asked Him, but always put it by (e.g., Mat. 21:23, sqq.; Luk. 13:23-24; Luk. 23:9; Joh. 21:21-22; Act. 1:6, sqq.).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4, 5. Answer not a fool answer a fool The point in these two proverbs, which are the complement of each other, is found in the play upon a single letter, the , ( kaph,) used as a sign of comparison or similarity in Hebrew, and which we render according to. In Pro 26:4, “according to” means, in the manner of his folly, with folly like his, whether it be silliness, scurrility, or wickedness. In Pro 26:5, “according to” means, as he deserves, or as is fitting, so as to expose his folly and rebuke him. “The Pythagoreans had maxims like in form, in which a truth was expressed in precepts seemingly contradictory, as, ‘ walk,’ and ‘ walk not,’ in the broad road.” Speaker’s Commentary.
Pro 26:4-5. Answer not a fool, &c. They who choose to review antiquity, in its antique garb, will observe, that had the folly of these fools been only of one condition or denomination, then the advice to answer, and not to answer, had been repugnant to itself: but as their folly was of various kinds, in some of which to answer might offend the dignity, and in others not to answer might hurt the interests of truth; to answer, and not to answer is a consistent, and may, for aught critics know, be a very wise direction. Had the advice been given simply, and without circumstance, to answer the fool, and not to answer him, a critic, who had reverence for the text, would satisfy himself in supposing that the different directions referred to the doing a thing in and out of season. But when to the general advice about answering, this circumstance is added, according to his folly, that interpretation is excluded; and a difficulty indeed arises a difficulty which has made those who have no reverence for the text, accuse it of absurdity and contradiction. But now to each direction reasons are subjoined, why a fool should, and why he should not be answered; reasons which, when set together and compared, are at first sight sufficient to make a critic suspect that all the contradiction lies in his own incumbered ideas. 1. The reason given, why a fool should not be answered according to his folly, is lest he [the answerer] should be like unto him. 2. The reason given, why he should be answered according to his folly, is, lest he [the fool] be wise in his own conceit. The cause assigned for forbidding to answer, therefore, plainly insinuates, that the defender of religion should not imitate the insulter of it in his modes of disputation, which may be comprized in sophistry, buffoonery and scurrility. The cause assigned of directing to answer, as plainly intimates, that the sage should address himself to confute the fool upon his own false principles, by shewing that they lead to conclusions very wide from, very opposite to, those impieties which he would deduce from them. What can better produce the effect here intimated, the cure of the fool’s vain conceit of his superior wisdom? If any thing can allay the fool’s vanity, and prevent his being wise in his own conceit, it must be the dishonour of having his own principles turned against himself, and shewn to be destructive of his own conclusions. What can be more mortifying?
Pro 26:4 Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.
Ver. 4. Answer not a fool according to his folly. ] When either he curseth thee, as Pro 26:2 or cryeth out upon thee for giving him due correction Pro 26:3 – for every public person had need to carry a spare handkerchief, to wipe off the dirt of disgrace and obloquy cast upon him for doing his duty, – pass such a one by in silence, as not worthy the answering. Sile, et funestam dedisti plagam, say nothing, and you play him to purpose. a Hezekiah would not answer Rabshakeh, nor Jeremiah Hananiah; Jer 28:11 nor our Saviour his adversaries. Mat 26:62 Joh 19:9 He reviled not his revilers, he threatened not his open opposites. 1Pe 2:23
Lest thou also be like unto him. a Chrysost.
Answer not. The point of Pro 26:3 is that you cannot reason with a fool; Pro 26:4 gives the reason. If you answer not according to his folly, he will think he is wise like yourself. If you do answer him according to his folly, he will think you are a fool like he is: i.e. according to Pro 26:3 you cannot reason with him. These are finely stated facts, not commands.
folly. Hebrew. ‘evil. See note on Pro 1:7.
Pro 17:14, Jdg 12:1-6, 2Sa 19:41-43, 1Ki 12:14, 1Ki 12:16, 2Ki 14:8-10, 1Pe 2:21-23, 1Pe 3:9, Jud 1:9
Reciprocal: 2Ki 18:36 – held their peace Job 12:3 – But I have Pro 23:9 – Speak Pro 29:9 – General Isa 36:21 – General Jer 36:18 – He Mat 21:24 – I also Mat 22:22 – they marvelled Mar 11:33 – Neither Luk 20:8 – General Luk 20:26 – they could Joh 8:7 – and said Joh 8:49 – I have not Col 4:6 – how
Pro 26:4-5. Answer not a fool, &c. Answer a fool, &c. These contrary directions are easily reconciled, by considering the difference of persons, times, places, and other circumstances, and of the manner of answering. And such seemingly contradictory precepts are not only used by, but are esteemed elegant in other authors. Answer him not, when he is incorrigible, or when he is inflamed with wine, or with passion, &c., or when it is not necessary nor likely to do him good. Answer him, when he is capable of receiving good by it, or when it is necessary for the glory of God, for the discharge of a mans duty, or for the good of others. Answer not, &c., according to his folly So as to imitate his folly, in such passionate, or reproachful, or foolish speeches as he uses to thee; lest thou be like unto him Show thyself to be as great a fool as he is. Answer a fool according to his folly So as his folly needs and requires, convincing him strongly, reproving him sharply, and exposing him to just shame; lest he be wise in his own conceit Lest thy silence make him arrogant and presumptuous, as if his words were unanswerable.
26:4 Answer not a fool {a} according to his folly, lest thou also be like him.
(a) Consent not to him in his doings.
These pieces of advice do not contradict each other because each is wise in its own way. Pro 26:4 means that in replying to a fool one should not descend to his level by giving him a foolish response (e.g., 2Ki 18:36). Pro 26:5 means that one should correct a fool so he will not conclude that he is right (e.g., Neh 6:8; Job 2:9-10). Some of a fool’s comments do not deserve a reply (Pro 26:4), but others require one (Pro 26:5). In unimportant matters one should ignore the foolish comment, but in important matters one needs to respond lest others conclude that the fool is correct. [Note: Plaut, p. 266. Cf. 2 Corinthians 11:16-17; 12:11.]
"In other words, it depends on the fool, and the truly wise person will be so sensitive to human nature that he will know when to apply the one and not the other." [Note: Longman and Dillard, p. 276.]
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)