This is called the book of fools because the first 12 verses deal with fools. Here we have the tools and rules for dealing with fools.

1. PROVERBS 26 COMME
TARY
WRITTE
A
D EDITED BY GLE
PEASE
I have collected quotes and comments about fools from many sources, and do not
know the names of the authors of all I use. If anyone knows the name of the author
of something I quote they can let me know and I will give credit where it is due. My
email is glenndalepease@gmail.com
This is called the book of fools because the first 12 verses deal with fools. Here we
have the tools and rules for dealing with fools.
Ancient saying, "Folly has a corner in the brain of every wise man."
- Aristotle
WE ARE ALL FOOLS AT SOME TIME
"Who Is Not a Fool?" ["Qui non stultus?"]
—Horace (65-8 B.C.), Satires, 2.3.158
John Donne said, "Who are a little wise, the best fools be." So it is the case we all
are fools to some degree, but to be a little wise is the best fool to be, and all of us can
be a little wise and therefore the best of fools, which are then not fools in the Biblical
sense.
Foolery, sir, does walk about the orb like the sun, it shines everywhere.
—William Shakespeare, Twelfth
ight
"The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man doth know himself to be a fool."
(Touchstone, As You Like It, V.1.30-31).SHAKESPEARE
There are three kinds of fools in the Bible.
1. Acting fools-Comedians and Jesters like Jerry Lewis
2. Aweful or Authentic fools-godless people who reject all wisdom
3. Awesome fools-the Apostle Paul and godly people
Bob Deffinbaugh , Th.M.
"Certain people immediately come to our minds with the mention of the word fool.
The first person I thought of was the actor, Jerry Lewis, followed by the Three
Stooges, Larry, Curly, and Mo, then the Marx Brothers, Maxwell Smart, Tim
Conway, and Don Knotts. It is interesting to me that none of these men fit the
definition which Proverbs gives us of the fool. The “fools” I thought of are all rather
harmless creature, basically well-intentioned and innocent. All of them evoke a

2. certain sense of pity, mixed with amusement.
ot so with the fool in the Book of
Proverbs. This is but one of the reasons why the study of “the fool” is important."
The fool in the Bible is not the comedian, for the comedian is a valid and healthy
member of society. The court jesters of history who told jokes and made fun of
people and leaders are not the fools of the Bible. They were often wise and by means
of humor they diffused many a dangerous fight and persuaded the king to back
away from a foolish decision. The village idiot is also not the fool of the Bible, for
they are mentally deprived and often just harmless characters. The fool in the Bible
is a dangerous person and a threat to society. His folly can be very funny because it
is so stupid, but he is dangerous because his character and conduct are the very
opposite of wisdom. The fool is basically an evil person because they have a life style
that defies that which God commands for the righteous. They love evil and refuse to
depart from it."
Desire realized is sweet to the soul, But it is an abomination to fools to depart from
evil (13:19).
Doing wickedness is like sport to a fool; And so is wisdom to a man of
understanding (10:23).
Fools mock at sin, But among the upright there is good will (14:9).
A Fool's Character
With low or no morals, a fool's character is always lacking.
A fool is corrupt (Psalm 14:1; Psalm 53:1). He uses unjust means (Jeremiah 17:11)
and deception (Proverbs 14:8). His deeds and ways are vile (Psalm 14:1; Psalm
53:1).
A fool is rebellious (Psalm 107:17). A fool practices ungodliness (Isaiah 32:6). He
does not shun evil (Proverbs 14:16); a fool detests turning from evil (Proverbs
13:19). In fact, he finds pleasure in evil conduct (Proverbs 10:23)--so much so that
his mind is busy with evil (Isaiah 32:6). A fool is skilled in doing evil and does not
know how to do good (Jeremiah 4:22).
THE FOOL IS U
PLEASA
T, U
LIKED, A
D U
DESIRABLE. The fool is a
menace, a detriment to society. He is a pain to his parents, for he hates them (15:20)
and causes them grief (10:1; 17:21,25; 19:23). He is a disaster wherever he goes
(10:14; 17:12).He hinders the understanding of others (14:7).His speech is
slanderous (10:18). The fool is quarrelsome (20:3), and he stirs up dissension and
anger.
A fool’s lips bring strife, And his mouth calls for blows (18:6).
Drive out the scoffer, and contention will go out, Even strife and dishonor will cease
(22:10).
Scorners set a city aflame, But wise men turn away anger (29:8).
So far as society is concerned, the fool is an abomination.
The devising of folly is sin, And the scoffer is an abomination to men (24:9).
They have no interest in learning the way of wisdom, and so they are unteachable.

3. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and
instruction (1:7; cf. 1:22).
The mind of the intelligent seeks knowledge, But the mouth of fools feeds on folly
(15:14).
A fool does not delight in understanding, But only in revealing his own mind (18:2).
Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, For he will despise the wisdom of your words
(23:9).
In the
ew Testament Jesus taught that we should not “cast our pearls before
swine” (Matt. 7:6). In Proverbs, we are told not to attempt to teach fools:
We see then that the fool in the Bible is a dangerous evil person who is a threat to all
that is good and wise. They are not the funny people who make us laugh, or the
clowns of life that do the same, nor any of us who act silly at times and have fun
doing crazy things for jokes and amusement. There is a place in life for silliness and
foolishness that is just nonsense, for it has a valid purpose.
Folly Poetry of Joyce Kilmer
What distant mountains thrill and glow
Beneath our Lady Folly's tread?
Why has she left us, wise in woe,
Shrewd, practical, uncomforted?
We cannot love or dream or sing,
We are too cynical to pray,
There is no joy in anything
Since Lady Folly went away.
Many a knight and gentle maid,
Whose glory shines from years gone by,
Through ignorance was unafraid
And as a fool knew how to die.
Saint Folly rode beside Jehanne
And broke the ranks of Hell with her,
And Folly's smile shone brightly on
Christ's plaything, Brother Juniper.
Our minds are troubled and defiled
By study in a weary school.
O for the folly of the child!
The ready courage of the fool!
Lord, crush our knowledge utterly
And make us humble, simple men;
And cleansed of wisdom, let us see
Our Lady Folly's face again.

4. The paradox we face in dealing with the fool is that we have to make judgments
about who is a fool to obey the wisdom in how to deal with them. This means we
have to declare that this man is a fool, and this judgment seems to be in direct
conflict with the teaching of Jesus.
Discrimination is good and holy. Wise men discriminate between good and evil,
between wisdom and folly, and between wise men and fools. God discriminates in
the distribution of many blessings and curses according to the character and
conduct of men. While He sends sun and rain on both good and bad, He also
rewards and punishes men.
To treat all men equally, irrespective of character and conduct, is to promote fools
in their folly, and to discourage wise men for their wisdom, which truly deserve the
honor. Mere existence or a natural relationship is no reason for honor, unless the
person is in a God-ordained office deserving honor. Unconditional honor is
ignorantly dangerous. There is no place or reason for delighting in fools (19:10). All
honor should promote wisdom!
A character trait of the citizens of Zion, the true children of God, is to condemn and
despise fools and to honor and promote wise men. When David listed the marks of
the sons of God, he included, "In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he
honoureth them that fear the LORD" (Ps 15:4). And he practiced it in his own home
(Ps 101:3-8)!
EBC, "THIS passage points out certain characteristics of the fool, a term which occurs
so frequently in the book of Proverbs that we must try to conceive clearly what is to be
understood by it. The difficulty of forming a distinct conception arises from the fact that
there are three different words, with different shades of meaning, all rendered by the one
English expression, fool or folly. For want of carefully distinguishing these delicate
varieties of the original, some of the proverbs appear in English tautological and almost
meaningless. We must try then to separate and to understand these several terms.
The Hebrew word which most frequently occurs in the book to designate fool together
with its derivative, which is the usual word for folly signifies weakness. We are to think
of that ignorant, inconsiderate, sanguine, and self-confident temper which eschews
counsel, which will have its own way, which declines to be governed by reason, which
forms fond expectations and baseless hopes, and which is always sure that everything
will turn out according to its wish, though it takes no means to secure the desired result.
Perhaps the simplest way of describing the habit of mind and the type of character
intended by the Hebrew is to use the word infatuation. This would not do as a
translation in all the passages where it occurs, but it will serve to point out the
underlying idea.
The word which comes next in frequency-the word used uniformly throughout the
particular passage before us, -has at its root the notion of grossness, the dull and heavy
habit of one whose heart has waxed fat, whose ears are slow to hear, and whose higher
perceptions and nobler aspirations have succumbed to the sensual and earthly nature.
We have to think of moral, as well as mental stupidity, of insensibility to all that is true

5. and good and pure. The fool in this sense is such a dullard that he commits wickedness
without perceiving it, (Pro_10:23) and utters slanders almost unconsciously, (Pro_
10:18) he does not know when to be silent; (Pro_12:23) whatever is in him quickly
appears; (Pro_14:33) but when it is known it is very worthless, (Pro_14:7) nor has he the
sense to get wisdom, even when the opportunity is in his hand; (Pro_17:16) his best
advantages are quickly wasted and he is none the better. (Pro_21:20) Perhaps the
English word which best fits the several suggestions of the Hebrew one is senseless.
The third term occurs only four times in the book. It is derived from a verb signifying to
fade and wither. It describes the inward shrinking and shriveling of a depraved nature,
the witlessness which results from wickedness.
It contains in itself a severer censure than the other two. Thus "He that begetteth a
senseless man doeth it to his sorrow, but the father of the bad fool hath no joy." (Pro_
17:21) In the one case there is trouble enough, in the other there is nothing but trouble.
Thus it is one of the four things for which the earth trembles when a man of this kind is
filled with meat. (Pro_30:22) This third character is sketched for us in the person of
Nabal, whose name, as Abigail says, is simply the Hebrew word for fool in its worst
sense, which fits exactly to its bearer. But dismissing this type of folly which is almost
synonymous with consummate wickedness, of which indeed it is the outcome, we may
turn to the distinction we have drawn between infatuation and senselessness in order to
explain and understand some of the Proverbs in which the words occur.
First of all we may notice how difficult it is to get rid of the folly of infatuation: "Though
thou shouldest bray a person possessed of it in a mortar with a pestle among bruised
corn, yet will it not depart from him." (Pro_27:22) "It is bound up in the heart of a
child," (Pro_22:15) and the whole object of education is to get it out; but if childhood
passes into manhood, and the childish win fullness, self-confidence, and irrationality are
not expelled, the case is well-nigh hopeless. Correction is practically useless: "He must
be a thorough fool," it has been said, "who can learn nothing from his own folly"; but
that is precisely the condition of the infatuated people we are considering; the only
correction of their infatuation is a further increase of it. The reason is practically choked;
the connection between cause and effect is lost: thus every ill consequence of the rash act
or of the vicious habit is regarded as a misfortune instead of a fault. The wretched victim
of his own folly reviles fortune, nature, men, and even God, and will not recognize that
his worst enemy is himself. Thus, while the wise are always learning and growing rich
from experience, "the infatuation of senseless men is infatuation still." It is this which
makes them so hopeless to deal with; their vexation being quite irrational, and always
refusing to recognize the obvious facts, is worse than a heavy stone or the piled-up
overweight of sand for others to bear. (Pro_27:3) If a wise man has a case with such a
person, the ill-judged fury and the misplaced laughter alike made it impossible to arrive
at any sound settlement. (Pro_29:9)
The untrained, undisciplined nature, which thus declines the guidance of reason and is
unteachable because of its obstinate self-confidence, is constantly falling into sin.
Indeed, strictly speaking, its whole attitude is sinful, its every thought, is sin. (Pro_24:9)
For reason is God’s gift, and to slight it is to slight Him. He requires of us a readiness to
be taught, and an openness to the lessons which are forced upon us by Nature, by
experience, by our own human hearts. This flighty, feather-brained, inconsequential
mode of thinking and living, the willful neglect of all the means by which we might grow
wiser, and the confident assurance that, whatever happens, we are not accountable for it,
are all an offence against God, a failure to be what we ought to be, a missing of the mark,
a neglect of the law, which is, in a word, sin. But now let us look at the fool in the second
signification, which occurs in this twenty-sixth chapter so frequently, -the man who has

6. become spiritually gross and insensible, unaware of Divine truths and consequently
obtuse to human duties. We may take the proverbs in the order in which they occur. "As
snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honor is not seemly for a fool." It is a
melancholy fact that the kind of person here referred to is too often found in positions of
honor among men. Men rise to distinction in an artificial order of society, not by
wisdom, but by the accident of birth and opportunity; and not infrequently the ill-placed
honor itself leads to that insensibility which is so severely censured. The crass dullness,
the perversity of judgment, the unfeeling severity, often displayed by prominent and
distinguished persons, are no matter of surprise, and will not be, until human society
learns to bring its honors only to the wise and the good. "Delicate living is not seemly for
such persons." (Pro_19:10) It is precisely the comfort, the dignity, the exaltation, which
prove their ruin. Now it is true that we cannot always trace the effects of this misplaced
honor, but we are reminded that it is out of the course of Nature’s eternal laws,
incongruous as snow in summer, hurtful as rain in harvest. Consequently the due
penalty must inevitably come. According to one reading of Pro_26:2, this penalty which
overtakes the exalted fool is thus described: "As the sparrow in her wandering, and the
swallow in her flying, so a gratuitous curse shall come upon him." In any case Pro_26:3
states clearly enough what will eventually happen: "A whip for the horse, a bridle for the
ass, arid a rod for the back of fools." It is not, of course, that this penalty ‘can be
remedial, but Nature herself prepares a "rod for the back of him that is void of
understanding"; (Pro_10:13) "As judgments are prepared for scorners, so are stripes for
the back of fools." (Pro_19:29) Nor must we only understand this of fools that attain to
unnatural honor: there are many dullards and insensates who are not made such by the
stupidity of misdirected admiration, but by their own moral delinquencies; and as surely
as the sparrow after flitting about all day returns to her nest in the dusk, or as the
swallow in the long summer flight arrives at her appointed place, the punishment of folly
will find out the delinquent. It may be long delayed, but an awakening comes at last; the
man who hardened his heart, who turned away from the pleadings of God and mocked at
His judgments, who chose the vanishing things of time and scorned the large fruition of
eternity, discovers his Incredible stupidity, and the lash of remorse falls all the more
heavily because it is left in the hand of conscience alone. We must never lose sight of the
fact that by the fool is not meant the simple or the short-witted; there is in this folly of
the Proverbs a moral cause and a moral responsibility which involve a moral censure;
the senseless of whom we are speaking are they whose "heart is waxed gross, and their
ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest haply they should perceive
with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart." (Mat_13:15)
We are in the main obliged to leave the insensate to God and their conscience, because it
is well-nigh impossible for us to deal with them. They are intractable and even savage as
wild animals. "Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his
infatuation." (Pro_17:12) They are irritated with any suggestion of spiritual things,
indignant with any hint of their own case and its responsibilities. If, on the one hand,
you try to approach them on their own ground, to realize their motives and work upon
the base ideas which alone influence such minds, you seem to lose all power over them
by coming down to their level. "Answer not a fool according to his infatuation, lest thou
also be like him." (Pro_26:4) If, on the other hand, you feel bound to convict him of his
folly, and to humble him to a sense of his position, you are obliged to use the language
which will be intelligible to him. "Answer a fool according to his infatuation, lest he be
wise in his own eyes." (Pro_26:5) I recollect one Sunday afternoon passing by a large
village public-house, and it chanced that a little group of street preachers were doing
their best to make known the Gospel to the idlers who were sitting on the benches
outside. Going up to interest the men in what was being said, I was confronted by the

7. landlord, who was in a state of almost frenzied indignation. He denounced the preachers
as hypocrites and scoundrels, who lived on the honest earnings of those whom he saw
around him. Every attempt to bring him to reason, to show that the men in question
spent their money on drink and not on the preachers, to secure a patient hearing for the
gracious message, was met only with violent abuse directed against myself. The man was
precisely what is meant in these verses by a fool, one in whom all spiritual vision was
blinded by greed and sensuality, in whom the plainest dictates of common sense and
human courtesy were silenced: to answer him in his own vein was the only way of
exposing his folly, and yet to answer him in such a way was to come down to his own
level. What could be done except to leave him to the judgments which are prepared for
scorners and to the stripes which await the back of fools? A fool uttereth all his anger,
and facing the torrent of angry words it is impossible to effectually carry home to him
any wholesome truth. (Pro_29:11)
We have seen how the kind of man that we are describing is in an utterly false position
when any dignity or honor is attributed to him; indeed, to give such honor is much the
same as binding a stone in a sling to be immediately slung out again, probably to some
one’s injury; (Pro_26:8) but he is almost equally useless in a subordinate position. If, for
instance, he is employed as a messenger, he is too dull to rightly conceive or correctly
report the message. He will almost certainly color it with his own fancies, if he does not
pervert it to his own ends. To receive and to deliver any message accurately requires a
certain truthfulness in perception and in speech of which this unfortunate creature is
entirely devoid. Thus anyone who employs him in this capacity might as well cut off his
own feet, as he drinks damage to himself. (Pro_26:6)
It is the awful punishment which comes to us all, when we allow our heart to wax gross,
that wisdom itself becomes folly in our lips, and truth herself becomes error. Thus if we
know a proverb, or a text, or a doctrine, we are sure to give it a lame application, so that,
instead of supporting what we wish to enforce, it hangs down helpless like a cripple’s
legs. (Pro_26:7) In this way the insensate corruptness of the Mediaeval Church tried to
justify the abuse of giving great ecclesiastical preferments to young children by quoting
the text, "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise."
Sometimes the result of this culpable stupidity is far more disastrous; it is like "a thorn
which runs up into a drunkard’s hand," visiting with terrible condemnation those who
have misused and perverted the truth, (Pro_26:9) as when Torquemada and the
administrators of the Inquisition based their diabolical conduct on the gracious words of
the Lord, "Compel them to come in." No, the fool’s heart can give no wholesome
message; it will turn the very message of the Gospel into a curse and a blight, and by its
dull and revolting insensibility it will libel God to man, suggesting that the Infinite
Father, the Eternal God, is altogether such a one as these who profess to speak in His
name.
The offence of the fool then cannot be condoned on the ground that he is only an enemy
to himself. It is his master that he wrongs. As the proverb says, "A master produces all
things, but a fool’s wages and hirer too pass away." The fool loses what he earns himself:
that is true, but he undoes his employer also. One is our Master, even Christ; He hires us
for service in His vineyard; when we suffer our heart to wax dull, when we grow
unspiritual, unresponsive, and insensate, it is not only that we lose our reward, but we
crucify the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame.
And the worst, the most mournful, feature about this fool’s condition is that it tends to a
perpetual self-repetition: "As a dog that returneth to his vomit, so a fool is always
repeating his folly." (Pro_26:11) Every hardening of the heart prepares for a fresh
hardening, every refusal of truth will lead to another refusal. Last Sunday you managed

8. to evade the message which God sent you: that makes it much easier to evade the
message He sends you today. Next Sunday you will be almost totally indifferent. Soon
you will get out of reach altogether of His word, saying it does you no good. Then you
will deny that it is His word or His message. You pass from folly to folly, from
infatuation to infatuation, until at last you can with a grave face accept the monstrous
self-contradiction of materialism, or wallow unresisting in the slime of a tormenting
sensuality. "As the dog returns to his vomit!"
It must be owned that the condition of the fool seems sufficiently sad, and the gloom is
deepened by the fact that our book knows nothing of a way by which the fool may
become wise. The Proverbs uniformly regard the foolish and the wise as generically
distinct; between the two classes there is a great gulf fixed. There is the fool, trusting in
his own heart, incurring stripes: not profiting by them, always the same incorrigible and
hopeless creature; and there is the wise man, always delivered, learning from experience,
becoming better and better (Pro_28:26; Pro_9:8; Pro_23:9). The only suggestion of
hope is a comparative one: "Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more
hope of a fool than of him." (Pro_26:12) But there is no tone of confidence about this
assurance, because, as we have repeatedly seen, the case of the proud or conceited man
is regarded as practically desperate.
No, for comfort and hope in this matter we have to turn away from the Ancient Wisdom
to the revealed Wisdom, Christ Jesus. It is He and He alone who practically forbids us to
be hopeless about any one. A noble Roman in the time of the Punic Wars received an
honorable recognition from the Senate because he had not in the darkest times
despaired of the Republic. That is the kind of debt that we owe to the Savior. He has not
despaired of any human being; He will not let us despair. It is His peculiar power, tried
and proved again and again, to turn the fool into the wise man. Observing the threefold
distinction which is hidden under the word we have been examining, Christ is able to
arouse the weak, fond, infatuated soul to a sense of its need. Could there be a better
instance than that of the woman at the well, -a foolish creature living in conscious sin,
yet full of specious religious talk? Did He not awake in her the thirst for the living water,
and satisfy the craving which He had excited? Christ is able to transform the dull and
heavy soul, that has suffered itself to be mastered by greed and petrified by selfishness.
Was not this what He did to Zaccheus the publican? And even with that worst kind of
fool, whose heart is withered up within him by reason of sin, and who has learnt to say in
his heart that there is no God, (Psa_14:1) the Lord is not helpless.
We do not see such a one in the pages of the New Testament, because the folly of
Atheism was not among the follies of those times. But in our own day it is an experience
by no means uncommon; when an avowed infidel comes under the power of the Gospel,
Christ enters into him with the overwhelming conviction that there is a God; Christ
shows him how it is sin which has thus obscured the elementary conviction of the
human spirit; and, by the direct power of Christ, his heart comes to him again as that of
a little child, while in the rapturous joy of believing he lays aside the folly which made
him doubt along with the sin which made him unwilling to believe."
1 Like snow in summer or rain in harvest,

9. honor is not fitting for a fool.
Honor doesn’t go with fools any more than snow with summer or rain with harvest.
“Honor” in this passage probably means respect, external recognition of worth,
accolades, advancement to high position, etc. All of these would be out of place with
a fool; so the sage is warning against elevating or acclaiming those who are
worthless. To honor a fool is as inconsistent with nature as a snowstorm in the
summer or rain in the hottest and driest time of the year-the harvest.. It is out of
place in a world of order and good sense. Snow and rain at the wrong time are a
curse and they ruin a pattern of nature that is a blessing. To honor a fool is to go
against the grain of wisdom and reality. The Message puts it, "We no more give
honors to fools than pray for snow in summer or rain during harvest." In other
words, it is just common sense not to honor a fool by giving them places of
leadership and positions of power. Snow is a disaster in the summer and so is rain in
harvest time. It is a major blunder that leads to bad consequences for all when the
fool is exalted to any level of influence. Snow in summer is incongruous with nature,
and so is giving honor to a fool. God made man with inteligence, and when some
men lack it because of the fall, they are not to be put in charge of anything by those
who are still somewhat gifted with good sense. If you give a fool respect and external
recognition of worth you encourage pride in him and make him all the more
dangerous. Do not encourage folly by giving honor to the fool.
Unfortunately the world does not operate in wisdom, and so fools are frequently
honored by rising to places of power and authority. Solomon was aware of this in
his day and writes in Eccles. 10:5-6, "There is an evil I have seen under the sun, the
sort of error that arises from a ruler. Fools are put in many high positions..."
Marcus Cato, the ancient Roman found fault with honoring the fools of his day.
"Either you think the consulate worth little, or few worthy of the office." When the
Romans sent three ambassadors to the king of Bithynia, one with the gout, one with
a recently-healed fracture of the skull, and the third not much better than a fool,
Cato said, "They have sent an embassy which has neither feet, head, nor heart." All
through history it has been a major problem in all societies that fools get into places
of power and leadership. This honor leads to many dangerous and stupid decisions
that hurt the whole nation. People who get power who are fools become power
hungry and make life miserable for everyone. It is one of the joys of life to see such
fools outwitted, as is the case in the following true story quoted from an unknown
author on the internet.
"Let me tell you a true story. A friend of mine who is a very sharp cookie had her
car towed away in Washington, DC. When she went to collect it, she explained to the
attendant that the police towed it improperly since it was really parked legally. The
attendant agreed but told her he couldn't release a car unless the fine was paid.
However, he said, when she gets the car she could appeal and maybe get her money
back. After reluctantly paying the fine, she got her car and asked for the
appropriate office of appeals. She was given the info, but the attendant added this

10. warning, "You won't get your money back." "Why?" My friend asked. "Because
the person who runs the office is a miserable person, whose only joy in life is the
power he wields and never gives back the fines ever." "Hmm," my friend thought,
not being one to just sit by and be unjustly punished, "There has to be a way to get
my money back." She called the appeals office and after reaching Mr. Power, this is
about how the conversation went: After explaining the details of the incident and
why she was unjustly fined, she said this, "I am sure you cannot help me so could
you please direct me to the person who has the power to give me back my money?"
Well, you can imagine the response. "Oh no, I am that person, I can give you back
your money." And so he did. Her appeal to his pride manipulated him right into
her web. Fools need to be outwitted all the time in this world. But better is a world
where fools are not honored with the power to be a pain to the rest of us.
Unfortunately, fools are sometimes our friends or relatives, and we feel it is good of
us to give them a chance to prove themeselves. We assume that being kind and
helpful is always appropriate, and so we honor a fool with responsibility. I
remember doing this once with a young man who wanted to go with me to a nursing
home for a Sunday afternoon service. He said he could play the guitar, and so I
believed him and let him come and play. He could no more play that thing than I
could. He just stummed the strings in meaningless noise to the aggrevation of myself
and all the people there. It was embarrassing, but I did not have the guts to tell him
he was being stupid to think he could play that instrument. I never let him come and
do it again, but I told him to keep learning. I honored a fool by suggesting that he
could do it, when I knew it was highly unlikely. But like most who want to be
encouraging I tried to let him down softly, when he should have been knocked down
by being told he has no talent.
If you watch America has talent, of Idol or any such show you see people who are
living in a fantasy land of their own making. They have no talent recognizable by
people above half wits, but they seriously think they do, and they have to be crushed
by strong words coming from Simon Cowell or they will go on thinking they have
talent and be a curse to the world. The same is true for America's greatest inventors.
So ofter the ideas are so stupid that one has to be a fool to dream that anyone in
their right mind would want what they have invented. But they spend years and
thousands of dollars to get their junk invented, and they need to be told it is junk
and worthless junk at that. Some vow to persist in their dream of making the world
a better place with their insane contraptions, but others are shocked back into
reality and move on to something meaningful.
ow this may sound cruel and unkind to treat people this way, but the fact is, if you
honor a fool, or a foolish idea, by supporting it and encouraging it, you are part of
the problem and not part of the answer. If there is no honor given to a fool in any
way they will be motivated to find a way to cease being a fool. If the path of folly is
blocked the fool may find a path that is not so foolish. The whole point of this
chapter on fools is that wisdom demands that fools be treated as such, for that is the
only hope of rescuing them from their folly. Parents have to deal with fools all the
time, for kids are often the most foolish people on the planet. They do stupid things

11. all the time and they get seriously injured and killed by the thousands each year.
They need to be disciplined and thus discouraged from following their paths of folly.
They need to be encouraged all the time when they go the way of wisdom, but when
they persist in the path of folly they ought not to be honored with gifts and favors,
but dishonored by being deprived of such.
Someone has written this helpful commentary, "In order to avoid giving honor to
the fool we need to be able to identify the fool, and the Bible gives us many
characteristics in order to do this. What is a fool? A fool rejects instruction (23:9),
assumes he is right (12:15), rejects correction (15:10), loves to argue (19:13), talks
too much (15:2), slanders people (10:18), holds heavy grudges (17:12), is very
stubborn (17:10), is not successful (Eccl 10:15), enjoys mischief (10:23), or is easily
deceived (14:15). God condemns fools, and we should treat them accordingly. Fools
are properly treated by avoiding them (13:20; 14:7), not talking to them (23:9; 26:4),
rebuking them (26:5), and beating them (26:3); for stripes may help them (10:13;
17:10; 18:6; 19:29; 20:30). Foolishness is bound in a child's heart, but the rod will
drive it far away (22:15). So rather than honoring a foolish child, teach him wisdom
with reproof and a rod (29:15)."
It is an unbelievable story, but the history of an amazing fool in America is clearly
established as fact. A man by the name of Joshua Abraham
orton
in 1859 proclaimed himself the Imperial Majesty Emperor
orton I. He was the first
and only person to proclaim himself the emperor of the United States. He lived in
San Francisco where he was a business man who had gone bankrupt by a bad
investment in Peruvian rice. This may have caused his mental imbalance that led
him to assume absolute control over the nation. He declared that Congress was
abolished and that he was in full charge of the government and all the military. You
can look up the details by typing his name into Google and going to Wikipedia, the
free encydlopedia. But let me share this quote: "
orton's orders obviously had no
effect on the army, and the Congress likewise continued in its activities
unperturbed.
orton issued further decrees in 1860 that purported to dissolve the
republic and to forbid the assembly of any members of the Congress.[17]
orton's
battle against the elected leaders of America was to persist throughout what he
considered his reign, though it appears that
orton eventually, if somewhat
grudgingly, accepted that Congress would continue to exist without his permission,
although this did not change his feelings on the matter. In the hopes of resolving the
many disputes between citizens of the United States during the Civil War,
orton
issued a mandate in 1862 ordering both the Protestant and Roman Catholic Church
churches to publicly ordain him as Emperor."
There are many foolish things he did and said, but the man was a mental case and
people got a kick out of him and actually came to respect him for his concerns about
the welfare of the country and his community. Wikipedia reports, "
orton is
reputed to have performed one of his most famous acts of "diplomacy." During the
1860s and 1870s, there were a number of anti-Chinese demonstrations in the poorer
districts of San Francisco. Ugly riots, some resulting in fatalities, broke out on
several occasions. During one such incident,
orton allegedly positioned himself

12. between the rioters and their Chinese targets, and with a bowed head started
reciting the Lord's Prayer repeatedly until the rioters dispersed without incident."
He actually became a sort of hero of the city, and again we quote, "
orton was
much loved and revered by the citizens of San Francisco. Although penniless, he
regularly ate at the finest restaurants in San Francisco; these restaurateurs then
took it upon themselves to add brass plaques in their entrances declaring "[b]y
Appointment to his Imperial Majesty, Emperor
orton I of the United States."[27]
By all accounts, such "Imperial seals of approval" were much prized and a
substantial boost to trade. Supposedly, no play or musical performance in San
Francisco would dare to open without reserving balcony seats for
orton." "In 1867
a police officer named Armand Barbier arrested
orton for the purpose of
committing him to involuntary treatment for a mental disorder.[3] The arrest
outraged the citizens of San Francisco and sparked a number of scathing editorials
in the newspapers. Police Chief Patrick Crowley speedily rectified matters by
ordering
orton released and issuing a formal apology on behalf of the police force.
[8] Chief Crowley observed of the self-styled monarch "that he had shed no blood;
robbed no one; and despoiled no country; which is more than can be said of his
fellows in that line."[11]
orton was magnanimous enough to grant an "Imperial
Pardon" to the errant young police officer. Possibly as a result of this scandal, all
police officers of San Francisco thereafter saluted
orton as he passed in the street."
To make a long story brief, this man was a fool in so many ways, and he did so many
foolish things, but he was not a Biblical fool. He was a mentally handicaped person
who was not evil but deluded. He was a caring person who did no harm to others
and the result was he was a man who was greatly honored.
early 30 thousand
people lined the steets to witness his funeral procession. He was the exception to the
rule, for though he was a fool, he was also cool, and so worthy of respect because he
was still motivated by love rather than folly.
"Sometimes man is respected on the ground of his personal appearance, sometimes
on the ground of his mental abilities, sometimes on the ground of his worldly
possessions, sometimes on the ground of his lineage and social position; but respect
for men on any of these grounds alone is very questionable in morality. The true
and Divinely authorised ground of respect for man is moral goodness. The man who
is morally good, however deficient in other things, has a Divine claim to our honour.
I. Honour paid to the wicked is unseemly. It is like “snow in summer and rain in
harvest.” It is unseasonable and incongruous. How unseemly nature would appear
in August with snow mantling our cornfields! Souls are morally constituted to
reverence the good; to abhor the morally bad, wherever it is seen, whether in
connection with lordly possessions, kingly power, or, what is higher still, mental
genius.
II. Honour paid to the wicked is pernicious. “Snow in summer and rain in harvest”
are in nature mischievous elements. Their tendency is to rob the agriculturist of the
rewards of his labour, and to bring on a famine in the land. Far more mischievous is
it when the people of a country sink so morally low as to render honour to men who
are destitute of moral goodness. The perniciousness is also expressed by another

13. figure in the text, “As he that bindeth a stone in a sling, so is he that giveth honour
to a fool.” The word translated “sling” means a heap of stones, and the word
“stone” a precious stone. Hence the margin reads, “As he that putteth a precious
stone in an heap of stones, so is he that giveth honour to a fool.” The idea evidently
is, as a precious stone amongst rubbish, so is honour given to a fool." (D. Thomas, D.
D.)
GILL, "As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest,.... Which were very
undesirable and unseasonable, yea, very hurtful to the fruits of the earth; and a great
obstruction to the labourers in the harvest, and a hinderance to the gathering of it in;
and were very rare and uncommon in Judea; it was even a miracle for thunder and rain
to be in wheat harvest, 1Sa_12:17;
so honour is not seemly for a fool: for a wicked man; such should not be favoured
by kings, and set in high places of honour and trust; "folly set in great dignity", or foolish
and bad men set in honourable places, are as unsuitable and inconvenient as snow and
rain in summer and harvest, and should be as rare as they; and they are as hurtful and
pernicious, since they discourage virtue and encourage vice, and hinder the prosperity of
the commonwealth; such vile persons are contemned in the eyes of good men, and are
disregarded of God; he will not give, theft, glory here nor hereafter; the wise shall inherit
it, but shame shall be the promotion of fools, Pro_3:35; see Ecc_10:6.
K&D, "If there is snow in high summer ( קַיִץ ,tobeglowinghot),itiscontrarytonature;andif
thereisraininharvest,itis(accordingtothealternationsoftheweatherinPalestine)contraryto
whatisusuallythecase,andisahindrancetotheingatheringofthefruitsofthefield.Evensoa
foolandrespect,oraplaceofhonour,areincongruousthings;honourwillonlyinjurehim(as
accordingtoPro_19:10,luxury);hewillmakeunjustuseofit,anddrawfalseconclusionsfromit;
itwillstrengthenhiminhisfolly,andonlyincreaseit.
2 Like a fluttering sparrow or a darting swallow,
an undeserved curse does not come to rest.
This proverb is saying that a curse that is uttered will be powerless if that curse is
undeserved. It was commonly believed in the ancient world that blessings and curses
had power in themselves, that once spoken they were effectual. But scripture makes
it clear that the power of a blessing or a curse depends on the power of the one
behind it (e.g.,
um 22:38; 23:8). A curse would only take effect if the one who
declared it had the authority to do so, and he would only do that if the curse was

14. deserved. Goliath cursed David in I Sam. 17:43, but he nor his god had any
authority to do so, and David did no wrong to deserve it, and so it was a powerless
curse. If anything, it came back on him and he was soon a headless corpse. The
curses of the godless have no power over the people of God. If a curse does come on
the heads of his people it is because it is his judgment and it is always deserved and
never the result of the godless cursing of their enemies.
In this context it is saying that the fool is one who makes meaningless curses. If you
do not honor the godless fool he will curse you to your face and ask his non-existent
god to damn you. The godless are always saying god damn this or that, but it is as
harmless as the darting of the swallow. It is meaningless swearing with no basis for
fulfillment, for they curse everyone who gets in their way. Their curses are vain and
fruitless and are just so much hot air that vanishes like the swallow that darts down
and sweeps away out of sight. Such curses vanish as swiftly as these birds, and do as
much damage to their victims. Thank God he does not hear the curses of the fool
who with bitterness damns all who do not conform to his folly. Godless men and
women get angry about many things and throw out curses without cause on all who
do not please them. We all get frustrated with lousy drivers, but the fool damns
them all to hell for eternity with his foul mouth. Those of us who are only partial
fools just want them damned up in their garages until the rest of us get where we
are going. Like having a law that says fool drivers only from 3 to 5 AM.
The Irish are known for some pretty severe curses, but the fulfillment thereof is
scarce as hen's teeth. One such is, May your hens take the disorder(the fowl-pest),
your cows the crippen(phosphorosis) and your calves the white scour! May
yourself go stone-blind so that you will not know your wife from a hay-stack!
Another one popular to be placed on thieves is harder to verify as to its
success-Since you stole the sheep,you lying spoiler into hell I wish you to be
tormented- In the depths of the whirlpool with Oscar blowing And twenty-one
demons each tearing you asunder.
An Arab curse is at least measurable in its results, though few would relish the task
of counting. It says, May the fleas of a thousand camels lodge in your armpit.
People who make such curses must have one brain cell less than an amoeba. The
curses of a fool and the dust of a journey are two things no wise man can escape,
but the good news of this proverb is that such curses are of no consequence if they
are undeserved.
BAR
ES, “Vague as the flight of the sparrow, aimless as the wheelings of the swallow,
is the causeless curse. It will never reach its goal.” The marginal reading in the Hebrew,
however, gives” to him” instead of “not” or “never;” i. e., “The causeless curse, though it
may pass out of our ken, like a bird’s track in the air, will come on the man who utters
it.” Compare the English proverb, “Curses, like young chickens, always come home to
roost.”
BI, As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not
come.
Human anathemas

15. Another, and perhaps a better, translation is this, “Unsteady as the sparrow, as the flight
of the swallow, is a causeless curse; it cometh not to pass.” “There is a difficulty here,”
says Wardlaw, “in settling the precise point in the comparison. The ordinary
interpretation explains it with reference to curses pronounced by men without cause—
imprecations, anathemas, that are unmerited—and the meaning is understood to be—as
the bird or sparrow, by wandering, and as the swallow, or wood-pigeon, by flying, shall
not come—that is, shall not reach us or come upon us in the way of injury—so is it with
the causeless curse. It will “do no more harm than the bird that flies overhead, than
Goliath’s curses on David.” And it might be added that, as these birds return to their
own place, to the nests whence they came, so will such gratuitous maledictions come
back upon the persons by whom they are uttered.
I. Men are frequently the victims of human imprecations. Few men pass through the
world without creating enemies, either intentionally or otherwise. Men vent their hatred
in various ways.
II. That human imprecations are sometimes undeserved. The curse is “causeless.”
Sometimes the curses of men are deserved. There are two classes of causeless curses—
1. Those that are hurled at us because we have done the right thing. When you are
cursed for reproving evil, for proclaiming an unpopular truth, or pursuing a
righteous course which clashes with men’s prejudices or interests, the curse is
causeless.
2. Those that are uttered without reason or feeling. There are men who are so in the
habit of using profane language that it almost flows from their lips without malice or
meaning. The greatest men in history have been cursed, and some of them have died
under a copious shower of human imprecations.
III. Undeserved imprecations are always harmless. “The greatest curse causeless shall
not come.” Was David the worse for Shimei’s curse? or Jeremiah for the curse of his
persecutors? “He that is cursed without a cause,” says Matthew Henry, “whether by
furious imprecations or solemn anathemas, the curse will do him no more harm than the
sparrow that flies over his head. It will fly away like the sparrow or the wild swallow,
which go nobody knows where, until they return to their proper place, as the curse will
at length return to him that uttered it.” “Cursing,” says Shakespeare, “ne’er hurts him,
nor profits you a jot. Forbear it, therefore,—give your cause to heaven.” But if the curse
be not causeless, it will come. Jotham’s righteous curse came upon Abimelech and the
men of Shechem (Jdg_9:56-57). Elisha’s curse fearfully came to the young mockers of
Bethel (2Ki_2:24). “The curse abides on Jericho from generation to generation.”
(Homilist.)
GILL, As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying,.... As a bird,
particularly the sparrow, as the word (h) is sometimes rendered, leaves its nest and
wanders from it; and flies here and there, and settles nowhere; and as the swallow flies
to the place from whence it came; or the wild pigeon, as some (i) think is meant, which
flies away very swiftly: the swallow has its name in Hebrew from liberty, because it flies
about boldly and freely, and makes its nest in houses, to which it goes and comes
without fear;
so the curse causeless shall not come; the mouths of fools or wicked men are full of
cursing and bitterness, and especially such who are advanced above others, and are set
in high places; who think they have a right to swear at and curse those below them, and

16. by this means to support their authority and power; but what signify their curses which
are without a cause? they are vain and fruitless, like Shimei's cursing David; they fly
away, as the above birds are said to do, and fly over the heads of those on whom they are
designed to light; yea, return and fall upon the heads of those that curse, as the swallow
goes to the place from whence it came; it being a bird of passage, Jer_8:7; in the winter
it flies away and betakes itself to some islands on rocks called from thence chelidonian
(k). According to the Keri, or marginal reading, for here is a double reading, it may be
rendered, so the curse causeless shall come to him (l); that gives it without any reason.
The Septuagint takes in both,
so a vain curse shall not come upon any;''
what are all the anathemas of the church of Rome? who can curse whom God has not
cursed? yea, such shall be cursed themselves; see Psa_109:17.
HENRY, Here is, 1. The folly of passion. It makes men scatter causeless curses, wishing
ill to others upon presumption that they are bad and have done ill, when either they
mistake the person or misunderstand the fact, or they call evil good and good evil. Give
honour to a fool, and he thunders out his anathemas against all that he is disgusted with,
right or wrong. Great men, when wicked, think they have a privilege to keep those about
them in awe, by cursing them, and swearing at them, which yet is an expression of the
most impotent malice and shows their weakness as much as their wickedness. 2. The
safety of innocency. He that is cursed without cause, whether by furious imprecations or
solemn anathemas, the curse shall do him no more harm than the bird that flies over his
head, than Goliath's curses did to David, 1Sa_17:43. It will fly away like the sparrow or
the wild dove, which go nobody knows where, till they return to their proper place, as
the curse will at length return upon the head of him that uttered it.
3 A whip for the horse, a halter for the donkey,
and a rod for the backs of fools!
The fool needs to be treated like animals who are not responsive to reasoning and
logic, but have to be controlled by the use of force. This does not justify cruelty to
animals or the fools, but simply says that they are like dumb animals and will not be
moved by words. They are stubborn in their folly and want to do only what they feel
like doing.
obody can tell them what to do, for they are undisciplined and
rebelious, and so they need to be restrained or their folly will be a danger to
themselves and others. Psalm 32:9 says, Do not be like the horse or the mule, which
have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not
come to you. Left undisciplined these animals run wild and do their own thing and

17. are useless to man. They need to be controlled. So the fool is one who is not to be
given freedom and power, but is to be brought under the power and control of those
with power. This has special reference to parents and the rebellious child.
Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of discipline will remove it
far from him (22:15). Legally it means that the rebel person who is a danger to the
community needs to be restrained by being imprisoned. Control and correction are
necessary in dealing with the fool.
Keep in mind that we are not dealing with the village idiot here, nor with the dumb
blonde. This fool is one who is a dangerous person with no wisdom or conscience
who will do what he wants no matter who gets hurt or killed. They are not subject to
reason and so they have to be dealt with like an untamed animal. Force is all they
understand, and pain is all they will respond to. Wisdom will not work on them, but
the whip will. Prov. 17:10 says, A rebuke impresses a man of discernment more
than a hundred lashes a fool. In other words, don't waste time trying to talk a fool
out of his behavior, for he is not capable of responding to words of wisdom. He will
better get the point with pain, for he is more like a beast than an intelligent person.
Fools need severe punishement for pain is all they can understand. Justice demands
that fools pay in pain for the pain they cause. The following report illustrates the
kind of people who need this discipline. In contrast to this text most often being
applied to parents with a rebellious child, here is a case where the parents are the
foolish rebels.
According to the Associated Press, a Milwaukee couple will be headed off to prison
after admitting to locking their son in a closet so they could go to a casino and watch
a Packers game. Man, now we know why they call their hardcore fans “cheese
heads.” The only thing they left for their boy is a loaf of bread, some peanut butter
and jelly and a bathroom bucket that he had to clean when his parents returned.
The irony is both will be headed to live in a room that’s slightly smaller than a closet
with a toilet that’s slightly less sanitary than a bathroom bucket that’s five inches
from their head every time they go to sleep. The assistant district attorney
prosecuting the case proved the couple had money to get a babysitter because of
their house full of Packers merchandise. The man reporting this story gives his
personal opinion when he writes, To be totally fair, these two really aren’t dumb
by the definition of the word. They’re stupid, horrible, thoughtless, selfish, narrow-minded,
absent-minded, lower than Australopithecus on the evolutionary scale and
six beers short of a six pack.
o one’s come up for a word for it yet. He is in error
here, for the Bible has the word for them-fool.
GILL, A whip for the horse,.... One that is dull of going, or refractory and wants
breaking;
a bridle for the ass; not to curb and restrain it from going too fist, asses being
generally dull; but to direct its way and turn it when necessary, it being stiffnecked and
obstinate; though the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, render it a spear or
goad, something to prick with, and excite it to motion; and so the Targum; or
otherwise one would have thought the whip was fitter for the ass and the bridle for the

18. horse;
and a rod for the fool's back; suggesting that the fool, or wicked man, is like the
horse or the mule; though not without understanding of things natural, yet of things
divine and moral; and as stupid as the ass, however wise he may conceit himself to be,
being born like a wild ass's colt; and instead of honour being given him, stripes should
be laid upon him; he should be reproved sharply, and corrected for his wickedness,
especially the causeless curser, Pro_19:29.
HENRY, Here, 1. Wicked men are compared to the horse and the ass, so brutish are
they, so unreasonable, so unruly, and not to be governed but by force or fear, so low has
sin sunk men, so much below themselves. Man indeed is born like the wild ass's colt, but
as some by the grace of God are changed, and become rational, so others by custom in
sin are hardened, and become more and more sottish, as the horse and the mule, Psa_
32:9. 2. Direction is given to use them accordingly. Princes, instead of giving honour to a
fool (Pro_26:1), must put disgrace upon him - instead of putting power into his hand,
must exercise power over him. A horse unbroken needs a whip for correction, and an
ass a bridle for direction and to check him when he would turn out of the way; so a
vicious man, who will not be under the guidance and restraint of religion and reason,
ought to be whipped and bridled, to be rebuked severely, and made to smart for what he
has done amiss, and to be restrained from offending any more.
Proverbs 26:3-11
A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool’s back.
Aspects of a fool
Sin is folly. It sacrifices the spiritual for the material, the temporal for the eternal, the
pure joys of immortality for the gratification of an hour.
I. He appears here as a servant. “A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for
the fool’s back.” This proverb inverts our ideas. We should have said, “A bridle for the
horse,” and “a whip for the ass.” But the Eastern asses have much of the fire of our blood
horses, while the horses are often heavy and dull. Therefore the ass there requires the
bridle, and the horse the whip—the one to accelerate, the other to restrain and guide
activity. As the horse and the ass, in order to be used as the servants of man, require the
application of force, so does the fool. “A rod for the fool’s back.” If a stubborn sinner is to
be made the servant of society, coercion must be employed. Argument, persuasion,
example; these moral appliances will affect him but little.
II. He appears here as a debater. “Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou be
like unto him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.”
There is an apparent contradiction here, but it is only apparent. The negative means, we
are not to debate with him in his style and spirit, and thus become like him. We are not
to descend to his level of speech and temper. The positive means, that we are to answer
him as his folly deserves. It may be by silence as well as speech. The fool talks; he is often
a great debater.
III. He appears here as a messenger. The meaning of this is, “He who would trust a fool
with a message might as well cut off his feet, for he will have vexation and maybe

19. damage.” How careful should we be to entrust important business to trustworthy
persons! Solomon himself drank damage, by employing an “industrious” servant, but a
fool in wickedness, who “lifted up his hand against the king,” and spoiled his son of ten
parts of his kingdom (1Ki_11:26-40). Benhadad drank damage by sending a message by
the hands of Hazael, who murdered his master when the way was opened for his own
selfish purposes (2Ki_8:8-15). Much of the business of life is carried on by messengers
or agents. How much a mercantile firm suffers by improper representatives!
IV. He appears here as a teacher. “The legs of the lame are not equal, so is a parable in
the mouth of fools.” It is not very uncommon to find fools sustaining the office and
performing the functions of teachers. “They have a parable in their mouth.” The verses
suggest two things concerning them as teachers—
1. That they appear very ridiculous. “The legs of the lame are not equal, so is a
parable in the hands of fools.” The idea seems to be, as the cripple who desires to
appear nimble and agile appears ridiculous in his lame efforts to walk, so the fool
appears ridiculous in his efforts to teach.
2. As teachers, they are generally very mischievous. “As a thorn goeth up into the hand
of the drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of fools.” The idea is, that a fool handling
the doctrines of wisdom is like a drunken man handling thorns. The besotted inebriate,
not knowing what he is about, lays hold of the thorn and perforates his own nerves. The
wise sayings in the mouth of a stupid man are self-condemnatory.
V. He appears here as a commissioner. “The great God that formed all things both
rewardeth the fool and rewardeth transgressors.” The word “God” is not in the original.
The margin is the more faithful translation—“A great man giveth all, and he hireth the
fool; he hireth also transgressors.” The idea seems to be, that when worldly princes
employ fools for the public service it is a source of anxiety and trouble to all good
citizens. “The lesson has application from the throne downwards, through all the
descriptions of subsidiary trusts. Extensive proprietors, who employ overseers of their
tenants, or of those engaged in their manufactories, or mines, or whatever else be the
description of their property, should see to the character of these overseers. Their power
may be abused, and multitudes of workmen suffer, when the owner—the master—knows
nothing of what is going on. But he ought to know. Many complainings and strikes, well
or ill-founded, have their origin here.”
VI. He appears here as a reprobate. The emblem here is disgusting, but the thing
signified is infinitely more so. Peter quotes this proverb (2Pe_2:20-22). The wicked man
often sickens at his wickedness, and then returns to it again. Thus Pharaoh returned
from his momentary conviction (Exo_8:8-15); Ahab from his pretended repentance
(1Ki_21:1-29.); Herod from his partial amendment (Mar_6:20-27). (D. Thomas, D. D.)
4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly,
or you will be like him yourself.
To engage a fool in controversy is the best way to add yourself to the list of fools in
the room. You are foolish to try and answer folly, for in doing so you are just like

20. the one you are calling a fool. If he calls you a fool back he is right, for you have
sunk to his level by having so little sense as to respond to his folly. If ever there is a
time to be silent it is when a fool challenges you to a debate, or when a fool says
something stupid and you want to set him straight. If the fool succeeds in gettting
you to respond, he has won the debate, for he has brought you down to his level and
you do not have a chance of bringing him up to yours. Save your breath and your
dignity, and do not open your mouth. If you do, you honor him, and that is the first
no no in dealing with fools. To try and correct or rebuke a fool is futile. Prov. 9:7-8
says, He who corrects a scoffer gets dishonor for himself, And he who reproves a
wicked man gets insults for himself. Do not reprove a scoffer, lest he hate you,
Reprove a wise man, and he will love you. We need to make a clear distinction
between the wise and the fool, for they respond in opposite ways to the same thing.
What is good and works for the wise person is worthless for the fool. Leave the fool
to his folly and refuse to hop on his bandwagon. A truly wise person knows when to
walk away from an argument that is not winable, because truth has no place in the
mind of the challenger. A fool is not open to knowledge and has no interest in other
perspectives than his own. When he begins to spout his folly with a loud voice,
looking for trouble as usual, you will be tempted to come to the defense of wisdom.
Don't be a fool and let him win. Walk away and be the winner yourself. Our pride
will resist this, and we will have a deep desire to take him on, but wisdom says in the
words of a well known song, know when to fold em, know when to run.
Jesus taught this same truth when he said, Give not that which is holy unto the
dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their
feet, and turn again and rend you (Matt 7:6). You would look quite foolish if you
decided to try and talk pigs into being more neat in their eating habits, but nobody
is that stupid. However, you are on that level of folly if you try to persuade the fool
to stop being so foolish. Your success rate will pretty much match the rate at which
your pigs will start using napkins. Prov. 23:9 says, Do not speak to a fool, for he
will scorn the wisdom of your words. He will treat your wisdom just like the pigs
treat your pearls. You make a mockery of the truth by giving the fool the
opportunity to ridicule it before others. You will not upgrade him, but he will
downgrade that which is precious to you. The fool will not listen and learn, but will
laugh and mock and belittle all that wisdom holds dear. Do not give him the
ammunition to do so by trying to explain to him how wonderful the truth really is. II
Tim. 2:23 says, Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments,
because you know they produce quarrels. Any argument you have with a fool will
be foolish and stupid, and so do not let it happen.
But wait! The very next verse says just the opposite, and that we are to answer the
fool. This is a flat contradiction, and so when people say the Bible contradicts itself
you have to agree, for it is as obvious as the nose on your face. But the false
assumption of people who say the Bible contradicts itself is that this is a bad thing
and proves the Bible is in error. Such an assumption is what is in error, for
contradiction is a part of the very essence of wisdom. It is called paradox, which
means the same thing can be be good or bad, or true or false at the same time.

21. Proverbs by their very nature are paradoxical because they seek to sum up a truth
in a few words. But that truth does not sum up all there is of truth, for truth has
more than one perspective. Life is so variable that seldom does any true statement
fit all reality. The result is something can be true, but something just the opposite
can also be true, and the result is proverbs are apparently contradictory or
paradoxical. Just look at some of the popular proverbs that people use all the time,
and see how they are all true even though they are contradictory.
Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
But... Out of sight, out of mind.
ever put off until tomorrow what you can do today.
But... Don't cross the bridge until you come to it.
Don't judge a book by its cover.
But... Clothes make the man
The pen is mightier than the sword.
But... Actions speak louder than words.
You're never too old to learn.
But... You can't teach an old dog new tricks.
A word to the wise is sufficient.
But... Talk is cheap.
Look before you leap.
But... He who hesitates is lost.
It's better to be safe than sorry.
But...
othing ventured, nothing gained
Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
But... Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.
The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
But... Silence is golden.
Try, try again.
Don't beat a dead horse.
BARNES, 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

22. some of the rabbis to question the canonical authority of this book. The Pythagoreans
had maxims expressing a truth in precepts seemingly contradictory.
CLARKE, 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 dishonor of having his
own principles turned against himself, and shown to be destructive of his own
conclusions.” - Treatise on Grace. Preface.
GILL, 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.
HENRY, 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,

23. 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 (Luk_
7:35) Wisdom's children must justify her.
5 Answer a fool according to his folly,
or he will be wise in his own eyes.
A wise man recognizes that every proverb does not apply to every situation in life.
Life is complex and variable, and so wisdom has to vary to meet the demands of
such a complex world. Even fools are not simple to deal with in proverbs, for they
vary in the degree of their folly and in the degree of their blindness to wisdom. It
may be that you discern that the particular fool you are confronting today is not the
same as the fool you encountered yesterday. This fool seems to be a conformist fool
who is going along with the folly of his fellow fools because it is all he knows. But as
you get to know him you see that he has the potential to be persuaded that there is
another way of seeing life. There are hints that he could be touched by some words
of wisdom, and so you do not put him in the same category with the hard core fool
that is locked into his folly. This man has an opening in his mind that reveals he
could be converted from folly to wisdom. This being the case, you cannot refuse to
share the ways of wisdom with him, for that would be folly on your part. In this case
be willing to risk going down to his level in hopes of bringing him up to yours. He is
not a professional fool, but only an amateur, and he can be brought back from the
pit of foolery by a loving sharing of a better way. If you do not share with this fool,
you give him the impression that folly is superior to wisdom, and he will in pride feel
that his folly makes him wise. By not answering him you leave him with the
impression that his way of thinking is unanswerable, and that he represents true
wisdom. He needs to be shown that his folly is just that, and that wisdom is so
superior to all that he has been taught. Seeing this by your persuasion may open his
eyes to his blind following of those who preach nonsense. He could wish to continue
to learn and you have made a disciple. When this potential exists, then it is right to
speak up and expose folly for what it is, for this fool is not locked in and fanatical in
defense of his folly. Gill in his commentary sums up the paradox of these two
proverbs with these words: .....he is to be answered and not answered according to
different times, places, and circumstances, and manner of answering; he is to be
answered when there is any hope of doing him good, or of doing good to others; or
of preventing ill impressions being made upon others by what he has said; when the

24. glory of God, the good of the church, and the cause of truth, require it; and when he
would otherwise glory and triumph, as if his words or works were unanswerable....
The following prayer of the fool was a valid answer to a fool, for he is not fool who
knows he is a fool and seeks the mercy of God.
The Fool's Prayer
Edward Rowland Sill
THE royal feast was done; the King
Sought some new sport to banish care,
And to his jester cried: Sir Fool,
Kneel now, and make for us a prayer!
The jester doffed his cap and bells,
And stood the mocking court before;
They could not see the bitter smile
Behind the painted grin he wore.
He bowed his head, and bent his knee
Upon the monarch's silken stool;
His pleading voice arose: O Lord,
Be merciful to me, a fool!
o pity, Lord, could change the heart
From red with wrong to white as wool;
The rod must heal the sin; but Lord,
Be merciful to me, a fool!
'Tis not by guilt the onward sweep
Of truth and right, O Lord, we stay;
'Tis by our follies that so long
We hold the earth from heaven away.
These clumsy feet, still in the mire,
Go crushing blossoms without end;
These hard, well-meaning hands we thrust
Among the heart-strings of a friend.
The ill-timed truth we might have kept —
Who knows how sharp it pierced and stung?
The word we had not sense to say —
Who knows how grandly it had rung?
Our faults no tenderness should ask,
The chastening stripes must cleanse them all;
But for our blunders-oh, in shame
Before the eyes of heaven we fall.

25. Earth bears no balsam for mistakes;
Men crown the knave, and scourge the tool
That did his will; but Thou, O Lord,
Be merciful to me, a fool!
The room was hushed; in silence rose
The King, and sought his gardens cool,
And walked apart, and murmured low,
Be merciful to me, a fool!
The Jewish Rabbis have another way of resolving the contradictory nature of these
two Proverbs. They say v. 4 is dealing with secular matters, and all sorts of trivial
and meaningless issues that the believer is not to waste his time on. Verse 5,
however, is dealing with important religious issues that are too vital and important
to ignore. So refuse to debate stupid trivia, but do not neglect to debate the crucial
issues relating to God and his will for life.
Among alleged contradictions charged, this one wins a major award for
silliness. What we have here is not contradiction, but dilemma -- an indication
that when it comes to answering fools, you can't win -- because they are fools,
and there is no practical cure for foolery (as this citation demonstrates). So: It
is unwise to argue with a fool at his own level and recognize his own foolish
suppositions, but it is good sometimes to refute him soundly, lest his
foolishness seem to be confirmed by your silence. (Note further that proverbs
are not absolutes -- which fits right in with our dilemma answer.)
GILL, but speak with a fool in thy wisdom;''
and the Syriac version,
yea, speak with a fool according to thy wisdom;''
which would at once remove the seeming contradiction in these words to the former, but
then they are not a true version; indeed it is right, and must be the sense, that when a
fool is answered, as it is sometimes necessary he should, that it be done in wisdom, and
so as to expose his folly; he is to be answered and not answered according to different
times, places, and circumstances, and manner of answering; he is to be answered when
there is any hope of doing him good, or of doing good to others; or of preventing ill
impressions being made upon others by what he has said; when the glory of God, the
good of the church, and the cause of truth, require it; and when he would otherwise glory
and triumph, as if his words or works were unanswerable, as follow;
lest he be wise in his own conceit; which fools are apt to be, and the rather when no
answer is given them; imagining it arises from the strength of their arguments, and their
nervous way of reasoning, when it is rather from a neglect and contempt of them.

26. KD, The sic et non here lying before us is easily explained; after, or according to his
folly, is this second time equivalent to, as is due to his folly: decidedly and firmly
rejecting it, making short work with it (returning a sharp answer), and promptly
replying in a way fitted, if possible, to make him ashamed. Thus one helps him, perhaps,
to self-knowledge; while, in the contrary case, one gives assistance to his self-importance.
The Talmud, Schabbath 30b, solves the contradiction by referring Pro_26:4
to worldly things, and Pro_26:5 to religious things; and it is true that, especially in the
latter case, the answer is itself a duty toward the fool, and towards the truth. Otherwise
the Midrash: one ought not to answer when one knows the fool as such, and to answer
when he does not so know him; for in the first instance the wise man would dishonour
himself by the answer, in the latter case he would give to him who asks the importance
appertaining to a superior.
CLARKE, Cutteth off the feet - Sending by such a person is utterly useless. My old
MS. Bible translates well: Halt in feet and drinking wickednesse that sendith wordis bi
a foole messager. Nothing but lameness in himself can vindicate his sending it by such
hands; and, after all, the expedient will be worse than the total omission, for he is likely
to drink wickedness, i.e., the mischief occasioned by the fool’s misconduct. Coverdale
nearly hits the sense as usual: “He is lame of his fete, yee dronken is he in vanite, that
committeth eny thinge to a foole.”
GILL, He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool,.... Who knows not how
to deliver it in a proper manner, and is incapable of taking the answer, and reporting it
as he should; or unfaithful in it, and brings a bad or false report, as the spies did upon
the good land;
cutteth off the feet; he may as well cut off his feet before he sends him, or send a man
without feet, as such an one; for prudence, diligence, and faithfulness in doing a
message, and bringing back the answer, are as necessary to a messenger as his feet are;
and drinketh damage; to himself; his message not being rightly performed, and
business not done well; which is a loss to the sender, as well as to his credit and
reputation with the person to whom he sends him; he hereby concluding that he must be
a man of no great judgment and sense to send such a fool on his errand. Such are the
unskilful ambassadors of princes; and such are unfaithful ministers, the messengers of
the churches; see Pro_10:26. The words in the original are three sentences, without a
copulative, and stand in this order, he that cutteth off feet; he that drinketh damage;
he that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool; that is, they are alike.
HENRY 6-9, To recommend wisdom to us, and to quicken us to the diligent use of all
the means for the getting of wisdom, Solomon here shows that fools are fit for nothing;
they are either sottish men, who will never think and design at all, or vicious men, who
will never think and design well. 1. They are not fit to be entrusted with any business, not
fit to go on an errand (Pro_26:6): He that does but send a message by the hand of a
fool, of a careless heedless person, one who is so full of his jests and so given to his
pleasures that he cannot apply his mind to any thing that is serious, will find his message
misunderstood, the one half of it forgotten, the rest awkwardly delivered, and so many

27. blunders made about it that he might as well have cut off his legs, that is, never have sent
him. Nay, he will drink damage; it will be very much to his prejudice to have employed
such a one, who, instead of bringing him a good account of his affairs, will abuse him
and put a trick upon him; for, in Solomon's language, a knave and a fool are of the same
signification. It will turn much to a man's disgrace to make use of the service of a fool,
for people will be apt to judge of the master by his messenger. 2. They are not fit to have
any honour put upon them. He had said (Pro_26:1), Honour is not seemly for a fool;
here he shows that it is lost and thrown away upon him, as if a man should throw a
precious stone, or a stone fit to be used in weighing, into a heap of common stones,
where it would be buried and of no use; it is as absurd as if a man should dress up a
stone in purple (so others); nay, it is dangerous, it is like a stone bound in a sling, with
which a man will be likely to do hurt. To give honour to a fool is to put a sword in a
madman's hand, with which we know not what mischief he may do, even to those that
put it into his hand. 3. They are not fit to deliver wise sayings, nor should they undertake
to handle any matter of weight, though they should be instructed concerning it, and be
able to say something to it. Wise sayings, as a foolish man delivers them and applies
them (in such a manner that one may know he does not rightly understand them), lose
their excellency and usefulness: A parable in the mouth of fools ceases to be a parable,
and becomes a jest. If a man who lives a wicked life, yet speaks religiously and takes
God's covenant into his mouth, (1.) He does but shame himself and his profession: As
the legs of the lame are not equal, by reason of which their going is unseemly, so
unseemly is it for a fool to pretend to speak apophthegms, and give advice, and for a man
to talk devoutly whose conversation is a constant contradiction to his talk and gives him
the lie. His good words raise him up, but then his bad life takes him down, and so his
legs are not equal. “A wise saying,” (says bishop Patrick) “doth as ill become a fool as
dancing doth a cripple; for, as his lameness never so much appears as when he would
seem nimble, so the other's folly is never so ridiculous as when he would seem wise.” As
therefore it is best for a lame man to keep his seat, so it is best for a silly man, or a bad
man, to hold his tongue. (2.) He does but do mischief with it to himself and others, as a
drunkard does with a thorn, or any other sharp thing which he takes in his hand, with
which he tears himself and those about him, because he knows not how to manage it.
Those that talk well and do not live well, their good words will aggravate their own
condemnation and others will be hardened by their inconsistency with themselves. Some
give this sense of it: The sharpest saying, by which a sinner, one would think, should be
pricked to the heart, makes no more impression upon a fool, no, though it come out of
his own mouth, than the scratch of a thorn does upon the hand of a man when he is
drunk, who then feels it not nor complains of it, Pro_23:35.
6 Like cutting off one's feet or drinking violence
is the sending of a message by the hand of a
fool.
The Message has it, You're only asking for trouble when you send a message by a

28. fool. In other words you are being stupid if you trust a fool to delilver a message
for you. He will screw it up in some way or other and you would be better off never
having sent it. It is comparable to thinking that cutting off your feet will speed
things up in getting an important message through.
obody is that stupid, but they
are stupid enough to use a fool to get the message delivered, and that is on the same
low level of stupidity as cutting off one's feet. The point is, it is so stupid that only a
radical and extreme action like cutting off one's feet can illustrate it. You have to go
beyond all human logic and intelligence to convey just how stupid it is to use a fool
as a messenger. The implication is that the message is important and that it get to
the intended person on time. The lazy fool will delay delivering it until it is too late.
He will convey a message that is the opposite of what you intended to say and create
confusion and even disaster. You just as well cut off your feet and eliminate the
middleman who is a fool. He cannot be trusted to do the job right, and you are
dumb as nails if you think he can. You are putting your reputation and possibly
even your life in the hands of one who is totally unreliable. If the day comes that you
can see the potential of sending an important message by the hand of a fool as a
good thing, you should order a straight jacket as quickly as possible, for you will
soon be deluded into thinking feet amputations could enhance your mobility. The
bottom line is, you do not entrust an important task to a fool.
The other metaphor here is drinking violence. It is a parallel to cutting off one's
feet. It is saying the same thing with different words. It is like saying that doing
something radically painful and damaging will somehow be the wise thing to do.
That is what you are thinking when you choose to use a fool as your messenger. It
will lead to painful consequences.
obody can really be so stupid as to think that
consuming violence and doing severe damage to themselves is a good thing, but
somehow the choice of sending a message by means of a fool does not seem that
radically stupid, and so it is a choice people make. This Proverb is suggesting you
think twice about such a choice, or maybe a few thousand times. It can be a feet
saver to do so. You will notice that one of the themes that run through this book of
fools is the theme of the damage that can come to you by the hand of fools. If you
honor them it hurts your reputation. If you engage in foolish debate with them you
fall to their level, and again, damage your own image. In verse 8 your honor of them
leads to your injuring yourself by means of a sling with the stone tied in that will
only hit your own head.. In verse 10 you risk great harm by hiring a fool, for it is as
dangerous as an archer who lets his arrows fly at random wounding anyone in the
area. The point is, you are courting violence and damage to yourself by any dealings
with a fool, so avoid such dealings like the plague.
BARNES, Or, Take away the legs of the lame man, and the parable that is in the mouth
of fools: both are alike useless to their possessors. Other meanings are:
(1) “The legs of the lame man are feeble, so is parable in the mouth of fools.”
(2) “the lifting up of the legs of a lame man, i. e., his attempts at dancing, are as the
parable in the mouth of fools.”
GILL, The legs of the lame are not equal,.... Or as the lifting up the legs by one
that is lame (m), to dance to a pipe or violin, is very unseemly, and does but the more

29. expose his infirmity, and can give no pleasure to others, but causes derision and
contempt;
so is a parable in the mouth of fools; an apophthegm, or sententious expression of
his own, which he delivers out as a wise saying, but is lame and halts; it is not consistent
with itself, but like the legs of a lame man, one higher than the other: or one of the
proverbs of this book, or rather any passage of Scripture, in the mouth of a wicked man;
or any religious discourse of his is very unsuitable, since his life and conversation do not
agree with it; it is as disagreeable to hear such a man talk of religious affairs as it is to see
a lame man dance; or whose legs imitate buckets at a well, where one goes up and
another down, as Gussetius (n) interprets the word.
7 Like a lame man's legs that hang limp
is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.
A wise saying coming from the mouth of a fool is about as helpful as being handed a
wet noodle to pry open a jar lid. It is as useless as the legs of a lame man, and just as
they do not get the man anywhere, so the wise saying does not improve the life of the
fool one iota. The legs and the proverb both hang limp and useless, for just as the
lame man cannot use his legs, the fool cannot use wisdom. The paralyzed man
cannot walk, and the foolish man cannot be wise even though he can quote the
sayings of the wise. A fool trying to be wise is like a cripple trying to dance. It is
absurd and just does not work. It is just as likely that a lame man could get out of
his wheelchair and dance as that a fool could get out of his lame brain and be wise.
Just as the legs of the lame man are useless, so the proverbs of the wise are useless to
the fool. And unknown commentator wrote, Parables and proverbs are the dark
sayings of the wise (1:5-6; Ps 78:2). They are the carefully contrived means of
teaching wisdom in few words, with striking force. Taken from every day life, they
have a figurative meaning requiring skill and understanding to interpret and
explain. Formed with interesting similes and metaphors for appeal and challenge,
they are too much for a fool, who is a man without understanding or wisdom.
When the fool starts speaking the words of the wise it is like the lame man bragging
about how high he can jump and how fast he can run. It is incongruous and out of
line with reality and therefore silly nonsense. The fool makes wisdom laughable by
quoting it, for it is so far from being applicable in his life. The lame man can talk the
talk but he cannot walk the walk with his physical legs, and the fool can spout
proverbs and the wisdom of God and man all day long, but he cannot live by that
wisdom for he does not have the mental legs to walk in wisdom.
Fools should be taught; they should not teach. Fools should listen; they should not

30. talk. Therefore, they should not have the honor of a public forum for their
babblings (26:1, 26:8). And they should be ignored or shut up by wise rebukes (26:4-
5). Their lack of common sense and/or spiritual understanding denies them any
right to take the deep things of God's word into their mouths. Their sinful living
habits and profane treatment of religious matters preclude them from touching His
holy things. They would do much better and be perceived more kindly, if they kept
their mouths shut (17:28)!
But it is impossible for them to shut up and listen and learn - they must be babbling
in their ignorance - for that is one of the chief marks of a fool (15:2; Eccl 5:3; 10:3,
12-14). Identifying fools is quite easy: all you have to do is listen for the one talking
the most. So fools in both the pulpit and pew take up the Word of God and try to
teach wisdom.
A fool thinks the sound and sense of words are equal - they need no interpretation -
so the cripple stumbles into confusion and heresy! Sound bites are good enough for
a fool! Why worry about context or the spiritual intent of words, he argues: the
Bible means what it says, and says what it means. He doesn't know or understand
the minister's work of reading distinctly and giving the sense of a reading (
eh 8:8;
Eccl 8:1; II Pet 1:20).
A fool thinks reading and study are the same - he assumes thinking and studying are
the same - so the cripple stumbles without preparation. Anyone should be able to
give their opinion on a matter, he argues: we are all God's children and have the
Spirit to expound and teach the truth. He has neither the God-given aptitude for the
work, nor invests the sweat to save him from doctrinal shame (15:28; I Tim 3:2;
4:13-15; II Tim 2:15; Titus 1:9).
A fool opens his mouth wide and belches about doctrine and principle - but his life
never matches the Scriptures he uses - so the cripple stumbles and falls into the
gutter of hypocrisy. He fools some by his loud profession of faith and wisdom, but
the Lord Jesus Christ will expose his nakedness in the Day of Judgment (Matt 7:21-
23). He fails one of the chief duties of a teacher - to be an example of the truth (I
Tim 4:12, 16; Titus 2:7).
Is this proverb literally true? Until you have heard a spiritualizing fool with the
Song of Solomon or the parable of the Good Samaritan, you cannot appreciate just
how ridiculous a dancing cripple can be! Until you hear a fund-raising fool abuse
and twist the proverbial words, Where there is no vision, the people perish, you
cannot fully grasp the danger and folly of a cripple on a balance beam! See the
comments on 29:18!
Reader, what lessons can you learn here? Be swift to hear and slow to speak (Jas
1:19). Do not be eager to be a teacher, for they shall receive the greater
condemnation (Jas 3:1). Silence is golden, especially if God or men have not called
you to be a teacher (Heb 5:4). Make sure your life teaches louder than your words
(Matt 23:14-15).

31. Our Lord Jesus was no cripple! His legs were equal and very strong! He was
perfectly fit as the greatest teacher of wisdom in the history of the world! His
prudent use and interpretation of parables and proverbs was exceptional! He was
greater than Solomon! His skill and power in teaching caused men to tremble in
amazement and avoid questions (Matt 7:28-29; 22:46; Luke 4:22; John 7:46). Give
Him the glory due unto His name!
Luther gave the verse a fanciful but memorable rendering: “Like dancing to a
cripple, so is a proverb in the mouth of the fool.”
As C. H. Toy puts it, the fool is a “proverb-monger” (Proverbs [ICC], 474); he
handles an aphorism about as well as a lame man can walk. The fool does not
understand, has not implemented, and cannot explain the proverb. It is useless to
him even though he repeats it.
BARNES, The legs of the lame are not equal,.... Or as the lifting up the legs by
one that is lame (m), to dance to a pipe or violin, is very unseemly, and does but the
more expose his infirmity, and can give no pleasure to others, but causes derision and
contempt;
so is a parable in the mouth of fools; an apophthegm, or sententious expression of
his own, which he delivers out as a wise saying, but is lame and halts; it is not consistent
with itself, but like the legs of a lame man, one higher than the other: or one of the
proverbs of this book, or rather any passage of Scripture, in the mouth of a wicked man;
or any religious discourse of his is very unsuitable, since his life and conversation do not
agree with it; it is as disagreeable to hear such a man talk of religious affairs as it is to see
a lame man dance; or whose legs imitate buckets at a well, where one goes up and
another down, as Gussetius (n) interprets the word.
8 Like tying a stone in a sling
is the giving of honor to a fool.
Solomon is back on a pet theme about giving honor to the fool. All of his many
relationships to the royalty of the world gave him a wide range of experience where
he doubtless saw many foolish men being given honor. He saw the folly of this and
we can assume that fools were scarce in his court where he would be concerned that
only the most wise of men be surrounding him. He was so opposed to honoring a
fool that he comes up with extremely exaggerated illustration of just how stupid it is.
Show me a man who ties his stone into his sling and I will show you an idiot. A sling
with the stone tied in would only do damage to the one using the sling. He would
wind up twirling the stone around and around in the air and then when he would let