Matthew Henry on Proverbs 26:4-5
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…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Proverbs 26:5
Answer--by reproof.
John Gill on Proverbs 26:5
Answer a fool according to his folly,.... The Targum is,
"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…
Read the whole note in the consoleKeil & Delitzsch on Proverbs 26:5
5 Answer the fool according to his folly,
Lest he regard himself as wise.
ענה־כסיל (with Makkeph, and Gaja, and Chatef)
(Note: Thus after Ben Asher; while, on the contrary, Ben Naphtali writes ענה כסיל with Munach, vid., Thorath Emeth, p. 41.)
here stands opposed to אל־תען כסיל. The Gospel of John, e.g., Joh 5:31, cf. Pro 8:31,
(Note: Vid., my dissertation on three little-observed passages in the Gospel of John, and their practical lessons, in the Evang. luth. Kirchenzeitung, 1869, Nos. 37, 38.)
is rich in such apparently contradictory sayings. 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:…
