Enigma
4 Answer not a fool according to his folly,
lest you be like him yourself.
5 Answer a fool according to his folly,
lest he be wise in his own eyes. Proverbs 26:4-5
Winston Churchill once described Soviet Russia as a “riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” That’s how a lot of people feel about these two verses. How are we to understand Solomon saying, on the one hand, “answer not a fool” and then, in the next breath, saying, “answer a fool.” Which is it, man?
The answer is actually pretty straightforward, and comes from the reason clauses in each verse.
There are times when you should not answer a fool. This may, in fact, be the majority of the time. Entering into an argument with a fool is virtually never a good idea, because in the process you will become “like him yourself” (v4). You’ve seen this many times. Perhaps on the playground where one child loses a game and decides the best recourse is to insult the winning player. This should be ignored. But usually it isn’t, and the (initially) offended party ends up being just as much in the wrong as the original spoiled sport, dropping to the same name-calling level. Answering the fool was itself an act of folly.
On the other hand, there are times when a fool must be answered, because failing to do so will lead them - and perhaps others - to believe that they are, in fact, wise. Suppose I have someone inside my church who begins to spread doubt about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But rather than being an honest questioner who simply wants a good answer (the sort of person to whom I’d hand a book on the subject or have a conversation with), this person is passing around Dan Brown novels and someone’s self-published “research” on what’s wrong with organized Christianity. Well, in that case, failing to answer their folly may well lead them astray.
But here is the kicker, and I think it is the part uncomfortable for many Christians. Neither part of the verse says to answer a fool with simple, clear, reason. In either case this would be a waste of time. In the first instance, you simply ignore the fool. In the second, you answer him according to his folly. What does this look like? I think this is the place where one should use the sort of comment which shows you do not take their argument seriously at all.
Example:
Let’s take the above instance for a hypothetical.
Doubting Thomas: “I don’t know how Christians could believe Jesus really die on the cross and rose from the dead. It’s been shown that he married Mary Magdalene, had children, and was really just a normal - if kind of eccentric and charismatic - dude. Besides, look at all these books the New Testament doesn’t include - there was a conspiracy to hide the truth!”
Christian #1: “Hm. That’s a different perspective. But really, if you look at the historical data, here are four compelling facts for the resurrection, and twelve reasons we don’t accept those apocryphal books as reliable…”
The above would be a perfectly reasonable answer. But if you’ve ever been in that conversation, and been the nice/informed Christian trying to provide a helpful answer to the habitual doubter, you realize that the reasons you just brought forward go a whole lot of nowhere. It’s not that they’re invalid or unimportant. But they weren’t what was needed in that moment. Now let’s imagine Doubting Thomas met a believer who had just been chewing over Proverbs 26:5 in his morning devotions.
Doubting Thomas: “I don’t know how Christians could believe Jesus really die on the cross and rose from the dead. It’s been shown that he married Mary Magdalene, had children, and was really just a normal - if kind of eccentric and charismatic - dude. Besides, look at all these books the New Testament doesn’t include - there was a conspiracy to hide the truth!”
Christian #2: “Fascinating. You’re telling me close to a dozen mostly uneducated Jewish peasants in the first century put together an elaborate hoax, wrote it down in such a way that they are often the butt of jokes rather than heroes, and then collectively found said hoax to be so important that they were willing to die for it. That makes tons of sense. Please, tell me more.”
Was Christian #2 as “nice” as Christian #1? Maybe not. Did he answer according to the folly of the fool? I would say yes, yes he did. We may need a little more of that in our day.
It matters who said it
7 Like a lame man’s legs, which hang useless,
is a proverb in the mouth of fools. Proverbs 26:7
I was recently at a wedding and had the painful experience of listening to the first man’s speech (such speeches often are painful). While there was some of the typical pain associated with a 20 year old male being handed a microphone (i.e., he made the speech largely about himself rather than the groom), the part that really was painful was when he came to a list of seven pieces of marriage advice for the newlyweds.
I need to say, in all honesty, that all of the advice was pretty good. He had clearly done the proper amount of googling/talking to older couples/asking an AI generator the correct questions. The advice itself was not the issue.
The problem was the painfully self-assured carriage of a guy who probably had never had a steady girlfriend as he spouted off this list - “communication is the foundation of any healthy relationship” “number 6 - and I have to say, this is the most important…”. The proverbial wisdom he had brought was not the problem. It was the foolish self-confidence of, “now let me teach you something here…” The message was fine; the messenger reeked of inexperience.
This has a few applications for life. Number one, having the right information doesn’t make you the right messenger. Preachers need to hear this, because right doctrine and professional competence aren’t going to mean jack-squat if your life isn’t obviously bearing fruit. No one wants to listen to a preacher when they can’t hear over his screaming kids - he can’t control his own hooligans, why should I listen to him (1 Timothy 3:5)? Who wants to listen to the gospel of grace from an ill-tempered man (1 Timothy 3:2-3).
It also matters in places of personal advice, as in the above example. Don’t dish advice you aren’t willing to live. Also be reticent to dish advice that you simple haven’t lived. Proverbial knowledge comes across as meaningless apart from visibly applied wisdom.
But, there is also a caution worth noting on the receiving end. Just because the messenger is a fool, or an incompetent boob, or just a nice young kid who doesn’t yet know better than to think a lot of himself - don’t disregard the message because you distrust the messenger. Sometimes that guy is a fool, but it’s a genuine proverb hanging from his lip.
Hiring Matters
10 Like an archer who wounds everyone
is one who hires a passing fool or drunkard. Proverbs 26:10
I think about this one a lot. We’re looking to hire a few new employees in our business this year, and the employees we have are really good. I’d say if I have a fear in my life in the moment it’s messing up that chemistry with a foolish hire.
Part of that comes from being in workplaces where bad employees were hired - and everyone knew they were going to be a bad employee within about twelve minutes of their being hired - and yet they weren’t cut loose. Management was afraid to hurt their feelings, or hoped they would improve, or thought they were a nice person and deserved a chance, or sympathized with their hard-luck story…the reasons bad employees are help onto can run on and on. But here’s the deal: having a fool, or a drunk, or someone who just refuses to put in the work on your payroll is bad for everyone.
It’s bad for you - you aren’t getting what you pay for in labor. It’s bad for the other employees - you’re ruining the work environment. It’s bad for the customers - who have to deal with this person. And, here’s the real deal for you soft-hearted readers - it’s bad for the person you hired, too. Coddling someone in their folly and sin does not help them out. They need to feel consequences of their choices and actions. You cannot save them from their folly, only Jesus can do that.
So don’t look at hiring as a form of evangelism or welfare. Hire the best people you reasonably can, and look for other ways to help those who need help. Because giving them a job they shouldn’t have is like spinning in circles, blindfolded, shooting arrows at random. Not a great idea.
Shut up, already
20 For lack of wood the fire goes out,
and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases. Proverbs 26:20
Keeping your mouth shut is a major theme in Proverbs. It’s good advice for fools (Proverbs 17:28) and the uninformed (Proverbs 18:13). It also is a major tool-tip for conflict resolution. When you quit whispering about something, you’ve pulled all the fuel out of the quarreling fire.
This is not to say you sweep things under the rug that need dealt with. But such things are best done face-to-face (Matthew 18:15; Leviticus 19:17), or by appealing to a proper authority (e.g., 1 Kings 3:16-28). The proper solution is never to start whispering behind people’s backs and starting rumors. That is simply kindling for a fire. It’s Satanic work, not godly work. So if you’re guilty of whispering about others, it’s time to shut your mouth. It’s amazing what good it will do.