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Recently I discovered for the first time two adjacent verses that contradict themselves:

'Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself.

Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes.' Proverbs 26:4-5 (NIV)

Part of my faith is built on the infallibility of Scripture - how then ought we to respond to this discovery? It certainly ought not to be ignored - and I am so glad I have not, because the truth is that it is not actually a contradiction as we will discover, and praise God for that! Let's add the verse before as well to get some context, as verses 3-5 in the Hebrew appear as one idea:

'A whip for the horse, a halter for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools! Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you will be like him yourself. Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes.' Proverbs 26:3-5 (NIV)

Useful tools

The writer here uses the picture of a whip for a horse and a halter for a donkey, and as Robert Jamieson puts it, 'The rod is as much needed by fools and as well suited to them, as whips and bridles are for beasts.' In other words, when dealing with an animal one would use a whip or a bridle to control it - in the same way, fools need to be beaten with a rod to control their foolishness and keep them in shape. This is the reason why the following verses are not a contradiction; verses four and five are an exposition of the idea in verse three in that the only thing good for fools is to beat them with a stick - nothing else will have a satisfactory result! In the same way that one cannot reason with a donkey (see Psalm 32:9), one cannot realistically reason with a fool - this is backed up multiple times in Scripture, particularly in Proverbs (e.g. Proverbs 1:22, Proverbs 10:8, Proverbs 10:21).

Do not become like fools

So we are not to answer a fool with regard to his folly - not only will he not listen but the frustration is likely to pull us into that same folly. This may at first appear to be a passive attitude, but in truth there are other biblical examples of people who have not answered fools (helpfully pointed out in John Gill's Exposition) such as Hezekiah not answering Rabshakeh (2 Kings 18:36) and Christ not answering the Scribes and the Pharisees. In addition when we absolutely must answer fools we should be careful not to fall into the trap of answering the fool in a foolish way, and therefore we need to call upon the Lord to bless us with wisdom, for He is where all true wisdom comes from - and who better to call upon?

Do not encourage fools

The exact opposite is also true; we should not ignore fools and allow them to continue with their folly - the result of this would be that he would see himself as wise, and continue to be a fool indefinitely! God's grace is poured out upon us entirely due to the fact that God loves us despite the fact that we are fools! He does not neglect us and we should not neglect others. In truth, before God saved us we were not only fools, we were spiritually dead! Yet God reached into our lives and brought us out of darkness and into His marvellous light (1 Peter 2:9).

We therefore have a challenge in that when we come across those acting foolishly we will not always know how to react to them. With this is mind it is so apparent that we must consistently study God's Word and continue to call upon the Holy Spirit to fill us regularly because we need His wisdom and guidance. There is, however, one more challenge, which is somehow more sobering.

Our challenge

Let's ask ourselves this question: are we that fool? When others question us do we find ourselves arguing with them until they agree with us? And when others do not question us do we somehow justify our foolish actions to ourselves? The warning comes in Proverbs 12:15 - 'The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.'

'Lord God, may we be those who are wise, not in our own eyes but in Your eyes. Bless us with Your Spirit and Your wisdom to enable us to heed advice and warnings, and submit to those in authority. Give us humility to seek ways to grow and never become satisfied with the way that we are. Bless us with the ability to compare our lives with that of Jesus by focussing the eyes of our heart on Him, in whose Name we pray. Amen'

"Inspiration For You" from Randy Mitchell

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