Dealing with Fools – Proverbs 26:4-5

They use derogatory names for people, constantly boast about their own abilities, refuse to really listen to anyone, make outlandish claims without feeling a need to give evidence, and seek to humiliate.  Fools.  How do you answer them?

Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself.   Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes. (Proverbs 26:4–5, ESV)

Solomon put these two proverbs right next to each other to demonstrate that wisdom is not rules and promises but principles and probabilities.  There is generally no merit in answering a fool in the same manner as he promotes himself.  You don’t want to act like a fool to counter a fool.  You don’t want to fall into the same trap, matching anger with anger, or petty argument with petty argument.  But then there are times when that is exactly what you must do to help the fool or someone under the fool’s influence to see wisdom.

Barnes Notes on the Bible says, Two sides of a truth. To “answer a fool according to his folly” is in Proverbs 26:4 to bandy words with him, to descend to his level of coarse anger and vile abuse; in Proverbs 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.

Here is Paul doing the latter:

[16] I repeat, let no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. [17] What I am saying with this boastful confidence, I say not as the Lord would but as a fool. [18] Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. [19] For you gladly bear with fools, being wise yourselves! [20] For you bear it if someone makes slaves of you, or devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or strikes you in the face. [21] To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that!

But whatever anyone else dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that. [22] Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. [23] Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. [24] Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. [25] Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; [26] on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; [27] in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. [28] And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. [29] Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?

[30] If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. (2 Corinthians 11:16–30, ESV)

How do you know which advice to follow from these two proverbs?  Ask the Lord.  Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you.