The Two Ways of Meeting Folly
W. Clarkson Proverbs 26:4, 5 Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like to him.… They are these - I. THE CAREFUL AVOIDANCE OF REPEATING IT. (Ver. 4.) Only too often men allow the foolish to draw them into a repetition of their folly, so that one fool makes another. Folly is contagious, and we are all in some danger of catching it. This is the case with us when: 1. We let the word of anger provoke us to a responsive bitterness; then we are "overcome of evil" instead of "overcoming evil with good" (Romans 12:21). 2. We allow one exaggeration to lead us into another. When two men are in conversation, one is often tempted to lead the other into statements that exceed the truth; and exaggeration is only another name for falsehood. 3. We accept a foolish challenge. The young, more particularly, are fond of exciting one another to deeds of folly, and it often requires courage, steadfastness, even nobility of spirit, to refuse to follow the leading of unwisdom. 4. We indulge in idle gossip; letting the first statement about our neighbour, which is unfounded and slanderous, conduct us to idle and mischievous talk in the same foolish strain. 5. We permit ourselves to follow the lead of the man whose thoughts and words are in the direction of a doubtful, or a dishonourable, or a defiling region. In all these cases it behoves us "not to answer a fool according to his folly," to be silent altogether; or else to break away into another and worthier strain; or even to "take up our parable" against that which has been said in our hearing. But here we reach the other method, viz. - If. THE WISE CONDEMNATION OF IT. Folly is sometimes to be rebuked (ver. 5). Silence on our part would be mistaken and abused; it would be regarded as acquiescence or as incapacity to meet what has been said, and folly would go on its way, its empty head held higher than before. We must use discretion here; must understand "when only silence suiteth best," and also when silence would be a mistake and even a sin. The times to answer a fool according to his folly, i.e. in the way which is demanded by his folly, are surely these: 1. When ignorance needs to be exposed. 2. When pretentiousness and presumptuousness want to be put down. 3. When irreverence or actual profanity requires to be rebuked and silenced. 4. When vice or cruelty deserves to be smitten and abashed. Then let the true and brave man speak; let the name and the honour of his holy Saviour, let the cause of truth and righteousness, let the interests of the young and the poor and the weak unloose his tongue, and let him pour forth his indignation. In so doing he will be following in the footsteps of the Lord of truth and love, and of the noblest and worthiest of his followers. - C. Parallel Verses KJV: Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him. WEB: Don't answer a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him.