Proverbs 26:1-4

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Proverbs 26:1

Note, 1. It is too common a thing for honour to be given to fools, who are utterly unworthy of it and unfit for it. Bad men, who have neither wit nor grace, are sometimes preferred by princes, and applauded and cried up by the people. Folly is set in great dignity, as Solomon observed, Eccl. 10:6. 2. It is very absurd and unbecoming when it is so. It is an incongruous as snow in summer, and as great a disorder in the commonwealth as that is in the course of nature and in the seasons of the... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Proverbs 26:2

Here is, 1. The folly of passion. It makes men scatter causeless curses, wishing ill to others upon presumption that they are bad and have done ill, when either they mistake the person or misunderstand the fact, or they call evil good and good evil. Give honour to a fool, and he thunders out his anathemas against all that he is disgusted with, right or wrong. Great men, when wicked, think they have a privilege to keep those about them in awe, by cursing them, and swearing at them, which yet is... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Proverbs 26:3

Here, 1. Wicked men are compared to the horse and the ass, so brutish are they, so unreasonable, so unruly, and not to be governed but by force or fear, so low has sin sunk men, so much below themselves. Man indeed is born like the wild ass's colt, but as some by the grace of God are changed, and become rational, so others by custom in sin are hardened, and become more and more sottish, as the horse and the mule, Ps. 32:9. 2. Direction is given to use them accordingly. Princes, instead of... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Proverbs 26:1

As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest ,.... Which were very undesirable and unseasonable, yea, very hurtful to the fruits of the earth; and a great obstruction to the labourers in the harvest, and a hinderance to the gathering of it in; and were very rare and uncommon in Judea; it was even a miracle for thunder and rain to be in wheat harvest, 1 Samuel 12:17 ; so honour is not seemly for a fool : for a wicked man; such should not be favoured by kings, and set in high places of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Proverbs 26:2

As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying ,.... As a bird, particularly the sparrow, as the word F8 כצפור "sicat passeris", Mercerus, Gejerus; "ut passer", Piscator; Schultens. is sometimes rendered, leaves its nest and wanders from it; and flies here and there, and settles nowhere; and as the swallow flies to the place from whence it came; or the wild pigeon, as some F9 Bochart. Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 1. c. 8. think is meant, which flies away very swiftly: the swallow... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Proverbs 26:3

A whip for the horse ,.... One that is dull of going, or refractory and wants breaking; a bridle for the ass ; not to curb and restrain it from going too fist, asses being generally dull; but to direct its way and turn it when necessary, it being stiffnecked and obstinate; though the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, render it a "spear" or "goad", something to prick with, and excite it to motion; and so the Targum; or otherwise one would have thought the whip was fitter for the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Proverbs 26:4

Answer not a fool according to his folly ,.... Sometimes a fool, or wicked man, is not to be answered at all; as the ministers of Hezekiah answered not a word to Rabshakeh; nor Jeremiah the prophet to Hananiah; nor Christ to the Scribes and Pharisees; and when an answer is returned, it should not be in his foolish way and manner, rendering evil for evil, and railing for railing, in the same virulent, lying, calumniating, and reproachful language; lest thou also be like unto him ; lest... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Proverbs 26:1

As snow in summer - None of these is suitable to the time; and at this unsuitable time, both are unwelcome: so a fool to be in honor is unbecoming. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Proverbs 26:2

As the bird - צפור tsippor is taken often for the sparrow; but means generally any small bird. As the sparrow flies about the house, and the swallow emigrates to strange countries; so an undeserved malediction may flutter about the neighborhood for a season: but in a short time it will disappear as the bird of passage; and never take effect on the innocent person against whom it was pronounced. read more

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