Dealing with Difficult People — Proverbs

Chapter 26 is organized into three portrait sections, the fool, the sluggard, and the malicious person, each with its own cluster of observations.

The fool section (vv. 1-12) is the most varied and contains the chapter's most famous pair of verses. Verse 4 says: answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him. Verse 5 immediately says: answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit. These consecutive and contradictory commands are not a contradiction to be resolved, they are a description of the tension that cannot be resolved. Both are true; wisdom is knowing which applies in any given moment. Also here: as a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool returns to his folly, one of the most quoted images in the entire Bible. And: do you see a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope of a fool than of him. Self-conceit places someone below even a fool on the scale of recoverability.

The sluggard section (vv. 13-16): the slothful man says there is a lion in the way. As the door turns on its hinges, so the sluggard turns on his bed. He hides his hand in his bosom; it grieves him to bring it back to his mouth. The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men who can give a reason.

The malicious person section (vv. 17-28): he that passes by and meddles with strife not his own is like one who takes a dog by the ears, inviting a bite that was not inevitable. As a madman who throws firebrands, arrows, and death, so is the man who deceives his neighbour and then says, Am I not in sport? Where no wood is, the fire goes out; where there is no talebearer, strife ceases. Burning lips and a wicked heart are like a pot sherd covered with silver dross, beautiful on the outside, worthless beneath. Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness will be shown before the whole congregation. Whoever digs a pit shall fall into it; whoever rolls a stone, it will return upon him. A lying tongue hates those it afflicts, and a flattering mouth works ruin.