Is This A Contradiction?

Has anyone ever read these scriptures?

Proverbs 26:4 Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.

Proverbs 26:5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit.

Is this a contradiction? If not, how do you know which scripture to exercise, and when?

Not a contradiction. A juxtaposition and maybe a play on words. Don't answer a fool with foolishness. Answer him in a way that demonstrates his folly to prevent him from thinking he is wise in his folly.

I have always thought that he was describing two separate but equally effective ways to deal with fools, depending on the fool.

We must be led by the Spirit to know which method to employ.

The NASB translates it as follows, and I think it helps clarify:

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

5 Answer a fool as his folly deserves, that he not be wise in his own eyes.

The Hebrew is the same in each statement. It basically reads in Hebrew as in English, according to a few articles and commentaries I browsed online.

Here is one man's take, which I found helpful, and connects with the NASB rendering. The Septuagint treatment is also instructive.

http://michaelyates.blogspot.com/2010/04/answering-fool-proverbs-264-5.html

(Note....not an endorsement of the author.)

First according to Scripture, what is a fool?

Pro 1:22
"How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity?
For scorners delight in their scorning,
And fools hate knowledge.

Pro 1:23
Turn at my rebuke;
Surely I will pour out my spirit on you;
I will make my words known to you.

.....

Pro 1:32
For the turning away of the simple will slay them,
And the complacency of fools will destroy them;

So, a fool has been given access to wisdom, but chooses to remain simple. And by this complacency, the fool is deceived.

Pro 14:3
In the mouth of a fool is a rod of pride,
But the lips of the wise will preserve them.

Pro 14:16
A wise man fears and departs from evil,
But a fool rages and is self-confident.

So the stumbling block for a fool, is pride and self-confidence.

Perhaps the Septuagint sheds more light upon the difference.

Verse 4 uses the Greek preposition "kata" which means "according to", the idea being "in a similar manner." We should not answer a fool in a "similar manner" or "likeness" that the fool speaks in.

Verse 5 uses the Greek preposition "pros" - which means "towards". We should speak towards the fool lest he think himself to be wise by our silence.

I hope that helps.

makrothumia

Verses 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 he rail and talk passionately, do not thou rail and talk passionately too. If he tell one great lie, do not thou tell another to match it. If he calumniate thy friends, do not thou calumniate his. If he banter, do not answer him in his own language, lest thou be like him, even thou, who knowest better things, who hast more sense, and hast been better taught.’’ 2. Yet, in other cases, a wise man will use his wisdom for the conviction of a fool, when, by taking notice of what he says, there may be hopes of doing good, or at least preventing further, mischief, either to himself or others. "If thou have reason to think that thy silence will be deemed an evidence of the weakness of thy cause, or of thy own weakness, in such a case answer him, and let it be an answer ad hominem””to the man, beat him at his own weapons, and that will be an answer ad rem””to the point, or as good as one. If he offer any thing that looks like an argument, an answer that, and suit thy answer to his case. If he think, because thou dost not answer him, that what he says is unanswerable, then give him an answer, lest he be wise in his own conceit and boast of a victory.’’ For (Lu. 7:35 ) Wisdom’s children must justify her.

Thank you all, not only for confirming some thoughts but also for providing some insights I have not considered.

God is good!

BD

According to Scripture who then is a fool?

Going back to "what" is a fool, it is one who rejects the wisdom that is given to the individual by God.

So then, who is a fool?

Psa 1:1
Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

Psa 1:2
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.

Psa 1:3
He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.

Psa 1:4
The ungodly are not so,
But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

Psa 1:5
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

One must be a fruit inspector. It the individual ungodly? Is he a sinner? Is he a righteous individual?