“THE fool” has an unenviably large place in the first part of this chapter, that such as are not unwise may take warning, steer clear of thoughtlessness, and know how to act toward such an one.
“As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honor is not seemly for a fool.
As the sparrow in wandering, as the swallow in flying, so a curse causeless cometh not.
A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the back of fools.
Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like him.
Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.
He that sendeth a message by the hand of a fool cutteth off [his own] feet [and] drinketh damage.
The legs of the lame hang loose: so [is] a proverb in the mouth of fools” (vers. 1-7).
There is an evil that I have seen under the sun says the royal preacher (Eccl. 10:6, 7), as an error that proceedeth from a ruler: folly is set in great dignities, but the rich sit in a low place. I have seen bondmen upon horses, and princes walking as bondmen upon the earth. But both sights are unseemly, as anomalous as snow in summer or rain in harvest.
Next the figure is taken from the restless change of the sparrow, and the seemingly aimless flights of the swallow to express the emptiness of the folly that indulges in undeserved curse.
Again, the horse and the ass which need the whip and the bridle are taken to show that a rod is no less requisite to chastise fools if nothing less can restrain them.
But verses 4 and 5 are strikingly instructive save for those who know not to look for a guidance which is above appearances, and guides according to the realities in eyes that see where man cannot. To man's mind it is a contradiction; and no wonder, for he eschews a divine Master, who owns one that may be called to act rightly but provides a standard like Himself, and deals with the senseless in apparent inconsistency. In one case he leaves folly without notice, as it deserves; in another he exposes it, if he may convince even a fool of his folly, or caution another too easily imposed on, a thing not uncommon in this world.
Even to send a message through a foolish person is to incur such certainty of error that it is nothing short of cutting off one's own feet, which had better have undertaken the trouble; and well if it be not also to drink damage. It risks harm as well as total failure.
A parable is a wise saying, but it demands wisdom in its application. In the mouth of a fool it is as incongruous as a cripple's legs which hang about or do not match.