ANSWER A FOOL

Faced with the need to answer a critic tomorrow, I am reminded of this pair of seemingly contradictory proverbs:

Proverbs 26:4 - "Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be just like him."

And Proverbs 26:5 - "Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes."

Odd, isn't it?

I don't know Hebrew, but it looks like the "according to his folly" part is not quite the same in the two verses and this might be the key to resolving the "contradiction". (Which is important because we NEED to know how to respond to the fool, especially in this day, right?) 

The commentaries seem to indicate the first "according to his folly" means something along the lines of "in a similar manner" while the second is a slightly different form of the same term and means "as his folly deserves".

So to rephrase the two verses: "Do not answer a fool in the same manner in which he addressed you, or you prove to be just like him. But DO answer a fool in the way that he deserves and perhaps it will humble him."

Jesus, of course, was the master of this. And he got a lot of practice answering fools. 

To my shame, I find that my first instinct is to respond with "tit for tat". That would make me a fool. I need to be careful.