Leithart
PROVERBS 26:17
Verse 17 returns to the use of dog imagery. We recall that dogs are scavengers in the Bible, feeding on death. Dogs eat flesh and lap up blood. They are greedy, constantly hungry for more (Isaiah 56:11). They tear things to pieces (Matthew 7:6). In short, they are dangerous and wild, not “man’s best friend.”
The setting here seems may be a dogfight in which a man tried to intervene by taking one of the dogs by his head. Given the character of dogs, this is a risk, to say the least. Once he’s got hold of it, he’s in danger whether he holds on or lets go. There’s no good option at that point. Perhaps, though, the setting is of a man who simply walks by and randomly grabs the ears of a dog – that kind of gratuitous trickery will also get you torn to pieces (cf. vv. 18-19).
Grabbing the ears of a dog is like “passing by and passing-out-wrath in strife that is not to you.” The Hebrew uses the same verb “pass over” ( ‘avar ) twice in the same verse, in two different aspects. In the first case, it’s in the qal and means “pass by” or “pass over,” and in the second instance it occurs in the hitpael and is translated as “meddle” in the NASB. The hitpael is probably better translated as “become angry” or “pour out wrath,” keeping the idea of movement. That is the way the hitpael of this verb is used in Psalm 78:21, 59, 62; 89:39. The image is not just of someone meddling in the conflict, but of someone who adopts the anger of the strivers as his own. He doesn’t intervene to bring peace; he intervenes with the same wrath as the participants. He sees a dogfight, and he gets down on all-fours and begins snarling and biting along with them.
A lot of our indignation is vicarious. We get all worked up about petty fights between celebrities that have nothing to do with us. We get angry about news stories, fume and bluster while listening to talk radio (which is largely fume and bluster to begin with), pour out wrath concerning petty political battles.
Getting the translation of verse 17 right helps us see how this verse fits with other passages of Scripture. The verse is not telling us to regard conflict with a calm indifference. Solomon himself demands that we deliver the ones being taken to death, and that our pretense of ignorance is not an excuse (24:11-12). Jesus tells us that peacemakers are blessed, and to make peace among warring parties we have to intervene. Jesus instructs us to take a brother aside when he sins (Matthew 18:15 -18). Paul says (Galatians 6) that when we see someone taken in a trespass, we should restore him. Because we are members of Christ together, we are members of one another, and we oughtn’t use Proverbs 26:17 as an excuse to keep our distance from brothers who are having troubles. Of course, we need to exercise wisdom about getting involved in situations with brothers. Not everyone can or should be involved in every situation. But the proverb warns us against intervening angrily into an angry situation; that only increases anger. Scripture requires us, though, to intervene peaceably, for the sake of peace, when brothers are at war.
One last note on this Proverb: The word for “strife” is rib , which typically means a legal contention (Exodus 23:2; Deuteronomy 25:1). It is the word used by the prophets to describe Yahweh’s “case” against Israel , His covenant lawsuit that charges Israel with covenant infidelities. That lends a legal cast to the whole proverb. The picture is not necessarily a brawl but a courtroom battle, and that means that there’s an additional factor in the situation that we might not have noticed – the presence of a judge. Our dealings with brothers who are in dispute, our attempts at peacemaking, should always be done with the confidence that there is a Judge who will, soon or late, sort it all out even when we cannot. This is one of the keys to intervening peaceably into heated situations: We can be calm and calming because we know that justice will be done.
PROVERBS 26:18-19
The precise word translated as “madman” occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. The translation “madman” comes from Sirach, where it is contrasted to someone who seeks Torah and is paralleled to “one who is joking.” The closest parallel to the word in the Hebrew Bible is, interestingly, Genesis 3:24, where the word describes the swords held by cherubim as “flaming.”
The “flamer” tosses off firebrands, arrows, death, like the cherubim who guarded the path back to Eden . “Firebrand” is also used only here in the Hebrew Bible, a similar word is used in Isaiah 50:11 to describe something set on fire to give light. “Arrow” is a common word in the Bible, and death is clear enough. When we put these features together, we have a picture that resembles the war-glory of Yahweh. When He comes to Israel , He comes in a flaming fire, shooting arrows, bringing death to His enemies (Psalm 7:13 ; 18:7-15; 120:4; 144:6). The picture is of a man acting like one of the cherubim who form Yahweh’s war-chariot, flaming out with fire, arrows, and leaving behind a trail of corpses.
This man, Solomon says, is like someone who deceives his neighbor and then passes it off as a joke. The parallel is more obvious in the Hebrew than in English, though it is still subtle. The Hebrew verb translated as “deceive” is sometimes used for “cast” or “throw” (Exodus 15:1, 21), and can actually refer to an archer (Psalm 78:9; Jeremiah 4:29 ). In short, Solomon uses a pun: The flamer who throws arrows and firebrands in every direction is like a man who “throws” or “casts off” his neighbor. The verb in verse 19 can mean “deceive” or “beguile” (cf. Genesis 29:25), but the pun here suggests that deceiving the neighbor is like an act of violence. Deception knocks our neighbor down, when we should be trying to keep him up.
It is not just the deception, but the explanation: “I was only joking.” The word for “joke” can be used for laughter, and is often used of mocking and derisive laughter. Frequently, the laug
hter is God’s own, and this extends the comparison between the flamer and Yahweh that we noted above: He pretends to be sovereign, luring his neighbor to harm, and then laughing when he sees it happen (Psalm 2:4; 37:13; 52:6; 59:8; Proverbs 1:26 ).
This is not a warning against harmless practical jokes. It is a warning against deception of a neighbor that causes damage, a deception that we might do just to see our neighbor toppled over. Digging a pit and laughing when our neighbor falls into it – that is the picture Solomon has in mind.
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