Albert Barnes Commentary Proverbs 26

In Palestine, there is commonly hardly any rain from the early showers of spring to October. Therefore, “rain in harvest” sometimes became (see the marginal reference) a supernatural sign, sometimes, as in this case, a proverb for anything that was strange and incongruous.

That is, “Vague as the flight of the sparrow, aimless as the wheelings of the swallow, is the causeless curse. It will never reach its goal.” The marginal reading in the Hebrew, however, gives “to him” instead of “not” or “never”; that is, “The causeless curse, though it may pass beyond our sight, like a bird’s track in the air, will come on the man who utters it.” Compare the English proverb, “Curses, like young chickens, always come home to roost.”

Two sides of a truth. To answer a fool according to his folly is, in Proverbs 26:4, to bandy words with him, to descend to his level of coarse anger and vile abuse; in Proverbs 26:5, it is to say the right word at the right time, to expose his unwisdom and untruth to others and to himself, not by a teaching beyond his reach, but by words that he is just able to apprehend. The apparent contradiction between the two verses led some of the rabbis to question the canonical authority of this book. The Pythagoreans had maxims expressing a truth in precepts seemingly contradictory.

Cuts off the feet - Mutilates him, spoils the work which the messenger should fulfill.

Drinks damage - i.e., “has to drink full drafts of shame and loss” .

Or, take away the legs of the lame man, and the parable that is in the mouth of fools: both are alike useless to their possessors. Other meanings are:

1. “The legs of the lame man are feeble, so is parable in the mouth of fools.”
2. “the lifting up of the legs of a lame man, that is, his attempts at dancing, are as the parable in the mouth of fools.”