As you, as you read the Proverbs, look at it for what it is.

Practical wisdom.

Principles that conserve you in your everyday struggles with life.

But don't confuse the proverbs with moral absolence.

How do you interpret a proverbs?

How do you apply a proverb? How do you apply a proverb as a moral principle to your life?

There can be real problems here. Let's look at Proverbs chapter 26.

Chapter 26 verse 4.

Answer not a fool according to his folly,

lest you also be like him.

So what's the precept here of wisdom that we are given?

Don't answer a fool according to his folly, because you're going to be just like him if you do.

All right, we learn that and say, hey, that makes sense.

Now we go to verse five.

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

Now here you have two verses of scripture back to back in consecutive standing that clearly contradict each other.

The first one says, don't answer a fool according to his folly.

The very next verse says, answer a fool according to his folly. Now, how in the world do you reconcile that?

Well, if these two passages were coming to us

as moral absolutes, would have a hopeless contradiction.

But they're not coming to us as apodictic law.

They're coming to us as proverbs, as little gems, little insights, little vignettes of practical wisdom.

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