Proverbs 26:1

As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest,.... Which were very undesirable and unseasonable, yea, very hurtful to the fruits of the earth; and a great obstruction to the labourers in the harvest, and a hinderance to the gathering of it in; and were very rare and uncommon in Judea; it was even a miracle for thunder and rain to be in wheat harvest, 1 Samuel 12:17 ; so honour is not seemly for a fool: for a wicked man; such should not be favoured by kings, and set in high places of honour and trust; "folly set in great dignity", or foolish and bad men set in honourable places, are as unsuitable and inconvenient as snow and rain in summer and harvest, and should be as rare as they; and they are as hurtful and pernicious, since they discourage virtue and encourage vice, and hinder the prosperity of the commonwealth; such vile persons are contemned in the eyes of good men, and are disregarded of God; he will not give, theft, glory here nor hereafter; the wise shall inherit it, but shame shall be the promotion of fools, Proverbs 3:35; see Ecclesiastes 10:6.

Proverbs 26:1 . As snow in summer, &c. — Unseasonable and unbecoming; so honour is not seemly for a fool — Because he neither deserves it, nor knows how to use it, and his folly is both increased and manifested by it. Bishop Patrick considers this as a tacit admonition to kings (for whose use principally, he thinks, this last part of the book of Proverbs was collected) to be very careful in disposing of preferments only to worthy persons; bad men being made worse by them, and usually doing as much hurt to others, by the abuse of their power, as snow or hail does to the fruits of the earth, when they are ripe and ready to be gathered. “So that,” says he, “we may make this aphorism out of Solomon’s words, that ‘the blending of summer and winter would not cause a greater disorder in the natural world, than the disposal of honour to bad men (and consequently throwing contempt upon the good) doth in the moral world.’”

XXVI. (1) As rain in harvest.—This was very unusual in Palestine (comp. 1Samuel 12:17, sqq.), and of course very unsuitable for carrying on the work of harvest. So honour is not seemly for a fool.—i.e., for a dull person, confident in his own wisdom (Proverbs 1:22). It only confirms him in his good opinion of himself, making him less inclined than ever to learn.

1 . rain in harvest ] “For six months in the year no rain falls [in Palestine], and the harvests are gathered in without any of the anxiety with which we are so familiar lest the work be interrupted by unseasonable storms. In this respect at least the climate has remained unchanged since the time when Boaz slept by his heap of corn; and the sending thunder and rain in wheat harvest was a miracle which filled the people with fear and wonder ( 1 Samuel 12:16-18 ); and Solomon could speak of ‘rain in harvest’ as the most forcible expression for conveying the idea of something utterly out of place and unnatural ( Proverbs 26:1 ).”—Smith’s Dict. of Bible , Art. Rain .

CHAPTER 26 Pr 26:1-28. 1. The incongruities of nature illustrate also those of the moral world. The fool's unworthiness is also implied (Pr 17:7; 19:10).Rules how to carry it towards fools, Proverbs 26:1-12. The slothful man described, Proverbs 26:13-16. The character of a contentious man, and of a busybody, and tale-bearer, Proverbs 26:17-23. The evil of hypocrisy and lying, Proverbs 26:24-28. As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest; unbecoming and unseasonable. So honour is not seemly for a fool, because he neither deserves it, nor knows how to use it, but his folly is both increased and publicly manifested by it.

Verses 1-12. - Certain proverbs concerning the fool ( kesil ), with the exception, perhaps, of ver. 2 (see on Proverbs 1:22). Verse 1. - As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest. Snow in summer would be quite unnatural and unheard of (see on Proverbs 25:13). Rain falls in the usual course of things only at stated times; whence arose the phrase of "the early and of latter rains" (see on Proverbs 16:15). From spring to October or November was the dry season, and a storm at harvest time was regarded, not merely as destructive or inconvenient, but as portentous and even supernatural (see 1 Samuel 12:17 , etc.). The two cases are types of all that is incongruous and unsuitable. The LXX., apparently regarding their experience in Egypt rather than the actual text, translate, "As dew in harvest, and as rain in summer." So honour is not seemly for a fool (ver. 8; Proverbs 19:10 ). It is quite out of place to show respect to a stupid and ungodly man, or to raise him to a post of dignity; such conduct will only confirm him in his folly, give others a wrong impression concerning him, and afford him increased power of mischief. The Greeks had a proverb about giving honour to unsuitable objects: they called it washing an ass's head with nitre. Proverbs 26:1

There now follows a group of eleven proverbs of the fool; only the first of the group has after it a proverb of different contents, but of similar form: As snow in summer, and rain in harvest; So honour befitteth not a fool. If there is snow in high summer (קיץ, to be glowing hot), it is contrary to nature; and if there is rain in harvest, it is (according to the alternations of the weather in Palestine) contrary to what is usually the case, and is a hindrance to the ingathering of the fruits of the field. Even so a fool and respect, or a place of honour, are incongruous things; honour will only injure him (as according to Proverbs 19:10, luxury); he will make unjust use of it, and draw false conclusions from it; it will strengthen him in his folly, and only increase it. נאוה ( equals נאוי) is the adj. to the Pil. נאוה, Psalm 93:5 (plur. נאווּ); נאוה, Proverbs 19:10, and נאוה, Proverbs 17:7, are also masc. and fem. of the adj., according to which, that which is said under Proverbs 19:10 is to be corrected. Symmachus and Theodotion have translated οὐκ ἔπρεψεν, and have therefore read נאוה. The root word is נאה (as שׁחה to שׁחוה) equals נוה, to aim at something (vid., Hupfeld under Psalm 23:2).

Amos 1:1. The Heading The words of ] The same title as Jeremiah 1:1 ; Ecclesiastes 1:1 ; Proverbs 30:1 ; Proverbs 31:1 ; Nehemiah 1:1 . among ] i.e. one of, of: see (in the Heb.) 1 Kings 2:7 ; Proverbs 22:26 . herdmen ] naḳad-keepers. The word ( nôḳçd ) is a peculiar one: its meaning appears from the Arabic. In Arabic naḳad denotes a species of sheep, found especially in the province of Baḥreyn, small and stunted in growth, with short legs and ill-formed faces (whence an Arabic proverb, “Viler than a naḳad ”), but esteemed on account of their choice wool (see Bochart, Hierozoicon ii. xliv., p. 442 f., who cites the saying, “The best of wool is that of the naḳad ”; or Lane’s Arabic Lexicon , p. 2837). In Arabic naḳḳâd is a shepherd who tends sheep of this kind; and the Heb. nôḳçd is a word of similar import. It may be inferred from this passage that there was a settlement of such naḳad -keepers at Tekoa: the occupation was perhaps hereditary in particular families (comp. the families following hereditary trades in 1 Chronicles 2:55 ; 1 Chronicles 4:21 ; 1 Chronicles 4:23 ). The word occurs once besides, of Mesha, king of Moab, 2 Kings 3:4 . Tekoa ] now Teḳû‘a , on the high ground of Judah, 12 miles S. of Jerusalem, and 6 miles S. of Bethlehem, from which, as Jerome ( Comm . on Jeremiah 6:1 ) remarks, it is visible (“Thecuam quoque viculum in monte situm … quotidie oculis cernimus”).

2 Peter 2:22 . Δὲ , but ) You may wonder that they thus turn back: but there is little room for wonder; for they were before, and they still continue, dogs and swine.— παροιμίας , proverb ) משׁלי , Septuagint, παροιμίαι Σολομῶντος , the Proverbs of Solomon, Proverbs 1:1 ; also Proverbs 26:11 , ὥσπερ κύων ὅταν ἐπέλθῃ ἐπὶ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ἔμετον , καὶ μισητὸς γένηται , κ . τ . λ ., as a dog, when he returneth to his vomit, and becometh hateful, etc. Peter had frequently quoted the Proverbs of Solomon in his former Epistle, 1 Peter 1:7 , 1 Peter 2:17 , 1 Peter 4:8 ; 1 Peter 4:18 , and now he quotes them also in the other. This may be added to the other arguments, which show that both the Epistles are the production of one and the same writer.— ἐξέραμα , vomit) Animals which live among men more easily contract the stomach [which takes place in the act of vomiting] than those which are wild. It is a word which is rarely met with; and Gataker notices some traces of Iambic verse,— Κύων ἐτιστρέψας ἐπʼ ἴδιον ἐξέραμʼ , Ὗς θʼ ἡ λουσαμένη εἰς χύλισμα βορβόρου . Who would not loathe the vomit of sin?