Proverbs 26 Summary - 5 Minute Bible Study

Proverbs 26 Short Summary:

Proverbs 26 continues the short proverbs of Solomon that began in chapter 10. Solomon’s proverbs are recorded in Proverbs chapter 10 through chapter 29. These proverbs are typically short and concise statements of wisdom for the medication of the reader.

Proverbs 26 Summary

BREAKDOWN OF PROVERBS - CHART

DEFINITIONS:

• Flitting (26:2) – To move quickly, swiftly, and lightly.

• Sluggard (26:13) - A lazy person who is slow to do their work.

HIGHLIGHTED PROVERBS:

• PROVERB #1:

  • Proverbs 16:10 – “Like an archer who wounds everyone is one who hires a passing fool or drunkard.”

  • If you hire a foolish person, you’re doing the fool a favor, but you’ll end up harming everyone else connected to you.

  • Like an archer that accidentally shoots his allies, a manager who hires a fool or a drunkard will harm the responsible people who work for him.

  • A fool or a drunk will demoralize the team, harm productivity, and cause strife.

  • Just one fool in a large group of responsible people can do a lot of damage.

  • Be wise when adding anyone to your team if you care about having a functional group.

• PROVERB #2:

  • Proverbs 26:11 – “Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly.”

  • This is a disgusting image, but the repulsiveness of the image makes the proverb memorable.

  • If you’ve spent time around dogs, you’ve probably seen a dog vomit and then return to the pile of vomit and lick it or even eat it.

  • It’s disgusting and revolting, and that is how Solomon wants us to view sin and folly.

  • A fool who repeats his sins over and over again is like the dog returning to vomit.

  • Peter referenced this proverb when writing about people who turned their backs on Jesus after coming to know Him.

  • 2 Peter 2:20-22 – For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”

• PROVERB #3:

  • Proverbs 26:12 – “Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.”

  • Arrogance about one’s own intelligence is more dangerous than not being intelligent at all (being a fool).

  • A man with no intelligence might wake up one day, realize how foolish he’s been, and set himself on a course to grow in wisdom.

  • But a man who thinks he already knows everything, doesn’t feel the need to pursue anything. He believes he has already arrived and has no areas in which he needs to improve.

  • His belief that he has already attained sufficient wisdom blocks him from getting any more; it stops him from growing.

  • Better to be a fool with a heart open to learning than a self-declared wise man who can’t grow past his own pride.