A proverb quoted by fools is limp as a wet noodle. Putting a fool in a place of honor is like setting a mud brick on a marble column. To ask a moron to quote a proverb is like putting a scalpel in the hands of a drunk. Hire a fool or a drunk and you shoot yourself in the foot.
Proverbs 26:7-10 MSG
Eugene Petersom has taken a bit of creative license in this translation, yet he paints contemporary, powerful and funny word pictures. They are reminders that there's a difference between foolishness and good hyperbole; between being trite or cute, and being profound. Solomon uses the very tool of comedy to unmask foolishness for what it is - empty and unproductive.
Who wants to be called a wet noodle or a clay brick in the middle of a marble colomn? Who would put their trust in a drunk surgeon, or more recently in the news, in a drunk airline pilot? Who trusts a person that cannot control themselves (the NIV says "an archer that wounds at random"). No one in their right mind would do such things.
And that's exactly the point of the Proverbs: what do you want to be know for? Our character reflects our motives and the principles that govern our lives. If we focus on the ways of God and His direction for life, we will live different than those who do not. People need to see that difference and be not only be asking "why," but be attracted to the One who makes a difference in our lives.
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