Proverbs 26:7 - Exposition

The legs of a lame man are not equal . The first word of this verse, דַּלְיוּ , has occasioned some difficulty. It is considered as an imperative from דלה , "draw off," "take away." Thus the Septuagint, ἀφελοῦ ; Venetian, ἐπάρατε . But the verb seems never to have this meaning; nor, if it had, would the sense be very satisfactory, for. as Delitzsch points out, lame legs are better than none, and there is a great difference between the perfectly crippled or paralytic who has to be carried, and the lame man ( פִסֵּחַ ) who can limp or get along on crutches. And when we explain the proverb in this sense (as Plumptre), "Take away the legs of the lame man and the parable from the mouth of fools," for both alike ere useless to their possessors, and their loss would not be felt—we must recognize that the conclusion is not true. No one would think of amputating s man's legs simply because he was lame, and such a one's legs cannot be considered absolutely useless. Others regard the word as third plural kal, "the legs hang loose;" though the form is not sufficiently accounted for. All explanations of the word as a verbal form have such difficulties, that some take it as a noun, meaning "dancing," which is Luther's interpretation, "as dancing to a cripple, so it becometh a fool to talk of wisdom." But the word could never sightly anything but "limping," and could not express the elegant motion of dancing. The Authorized Version considers the Hebrew to mean, "are lifted up," i . e . are unequal, one being longer or stronger than the other; but this loses the force of the comparison. There seems to be no better interpretation than that mentioned above," The legs of the lame hang loose," i . e . are unserviceable, however sound in appearance. St. Jerome has expressed this, though in a strange fashion, "As it is vain for a lame man to have seemly legs." So is a parable in the mouth of a fool. "Parable" ( mashal ), sententious saying, the enunciation of which, as well as the recital of stories, was always a great feature in Eastern companies, and afforded a test of a man's ability. A fool fails in the exhibition; he misses the point of the wise saying which he produces; it falls lame from his mouth, affords no instruction to others, and makes no way with its hearers. Siracides gives another reason for the incongruity, "A parable shall be rejected when it cometh out of a fool's mouth; for he will not speak it in its season" (Ec Proverbs 20:20 ). Septuagint, "Take away the motion of legs, and transgression ( παρανομίαν ,? παροιμίαν , Lag.) from the mouth of fools."