Proverbs 26:17 Commentary and Bible Study

The love of strife often puts us in an intractable position, one which we cannot control and from which we cannot easily extract ourselves. The illustration is ingenious and wonderfully graphic. Here is a man who is trying to subdue a dog. Maybe it is involved in a fight with another dog, or maybe it has tried to attack him. His solution to the problem is to grab the dog by both ears and to hang on tight. The ears of the dog are sufficiently tender for the animal not to force its way towards him because of the pain it will cause itself, but on the other hand it is not properly restrained, and its snapping teeth are inches away from his face. Furthermore he has put himself in a very difficult position. The dog is angered by the pain of being held by the ears and is now definitely trying to bite him as it perceives that he is the enemy. The man would like to get away from this position, but he dare not let go of even one ear, for the dog is immobilised only while he hangs on tight to both ears. If he lets go of one ear it will twist round and bite his other arm. He is caught in a trap. How is he ever going to extract himself from this situation without letting go?This dilemma is Solomon’s very skilful illustration of the danger of getting involved in a quarrel which is not our own. We are not dealing here with a case where someone has a duty to come to the defence of the innocent or of a close friend or relative. Why did he get involved when the matter was none of our business? Maybe because he likes to argue and cannot resist taking sides. He perhaps has strong opinions on many subjects and wish to give the world the benefit of our judgments and wisdom. He is therefore attracted to every quarrel as an opportunity to prove his debating skills and join in in the hope of quickly putting down an opponent. There was no need to be involved and the wise person would have passed by, but he heard the sound of raised voices and although the combatants were both strangers to him, he could not resist offering his help to one side. He quickly made up his mind who was in the right and who was in the wrong and without having all the facts available he pushed his way in and joined the fray. He hoped to put all those present straight on the matter, and move on to sort out the remainder of the world’s problems, but things did not turn out as he intended – it is much easier to get involved in a quarrel than to extract ourselves from one. He has had to take sides and the other side resents his involvement and his partisan point of view. He has made this strife his own and now, from the perspective of the other side, he is as guilty as the original combatant. He is verbally holding on to the ears of the other and he cannot simply let go and walk away without being bitten. All of this was completely unnecessary, and stemmed from pride or love of strife.