Grabbing Dogs and Shooting Arrows: The Folly of Meddling and Malice Text: Proverbs 26:17-19
Introduction: The Agents of Chaos
The book of Proverbs is intensely practical. It is not a collection of abstract platitudes for pious needlepoint. It is a divine field manual for navigating God's world, a world filled with wisdom and folly, righteousness and sin, peace and strife. And in our passage today, the Holy Spirit gives us two vivid, almost cartoonish, portraits of the fool. These are not harmless eccentrics; these are agents of chaos. They are the kind of people who leave a trail of wreckage behind them and then seem genuinely surprised by the damage.
We live in an age that has perfected both of these follies. The first fool is the meddler, the busybody who cannot resist inserting himself into a quarrel that is not his. Our entire social media landscape is a monument to this particular sin. It is a global engine for manufacturing strife, rewarding the person who has the hottest, most passionate, and least informed take on a fight happening a thousand miles away. We have become a generation of professional dog-grabbers.
The second fool is the malicious joker, the man who causes real harm through deception and then tries to baptize his sin in the waters of jest. He is the troll, the cruel prankster, the man who uses "humor" as a shield for his malice. He shoots arrows of death and, when confronted, shrugs and says, "Can't you take a joke?" This is the coward's way out, a refusal to take responsibility for the real wounds inflicted by his words and actions.
Both of these fools, the meddler and the malicious joker, are profoundly selfish. They prioritize their own excitement, their own sense of importance, their own twisted amusement over the peace and well being of their neighbor. They are men who tear down, not men who build up. And the book of Proverbs sets them before us as a stark warning. This is what folly looks like. Do not be this man.
The Text
Like one who seizes a dog by the ears
Is he who passes by and becomes passionate about strife not belonging to him.
Like a madman who shoots
Firebrands, arrows, and death,
So is the man who deceives his neighbor,
And says, “Am I not joking?”
(Proverbs 26:17-19 LSB)
The Folly of Grabbing the Dog (v. 17)
The first image is striking in its simple, painful clarity.
"Like one who seizes a dog by the ears is he who passes by and becomes passionate about strife not belonging to him." (Proverbs 26:17)
Imagine you are walking down the street and you see two dogs snarling and snapping at each other. You have a few wise options. You could keep walking. You could call for the owners. You could try to distract them from a safe distance. But the fool described here chooses the worst possible option. He runs over, wades into the middle of the fray, and grabs a strange, agitated dog by its ears. Now what? He is in a predicament of his own making. He cannot hold on forever, and he cannot let go without getting bitten. The dog, which was not angry with him before, is most certainly angry with him now. His intervention has not solved the problem; it has only made him the new center of it.
This is the perfect picture of the meddler. The strife does "not belong to him." He is a passerby. He likely does not know the full history of the conflict. He does not understand the nuances. He has no authority or responsibility in the matter. But he "becomes passionate." The Hebrew word here means to be stirred up, to become enraged or agitated. He works himself into a lather over something that is not his business. This is a form of pride. The meddler sees a conflict and thinks, "This situation requires my expert opinion. These people clearly cannot solve this without my intervention."
And so he jumps in. He takes a side. He offers his unsolicited advice. He fans the flames. And in doing so, he grabs the dog by the ears. The original combatants may even unite in their newfound annoyance with him. He has inserted himself into a volatile situation and now finds himself stuck, unable to extract himself without injury to his reputation, his relationships, or perhaps his person. The lesson is simple: mind your own business. This is not a call to cold indifference, but a call to wisdom. We are to be peacemakers, but a peacemaker is not the same thing as a meddler. A peacemaker acts with wisdom, authority, and an invitation. A meddler acts with passion, ignorance, and arrogance.
The Malice of the Madman (v. 18-19)
The second portrait is even more severe. The fool here graduates from mere folly to outright madness and malice.
"Like a madman who shoots firebrands, arrows, and death, so is the man who deceives his neighbor, and says, 'Am I not joking?'" (Proverbs 26:18-19 LSB)
The comparison is to a "madman." This is not a man in his right mind. He is unhinged, and he is armed. He is not just armed with arrows, but with "firebrands" and "death" itself. He is an indiscriminate source of destruction. He is not aiming at a target; he is just shooting. He is a walking disaster, a public menace. Houses are burning, people are screaming, and he is the cause.
And the Spirit of God says this madman is the spitting image of the man who "deceives his neighbor" and then hides behind the excuse of a joke. Notice the key elements. First, there is deception. This is not a simple misunderstanding. It is a deliberate act of falsehood intended to mislead his neighbor. He tells a lie. He starts a malicious rumor. He sets up a situation that will cause his neighbor embarrassment, financial loss, or emotional pain. The action is rooted in deceit.
Second, the result is real damage. The madman shoots firebrands and death. The malicious joker causes real harm. Trust is broken. Reputations are sullied. Feelings are deeply wounded. The Bible takes words with the utmost seriousness. "Death and life are in the power of the tongue" (Proverbs 18:21). This man is wielding his tongue like a madman wields a weapon.
Third, there is the cowardly retreat. When the smoke clears and his neighbor is standing there, wounded and bewildered, the deceiver offers his pathetic defense: "Am I not joking?" This is not an apology. It is an accusation. He is, in effect, blaming the victim. "The problem is not my malicious deception; the problem is your inability to appreciate my sophisticated humor. You are too sensitive." He refuses to take responsibility for the fire he started. He wants to enjoy the thrill of shooting the arrows without any of the moral consequences. He is a liar and a coward.
This is a complete perversion of true humor. Godly humor, wit, and good-natured teasing can be a means of grace, a way of binding people together. It is based on love and a shared understanding. But the "joking" described here is a cloak for cruelty. It is a sin masquerading as fun. And God is not fooled.
Conclusion: Building Peace, Speaking Truth
What do these two fools have in common? They are both destroyers of shalom, of the peace, wholeness, and trust that ought to characterize a godly community. The meddler injects himself into strife, escalating it. The malicious joker creates strife out of whole cloth through his deceit, and then denies it. Both are fundamentally unloving toward their neighbor.
The gospel provides the only true remedy for these follies. The root of meddling is pride, and the root of malicious joking is cruelty and cowardice. The cross of Christ crucifies our pride. It shows us that we are not the saviors of every situation. It humbles us. And the cross deals with our cruelty, for it is the place where the Son of God absorbed all our malice into Himself. He is the Truth, and His followers must be people of the truth.
Therefore, we are called to a different way. Instead of grabbing the dog by the ears, we are called to be peacemakers, which requires immense wisdom, patience, and humility (Matthew 5:9). It means knowing when to speak and when to be silent. It means minding the business God has given us, tending our own gardens, and trusting Him with the quarrels that are not ours.
And instead of shooting arrows of deceit and calling it a joke, we are called to "speak the truth in love" (Ephesians 4:15). Our words are to be for building up, not for tearing down. They should be full of grace, seasoned with salt (Colossians 4:6). When we sin with our words, as we all do, we are not to retreat into the coward's castle of "it was just a joke." We are to repent, confess our sin, and ask for forgiveness. That is the path of wisdom. That is the path of peace.