"As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come." ~Proverbs 26:2 (KJV)
Two Commentaries comment:
"He that is cursed without cause-the curse will do as little harm as birds flying overhead."-from the commentary of Matthew Henry
"The curse that is unjustified never does anyone any harm. It is a refutation of the superstition that the righteous could be hurt by the malicious curse."-from the commentary called "The New Bible Commentary: Revised" put out by Eerdmans
From me:
Since the rest of Proverbs 26 gives lessons about the fool, I'm guessing verse two is also referring to a fool-it is implied. Perhaps a fool tries to put a curse on someone (not sure if this means cursing at them, or a spell), but the fool's curse is ineffective at hurting the person who is undeserving of the curse. This fits because in verse four it tells us what to do if a fool does try to unjustly curse us. It says, "Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him."
To me this means, when others curse us, do not return in kind. That sounds similar to Matthew 5:44, which says, "But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you."
Sunday, February 26, 2006
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