Friday
Friday
Proverbs—the Sluggard
As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed.
Proverbs 26:14
Throughout the book of Proverbs the sluggard is a figure of fun. He is too drowsy to get up in the morning (6:9–11), and he gives the ludicrous excuse that there is a lion outside in the street (22:13; 26:13). He is so lazy that he allows his fields and vineyards to become completely overgrown with weeds (24:30–31), and when he buries his hand in the dish, he even lacks the energy to bring it back to his mouth (19:24; 26:15).
Because Scripture assures us that we are not animals but human beings made in God’s image, it goes on to rebuke us whenever animals manage to do by instinct what we are supposed to do by choice. One of the best examples of this is the contrast between the ant and the sluggard: “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!” (6:6).
The ant’s energy and industry are phenomenal. Ants never seem to rest, and they carry loads bigger and heavier than themselves. Although they are social creatures whose community life is more highly organized than that of bees and wasps, and although they have “no commander, no overseer or ruler” (v. 7)—that is, nothing comparable to human leadership or forethought—instinct prompts them to gather and store their food in the summer (v. 8; 30:25). Our critics respond that ants are carnivores and do not store their food. But some ant species, notably harvester ants, which are common in Palestine, are seed eaters and store seeds in moist granaries where they germinate. So ants teach us forethought as well as industry. The apostle Paul went so far as to write that if we do not provide for our relatives, and especially for our immediate family, we have “denied the faith” (1 Tim. 5:8).
Thank God for the ants!
For further reading: Proverbs 24:30–34; 26:13–16