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Introduction
Message 11 | | April 15, 2018
Introduction
Although the detriments of the sluggard are apparent to others around them, the sluggard has justified the life they lead, and firmly believe it is an acceptable lifestyle.
These sluggards are often seen accepting unnecessary charity.
They will depend on others for their existence, and will proclaim that they are due the help.
While the wise see clearly their error, the sluggard does not see their error and would be greatly offended if their error were pointed out to them.
The Sluggard
In the Old Testament, the English word sluggard is only used fourteen times.
Every one of these occurrences is in the book of Proverbs.
The Hebrew word asel is used fifteen times in the Hebrew Old Testament and is translated ‘sluggard’ in every instance except one.
In , the only occurrence outside of Proverbs, asel is translated ‘hesitate.’
In all of the occurrences in the LXX, the word ‘oknerose’ carries the meaning of lazy and bothersome.
(Louw-Nida Lexicon)
a person who is habitually lazy and inactive, suggesting he has no discipline or initiative, as a moral failure[1]
The fourteen passages in Proverbs are spread throughout the book, although there are two passages which have more than one occurrence, 6:6-11 and 26:13-16.
The many characteristics displayed in chapter 26 are again restated in other passages.
Lazy.
Four times in Proverbs (6:9, 15:19, 19:24, 20:4), the sluggard is described as a lazy person.
In chapter 15 he is compared to the upright.
“The way of a sluggard is like a hedge of thorns, but the path of the upright is a level highway.
( ESV).
His path is a hedge of thorns because he refuses to do the work required to clear it.
An even more ridiculous image is offered in chapter 19.
“The sluggard buries his hand in the dish and will not even bring it back to his mouth” ( ESV).
Of course the author is using hyperbole, and that effectively, but in this verse the sluggard is so lazy that he can’t even manage to get his hand to his mouth to feed himself.
Irrational.
Do you ever struggle with someone who can’t seem to connect the negative consequences they experience to the poor decisions they make?
The sluggard is this way.
“The sluggard does not plow in the autumn; he will seek at harvest and have nothing” ( ESV).
You can almost imagine him walking around his field at harvest time, while scratching his head wondering why there is nothing to harvest.
The sluggard is irrational.
Spurgeon.
He has never taken the trouble to think, and yet I dare not say that he jumps at his conclusions, because he never does such a thing as jump, he lies down and rolls into a conclusion.
Yet he knows everything, and has settled all points: meditation is too hard work for him, and learning he never could endure; but to be clever by nature is his delight.
He does not want to know more than he knows, for he knows enough already, and yet he knows nothing.[2]
Absurd.
I am convinced that our mental and creative faculties are at their best when we are trying to form an excuse for getting out of something.
I just found out that I was switched at birth.
Legally, I shouldn’t come to work knowing my employee records may now contain false information.
I am stuck in the blood pressure machine down at the Walgreens.
The dog ate my car keys, so now I have to hitchhike to the vet.
I said I had an appointment with the doctor, because my dad has a PhD and we went to the movies.
I couldn’t do my homework because I was at a rally for higher teacher pay.
I lost my homework when I was fighting this kid that said you weren’t the best teacher in school.
We breathe air.
Trees make air.
Homework kills trees.
Therefore, homework kills us.
And yet, Proverbs offers us one of the most ridiculous and yet creative excuses for not leaving a house and going to work.
“The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside!
I shall be killed in the streets!” ( ESV Cf. 26:13).
The sluggard is absurd.
Irritating.
tells us that the sluggard is “Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes . . . to those who send him.”
Irresponsible.
A sluggard doesn’t take care of his responsibilities.
“I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense, and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down.
Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction.
A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man” ( ESV).
These qualities are seen in every aspect of life.
The sluggard is poor because he will not take care of his possessions and because he will not move from his bed.
In two of the passages the sluggard is seen to put his hand to food, only to be too lazy to lift his hand to his mouth.
Regardless the consequences, the sluggard continues to choose this unsatisfying, unrewarding, poverty induced lifestyle.
Not only does he continue to choose it, he thinks he’s wiser amidst it.
“The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly” ( ESV).
It’s not likely that the sluggard is going to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, but either way, he is directed by Solomon to “go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways and be wise” ( ESV).
Two Ways to Learn
Instruction can present itself in many forms.
Proverbs offers two avenues for learning, by principle and by experience.
In this context we are taught a principle about work by observing the ant.
We are as well taught a lesson by means of experience as we consider the sluggard who refuses to work.
If the sluggard were to choose to follow the example of the ant given in verses 6-8, they would avoid the consequences shown in verses 9-11.
Learning by Principle (6:6-8).
The word for ant is only used twice in the Bible and both usages are in the book of Proverbs (6:6 and 30:25).
Both passages offer the ant as a positive example of providing in the summer for the needs of the winter.
ESV).
ESV).
Wisdom would like the sluggard to observe two lessons taught by the ant.
First, ants do not appear to need “a chief, officer, or ruler.”
In contrast, the sluggard does nothing unless he is first prodded.
He has a field full of thistles because he was too lazy to get into the field.
He is shown as begging during harvest because he didn’t plow when needed.
Even the little food that he can provide he is too lazy to prepare and eat.
“The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth” ( ESV).
Wisdom would like the sluggard to observe two lessons taught by the ant.
First, ants do not appear to need “a chief, officer, or ruler.”
In contrast, the sluggard does nothing unless he is first prodded.
He has a field full of thistles because he was too lazy to get into the field.
He is shown as begging during harvest because he didn’t plow when needed.
Even the little food that he can provide he is too lazy to prepare and eat.
“The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth” ( ESV).
While it is obvious that the sluggard eats on a regular basis, Proverbs uses sarcasm to prove a point.
Sluggards are incredibly lazy, lazy to the point of not meeting their own needs.
The ant, on the other hand, needs no exterior prodding to do the necessary job.
Secondly, the ant without a leader “prepares her bread in the summer and gathers her food in harvest.”
The ant seems to have a sense of time and as a result is diligent with her time.
The sluggard on the other hand does not sense time and is not at all diligent with the time allotted to him.
A few verses later (6:10), the sluggard is shown to be preoccupied with sleep.
This desire for sleep is also spoken of in chapter 26, “As a door turns on its hinges, so does a sluggard on his bed” ( ESV).
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