Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!
It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,
yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.
Summary: Being born rich isn’t always a good thing. It can be easy to fall into bad habits. Solomon knows this about his children, and God knows this about us.
Solomon is warning us about something. What is it? Verses 1-5 are a warning against being trapped by our own words and obligations. In this passage, he points us to an example of diligence and freedom from oppression.
The ant has no time for anything but its work. It has “things to do and places to go,” as the saying goes. The ant is busy.
Not so Solomon’s children! He calls them “sluggard.”
Think about the royal comfort his kids have grown up in. It is amazing to me how quickly the kingdom of Israel developed from a disjointed collection of tribes into an amazing pinnacle of social development. (The speed of its decline was equally amazing.) Yet during the time of Solomon, there was no end to the riches of his day.
It would be hard to motivate such people to work. They were born with the proverbial “silver spoon” in their mouths.
At the end of his life, Jacob gathered his sons to him to prophesy about their futures. One in particular fits with today’s passage. About the tribe of Issachar, he writes:
“Issachar is a rawboned donkey
lying down among the sheep pens.
When he sees how good is his resting place
and how pleasant is his land,
he will bend his shoulder to the burden
and submit to forced labor.” (Genesis 49: 14-15)
See how easy it is to become a slave? In fact, this is what happened to all of the tribes of Israel after Joseph died, and they continued to live in the land of Goshen.
Work is hard. Getting caught up in a trap is easy.
Application: Ask yourself, “Am I an ant or a sluggard?”
Food for Thought: How is a sluggard different than an ant?
Sluggard, sluggish, slothful, lazy.
Ants are not slow about their search for food. They are not lazy as they carry several times their weight. I’ve heard stories of an ant observed, so diligent in his task that his observer celebrated his progress until he was stepped on……
So A —
Are you saying that the sluggard has more “sole” than the ant?
At that point I would think that the ant had too much sole.
Is that your sole point??? 🙂
That pun actually hurt brother 😊.
I think it would be quicker to look at what ants and sluggards have in common. The difference list could very, very long indeed.
One thing they have in common is that they both die. Assuming both are believers in Christ – the ant will have more to give to His Savior at the end of his life and is more likely to hear “well done thy good and faithful servant” Matthew 25: 14 – 30.
Ah … the highest achievement for a pun! 🙂
Rich, you raise an interesting point: Everyone has the same need for Christ. The question that comes to mind is this: Will the sluggard ever get around to accepting Christ as Lord?
Good point brother.
I have noticed that even in the church people can be very lazy about using their gifts and exercising their faith. We have time for TV and many hobbies, but so often Jesus is left with only leftovers – maybe.
Yes …
You are describing an attitude that I think James would find very disturbing.
03-09-2022, Proverbs 6:6-8, How is a sluggard different than an ant?
1. Ants Work Hard…..The Sluggard tends to take the path of least resistance
2. Ants Live in Communities…..A Sluggard cares only for himself
3. Ants make preparations for the future…..The Sluggard thinks only of the present.
Ant people understand their combined strength is far greater than the individuals and work together as a team by dividing their work according to the strengths of each, workers, soldiers, egg tenders, etc. At the same time they understand their combined efforts are far greater than the efforts of one and will quickly join together to accomplish a single task which is too great for one. They communicate with each other and and show others the path to follow. They are very focused as they work every moment to provide a secure future for all, and are an excellent example of working as one.
Sluggard people are known for , procrastination, they just roll over, puts the pillow over their head and sleep their life away. The motto of the sluggard is, “Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow.” He is always just about ready to start a job, but not quite. Those tasks that he has already started never seem to get finished.
Proverbs 6:6, 9-11, Proverbs 26:14-16
The ants are good for the church to the degree they can tear themselves away from work, and the sluggard is likely to put acceptance of Christ and any activity that requires discipline on the back burner.
Ron,
Very interesting analysis of ants and slugs. Self-focus and present-focus are two important characteristics to understand.
Thank you!
Slugs dont like salt and light.
Thank you, Tim. I feel a slug cartoon coming on…
🙂
😊