Slothful as ant

Slothful as ant

Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:

Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler,

Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.

How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?

Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:

So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man. (Pro.6::6-11)

The sluggard is addressed twice and is instructed to observe the careful labor of the ant so that he may gain wisdom and heed the warning about the result of his sloth. The ruinous end that awaits the sluggard is described with some of the same images in Chapter 24:30–34, and the ant is called wise in laboring for its provision in Chapter 30:24. The fact that the ant has no chief, officer, or ruler shows that it has initiative, which the sluggard lacks.

A little sleep, a little slumber. The sluggard may rationalize his late rising as “just a little,” but they destroy his productivity.

The similes used to describe the end of the sluggard are tragic. The poverty and want that his idleness has created are likened to external forces that will bring about his destitution (a robber and an armed man).

Today, many Christian youths do slumber in a literal sense. They sit late daily before their computers or before their television sets and get up late the next morning. They are sluggards and cannot work for God in His vineyard. They are supposed to work in His vineyard round the clock. Today, in many Christian homes, there is poverty because they love to sleep all the time. They remain on their beds even after the sun-rise.

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