Proverbs 22:13 The slothful man said, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets. To Solomon laziness was one of the greatest evils in the character of man. How frequently does he depict it with graphic force! How often does he denounce it with firm energy! "Idleness," says Colton, "is the grand pacific ocean of life, and in that stagnant abyss, the most salutary things produce no good, the most obnoxious no evil. Vice, indeed, abstractedly considered, may be, and often is, engendered in idleness; but the moment it becomes sufficiently vice, it must quit its cradle, and cease to be idle." Two of the evils connected with indolence are suggested in the text. I. IT CREATES FALSE EXCUSES. "There is a lion without." "The lion in the streets" is a fiction of his own lazy brain. The slothful man is ever acting thus — 1. In the secular sphere. Is he a farmer? He neglects the cultivation of his fields, because the weather is too cold or too hot, too cloudy, too dry or too wet. Is he a tradesman? He finds imaginary excuses in the condition of the market. Commodities are too high or too low. Is he an artizan? He finds difficulties in the place, the tools, or the materials. The industrious farmer finds no difficulties in the weather. 2. In the spiritual sphere. When the unregenerate man is urged to the renunciation of his own principles and habits, and the adoption of new spirit and methods, slothfulness urges him to make imaginary excuses. Sometimes he pleads the decrees of God, sometimes the greatness of his sins, sometimes the inconvenience of the season — too soon or too late. II. IT CREATES UNMANLY EXCUSES, The very excuse he pleads, though imaginary, if true would be a strong reason for immediate action. "A lion in the streets! "Why, if he had a spark of manhood in him, a bit of the stuff that makes heroes, he should rouse every power. There is no heroism in the heart of indolence. To true souls difficulties are a challenge, not a check to action. (D. Thomas, D.D.) Parallel Verses KJV: The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.WEB: The sluggard says, "There is a lion outside! I will be killed in the streets!" |
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