a. Orientation⤒🔗

It is rather remarkable to compare a sluggard to vinegar or smoke. You wonder what they have to do with each other. In other words, what is the third element [that is, the sender] in the equation? Incidentally, what sort of man or woman is that sluggard? In the book of Proverbs, this word appears rather often. But what must one think of with that term? Is a sluggard the same as a sloth, someone who, in our time, sits on the couch all day lazing around? But it could also be that this person, to his dismay, is not able to work or perhaps can do very little. Perhaps he is less gifted or handicapped in a different way and does not fit anywhere in the labour process. In that case, it is discriminating to speak of a sluggard.

Further, there also is the last person in this proverb, “those who send him.” What does that say about the relationship between the two? Of which work and which relationship should we be thinking? Is the sluggard a servant, or should he be working the land, or is he the personal attendant of his boss? We need to try and check this out, in order to be able to understand the two comparisons well.

b. Text and translations←⤒🔗

The original Hebrew text is the same in all manuscripts. It is undisputed, and thus firm. Only, the translators of the Septuagint rendered the word given here as “sluggard” as “lawlessness.” It is likely that the Hebrew did not have a different word, but that they did not understand the term for “sluggard” and translated it differently. We can safely use the text that has been used in all known translations.

Concerning the translations, there is little variation. It is noteworthy that there is some variation in how the word given in ESV as “vinegar” is translated. The Septuagint speaks of an unripe, sour grape. Some have “bitter wine” or “sour wine.” We cannot be sure that the Jews already knew something like our vinegar, in the composition in which we know it today. I do not think so. But the intent of the Hebrew word is clear enough. It is about a sour drink, likely prepared from (unripe) grapes, which has a bitter taste, and which is bad for your teeth.

Some difference is also noticeable among translations regarding the last word of the proverb. It is about the relationship between the sluggard and a person indicated as the person who sends him. Some render it as an employer or master, or a person who gives a task. Most renditions use the term “send,” which is also the literal translation of the verb used in Hebrew. Apparently, the sluggard gets sent to convey a message to someone else. That is what the word “send” must indicate. The master, then, is a sender, and the other is a messenger, an envoy, or an ambassador.

c. The meaning in the situation of that time (with biblical or extra-biblical parallels and examples.)←⤒🔗

We first look at what the precise meaning and intent is of this proverb. It concerns a double comparison. The second part of the verse speaks about the behaviour of the sluggard towards his master. The effect of that behaviour is compared to the effect of vinegar on teeth and smoke on your eyes. Vinegar or sour wine sets the teeth on edge or abrades them (see Ezek. 18:2). Smoke is unpleasant to your eyes. They will tear up, and you can no longer see well. Both cases have negative effects. That is now applied to the person who does not execute his task well and therefore works against his master rather than helping him.

He is called a sluggard, but that does not have to mean that he does nothing. You should sooner think of a person who avoids completing an errand fully. For instance, as a courier he must deliver a letter or a message as quickly as possible, but he takes his time. Perhaps he does not run like his master may expect him to but just walks. Or he does not deliver the message properly but adds things from his own imagination. That is not pleasant for his boss and may even be damaging — perhaps because the boss receives the return message too late, or a wrong message. That is only to his detriment, as reciprocal messaging requires trustworthiness. In summary, you could say that whoever takes liberties with the post (or mail) is a pest and a liability.

For the second line of the proverb, I begin with the situation of a messenger and someone who gives him a task. I do that based on the verb “to send” used at the end of the proverb. It is possible to interpret the situation more broadly. You could think of other jobs the man is sent to complete. This text does not specify that, but partly based on Proverbs 25:13, I think especially of a courier or an envoy. That verse uses the same words as our text, “those who send him,” in combination with a word that means “messenger” and has also been translated that way. With the verb “to send” one may therefore first think of an envoy. In the first place, for what follows in this chapter, I will assume that to be the case.

I mention another proverb in this connection which underscores the significance of an important messenger, and also names the opposite: Proverbs 13:17, “A wicked messenger falls into trouble, but a faithful envoy brings healing.”

In the meantime, we must not forget that the one who was sent is called a sluggard. That is then a person who can be characterized with laziness. He does not sit all day in his lazy chair, but he is cutting corners. He is not in a hurry, chooses his own speed, and passes the message on in his own way and with his own interpretation. As a result, he cannot be called a “trustworthy messenger” (see Prov. 25:13), but by sloppiness and slowness he only causes damage for his employer.

The sluggard occurs much more often in the book of Proverbs. Apparently, it was a mentality that needed to be urgently warned against. I mention the relevant texts here, each accompanied with a brief explanation.

6:6, 9 The sluggard is told to go to the ants to become wise. They anticipate the winter by actively and cooperatively collecting food in the summer.

13:4 Laziness is placed opposite to diligence or industry (see further 10:4, where some renditions have a slack hand instead of lazy hands)

15:19  The life of a sluggard is different from the life of the upright.

19:24  (The same as 26:15). For the sluggard, even serving food is too much.

20:4  If you do not plow in the fall, you have no harvest in the summer.

21:25 The mentality of the sluggard eventually leads to death.

22:13 (The same as 26:13). A sluggard will always have an excuse to avoid work (for instance, that there is a lion in the street).

24:30-34 Laziness eventually leads to poverty.

26:13-16 Sluggards are often cocky; they give excuses for their laziness.

This enumeration shows that laziness was not something strange in Israel. In that society, it appears to have been a strong counterforce. It is remarkable that the word “sluggard” does not appear outside of the book of Proverbs. Of course, that does not mean that indolence or inactivity never was found outside of it again. I think of the time of the prophet Haggai, after the Exile, when people had stopped the construction of the temple in Jerusalem, while they were exerting themselves for their own houses. People were often active, but the issue was then and always again: are they also active in the work of the Lord?

It was also necessary outside of the land and people of Israel to warn people about laziness, sluggishness, and unreliability. I mention an example from Egyptian wisdom literature. In the teachings of Ptah-Hotep, one may read, “If you are one of the trusted ones who sends one great one to another, make sure to work correctly in the matter, if he sends you. Execute the task the way he says. Do not hide anything of what he says and take care to not forget anything. Hold on to the truth, and do not go beyond it, even if you have to tell something that brings gladness.”

Another teaching admonishes the messenger to delete nothing from the message, and not to add anything to it either. The proverbs of Amenemope warn one to endure the displeasure of the addressee if you must bring an unpleasant message, and to not act against that person on your own initiative, and further to also willingly execute modest assignments, or those that bring little profit. Thus, some voices from Egyptian proverb-wisdom.

Message and application for today (also in the New Testament)←⤒🔗

Concerning laziness, we can also look at the New Testament. I think especially of the parable of the talents in Matthew 25. The man who had hidden his talent in the ground, and did nothing with it, is called a lazy or slothful servant. That parable has the general application that in this life you ought to work with and grow your talents. If you do not, you get labelled as a sluggard. That is why Paul calls you to be faithful in your normal, everyday work, and not to cut corners. In his first letter to the Thessalonians, he asks the congregation to “quietly mind your own business and earn your own living” (4:9-12). In his second letter to the Thessalonians this topic returns (3:6-9). In that passage, Paul also refers to his own example. He proclaimed the gospel, but in his “spare” time — often at night — he busied himself with making tents to not be financially dependent on the congregation. That is why the Bible stirs us up to be industrious and not to become sluggish (Heb. 6:11-12).

We can apply this to our normal everyday work, and also to all labour that is more directly focussed on God’s kingdom. We may also think of the concrete meaning we found for the text in Proverbs 10: the untrustworthy envoy. The Bible often speaks about messengers, also in the New Testament. In that time, when postal services hardly existed, couriers were indispensable for delivering messages. Paul often used couriers as well, sending them to congregations or coworkers to stay in touch, to send a message, or to ask a question.

A quick and trustworthy courier was very important! Unfortunately, servants are not always very useful for their master. In the letter to Philemon we read about Onesimus, who apparently ran away from his lord Philemon, and ended up with Paul. We do not know whether that was a matter of laxity, or laziness, or perhaps desire for freedom. In any case, to his master this slave was as smoke to his eyes and sour wine to his teeth.

We ourselves as well must be trustworthy couriers for others and for God. For instance, to consistory you must report honestly on a pastoral visit, not sloppily or with your own interpretation. That is just as true of a conversation you had with a teacher, a friend, or a neighbour. That means, for instance, that you do not consciously or subconsciously twist someone’s words or present them in a wrong light (see further HC Lord’s Day 43).

It is the same with the good news God gave us. Paul calls himself a messenger or angel of God in Galatians 4:14. In some sense that is what we all are when we pass that message from God on to others. We must be honest in doing that, researching well what God says and means, and we may not be lazy or detached in our Bible study. Be aware that we shortchange others, or even God if we do not tell precisely what has been written.

Let us return to laziness in the general sense. Today, one cannot usually just label someone as a sluggard. When it uses this word, the Bible also does not think of someone who sits in his lazy chair all day or lounges over the railing like a slacker. Laziness does not usually mean that you do nothing, but that you do different things, or that you first do things that are not your primary task or that your job would require of you. Church people, too, may throw themselves into something with a zeal that should be applied to better things. As Christians, it is possible to have a full agenda, while you are yet spiritually lazy. Then it seems like you are very much doing things for yourself, for your hobbies perhaps, while the church does not notice any of your activity. Someone may have egotistic reasons for requesting release from office. Then they have become a person God cannot send with a message. Do not let that be you.

e. Discussion questions←⤒🔗

1. We must use our talents. Does that mean that we should only accept work or look for a job that we have talents for?
2. How should retired people take care not to become lazy?
3. Sloppy use of someone else’s words…: do you recognize that with yourself or others?
4. What could be the meaning of “Godly lounging” (apparently, the expression comes from Luther)?
5. What do you think of the message of the Amalekite to David, as described in 2 Samuel 1?
6. How could you have a busy program every day and yet be lazy in the biblical sense?