Lessons from the Proverb II
Some parts of the Book of Proverbs are very familiar to priests because they so frequently occur in the Liturgy. The portrait of the Valiant Woman, which ends the Book, is often read as an Epistle at Mass, and the beautiful personification of Wisdom in the eighth chapter forms the lessons of the First Nocturn on feasts of our Blessed Lady. There are many other parts which ought to be just as familiar, and a little garnering here and there may perhaps induce some readers to make a deeper acquaintance with this inspired Book.
THE SLUGGARD
Laziness is found in all countries. An effort is required to overcome the dolce far niente habit which is ingrained in our nature. It would seem, however, that the sluggard flourished in the East. The Book of Proverbs has many references to him, and some of the sketches are most graphic.
Go to the ant, O sluggard,
And consider her ways and learn wisdom,
Which, although she hath no guide, nor master, nor captain,
Provideth her meat for herself in the summer,
And gathereth her food in the harvest.
How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard?
When wilt thou rise out of thy sleep?
Thou wilt sleep a little, thou wilt slumber a little,
Thou wilt fold thy hands a little to sleep:
And want shall come upon thee as a traveller,
And poverty as a man armed (vi. 6-11).
In the first stanza there is the contrast between the tiny ant, without intellect and yet a model of industry and foresight, and a man, the intellectual king of creation, sunk in idleness, with no thought for the future. The second stanza is more dramatic in the Hebrew, where in answer to the question,
How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard?
When wilt thou rise out of thy sleep?
it is the sluggard who answers, begging for
A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to rest.
And then the wise man concludes that poverty and want will overtake the sluggard as suddenly and irresistibly as a traveller-that is, a vagabond, a highwayman, armed for his depredations. The same truth is expressed in another proverb:
The sluggard will not plough in the winter:
In the harvest he goeth to gather-and there is none (xx. 4).
Then there is the description of the vineyard of the sluggard:
I passed by the field of the slothful man,
And by the vineyard of the foolish man,
And behold it was all filled with nettles,
And thorns had covered the face thereof,
And the stone wall was broken down,
Which when I had seen, I laid it up in my heart,
And by the example I received instruction (xxiv. 30-34).
And the sacred author repeats the above passage: "A little sleep, a little slumber, etc."
Most of us have met the person who, when he is called in the morning, says: "Yes, I am getting up." But he does not get up for a long time after, and only as the result of repeated calls. He also says that he did not hear the first call. The counterpart of this person existed in Solomon's time:
As the door turneth on its hinges,
So doth the sluggard on his bed.
Prompt rising in the morning is a good criterion to distinguish the easy-going man from him who realizes the value of time, and wishes, in the words of the Blessed Thomas More, "to buy again the time that I before have lost." When St. Jerome in his decrepit old age had lost the strength necessary to raise himself from his bed in the morning, he had a rope attached to the ceiling with the end hanging over his bed, and by clinging on to this he managed to be up in time to assist at the public offices and prayers of his monastery at Bethlehem. His example has been frequently followed since.
There is also the utter futility of arguing with the sluggard, and trying to show him the sad consequences of his indolence, for
The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit
Than seven men that speak sentences.
The Book of Proverbs contains several hundred of such sentencesthat is, wise and prudent sayings. Seven is to be taken as expressing an indefinite number. Hence the sluggard believes that his lazy way is the best, and all the wise men in the world would not convince him to the contrary. Not even the wisdom of Solomon would make much impression on the man who, when urged to go out to work, would reply as follows:
The slothful man saith: There is a lion without,
I shall be slain in the midst of the streets (xxii. 13).
And the person who is too lazy to eat is beyond all hope:
The slothful putteth his hand in the dish,
And will not so much as bring it to his mouth (xix. 24).
