A wise son makes a glad father,
but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother.
2 Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit,
but righteousness delivers from death.
3 The Lord does not let the righteous go hungry,
but he thwarts the craving of the wicked.
4 A slack hand causes poverty,
but the hand of the diligent makes rich.
5 He who gathers in summer is a prudent son,
but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame.
Proverbs is deeply interested in the fullness of life. God provides us wise words so we may live a life of wisdom. The salvation of God in history is not simply a broad category to discuss; it is a category to live. God wants to impart wisdom to His people. The danger, of course, is that we become a people so enamored with a desire to know what to do that we become no better than self-help gurus. We don’t want to accumulate a biblical TO-DO list to be wiser than everyone else; instead, we want to learn how to apply the Bible because when we do so, we are more and more conformed unto Christ. This is essential for us to grasp. Proverbs is about Christ. He is the wise Son who always makes His Father glad. So, wisdom is good, but wisdom divorced from Christ is tainted by sin. This is why it is so crucial that when we impart wisdom to our children, we must never end our instruction without pointing them to the Wisdom made flesh, Jesus the Christ. Wisdom leads to works only because we are Christ’s and Christ made us for good works.
Proverbs argues that our works must be done in the sight of God. The works we do is earthy work shattering the nice, civil discourse so prevalent in the so-called elite; in fact, wisdom shatters the elite and makes us all human again. It brings us to the day-to-day struggles from the ivory towers to diaper changing to the sweat of our brows. The type of discourse that typically offends our more refined sensibilities is the type of language the Bible loves to address. Once you grow up into the language of the Bible then, you learn to judge everything else by it.[1]
It is here in these two verses of Proverbs 10 (verses four and five) that we find a sample of the grandiose picture. In Proverbs, wisdom is not ethereal or abstract; it is real and tangible. You can even take a picture of a wise person; that’s how visible it is. Proverbs despises the dichotomy between spiritual and physical. Instead, it loves to unite ideas to the work of your hands.
This is what we find in verses 4 & 5 of Proverbs 10: the unity of wisdom and wealth. Wealth without wisdom is destruction, but wealth with biblical wisdom is to be desired. G.K. Chesterton once said that the central matter of education is not learning things, but unlearning things.[2] Godly pursues righteousness by undoing poor habits.
Look at verse 4: “A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.” A man’s character is reflected in his attitude toward work.[3] “A diligent man is more than one who works hard; he is one who works efficiently. He recognizes time as a stewardship that must be given account in the Day of Judgment.”[4] What good is it to have wealth and not be wise? As Proverbs 21:20 says, “…the foolish man may take money, but he spends it all up. The hand of the diligent makes rich.”
Man is created to be diligent.[5] And this is why a slack hand produces poverty; not just simply a financial poverty, but a poverty of the mind. A slack hand causes you to think of the world not as a harvest, but as a barren land. Where there is a slack hand, wisdom is not present. Wisdom leads to work and the hand of the diligent makes rich. The practical foundation of wealth, the simple biblical economic principle is that those who are diligent, that is, wise and efficient, become rich. “If you don’t maintain a home it will rot to the ground. Time, nature, and circumstance all conspire to consume and destroy our efforts because we live in a sinful world. Unless people realize that they are responsible for their own financial condition they will never be delivered from poverty.”[6]
This section of Proverbs concludes with a further observation on the contrast between diligence and laziness. Verse 5 says: “He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame.” There is a a strong contrast in this text. He who gathers in the summer is like the exemplary ant in Proverbs 6:8. Bruce Waltke writes: “He represents any child who brings his parent joy by earning the accolade of being declared prudent.” By contrast, he who sleeps “denotes a person in a state of sleep that is so deep, traumatic, and narcotic-like that he is totally unconscious of his surroundings.” “The fact that he is sleeping in harvest underscores the urgency of the situation.”[7] To be very clear, Solomon is not saying that sleeping or taking a nap is wrong, but what he is saying is that the sleeper “has failed to understand the relationship between timing and success. He has assumed that he can rest at his discretion. The Bible says no…This proverb testifies to the existence of rhythms in life. A man must pace himself according to the conditions of the market. No successful distance runner runs equally fast throughout a long race, irrespective of the conditions of the course, the distance remaining, his energy reserves, and the speed of his competitors.”[8]
So, we are called to embrace a new rhythm. This rhythm requires us to have a strong commitment to the future. The pessimist works without the expectation of reward and blessing. The hopeful works with the expectation that his labor is not in vain; that God is rewarding and blessing his efforts and building the kingdom upon the work of our hands.
[1] See Against Christianity by Peter Leithart for a fleshing out of these ideas.
[2] Found this quote in Douglas Wilson’s Glory and a Covering.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Rev. Max Doner; sermon on Proverbs 10
[5] Let me also state that Proverbs is assuming that this individual is able to work, but he prefers to keep his hands unharmed from the dangers of the ground, or a keyboard, or whatever it is one may do for work.
[6] Ibid. see sermonaudio.com
[7] Ibid.
[8] Gary North, Economic Commentary on the Book of Proverbs.
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