Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 21:25
The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labor.
25. the desire of the slothful killeth him ] This may mean either ( a) his desire for slothful inaction brings him to want and starvation, because through its indulgence (as the 2nd clause of the verse explains) his hands refuse to do the work by which maintenance is to be obtained; or ( b) his desire for the necessaries and comforts of life, or even for nobler things, wears him out with unsatisfied longings. Comp. Pro 21:26 below and Pro 13:4, Pro 19:24. “Idleness is ruin; the soul rusts away, like the sword in Hudibras, which
‘ate into itself for lack
Of something else to hew and hack.’ ” Horton.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Killeth him – He wastes his strength and life in unsatisfied longings for something which he has not energy to gain. The wish to do great or good things may sometimes be taken for the deed, but if the hindrance is from a mans own sloth, it does but add to his condemnation.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Pro 21:25
The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour.
Sloth
Solomon attaches to it several evils.
I. Suicide. The desire of the slothful killeth him. The man who is too lazy to move his limbs or open his eyes is too lazy to have a desire. These desires kill him. There are several things that tend to kill such a man.
1. Ennui. This is what Byron calls that awful yawn which sleep cannot abate. In all life there is not a more crushing power than lassitude. It breeds those morbid moods that explain half the diseases of the rich.
2. Disappointment. Disappointment kills.
3. Envy. The slothful sees others succeed.
4. Poverty. Sloth fills our workhouses with paupers, our prisons with criminals, our army with recruits.
5. Remorse.
II. Greed. He covereth greedily all the day long. In the Paris French translation the words stand thus–All the day long he does nothing but wish. How very expressive at once of the unconquerable indolence and the fretful, envious, pining unhappiness of the sluggard!
III. Unrighteousness. But the righteous giveth and spareth not. This implies that the slothful are neither righteous nor generous. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 25. The desire of the slothful killeth him] He desires to eat, drink, and be clothed: but as he does not labour, hence he dies with this desire in his heart, envying those who possess plenty through their labour and industry. Hence he is said to covet greedily all the day long, Pr 21:26, while the righteous, who has been laborious and diligent, has enough to eat, and some to spare.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Killeth him; either,
1. Tormenteth him almost to death, whilst he passionately desires that which he sees he shall not enjoy, and will not take pains to procure. Or,
2. Exposeth him to extreme want, and so to death, or to such wicked courses, for the supply of his wants, as bring him to an untimely death.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
25. desirethat is, of easeand idleness brings him to starvation.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The desire of the slothful killeth him,…. His desire after food and raiment, and riches; for because he cannot have what he desires, being unwilling to work for them, it frets and vexes him to death, or puts him upon unlawful methods to obtain them, which bring him to a shameful death; see Pr 13:4;
for his hands refuse to labour; when he is ordered by his superiors, or his wants are such as call for labour; and he seems to be willing and desirous of it, necessity obliging to it, yet he cannot bring his hands to it; these do in effect say, as Aben Ezra observes, Thou shall not do it. Maimonides says this is to be understood of sloth in seeking wisdom h.
h Moreh Nevochim, par. 1. c. 34. p. 47.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
25 The desire of the slothful killeth him;
For his hands refuse to be active.
The desire of the , Hitzig remarks, goes out first after meat and drink; and when it takes this direction, as hunger, it kills him indeed. But in this case it is not the desire that kills him, but the impossibility of satisfying it. The meaning is simply: the inordinate desire after rest and pleasure kills the slothful; for this always seeking only enjoyment and idleness brings him at last to ruin. means here, as in Kibroth ha-tava, Num 11:34, inordinate longing after enjoyments. The proverb is connected by almost all interpreters (also Ewald, Bertheau, Hitzig, Elster, Zckler) as a tetrastich with Pro 21:25: he (the slothful) always eagerly desires, but the righteous giveth and spareth not. But (1) although , since it designates one who is faithful to duty, might be used particularly of the industrious (cf. Pro 15:19), yet would there be wanting in 26a , Pro 13:4, cf. Pro 20:4, necessary for the formation of the contrast; (2) this older Book of Proverbs consists of pure distichs; the only tristich, Pro 19:7, appears as the consequence of a mutilation from the lxx. Thus the pretended tetrastich before us is only apparently such.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
25 The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour. 26 He coveteth greedily all the day long: but the righteous giveth and spareth not.
Here we have, 1. The miseries of the slothful, whose hands refuse to labour in an honest calling, by which they might get an honest livelihood. They are as fit for labour as other men, and business offers itself, to which they might lay their hands and apply their minds, but they will not; herein they fondly think they do well for themselves, see ch. xxvi. 16. Soul, take thy ease. But really they are enemies to themselves; for, besides that their slothfulness starves them, depriving them of their necessary supports, their desires at the same time stab them. Though their hands refuse to labour, their hearts cease not to covet riches, and pleasures, and honours, which yet cannot be obtained without labour. Their desires are impetuous and insatiable; they covet greedily all the day long, and cry, Give, give; they expect every body should do for them, though they will do nothing for themselves, much less for any body else. Now these desires kill them; they are a perpetual vexation to them, fret them to death, and perhaps put them upon such dangerous courses for the satisfying of their craving lusts as hasten them to an untimely end. Many that must have money with which to make provision for the flesh, and would not be at the pains to get it honestly, have turned highwaymen, and that has killed them. Those that are slothful in the affairs of their souls, and yet have desires towards that which would be the happiness of their souls, those desires kill them, will aggravate their condemnation and be witnesses against them that were convinced of the worth of spiritual blessings, but refused to be at the pains that were necessary to the obtaining of them. 2. The honours of the honest and diligent. The righteous and industrious have their desires satisfied, and enjoy not only that satisfaction, but the further satisfaction of doing good to others. The slothful are always craving and gaping to receive, but the righteous are always full and contriving to give; and it is more blessed to give than to receive. They give and spare not, give liberally and upbraid not; they give a portion to seven and also to eight, and do not spare for fear of wanting.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
The Sluggard and the Righteous
Verses 25 and 26 contrast the slothful who wastes his life with unsatisfied desires for that he will not labor to gain (Pro 13:4; Pro 19:24; Pro 20:4), with the righteous who gives freely and is- not disfurnished, Pro 11:25; Pro 22:9; Pro 28:27; Mat 5:42. (Christians are not to be slothful, 1Th 4:11; 2Th 3:10-13.)
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
SELF-IMMOLATION BY INDOLENCE
Pro 21:25
I BEGIN this sermon with a text touching sloth for two reasons. In the first place quite a number of fathers and mothers of this congregation have asked the repetition of a sermon preached a few Sundays since on The Universal Duty of Labor from the text, If any man will not work, neither let him eat.
I am opposed to repeating sermons to the same audience but glad to prepare new ones along lines that have seemed helpful to others. Then again, idleness is such a prolific root of evil that other faults and failures will be better understood if they are studied in their natural relations to this forerunner of vice.
It is not putting it too strongly to speak of Indolence as one of the diggers of graves for young men. The inspired text affirms the same, saying, The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour.
Let us think for a while about the extent to which indolence has the power to destroy.
FIRST OF ALL, IT WRONGS AND RUINS THE BODY
The best physical development is impossible to the indolent man. One may say, I dont believe that. Some of the noblest physiques that I have ever seen were those of the laziest men. But hold! What do you call a perfect body? For a man to be fat is not to present a good physique to the world.
Ofttimes flesh is the first evidence of ill-health and of down-right laziness. The muscles are lost in extraneous growths; the nerves are so encased that their tension is no longer strong and fine; even the very mind appears to be involved in that overgrowth that comes of too little exertion, too great love of ease.
I know a man who stands some inches over six feet and tips the scale at 230, whose body is beefy because this text is the truth of his existence, The desire of the slothful killeth him. Oh, it means something to make the most of these bodies that God has given us; these tenements of clay yet tabernacles of the Holy Ghost. Their proper exercise will richly repay the pains taken to effect good physical development. Men of weak bodies have been great; and such afflicted ones as Pascal, Nelson, Johnson, Pope, Milton, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Alexander Stephens, and Robert Hall, prove that the mind may master all opposition from physical defects; and yet young men need to be reminded that the mightiest men of the past, viewed from whatever side, have had great physiques; for instance, William E. Gladstone, the octogenarian, whose body kept itself so healthy by means of work that a noted editor said of him, that like his mind, his body gave no evidence of failure, but was fresh with every returning day and equal to the ever increasing burdens that his offices and honors imposed. Such a physique was, and is, a fortune above all gold, and God only gives it to those who spurn. the sloth that consumes ones very bones.
Again, indolence wrongs the body in that it fails to furnish satiety to natural cravings, The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour.
We sometimes read of those extreme cases of hunger when men, maddened by unsatiated appetites, turn upon themselves and tear their own flesh and drink its blood. It is a good deal so with the desire of the slothful man. His hands bring nothing to his parching lips or hungry throat, and finding nothing upon which to feed, nature falls upon the man himself and makes him its prey. To be sure, now and then there is an indolent fellow that fattens himself at the expense of others; either at the fathers cost, or through depending on friends, or winning the hand of some silly girl whose greatest charm is carried in fathers pocket in hard cash.
We heard of one such fellow, who had been paying regular attention to a bond-holders daughter, until the old man suspected that he meant marriage and said to him one day, Young man, I notice that you call to see my daughter quite frequently; and as she- er -appears to be favorably impressed by you, I think I have a right to inquire concerning your prospects.
The young dude answered promptly I shall be rich one day! Ah, said the bond-holder, l am glad to hear that. Yes, continued the young man, your daughter and I have been secretly married and she has promised me the half you leave.
But the world is not full of such fool girls. The rule is that the young man who wont work has to go hungry and wear rags; and be kicked out of decent company before his days are done. The desire lives, and not being fed from the frugal hand that provides food, shelter and raiment, it turns to feed upon the indolent himself; consumes him away, and throws out his poor remains upon the world to wander up and down the earth a vagabond. I stood one day just outside a great depot in Chicago, and looked into the face of a young man who had seen not more than twenty and two or three summers, and saw in him the most perfect illustration of this text that life could furnish. His coat had literally dropped away to a point above his waist, his vest and pants looked as rags strung on rotten threads; his face wore the marks of hunger and gave evidence of physical disorder; and yet his hands were in his pockets and he whistled an indolent air. No student of Scripture could pass him and forget that long ago Solomon said, The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour.
Of course indolence does not often dig so deep a grave for youth as it had made for him. He was buried out of sight from the people who moved in first circles of society, or engaged industriously in honest work. His very name was unknown to the thousands that hurried past. Every son of this third decade of the twentieth century confronts the same dilemma that beset the tramp who called at a kitchen door to ask a little something to eat. The tender-hearted woman set a well-filled plate before him and said, There now! But I should think a great big, strong fellow like you would be ashamed to beg. So I am ashamed, but what am I to do, I must beg or work.
To beg is to fill the deepest grave and be buried of sloth, no matter whether you beg of strangers, or sponge on family and friends. To work is to build the body and save it from being eaten up of unsatiated desires.
But, in the second place, let it be remembered that
INDOLENCE WEAKENS AND DESTROYS THE MIND OF MAN
Bodily exercise is no more essential to physical endurance and feats of strength than mental activity is indispensable to the growth and power of the intellect of man. We hear a great deal said about men being geniuses by birth; but for every such a one there are a dozen Samsons of intellect who have cultured their thought and brains by earnest, persistent study and work. I am more and more persuaded that the elements of success which we call genius were better named diligence. That was the genius that made the poor, fatherless boy, James Garfield, grow fit for the worlds highest political station, the presidency of these United States. I was much interested some years since in reading the letter that Mark Hopkins, the President of Williams College, Garfields Alma Mater, wrote to him shortly after his nomination for that exalted office. To Garfield, Hopkins said, The hour has struck sooner than I thought! You know I thought it would come; and now that it has come, I rejoice with you. I congratulate you not only on your nomination but on the manner of it; and the enthusiasm with which it is received. The students here are wild over it, and I care not how wild, if they will but learn the lesson there is in it. It is one reason of my joy, that there is a lesson in it.
How well I remember those early struggles and your manly bearing under them; the confidence you at once gave your instructors and received from them; and the combination, so apparently easy, and yet so rare among students, of a genial spirit with pure habits and high aims uniformly pursued. That was the beginning of a course and the lesson therefore is that this honor is the result of no accident, but of achievement in scholarship and statesmanship by steady work, so that when the occasion called, the man was there.
Dr. Twing, in referring to that letter, said to a company of young men, Crises are always striking, and crises will, at no distant day, strike in your life. When a crisis does strike the result of its striking depends upon whether you are a man. Aye, and he might have added, Upon whether you have prized your intellect; preserved and made it powerful, by discarding all sloth and forming habits of thought and study.
A slothful man is sure to be one of distempered imagination. This same intellectually vigorous and wise Solomon said, you remember, The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets; and Dr. Parker sagely comments on those words, A singular illustration this of how the decay of one faculty may be the beginning of the activity of another. Industry has gone down but imagination has risen. The slothful man seeks to make up by excuse what is wanting in energy. How ridden by the nightmare is the slothful mans imagination! He sees foes in the air; he hears voices that none other can detect; he is anxious to impress upon his friends the fact that he, himself, is most willing to go out; yea, even eager to work, and prepared to undergo any amount of sacrifice, but he sees a lion; he is sure of a supreme difficulty. The man that is thus a lion-maker in his own imagination will soon bring himself under the subjection of his own diseased fancy.
That is why so many young men fail in life. They have a faculty for seeing all the dangers that lie ahead but want the faith to overcome them. That was a wise thing that Charles Dickens said about the journey that Nicholas Nickleby and Smike had to make when they were running away from Squeers and his school. It was after the second days walk that Dickens wrote, It was a harder days journey than yesterdays for there were long and weary hills to climb, and in journeys, as in life, it is a great deal easier to go down hill than up. However, they kept on, with unabated perseverance and the hill has not yet lifted its face to heaven that perseverance will not gain the summit of at last.
How true! Be diligent; study, work, and every lion that lies close to your path will prove, like Bunyans, to be chained and harmless to the man that keeps to the center of the road and marches boldly on. Life presents no difficulty that may not be overcome provided sloth does not fasten its fangs in our flesh or brain.
When Daniel Webster entered Exeter Academy, Philadelphia, the boys poked fun at his manners, his dress, his stupidity, and spoke of him as from the back woods. They called him a moss-back. Webster determined to do his best. At the end of the second quarter of the year Prof. Emery said, Daniel, gather up your books and take down your cap. He obeyed, wondering if he had unconsciously done something that meant expulsion. Prof. Emery went on, Now, Sir, you may report yourself to the teacher of the first class! and you, young gentlemen, may take an affectionate leave of your classmate, for you will never see him again.
They never did, as classmate; but as statesman and orator they came to his feet and bowed in admiration. A little sloth, and Daniels name had never been known outside the circle that made him the butt of their jeers and jests. Ah, truly, it is the desire of the slothful that killeth him, by setting seeming lions ahead and checking progress and forcing death on the intellect of man.
But again,
Sloth destroys the mind by deluging it with criminal and destructive thoughts. William Douglas Morrison wrote a book on Crime and Its Causes. Prominent among the causes he set this of indolence, and his figures affirmed this as the truth, that a righteous man among indolents is seldom, or never found. The whole file of beggars and vagrants are marching straight to that criminal hour that will send them to the lockup, the jail, and to prison. Chaplain Phillips in an address delivered before the prison congress of some years ago, related how a young boy having served out his third term, was dismissed, and when about to depart, the chaplain said, Charlie, what are you going to do? He held up his pale white hands and said, Chaplain, these hands know much of theft but nothing of work, and went out.
No wonder the Chaplain said, Idleness is the main root of crime. You may cut off all others if you like, but until the boys and girls are taught to work they cannot be kept out of prisons and alms houses. Truly, my young friends, An idle brain is the devils workshop. Pauls counsel was of the best when he wrote, See then, that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time.
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro. 21:25-26
THE SWORD OF THE SLUGGARD
I. A sluggard cannot help desiring the results of toil. It is natural and lawful for men to value bodily health and comfort, and all those blessings which are the ordinary fruits of industrythey are good things which God gives His creatures to enjoy, but they are not His only gifts nor His best gifts. But they are the main objects of the sluggards desire, for an inordinate and exclusive love of them has made him a slothful man. If he had put his reputation and his duty before his love of easeif he had listened to the voice of conscience rather than to the pleadings of self-indulgence, he would be a worker instead of a mere wisher. The text suggests that mere desire to possess is not a power strong enough to turn an indolent man into an industrious one, although it is strong enough to make him miserable and wicked. For
II. A sluggard is an unrighteous man. This is both implied and expressed in the proverb. He is placed in contrast with the righteous man as one of an opposite character, and he is declared to be an habitual breaker of the tenth commandment. Covetousness is a sin nearly allied to envy, and both are in themselves transgressions of the moral law, and often lead to more heinous crimes. Let no man, then, say that his refusal to take his part in the work of the world is a matter which concerns himself alone, for even if a man were not responsible for a negative existence, such a course is certain to lead to positive sin.
III. He is a self-destroyer. This is a phase of sloth which has not been placed before us in former proverbs on the subject. The sluggard not only makes wretched the existence which it is his great aim to pamper, but he shortens it. His covetous and unsatisfied state of mind is as a canker-worm at the root of all that he does possess, and, deprived of the healthful influence of labour, he becomes an easy prey to disease and death. It is probable that nothing undermines the bodily constitution more surely than unsatisfied desire. Men who have been great workers, but who have not seen the desire of their hearts fulfilled, have often died in consequence. How much more likely will the slothful man be to die under such a disappointment! If the rust eats into the sword which is in constant use, how much more certainly will it destroy that which is never drawn from the scabbard!
IV. The righteous man is a worker and a giver. He is in all respects the exact opposite of the sluggard. He works not so much because of the gain of labour as because he loves to work, and because it is wrong to be idle. This he shows by the use he makes of much that he gainshe gives with an unsparing hand. In both he is an imitator of the righteous God, who is the Greatest Worker and the Greatest Giver in the universe. The righteousness of God prompts Him to bountiful acts towards needy creatures, and the righteousness of His righteous servants prompts them to do like deeds, according to their ability. On this subject see also Homiletics on chap. Pro. 13:4, page 296.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
The desire kills him. Why? Because he will not gratify it. The way to gratify it is to get it accomplished. Say not, It is the refusal that kills and not the desire. That is not altogether the case. The spark that is too weak to grow puts itself out by its attempts. The desire that is too dull to act has treasured in it the last remainders of the heart, and in its languid throbs makes itself the instrument of its own growing dissolution.Miller.
In the Paris French translation the words stand thusAll the day long he does nothing but wish. How very expressive at once of the unconquerable indolence and the fretful, envious, pining unhappiness of the sluggard! And in his wishing, he may at times, by the power of a sanguine imagination, work himself into hope; and then, disappointment only embitters the cup of his own mingling,aggravates the misery, which he is painfully conscious is self-inflicted.Further: he appears before us a stranger to all the positive and exquisite pleasures of charity and beneficence; but the righteous giveth and spareth not. It is not said, you will observethe diligent giveth and spareth not; because there are not a few who are sufficiently exemplary in diligence, to whom the Bible would not give the designation of the righteous, and who are far from being distinguished for benevolence. But the antithesis, as it stands here, implies these three things: First, that diligence is one of the features in the character of the righteous:Secondly, that the natural tendency, and ordinary result of this is, through the divine blessing, abundance to spare:Thirdly, that another distinguishing feature of the character of the righteous man, is readiness to part with what his industry acquiresgiving, and not sparing; that is, giving cheerfully, and giving liberally; not assenting merely to the truth of the maxim, as being the word of the Lord, but feeling the truth of it in their own hearts experienceIt is more blessed to give than to receive. Wardlaw.
It is not said by Paul, If any man do not work, neither let him eat, for some would work and cannot get it, others would work and are not able, but If any man will not work, if any have work to do, and will not, let him not eat. In the same manner the wise man speaketh; he doth not say, his hands do not labour, but his hands refuse to labour. But he sheweth that though a sluggard be idle himself, yet his desire be so hard a labourer, that it is a daily labourer, and such a daily labourer painfully worketh all the day long. So that although he have no hands to work, his desire hath hands to beg and crave of him; which being not satisfied, is a just punishment of his careless sluggishness. But the righteous man, being as earnest in his labour as the other in his desire, getteth enough, not only to satisfy his own desire, but to supply the wants of others.Jermin.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(25) The desire of the slothful killeth them.Their love for sloth and pleasure ruins them in soul and body and fortune.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
25. Desire killeth him This is variously interpreted. Patrick says:
“His sloth moves him to make provision for his desires by robbing, or other unlawful ways, rather than by some honest but laborious calling.” “He desires to eat, and drink, and be clothed; but, as he does not labour, he dies with his desires in his heart.” Clarke. “The sluggard desires to enjoy a slothful repose, which will destroy him.” Stuart. Compare Pro 11:23; Pro 13:4; Pro 19:24.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
v. 25. The desire of the slothful,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
DISCOURSE: 803
DESIRE IS NOTHING WITHOUT LABOUR
Pro 21:25. The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour.
IT is the duty of a minister to comfort the Lords people, and on no account to make the heart of the righteous sad. Our blessed Lord brake not the bruised reed, nor quenched the smoking flax: and in this respect all who minister in his name must follow his example, never despising the day of small things, but carrying the lambs in their bosom, and gently leading them that are with young. But there are occasions whereon they must change their voice, especially when they stand in doubt of any, or judge it necessary to give a salutary warning to their flocks. Now there is an error against which I would wish affectionately to guard you, and that is, the laying of an undue stress upon good desires without pressing forward for the attainment of the object desired. To this line of instruction I am led by the passage before us; from which I will take occasion,
I.
To shew you the influence of good desires.
It is plain that, in Solomons opinion, good desires, which when duly cherished and improved, will be productive of the happiest effects, may through sloth and indolence issue in self-deception and ruin. That we may have a just view of this important subject, I will mark the influence of good desires,
1.
In the bosoms of the diligent
[This, though not expressly mentioned, is evidently implied, since it is in the slothful only that good desires can have a fatal issue.
Now we need only see how desire operates in diligent men, whatever their vocation be, whether in trade, or agriculture, or science; and that will shew us how it will operate in reference to religion: it will stimulate men to such exertions as are necessary to the acquisition of the object desired [Note: Point out this in reference to the fore-mentioned pursuits.] For the attainment of heaven, we must exert ourselves in away of repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ: and, if our desires after heaven be sincere, they will render us earnest and laborious in the pursuit of these, and never suffer us to pause till we have actually attained them Thus accompanied with diligence, they will bring us to the enjoyment of peace and holiness and glory ]
2.
In the bosoms of the slothful
[In them good desires may justly be said to occasion death. They do so indirectly, because they are not productive of suitable exertions. It is said, The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting [Note: Pro 12:27.]. And this is precisely the case with those whose conduct we are considering. They have, in consequence of their good desires, pursued and obtained the knowledge of religious truth; but in consequence of their sloth they have neglected to follow their advantages, and to improve their attainments for the benefit of their souls. Hence their vineyard is overgrown with thorns, and the stone wall thereof is fallen down; yea, and poverty comes upon them (gradually) like one that travelleth, and want (irresistibly) like an armed man [Note: Pro 24:30-34.]: so true is that declaration of Solomon, He that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster [Note: Pro 18:9.].
But this is by no means the full sense of our text. It is not in an indirect way only that in the slothful man good desires operate to the production of death: no; they have a direct influence towards the destruction of his soul. The man in whose bosom good desires arise, is conscious of them; and takes occasion from them to entertain a good opinion of his state before God. He puts them in the place of good attainments; and, because he hopes that they shall at some future period accomplish their proper work, he overlooks the necessity of immediately experiencing that work, and conceives, that God will, if I may so speak, accept the will for the deed. To countenance this delusion, he applies to himself such promises as these; The Lord will fulfil the desire of them that fear him [Note: Psa 145:19.]: The desire of the righteous shall be granted [Note: Pro 10:24.]. He forgets that the end is connected with the means; and that, however we may acknowledge our obligations to God for ability to will what is good, we can have no hope of acceptance with him, unless we exert ourselves with all diligence to do it, and to work out our salvation with fear and trembling [Note: Php 2:12-13.]. Hence he is a living witness of that melancholy fact, The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing, whilst the soul of the diligent is made fat [Note: Pro 13:4.]. Yes, to all eternity will he be a monument of that mysterious truth. The desire of the slothful killeth him.]
Having marked the operation of good desires, I now proceed,
II.
To offer some salutary counsel in relation to them
Doubtless good desires must take the lead, yea, and must move us, in the whole of our Christian course: but, as faith itself is dead without works, so are good desires of no value any farther than they are productive of holy lives. I say then, if God have given to any of you good desires, see to it that those desires be,
1.
Abiding
[There are few persons so depraved but they have felt on some particular occasion the risings of good desire. But to what purpose are such emotions in the soul, if they pass away like the morning cloud, or as the early dew [Note: Hos 6:4.] To know what is good, and not to do it, involves us in the heavier guilt [Note: Jam 4:17.], and will prove a ground of heavier condemnation to the soul; as God has said, This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men have loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil [Note: Joh 3:19.]. If then you would derive real benefit from the desires which God has mercifully implanted in you, see that they take root within you, and become living and active principles in your souls.]
2.
Operative
[You desire to obtain salvation. It is well: but to what purpose will this desire be, if it do not stimulate you to action? Will a desire of knowledge render any one a philosopher, if he neglect his studies? Will a desire of a harvest enrich a man, if he neglect to cultivate his land? How then can you hope that a desire of heaven will ever bring you thither, if you neglect the concerns of your souls? You must read the Holy Scriptures with meditation and prayer: you must search out your sins, and mourn over them before God: you must get views of Christ as the only Saviour of the world, and must go to him continually that you may receive out of his fulness the grace that shall be sufficient for you. You must be gaining an increasing victory over the world, and the flesh, and the devil, and be growing more and more like unto your God and Saviour in righteousness and true holiness. You must be living more for God in the midst of this corrupt world, and be bringing glory to his name by your exertions in his sacred cause. It is in this way that your good desires must work, if you would have them productive of any saving benefit to your souls. The stony-ground hearers, whose desires were only temporary, perished, notwithstanding the fair appearances which for a season they assumed; as did the thorny-ground hearers also, because they brought forth no fruit to perfection. And you also must not only begin well, but endure unto the end, and be faithful unto death, if ever you would be saved in the great day of the Lord Jesus. The slothful, be they who they may, shall be condemned in that day as wicked [Note: Mat 25:26.].]
3.
Supreme
[You cannot serve God and mammon. The world may have your hands; but God must have your heart, your whole heart [Note: Pro 23:26.]. He will not accept a divided heart [Note: Hos 10:2.]. The world must become crucified to you, and you unto the world [Note: Gal 6:14.]. Your affections must be set on things above, and not on things below [Note: Col 3:1.]: and your conversation must be altogether in heaven [Note: Php 3:20.]. There must be nothing either in heaven or earth that you desire besides God [Note: Psa 73:25.].
You must resemble David, who says, This one thing have I desired [Note: Psa 27:4.] and St. Paul, who says, This one thing I do [Note: Php 3:13.]. Then shall God fully answer you in the desires of your heart, and your efforts be crowned with glorious success.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Pro 21:25 The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour.
Ver. 25. The desire of the slothful killeth him. ] He only wisheth well to himself; but refusing to labour, “pineth away in his iniquity.” Lev 26:39 Neither grace nor wealth is had with wishing; Nemo casu fit sapiens, saith Seneca. a Some have a kind of willingness and velleity, a kind of wambling after the best things, but it doth not boil up to the full height of resolution for God.
“ Virtutem exoptant, contabescuntque relicta. ” – Pers.
Carnal men care not to seek after him whom yet they would fain find, saith Bernard; Cupientes consequi sed non et sequi; have heaven they would, but stick at the hard conditions; like faint chapmen, they bid money for heaven, but are loath to come up to the full price for it. Balaam wished well to heaven; so did the young Pharisee in the gospel, that came to Christ hastily, but went away heavily. Herod for a long time desired to see Christ, but never stirred out of doors to see him. Pilate asked Christ, What is truth? but never stayed his answer. The sluggard puts out his arm to rise, and pulls it in again; he turns upon his bed, as the door doth upon the hinges, which yet comes not off for all the turnings, but hangs still, and this is his utter undoing. Men must not think that good things, whether spiritual or temporal, will drop out of the clouds to them, as towns were said to come into Timotheus’s toil while he slept. b Now, “perform the doing of it,” saith St Paul to those lazy Corinthians. 2Co 8:12 A thirsty man will not only long for drink, but labour after it. A covetous man will not only wish for wealth, but strive to compass it. Yet not every covetous man, I confess; for in the next verse it is said of the sluggard,
a Epist. 77.
b Aemuli ipsius dormientem piuxerant. – Plut. in Sulla.
Pro 21:25
Pro 21:25
“The desire of the sluggard killeth him; For his hands refuse to labor.”
The sluggard or the slothful are continually condemned in Proverbs; and we have frequently commented on the priority given the work ethic in Holy Scripture. “The sluggard wastes his strength and his life in longing for things for which he has not the energy to work. His grandiose wishes to do great or good things are of no value at all because of his laziness, which only adds to his misery and condemnation. This is a concise statement of what appears to be the meaning: “The sluggard’s craving will be the death of him, because his hands refuse to work.
Pro 21:25. Pro 13:4 also speaks of the desire of the sluggard, saying that he hath nothing. This verse explains why: his hands refuse to labor. On his desire killing him, Pulpit Commentary suggests: The mere wish, combined with no active exertion to secure its accomplishment, is fatal to soul, body, and fortune.
Pro 6:6-11, Pro 12:24, Pro 12:27, Pro 13:4, Pro 15:19, Pro 19:24, Pro 20:4, Pro 22:13, Pro 24:30-34, Pro 26:13, Pro 26:16, Mat 25:26
Reciprocal: Jos 7:3 – about two Pro 17:16 – seeing Ecc 10:18 – General Luk 13:24 – for Luk 16:3 – I cannot 2Th 3:10 – that
Pro 21:25-26. The desire of the slothful killeth him Torments him almost to death, while he passionately desires that which he sees he shall not enjoy, and will not take pains to procure. He coveteth greedily all the day long Spends his whole time in vain and lazy desires, but will not labour to gain any thing, either to use himself, or to give to others. But the righteous giveth, and spareth not By Gods blessing upon his industry he procures enough not only for his own support, but also for the liberal relief of others.
21:25 The desire of the slothful {l} killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour.
(l) He thinks to live by wishing and desiring all things, but will make no effort to get anything.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes