Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Proverbs 26:13
The slothful [man] saith, [There is] a lion in the way; a lion [is] in the streets.
13. Almost identical with Pro 22:13, where see note.
the slothful man] Rather, the sluggard. See Pro 26:16, note.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Compare the marginal reference note. Here there is greater dramatic vividness in the two words used:
(1) A roaring one,
(2) a lion, more specifically.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Pro 26:13
The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets.
A lion in the way
The reprehensible sloth of the coward does not appear in what he says, but in what he leaves unsaid. He means, but is ashamed to say, Because there is a lion in the way, I will shirk my duty. The brave man says, Though a lion is in the way, I will slay it; anyway I will fight with it and wound it.
I. There is a lion in the way. In what way? In the way of life–of every life. Life, if it is to be a true life, is not an easy thing. There is, indeed, such a thing as a life which is no true life, only a living death. Sloth, self-indulgence, self-abandonment to a besetting sin, caring for nothing but self, and the keeping ones self miserably alive, to live at ease, to live selfishly, to live for pleasure, all this is to be dead while we live. If you live thus you may for a time live at home quite secure, fearless of the only lions you dread. If, on the other hand, you mean to live for nobler objects than those of shameless selfishness, you too, like Saul, will have to fight with wild beasts at Ephesus or elsewhere. There will be needed the girded loin and the burning lamp, the swift foot, and the sharp sword, and the stout heart, and the strong arm; faith and prayer, and the battle, and the Cross.
2. There are many lions, and not one only. True courage does not consist in the absence of any sense of fear–that may only be due to brute apathy–but it is to feel fear and to overcome it.
I. For the brave, true man there is the lion of the world. We live in days of wonderful, and for some men, pleasant compromises. Religion walks in silver slippers. Good and evil lie flat together, side by side, in amiable neutrality. You may take your choice. If what you are content with is compromise and conventionality, and the broad beaten road, and success and popularity, you may have it for the asking: it is quite easy to offend nobody. But if you would have any of the nobleness, any of the usefulness, of the prophet or the reformer, boldly rebuke vice, denounce a fashionable iniquity, fling away from you a theological falsehood, run counter to a general delusion, deal vigorously with the lion in the way. The lion of the worlds hatred and opposition may be avoided. It is avoided by thousands of sleek and prosperous men.
II. But there is another lion which each man must meet, the lion of his own fleshly nature, of his own physical and mental passions. Plato describes each man as consisting, so to speak, of three beings in one: a lion, a many-headed monster, and a man. Of these the man represents the controlling reason; the lion the fierce and irascible temper; the many-headed monster the low and animal passions. The man, the reason, must absolutely rule; the irascible impulses must not be crushed, indeed, but controlled; the monster of fleshly lusts must be utterly subdued. By every one of us that lion, that multitudinous and many-headed monster, must be fought.
III. Another lion is he who goeth about, seeking whom he may devour. Each of us knows by experience that there are some tendencies and temptations–to pride, to falsity, to blaspheming thoughts, to causeless hatred–which often come upon a man with fierce and unlooked-for suddenness, and we know not whence or where the tempting opportunity suddenly meets the susceptible disposition. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Remember that he can be fought face to face, but the Christian has no armour for the back.
IV. Consider the duty of facing these lions in our outward life. Everywhere individual license invades public rights. The slothful man (and the slothful man is the epitome of the slothful nation) is ingenious in excuses. Happily every now and then God-strengthened, God-inspired, good, brave, unsophisticated men, have torn their way through these thorny hedges of indolence, greed, and opposition; have faced the wild beast of demoralised public opinion, in spite of its erect mane and flaming eye.
V. The slothful man pleads that many have been slain by this lion in the way. Yes, it is quite true. But to them, as to their Lord, through death, and after death, if not in life, hath come the glory and the victory. Slain: yet no harm has come to them. Better a thousand times their death than the life of the selfish and the base. There is one way in which a man can die even better than this. It is when, homeless, landless, wifeless, childless, without even a hope of earthly things, he faces those fearful odds, not for his own wealth or his own comfort, but for his brother man; faces them for the sake of simple duty, faces them for the common love of humanity, faces them because, if God wills it, he, too, is ready to die for those for whom Christ died. Take courage, then, all ye who are fearless enough and noble enough to care for any righteous cause. (Dean Farrar.)
The slothful man
Man is made up of contradictions. A strong propensity to indolence, and a principle which prompts to action. There is a charm in the exercise of those physical and intellectual powers with which man is endowed. With many indolence diffuses its benumbing influence through all their faculties and powers. It becomes a disease, which strengthens itself by continuance. Habit is equally efficient in generating and confirming evil and good qualities. Extraordinary changes of moral character from bad to good have occurred in every age; but we have no right to calculate on them, so as to become indifferent to the ordinary growth of good or evil disposition. Indolence of character proceeds from a torpid state of the affections, or coldness of heart, in some partly natural, in most persons however, acquired by habit. In the state of indolence, the spellbound slumberer avails himself of every pretext for continuing to doze. The text gives one of his frivolous and groundless excuses. Consider some of the sluggards formidable discouragements and obstacles in the way of exertion–such as that labour is painful; that self-denial is against nature; and that there is no certain prospect of success, and that God, being all mercy, is ready to forgive at any time. You cannot question or dispute the evils, the misery and ruin to which indolence leads in this world; or the moral ruin to which the sin of lukewarmness, or indifference to your religious obligations, will lead you in the world to come. (James Flint, D. D.)
Seeing with our prejudices
We see not so much with our eyes as with our prejudices. The wish is father to the thought. Some men look at the religious life, and see in it nothing but what is narrow and bigoted, gloomy and morose. They do not want to see anything else. Some professing Christians look on the worlds amusements and discern no evil in them. It is to be feared they have no special desire to be convinced of any. There are members of Churches who look at Christian work in its varied departments and with its paramount claims, yet cannot be brought to discover their own qualifications to engage in it. The reason is, they have no wish to. The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the streets. And when anything in the shape of self-denying service is proposed to certain persons, this lion assumes most portentous dimensions, and rivals the thunder with his roar. (J. Halsey.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 13. The slothful man saith] See Clarke on Pr 22:13.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
To excuse his idleness, and keeping himself at home. See Poole “Pro 22:13“.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. (Compare Pr22:13).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The slothful [man] saith,…. Within himself; or to such that excite him to diligence and industry, to go about the business of his calling, to till his field, and dress his vineyard. The Septuagint and Arabic versions add, “being sent into the way”; ordered by his master to go out to work, when he makes the following excuse:
[there is] a lion in the way; a lion [is] in the streets; in the way to his field or vineyard, and in the streets, where his business lies or leads unto it: a very idle excuse this; since lions are usually in woods, forests, and desert places, and not in public roads, and much less in streets of cities; see Pr 22:13. This may be applied to a man slothful in the duties of religion; the “way” and “streets” may denote public ordinances, which are the ways of God’s appointing, prescribing, and directing to; and in which good men walk, and find pleasure and profit; and are the streets where Wisdom cries, or Christ is preached, and where he is sought for and found: but many are the excuses some men make not to attend them; see Lu 14:17; though they are vain, frivolous, and foolish, as this here; for in these ways and streets may true seen the feet of the messengers of peace; here the turtle’s voice, the joyful sound of salvation by Christ, may be heard; here the Lamb of God is directed to, to be looked at, as taking away the sins of men, having been slain, and having shed his blood for the redemption of them: and though the terrible voice of the law may be sometimes heard, which is necessary to arouse and awaken sleepy sinners, and unhinge self-righteous persons from a dependence on the works of the law; yet, afterwards comes the still small voice of the Gospel, proclaiming freedom from the curse and condemnation of the law by Christ. Indeed, in some ages, there have been violent persecutors, comparable to lions; and informers have been in the way and in the streets, to terrify saints from their duty; but none of these could move them from it, nor separate fully gracious souls from their love to Christ: though carnal slothful professors are offended, when tribulation or persecution arise because of the word, these are lions to them; and, in times of peace and liberty, they can paint lions, very terrible to themselves, and raise such difficulties as are insuperable to them; a slight disorder of body, a small inclemency of the weather, little danger of catching cold, and the like, shall be a lion to them: not considering they have a devouring lion nearer them in their houses, chambers, and on their beds with them; even Satan, in whose clutches they are, who keeps their goods in peace, by whom they are led captive, and to whom they fall a prey: nor fearing the wrath of the King of kings, which is as the roaring of a lion: the wrath of God and of the Lamb, who is also the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and whose day of wrath will be such as none will be able to bear.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
There follows now a group of proverbs regarding the slothful:
13 The slothful saith there is a lion without,
A lion in the midst of the streets;
cf. the original of this proverb, Pro 22:13. , to say nothing of , is not the jackal; is the bibl. name for the lion. is the more general expression for , Isa 5:25; by the streets he thinks of the rows of houses that form them.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
13 The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets.
When a man talks foolishly we say, He talks idly; for none betray their folly more than those who are idle and go about to excuse themselves in their idleness. As men’s folly makes them slothful, so their slothfulness makes them foolish. Observe, 1. What the slothful man really dreads. He dreads the way, the streets, the place where work is to be done and a journey to be gone; he hates business, hates every thing that requires care and labour. 2. What he dreams of, and pretends to dread–a lion in the way. When he is pressed to be diligent, either in his worldly affairs or in the business of religion, this is his excuse (and a sorry excuse it is, as bad as none), There is a lion in the way, some insuperable difficulty or danger which he cannot pretend to grapple with. Lions frequent woods and deserts; and, in the day-time, when man has business to do, they are in their dens, Psa 104:22; Psa 104:23. But the sluggard fancies, or rather pretends to fancy, a lion in the streets, whereas the lion is only in his own fancy, nor is he so fierce as he is painted. Note, It is a foolish thing to frighten ourselves from real duties by fancied difficulties, Eccl. xi. 4.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
The Slothful Man
Verse 13 reveals the tendency of the slothful (lazy) man to find excuses for not going out to work. He declares there is a dangerous lion in the street. The lazy man finds many obstacles, imaginary or real, to justify failure to get out and work for bread, or for the even greater responsibility of the LORD’s work, Pro 20:4; Pro 22:13; Ecc 10:18; Rom 12:11; 2Th 3:11; Heb 6:12.
Verse 14 emphasizes the unproductive effort of the slothful pictured by the door which swings back and forth but goes nowhere; and the man’s frequent turnings in the bed because of prolonged occupancy, Pro 6:9-10; Pro 21:25.
Verse 15 describes the ultimate of laziness by the man too lazy to reach into the common dish for food (see comment on Pro 19:24). This verse also suggests the failure of many today to feed on the Word of God, so necessary to spiritual life and service, Mat 4:4; Joh 6:51; 1Pe 2:2.
Verse 16 concludes the portrait of the sluggard with the sad truth that despite his many deficiencies, he thinks he is so smart his opinions are better than those of wise men who have valid reasons for their judgments. (The biblical seven in this verse signifies completeness – the sluggard thinks he knows more than all others), Isa 31:1; Jer 17:5; 1Co 10:12.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(13) The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way . . .See above on Pro. 22:13.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
13. Lion in the way Compare Pro 22:13, where we have the same proverb almost verbatim.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Wisdom in Dealing with the Sluggard Pro 26:13-16 teaches us about the sluggard.
Pro 26:13 The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets.
Pro 26:14 Pro 26:15 Pro 26:16 Pro 26:16
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
Pro 26:13. The slothful man saith, &c. In this and the following verses, three degrees of sloth are represented; the first, when a man is loth to stir out of doors about his business in the field, in this verse; the second, when he is loth so much as to leave his bed; Pro 26:14 and the third and highest, when he will scarcely put his hand to his mouth: Pro 26:15. By which hyperbolical expression, the wise man admirably sets forth the incredible laziness of some, which increases upon them continually, if they will not shake it off: and yet so presumptuous are they withal, he observes Pro 26:16 that they laugh at those who take a great deal of pains to be wise, and fancy themselves much wiser; because without any pains they can find fault sometimes with other men’s works. After this follows an admonition against rashly intermeddling in other men’s affairs: against backbiters and dissemblers; especially such as are malicious, and cover the malignity of their minds under fair shews of friendship and esteem.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Pro 26:13 The slothful [man] saith, [There is] a lion in the way; a lion [is] in the streets.
Ver. 13. The slothful man sayeth, There is a lion. ] See Trapp on “ Pro 22:13 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
a lion = a black lion.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Pro 26:13-16
Pro 26:13-16
MORE PROVERBS REGARDING SLUGGARDS
“The sluggard saith there is a lion in the way; A lion is in the streets.
As the door turneth upon its hinges, So does the sluggard upon his bed.
The sluggard burieth his hand in the dish; It wearieth him to bring it again to his mouth.
The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit Than seven men that can render a reason.”
“A lion is in the streets” (Pro 26:13). See our comment under Pro 22:13.
“As the door turneth upon its hinges” (Pro 26:14). “Just as the door moves on its hinges, but does not go anywhere, the sluggard turns over and over in his bed but does not get out of it and go anywhere to do any work.” See the comments under Pro 6:9-10, and under Pro 24:33.
Pro 26:15 is practically identical with Pro 19:24. See the comments there.
The meaning of Pro 26:16 is that, “The idle fool sets more value upon his own opinion than that of any number of wise men.
We have already had many proverbs about the slothful or sluggards. See comments under: “Pro 6:6-11; Pro 10:26; Pro 11:16; Pro 14:4; Pro 15:19; Pro 18:9; Pro 19:15; Pro 24:30-34; Pro 31:27. We are indebted to Tate for this list.
Pro 26:13. Pro 22:13 says the same thing. Proverbs has much to say about laziness: Pro 6:6-9; Pro 10:4-5; Pro 18:9; Pro 19:15; Pro 19:24; Pro 20:4; Pro 22:13; Pro 24:30-31; Pro 26:14; Pro 26:16. That is a lot of material on the subject-more than any other Bible book gives to it.
Pro 26:14. Just as a gate turns upon its hinges, so does the sluggard when aroused turn over (roll over onto his other side) for more sleep. Some of the other explanations given to this comparison are at least entertaining: the door turns on its hinges but goes nowhere; so does a sluggard upon his bed and goes nowhere; while the door opens to let the diligent go forth to their work, the sluggard turns upon his bed and sleeps on; the door creaks when moved, and so does the sluggard when aroused; etc.
Pro 26:15. Pro 19:24 says the same thing. It is hard for us to imagine people this lazy, but experience teaches one not to be too surprised at anything!
Pro 26:16. This verse sounds like what we call park-bench authorities and sidewalk superintendents-men who are doing nothing and who have no authority over a project, but who never question their judgment: they always know how it should have been done. Many times the uneducated who are lazy are cursed with the spirit of egotism. Ever try to tell them something? Quoting from your commentators book, Simple, Stimulating Studies in the Proverbs: Those men with just enough ambition to get up town to spend the day on some benches talking, whittling, and arguing have all the answers. They can tell the President how to run this country, yet nobody ever thought enough of their insight to have them put on any political ticket. They could tell the Secretary of Agriculture (whose problems relate to the corn farmer, the cotton farmer, the fruit farmer, the wheat farmer, the nut farmer, the hay farmer, the dairy farmer, the ranches, the poultryman, the nations surpluses, and a hundred other large fields) just how to handle his job when they themselves cannot even have a respectable garden.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Pro 15:19, Pro 19:15, Pro 22:13
Reciprocal: 1Ki 13:24 – a lion Pro 6:6 – thou Pro 12:24 – but Pro 13:4 – desireth Pro 19:24 – General Pro 20:4 – sluggard Pro 21:25 – General Hag 1:2 – This Mat 25:18 – and hid Mat 25:25 – General Luk 16:3 – I cannot Luk 19:20 – Lord Rom 12:11 – slothful
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
LAZINESS AND COWARDICE
The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets.
Pro 26:13
I. There is a lion in the way!In what way? I answer, In the way of life, of every life. Life, if it is to be a true life, is not an easy thing. The men who live for nobler objects than those of shameful selfishness, like St. Paul, will have to fight with wild beasts at Ephesus or elsewhere.
II. There is a lion in the way.Yes, and not one, but many lions: (1) the lion of the worlds opposition and hatred; (2) the lion of our own fleshly nature, of our own physical and mental passions; (3) our adversary the devil.
III. These lionsthe world, the flesh, and the devilfor all their seeming strength and ferocity and the passion in their throats, prove but cowardly beasts after all. But the slothful man not only says, There is a lion in the way, but adds, I shall be slain in the streets, and then in a reproachful and injured tone, You well know that many have been so slain. Yes, it is quite true; they have been so slain; but to them, as to their Lord, through death and after death, if not in life, have come the glory and the victory.
Dean Farrar.
Illustration
The sluggard is ever imagining difficulties. He sees lions where there is none (22:13). His only real difficulty is his own indolence. He would rather starve than put forth any exertion. Yet he is full of self-conceit. Wiser than seven men, the number of perfection.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Pro 26:13-16. The slothful man saith, &c. In this and the following verses, three degrees of sloth are represented; the first, when a man is loath to stir out of doors about his business in the field, Pro 26:13; the second, when he is loath so much as to leave his bed, Pro 26:14; and the third and highest, when he will scarcely put his hand to his mouth, Pro 26:15. By which hyperbolical expression the wise man admirably sets forth the incredible laziness of some, which increases upon them continually, if they will not shake it off; and yet, so presumptuous are they withal, that they laugh at those who take a great deal of pains to be wise, and fancy themselves much wiser; because, without any pains, they can find fault sometimes with other mens works. Dodd. Thus, Pro 26:16, the sluggard is wiser in his own eyes Because, by his idleness, he avoids those troubles and dangers to which other men, by their activity, expose themselves, forgetting, in the mean time, what reproach and loss are brought upon him by his slothfulness; than seven men that can render a reason Namely, a satisfactory reason of all their actions, that is, who are truly wise men.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
26:13 The slothful [man] saith, {h} [There is] a lion in the way; a lion [is] in the streets.
(h) Read Pro 22:13.