He cometh to want that dealeth with a slack hand; but the hand of the diligent maketh rich.
Proverbs 10 begins a run of short, paired sayings that move from broad principles to daily life. This verse sets two hands side by side: one that lets things slip, and one that works.
The sayings that begin here are not about how to be saved. They describe how life runs under God's rule.
Proverbs 10 begins the details. They teach those who listen how to avoid the traps the simple might fall into, the path to follow in many cases, and the consequences of men's actions. In short, they show what wisdom looks like in detail: good sense for man, divine discretion for the children of God. They also show the result of God's government, whatever things may look like for a while. It is worth noticing that this book raises no question of redemption or propitiation. It sets out a walk that follows the wisdom of God's government.
Doing nothing is not a neutral choice. One commentator reads verses 4 and 5 together: the loose hand, and the sleeper at harvest.
In verses 4 and 5, carelessness works ruin just as much as more open evil does. God did not make man in His image and likeness for such indifference. When man fell, he gained a conscience that knows good and evil — something he did not have, and could not have, while he was innocent. So we read, "A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich." It is good for a man to eat his bread by the sweat of his face. An idler is open to evil as well as poverty; the diligent does not work in vain. Again, when everything is bright and plentiful, folly takes its ease and enjoyment; but he is a wise son who gathers in summer. So the man who sleeps when he ought to be reaping is bound to bring shame, whatever the love of those nearest to him.
The warning does not stand alone. The sayings around it promise God's care to the upright.
There are also warnings against being slack, which makes poor, while the hand of the diligent, he that is up and doing, makes rich. We find promises and assurance for the godly like these: "Righteousness delivers from death … the Lord does not let the righteous go hungry … blessings are on the head of the righteous … the memory of the righteous is a blessing."
Money that comes by shortcuts leaves as fast as it came. Money that comes by work can be shared.
We are reminded that wealth goes as it came. If it is gained by careless, unworthy, or dishonest ways, how it flies! In that case it has wings, not weight, and it vanishes as emptily as it appeared for a while. "But whoever gathers by hand will increase it." God honours hard work. Some great lords add honour to their rank by being more truly working men than those who live by such work and boast of it too easily. Every believer should be like this, and put to shame those who eat without working! And how happy when the increase lets someone give to the needy!
A person can be tireless in one area and idle in another. The results follow the effort.
Idleness is the opposite to diligence. Which are we, idle or diligent? Some Christians are very diligent in money-making and even diligent in pleasure-seeking, but idle in the things of God. Is it any wonder they spiritually languish? Others while paying the necessary heed to their business or work are diligent in the things of God. No one need be surprised that they spiritually flourish.
The diligent hand has work to do in learning Christ too.
Then remember that faith acts! "The hand of the diligent makes rich." "Whoever gathers by labour will increase it." "In all labour there is profit." … With time and diligence, you will learn little by little, and each lesson will be truly learned in the heart. And when the heart has learned something for itself, the joy that follows is much calmer and deeper than any you knew before. But guard against relying on the joy. Keep going, learning more of Christ. That is the only way to keep the soul fresh and alive.
- Hand, not luck. This proverb sits in a book about the results of our actions under God's rule. It is not about redemption. It is about the walk wisdom marks out.
- Slack hand, real ruin. Carelessness wrecks a life as much as open evil does. The idler is open to more than poverty.
- Working hand, honoured. God honours hard work. Money grabbed by unworthy means has wings. Money gathered by labour grows.
- Full hand, open hand. Increase reaches its best use when it lets you give to the needy.
- Same hand, higher field. Some are diligent in money but idle in the things of God, and they languish. Those diligent in the things of God flourish — little by little, learning Christ.
He that gathereth in summer is a wise son; he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame.
Proverbs 10 begins a run of short, paired sayings. This one weighs a son by timing: does he work while the crop stands, or sleep through it?
Proverbs is a book about daily conduct, not about how a person is saved. One writer marks that line first.
In Proverbs 10 the details begin. They teach anyone who listens how to avoid the traps the simple might fall into, the path to take in many cases, and the consequences of what people do. In short, they show what wisdom looks like in detail: what may be prudence for man, and divine discretion for the children of God. They also show the result of God's government, whatever things may look like for a while. It is worth noticing that this book raises no question of redemption or propitiation. It sets out a walk that follows the wisdom of God's government.
This verse sits beside the slack hand of verse 4. Together they show that ruin needs no crime.
In verses 4 and 5, carelessness works ruin just as much as more obvious evil does. God did not make man in His image and likeness for such indifference... An idle man is open to evil as well as poverty; the diligent man does not work in vain. Again, when everything is bright and plentiful, folly takes its ease and enjoys itself; but the son who gathers in summer is wise. So the one who sleeps when he ought to be reaping hard must bring shame, however much those closest to him love him.
The sleep is foolish because of its timing: it comes in the season of plenty. Older translations say wise son where the ESV says prudent son.
The proverb does not say the sleeper suffers loss. It says he causes shame, and that shame falls on the people whose name he carries.
The one who gathers in summer, when the conditions for work are good, is wise. Harvest time is a time for hard work. If a man sleeps when he ought to work, he will bring shame on his own family (v. 5).
The whole force of the saying rests on timing. One writer walks past the lazy man's overgrown field to show that work skipped in its season cannot be made up later.
This passer-by must have seen the lazy man's field in summer, with the thorns and nettles growing fast: a poor outlook for its owner as harvest came near. His neighbour's field looked very different. A fine crop of grain covered it... The lazy man had missed his season. In winter he should have been up and ploughing his field, so the frost and cold winds could break up and soften the clods and make a good seed bed. When he should have been pulling out the nettles and thorns, he was folding his hands to sleep.
Rest itself is not the fault; a settled habit of it is. The same writer carries the danger into spiritual life, where a sleeping man is not just idle but unguarded.
Of course, we need sleep and rest. But if sleep is what marks our lives, that is a different matter. It is worse when we sleep about spiritual things and feel nothing of the serious dangers around us. It was "while men were sleeping" that the enemy sowed weeds among the wheat (Matt. 13:25).
One writer reads the farming year as a warning: the time to be saved will close, and no second chance follows.
We know that the devil has his servants who preach "the gospel of the second chance." But be warned, this is the devil's gospel, not the Gospel of God. God says, "Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2). How terrible for many who will cry — "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved" (Jer. 8:20).
- Season. Wisdom here is timing, not cleverness. Gather while it is summer, because the field will not stay ready.
- Slackness. Ruin needs no open wickedness. Plain indifference does the same work, and an idle man is open to evil as well as poverty.
- Sleep. The trap springs when things are bright and plentiful, because plenty tempts folly to take its ease.
- Shame. The cost is never private. The son who sleeps through harvest brings shame on the family that loves him.
- Summer's end. The farming year also warns of a season of salvation that closes. Now is the day, and there is no gospel of a second chance.