Be well acquainted with the appearance of thy flocks; look well to thy herds
The verse tells a farmer two things: know your animals one by one, and keep your eye on them. Commentators read the picture as a charge about caring for people — knowing them, watching over them, and doing it while there is still time.
Human effort by itself comes to nothing. That is no reason to go slack in what God has given us to do.
The fact that mere human work is empty is no reason to be lazy in the Lord's work. Faith in the Living God and diligence go together, for in this there is no emptiness: "in the Lord your labor is not in vain." Our verse implies shepherd care. However weak the day we live in, the need of souls should draw out tireless work and concern from our own hearts.
Knowing the condition of a flock is not a head count. It means being able to tell what is wrong with one person.
The public teacher cannot do this. Certainly, if he has something of the pastor in him, his public preaching can reach a great deal of the soul's private struggles, sorrows, and difficulties. But he cannot fully meet the soul's individual need. This is the pastor's holy work. As we see it, a pastor is to the soul what a doctor is to the body. He must understand disease and medicine. He must be able to tell what is wrong. He must be able to discern the spiritual condition, so as to apply the true remedy.
That kind of knowledge costs the one who carries it.
What I mean by a pastor is a person who can carry the whole sorrow, care, misery, and sin of another on his own soul. He takes it to God, and brings back from God what will meet it, before he goes to the other person.
The second half of the verse asks for the shepherd's eye — and an eye catches small changes early.
He needs a skilled eye to watch faces, to notice movements, and to catch the first change in behaviour. Someone hurries off at the end of a meeting to avoid speaking or being spoken to. Why is this? He was not like that a while ago. Ask, and you find that he took offence at what he thought was neglect, or that the leader himself seemed to show favouritism and hurt him.
Looking well also means going out after what has drifted off.
Shepherding the sheep is more than feeding them. It is going after the sheep when they have slipped away under the hedge and may be torn by the thorns. It is comforting them, caring for them as well as feeding them, and nursing and tending them in every way.
The verse says "your flocks." Yet the flock of God was bought, and its price sets how tenderly it must be handled.
The sheep had been "purchased with the blood of His own," that is, God's own Shepherd (Cf. Zech. 13:7), and therefore of priceless value to Him. This fact should move our hearts in diligent, tenderest care for all the flock of God.
The window for this work has an end.
Time for work in natural things is limited, and natural wisdom makes use of the present. How true this is in the things of God! We have only the present to work for the Lord, to gain for Him what will please Him in the day of rewards. "Engage in business until I come," He says. When He comes, the account cannot be put off.
The flock also feeds and clothes the one who tends it. The care comes back to the carer, and the animals point past the farm.
Care for souls, young and tender as they may be, works for our own benefit too. The wool of the lambs clothes the shepherd, and the price of the goats is enough to buy land. There is also a reminder of sacrifice here. The lamb pictures the Lord Jesus in His quiet submission in death for us, and that is what really clothes us in the eyes of God.
- Diligence — the emptiness of human effort is no excuse for laziness. Faith and hard work belong together, because work for the Lord is never wasted.
- Know — real care works like a doctor with a body. It tells what is wrong with one person and brings the right remedy.
- Look — watching means catching the first small change. Then it means going after the one who slipped away, instead of waiting for them to come back.
- Whose — the flock was bought with the blood of God's own Shepherd. Its value, not our energy, sets how tender the care must be.
- Now — we only have the present to work for the Lord. That work feeds and clothes the shepherd himself, and it points back to the Lamb who clothes us before God.
for wealth is not for ever; and doth the crown [endure] from generation to generation?
The verse just before this one tells the owner to know his flocks and herds well. Here Solomon gives the reason for that care: wealth runs out, and no crown lasts through every generation.
If nothing we build lasts, why work hard at all? One writer turns that thought around.
The emptiness of man's own work is no reason to be lazy in the Lord's work. Faith in the Living God and diligence go together. In the Lord's work there is no emptiness: "your labour is not in vain in the Lord." Our verse implies shepherd care, of course. However weak the day we live in, the need of souls should draw out tireless labour and concern from our own hearts.
The same writer draws out the deadline inside that reason.
Time for work in natural things runs out, and natural wisdom makes the most of the present. How true, too, in the things of God! We have only the present to labour for the Lord, to acquire for Him what will please Him in the day of rewards. "Engage in business until I come," He says, for then there will be no delaying of the account.
One writer sets out the two warnings the apostle gives to people with money.
So the apostle warns first against pride, and then against resting your hopes on wealth. Money soon grows wings and flies away. Its owner is often called away himself, in the middle of his plans to make himself great. "Uncertainty of riches" indeed: how true and expressive!
The same writer names the one thing riches cannot outlast.
Confidence in riches is unsafe. Riches certainly make wings for themselves and fly away like an eagle toward heaven. No wonder that the man who trusts in them will fall. On the other hand, righteousness endures, whatever comes from outside.
The verse's second line moves from private wealth to public power. One writer answers from history, then names the one exception.
The fact is that there never has been a king in this world who has not, sooner or later, lost his crown. There never has been a kingdom that has not been overthrown, or is going to be. But God is about to bring in a King who will never lose His crown, and a kingdom that will never pass away.
If nothing here stays with us, ownership itself needs rethinking. One writer puts the danger in our hearts, not in the things themselves.
Our danger lies in the tendency of our hearts to seek a portion here, to hold present things as though they belonged to us. In truth, nothing here belongs to us. Our portion is in the eternal things. We hold what we have only as stewards, on trust. We must give account for all.
The verse asks whether a crown endures. One writer points to the one crown that does.
"When the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory" (1 Peter 5:4). Here the Apostle Peter is speaking to the pastors of the flock of God. He tells them of the unfading crown of glory that the Chief Shepherd will award to faithful under-shepherds. It is an unfading crown, unlike the laurel crown of the Corinthian games, which began to fade as soon as the winner put it on his head.
- Nothing here endures — riches grow wings and fly away, and no king in this world has kept his crown.
- So work now — our time runs out; the present is all we have to gain what will please the Lord "in the day of rewards."
- Hold, don't own — nothing here belongs to us; we hold it as stewards, and we must give account.
- Tend the flock — the care our verse calls for is shepherd care, and the need of souls should draw out tireless concern.
- One thing endures — righteousness outlives riches, and the Chief Shepherd's crown never fades.
The hay is removed, and the tender grass sheweth itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered in.
This verse paints a farming scene. The farmer has cut the hay, new grass is already pushing up, and the mountain plants are ready to gather. So what does a picture of grass and hay teach anyone who is not a farmer?
The lines just before this one deny that wealth or a crown lasts. What follows is not resignation but work — and one commentator reads the shepherd's watchfulness as a picture of caring for people.
Because mere man's work is vanity is no reason to be slothful in the Lord's work. Faith in the Living God and diligence go together, for in this there is no vanity: "your labour is not in vain in the Lord." Our verse implies pastoral, shepherd care. However weak the day we live in may be, the need of souls should draw out tireless labour and concern from our own hearts.
The whole verse turns on timing. Each stage — hay cut, grass rising, herbs gathered — has its own short season.
Time for labour in natural things is limited, and natural wisdom takes advantage of the present. How true, too, in the things of God! We have only the present to labour for the Lord, to acquire for Him what will please Him in the day of rewards. "Engage in business until I come," He says, for then there will be no delaying of the account.
Grass and hay come and go fast. Yet the verse ends with a gathering, not with withering.
This also shows how quickly the present passes. Our lives are only a vapour, come and gone, like the grass and the hay. Yet something is gathered. Fruit brought forth for the Lord in this short life will keep its value long after our story here is over. "Your fruit shall remain" (John 15:16). It is a wonderful thing that the believer's life is not all emptiness and frustration. God's work in his soul will bear much fruit.
Grant's own rendering of the verse keeps that sense of a cycle in motion rather than a landscape stripped bare:
"The hay is removed, and the tender grass shows itself, and herbs of the mountains are gathered in" (New Translation).
The new growth matters because it feeds the flock. One writer follows the picture of grass from Proverbs into the Gospels, where the Lord makes a crowd sit down on the grass.
"Green pastures" — what restful freshness, what comfort too, in a scene of dry waste and barrenness. The "tender grass" has its place in the welfare of the flock (compare Proverbs 27). And "His favour is as dew upon the grass" (Proverbs 19) — so wonderfully seen when He made the people sit down where "there was much grass in the place" (John 6:10). Blessed, compassionate Lord!
The next verses spell out the return: clothing, land, and food. Commentators read the animals themselves as pointing beyond the farm.
Care for souls, young and tender as they may be, will work for our own benefit. The wool of the lambs clothes the shepherd, and the price of goats is enough to buy property. There is of course a reminder of sacrifice here. The lamb is a picture of the Lord Jesus in His quiet submission in death for us. That death is the real means of clothing us in the eyes of God. The goat speaks of Him taking our place, a propitiation "for the whole world," that is, "the field," which His death has purchased. Not that the world is redeemed, but redemption is available for it, and all who receive the Lord Jesus receive the eternal benefits of this great work.
And the harvest is not hoarded. It reaches past the man who worked for it:
The goats' milk of course speaks of the nourishment that comes from the sacrifice. It is enough for the individual, for his household, and for others who depend on him — serving maids. For faith cannot help considering the welfare of others. Here the calm confidence of faith and the devoted energy of faith come together beautifully. It is a scene of quiet prosperity and rest.
- Season. Hay, new grass, gathered herbs — each has its moment. Wisdom uses the present.
- Labour. Human effort on its own is empty, but work done for the Lord is not — and the flock in the picture stands for people needing care.
- Grass. Our lives are a vapour, as short-lived as the hay in the picture.
- Fruit. Yet the harvest still comes in. What we bring forth for the Lord outlasts the life that produced it.
- Provision. The harvest clothes, buys and feeds. It supplies the worker, his household and all who depend on him.
The lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of a field;
Proverbs 27 ends with a farm scene. The man who tends his flocks finds that they clothe him, buy him land, and feed his house. Commentators read this as plain wisdom about hard work. They also read it as a picture of care for people, and of the sacrifice that clothes us and buys the field.
The verse follows a call to know your flocks well. Leslie Grant takes that as a call to steady work with people, not just animals.
Man's own work is empty, but that is no reason to be lazy in the Lord's work. Faith in the Living God and diligence go together, for in this work there is no emptiness: "your labor is not in vain in the Lord." Our verse implies pastoral, shepherd care, of course. However weak the day we live in, the need of souls should draw out the tireless labor and concern of our own hearts.
Grant reads the passage as a lesson about time.
Time for labor in natural things is short. Natural wisdom makes the most of the present. How true this is in the things of God too! We have only the present to labor for the Lord, and to gain for Him what will please Him in the day of rewards. "Occupy till I come," He says, for then there will be no delaying of the account.
The wool of the lambs becomes the shepherd's coat, and the goats fetch enough to buy ground. Grant sees both a return on care and a picture of sacrifice.
Care for souls, young and tender as they may be, will work for our own benefit. The wool of the lambs clothes the shepherd, and the price of the goats is enough to buy property. There is of course a reminder of sacrifice here. The lamb is a picture of the Lord Jesus in His quiet submission in death for us. He is the real means of clothing us in the eyes of God. The goat speaks of Him in substitution for us, a propitiation "for the whole world" — that is, "the field," which He purchased by His death. Compare Matthew 13:44; 1 John 2:2. The world is not redeemed, but redemption is available for it. All who receive the Lord Jesus receive the eternal benefits of this great work.
"The price of a field" links this verse to the parable of the treasure hidden in a field. William Kelly notes that the buyer takes the whole field, not just the treasure in it.
The Lord bought the world and every soul in it: all mankind belongs to Him. He does not own the earth only as the One Who created it; He has also bought it. After sin entered and brought in confusion and every evil work, He bought all here below with a price. So, in the parable of the treasure hidden in a field (Matt. 13:44), the man who found it goes and sells all that he has and buys that field — not the treasure but the field. No doubt it is the treasure that gives him joy, but he buys the field, and not the treasure only.
Frederick Grant answers from the goat chosen by lot for the Lord. Propitiation means the satisfying of God. Substitution means one taking the place of another.
The goat chosen by lot for the Lord speaks as plainly of substitution as it does of propitiation. The goat stands for the sinner, and it is the very thing that speaks of substitution. No picture could convey the thought more exactly. It proclaims propitiation to be by substitution.
The chapter ends with goats' milk. Grant reads those closing lines as a scene of supply that reaches past the owner himself.
The goats' milk of course speaks of the nourishment that comes from the sacrifice. It is enough for the man himself, for his household, and for others who depend on him — the serving maidens. For faith cannot help considering the welfare of others. Here the calm confidence of faith and its devoted energy blend beautifully. It is a scene of quiet prosperity and rest.
- Know — the verse rests on knowing your flock. Commentators apply that to caring for people: "your labor is not in vain in the Lord."
- Now — time for labor is short, so the present is when we work for the Lord and gain what will please Him in the day of rewards.
- Clothing — the lambs' wool covers the shepherd. The Lamb, in His quiet submission in death, clothes us in the eyes of God.
- Bought — the goats are the price of a field, and the field is the world He bought by His death. The buying covers all mankind; redemption belongs to those who receive Him.
- Enough — the sacrifice supplies the owner, his household and his servants. It is a scene of quiet prosperity and rest.
and there is goats' milk enough for thy food, for the food of thy household, and sustenance for thy maidens.
Proverbs 27 closes its picture of farm life with a promise of milk. Two questions follow. Where does this steady supply come from, and how far is it meant to reach?
The milk comes to someone who keeps working. One commentator sets that work against the emptiness of merely human effort:
Because mere man's work is empty is no reason to be lazy in the Lord's work. Faith in the living God and diligence go together, for in this there is no emptiness: "your labour is not in vain in the Lord." Shepherd care is of course implied in our verse. However weak the day we live in, the need of souls should draw out the tireless labour and concern of our own hearts.
Lambs and goats give the wool, the milk, and the price that buys land. They are also the animals of sacrifice, and that shapes how one commentator reads the whole scene:
Care for souls, young and tender as they may be, will work for our own benefit. In the same way, the wool of the lambs clothes the shepherd, and the price of goats is enough to buy property. There is of course a reminder of sacrifice here. The lamb is a picture of the Lord Jesus in His quiet submission in death for us. That death is the real means of clothing us in the eyes of God. The goat speaks of Him standing in our place, a propitiation "for the whole world" — that is, "the field," which He purchased by His death. This does not mean the world is redeemed. Redemption is available for it, and all who receive the Lord Jesus receive the eternal benefits of this great work.
Milk is everyday food in the Bible, not a luxury. Scripture builds a picture out of that plain fact:
Milk from cows, goats, sheep and camels is widely used in the East. People drink it fresh, or shake it in a skin until it turns sour and curdled — what Scripture calls "butter." Flocks and herds were so many, and wild honey so plentiful, that the country was rightly called "a land flowing with milk and honey." Gen. 18:8; Ex. 3:8, 17. Milk is such a necessary food that it stands with wine to picture what grace now supplies, without money and without price, and grace will supply the same to Israel in a future day. Isa. 55:1. In the New Testament milk is a symbol of the nourishment of God's word. 1 Peter 2:2. It also stands for the food of infants, in contrast to the solid food adults use. 1 Cor. 3:2; Heb. 5:12-13.
The verse counts three circles: the man, his household, and his servant girls. The supply reaches everyone in the house, and one commentator sees faith at work in that:
The goats' milk of course speaks of the nourishment that comes from the sacrifice. It is enough for the individual, for his household, and for other dependants — the serving maidens. For faith cannot help but consider the welfare of others. Here the calm confidence of faith and the devoted energy of faith blend beautifully. It is a scene of quiet prosperity and rest.
One commentator divides the chapter into sections, and this last one ends in a way the ones before it do not. His reason for the change is short:
The seventh section is in every way a contrast to the sixth, for its subject is sufficiency and rest. Is it not simply because only the number one is added — that is, God? His work accomplishes the complete change.
Read this way, the milk is not the product of clever farming. It is what God adds to honest care.
- Diligence. Faith in the living God and hard work belong together. The need of souls should draw out tireless labour and concern.
- Sacrifice. The lambs and goats picture Christ. His quiet submission in death clothes us, and He purchased the field by standing in our place.
- Nourishment. Milk in Scripture is necessary food, not a luxury. It pictures what grace supplies without money, and in the New Testament the nourishment of God's word.
- Reach. The supply reaches three circles: the man, his household, his dependants. Faith cannot help but consider the welfare of others.
- Rest. The closing note is sufficiency and rest. One thing makes the difference from the section before: God is added.