What does it mean that where there are no oxen, the manger is clean (Proverbs 14:4)?

No credit is due to the cleanness which attends idleness and shirking labour. "Where no oxen are the crib is clean"; but what of that? It is mercy, as well as a judgment, that a man is to eat bread in the sweat of his face. Not only is labour, but sorrow, and suffering, better than sin. Pride, fullness of bread, and careless ease lead to ruin and judgment; as industry, using means, such as the strength of the ox, brings in much increase; so God ordains for man that wisely hears and obeys.

"Where no oxen are, the trough is clean, but much increase comes by the strength of the ox" (v. 4). The ox is a worker, and while his work is profitable, it is only to be expected that there will be waste as well as profit. Thus too, we cannot be surprised that one who labors for the Lord must get rid of that which is only excess from his work. Every servant of the Lord must thus have exercise to separate the good from the useless.

You should not be precluded from serving the Lord because young and likely to make mistakes. Do not be like the boy who would not come into the water until he had learnt to swim! You remember that Solomon said, "Where no oxen are the crib is clean." Here is Solomon's recipe for a clean stable — keep nothing in it! Those who keep no oxen, however, lose their useful labour. Let us not do nothing, for fear we will make mistakes. Go ahead in dependence upon God.

There were four of these, suggesting by their number the trial to which the Lord's servant was subjected. The first blow fell upon his oxen and asses, the means of labor which is the chief source of wealth. "Much increase is by the strength of the ox" (Prov. 14:4); "That our oxen may be strong to labor" (Ps. 144:14). The Sabeans, a mixed nomadic race of near-by Arabians, swooped suddenly down, slew all the servants except the fugitive who told the tale, and made off with all the spoil. We can see Satan's work in stirring up the cupidity of these people, ever ready to murder and to rob, but the supernatural part was that along with all the rest, it took place at just this time, God permitting it all.

The Calf. This is evidently the ox of Ezekiel. As the lion is the symbol of royalty, so the ox is of labor. "Much increase is by the strength of the ox" (Prov. 14:4). This patient animal devotes its great strength to the service of man, willingly toiling for his good. How blessedly did our Lord bow Himself to the yoke in order to serve the will of God and man's need! It is this which, as we have seen, is prominent in the Gospel of Mark, which links that book with the second of the living creatures. It is this creature that calls out the second rider, on a red horse, who takes peace from the earth (Rev. 6:4). Where the peaceable service of our Lord is refused, there must be war and bloodshed, which He would have averted.

"The wisdom of woman builds the house; but folly plucks it down with her hands. "He that walks in his uprightness fears Jehovah; but the perverted in his ways despises him. "In the fool's mouth [is] a rod of pride; but the lips of the wise shall preserve them. "Where no oxen [are], the crib [is] clean; but much increase [is] by the strength of the ox. "A faithful witness will not lie; but a false witness breathes out lies. "A scorner seeks wisdom; and [there is] none for him; but knowledge [is] easy to the intelligent. "Go away from a foolish man, in whom thou perceivest not the lips of knowledge. "The wisdom of the prudent [is] to understand his way; but the folly of fools [is] deceit. "Fools make a mock at trespass; but among the upright [is] favour." Chap. 14:1-9.