Nothing To Do…Watch An Ant! Proverb for the Day 6:6-8

6 Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! 7 It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, 8 yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.

These three verses are a unit addressed to the “sluggard” – a lazy person and regular character in Proverbs. The way it reads, this may have been a well-known wise saying in Solomon’s time.

“Sluggard” person was told “go to the ant” (mentioned in Proverbs only here and 30:25) — a pretty simple task for someone with nothing else to do.

And, based on ancient living conditions, it probably wasn’t hard to find an ant scurrying around — even in the king’s palace where Solomon lived. So our lazy one wouldn’t have to go very far or look too hard to start this little project.

He or she was also supposed to “consider its ways and be wise.” The end of this exercise was for them to gain wisdom…from an ant!

In case they didn’t know exactly what to be considering, a couple of hints were offered, “it has no commander, no overseer or ruler” (:7). The ant has no recognizable boss and yet stays busy, seemingly, always knowing to do the next right thing.

If lazy person watched long enough, he or she’d observe that ant – without recognizable oversight — “stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest” (:8).

“Harvest” is when everyone gathers provisions for the year. “Summer” (:8; also see 30:25) is when there isn’t so much (see also 10:5)…but ant can always find something!

So, if this little dude was smart enough and sufficiently capable to do this kind of preparation and take care of itself…grownup lazy person should be able to do it, too!