Verses 33, 34. - These verses are a repetition, with very slight variations, of Proverbs 6:10, 11 (where see notes), and possibly have been introduced here by a later editor. Ver. 33 seems to be the sluggard's own words; Ver. 34 shows the result of his sloth. There are numberless proverbs dedicated to this subject in all languages; e.g., "No sweat, no sweet;" "No pains, no gains; .... He that wad eat the kernel maun crack the nut;" "A punadas entran las buenas hadas," "Good luck enters by dint of cuffs" (Spanish); "Nihil agendo male agere discimus; .... The dog in the kennel," say the Chinese. "barks at his fleas; the dog that hunts does not feel them" (Kelly). "Sloth and much sleep," say the Arabs, "remove from God and bring on poverty." The LXX. is somewhat dramatic in its rendering: "Afterwards I repented (μετενόησα), I looked that I might receive instruction. 'I slumber a little, I sleep a little, for a little I clasp (ἐναγκαλίζομαι) my hands across my breast.' But if thou do this, thy poverty will come advancing, and thy want like a good runner (ἀγαθὸς δρομεύς)" The word ἐναγκαλίζομαι occurs in Proverbs 6:10, but nowhere else in the Septuagint. It is used by St. Mark (Mark 9:36; Mark 10:16). It has been thought that the original mashal ended with Ver. 32, the following passage being added by a scribe as illustrative in a marginal note, which afterwards crept into the text.
24:30-34. See what a blessing the husbandman's calling is, and what a wilderness this earth would be without it. See what great difference there is in the management even of worldly affairs. Sloth and self-indulgence are the bane of all good. When we see fields overgrown with thorns and thistles, and the fences broken down, we see an emblem of the far more deplorable state of many souls. Every vile affection grows in men's hearts; yet they compose themselves to sleep. Let us show wisdom by doubling our diligence in every good thing.
Yet a little sleep, a little slumber,.... The sight of the field and vineyard of the slothful put Solomon in mind of an observation he had made before, which fitly describes the disposition and gesture of the sluggard, by which means his field and vineyard came to ruin; while he should be up and tilling his field and planting his vineyard, he is in his bed; and awaking, instead of rising, craves for and indulges himself in another little doze, and which he repeats again and again;
a little folding of the hands to sleep; which ought to have been employed another way; See Gill on Proverbs 6:10.
a little folding of the hands to sleep; which ought to have been employed another way; See Gill on Proverbs 6:10.