Proverbs 20:4

The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing. THE SLUGGARD WILL NOT PLOW BY REASON OF THE COLD - Hebrew, the winter. Disinclination is never in want of excuses. Small difficulties are great to the lazy. (THEREFORE) SHALL HE BEG IN HARVEST, AND (HAVE) NOTHING. He who will, not plow shall not reap. The Hebrews say, 'He who hath not prepared on the eve of the Sabbath shall not eat on the Sabbath.' Religion now costs something, but the want of it shall hereafter cost infinitely more. 'The shrinking from the cold is the avoiding the cross' (Melancthon)....

Verse Proverbs 20:4. _THE SLUGGARD WILL NOT PLOUGH_] For other parts of this character, see the preceding chapter. It is seldom that there is a _season_ of very cold weather in Palestine; very cold _days_ sometimes occur, with wind, rain, and sleet. They begin their ploughing in the latter end of _September_, and sow their early wheat by the middle of _October_. And this is often the case in England itself. The meaning of the proverb is: the slothful man, under the pretence of unfavourable weather, neglects cultivating his land till the proper time is elapsed....

Plowing time in Palestine is in November and December, when the wind blows commonly from the North....

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 20:1 WINE IS A MOCKER; or, scorner, the word (_luts_) being taken up from the last chapter. The liquor is, as it were, personified, as doing what men do under its influence. Thus inebriated persons scoff at what is holy, reject reproof, ridicule all that is serious. Septuagint, Ἀκόλαστον οἶνος, "Wine is an undisciplined thing;" Vulgate, _Luxuriosa res, vinum. _STRONG DRINK IS RAGING; a brawler, Revised Version. _Shekar, _σίκερα (Luke 1:15), is most frequently employed of any intoxicating drink not made from grapes, _e.g. _palm wine, mead, etc. The inordinate use of this renders men noisy and boisterous, no longer masters of themselves or restrained by the laws of morality or decency. Septu

THE SLUGGARD WILL NOT PLOUGH BY REASON OF THE COLD,.... Or, "in the cold"; in the time of cold, as Aben Ezra; in the time of autumn, which is the time of ploughing, when it begins to be cold weather, and winter is drawing on: and this is discouraging to the sluggard, who does not care to take his hands out of his bosom to feed himself, and much less to plough; see Proverbs 19:24; [THEREFORE] SHALL HE BEG IN HARVEST, AND [HAVE] NOTHING; he shall ask of those who have ploughed and sowed, and are now reaping and gathering in their increase at harvest time; but they shall give him nothing; for such as will not work should not eat; and if a man will not plough and sow, he cannot expect to reap, nor should he be encouraged in begging. This holds good in spiritual things; such who have been slothful and sluggish about their spiritual affairs, unconcerned for the grace of God

CHAPTER 20 PROVERBS AS TO PERSONAL CONDUCT Proverbs of warning and instructions as to personal conduct are found mostly in this chapter; a number of them are of special interest if applied to Solomon. The first one is concerning wine and strong drink. As the use of wine among the people of Israel was legitimate the warning is against intemperance Deuteronomy 14:26). The Bible gives many illustrations of the truth of this proverb-warning. We may think of Noah, Lot, Nabal, Ben-hadad, Belshazzar and others. From all the good things we select the following. In Proverbs 20:3 is instruction which makes for peace. It is the fool who meddles and thus produces strife, but it is an honor for man to cease from strife. In...

PROVERBS 20. We have still further traces in Proverbs 20:9; Proverbs 20:24 of the sceptical spirit and the obstinate questionings of self characteristic of the later Greek period of Jewish thought. PROVERBS 20:6 A. RV is strained and the Heb. is difficult. Read (_cf._ Syr. and Lat.) Many a man is called kind. Proverbs 20:8. winnoweth (_mg._) is more literal than RV, and conveys better the idea of personal scrutiny (_cf._ the ideal king in Psalms 72 and Isaiah 11). Proverbs 20:9. For the growi

PLOW. Plowing always done during the early rains. COLD. autumn. Put by Figure of speech _Metalepsis,_ "cold" put for Autumn, and "Autumn" put for abundance of fruits possessed at that time. THEREFORE. This word is read in the text in some codices, with five early printed editions....

_cold_ Rather, WINTER, A.V. marg. and R.V. See Genesis 8:22, where the Heb. word here used is rendered "winter," and another Heb. word is used for "cold." _beg_ This rendering, which is retained in R.V. text, gives a forcible picture of the destitution to which the slothful will be reduced: though he beg as a mendicant, men's hearts, even when enlarged by the plenty of harvest, will have no pity on him. Some, however, take it to mean, _when he seeketh in harvest_(when others are reaping the fruit of their labour) _there shall be nothing_, R.V. marg....

DISCOURSE: 800 THE CONSEQUENCE OF SLOTH Proverbs 20:4. _The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold: therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing_. ARGUMENTS from analogy, when the analogy itself is just, are easy of apprehension, and well calculated to convince the mind: and one distinguished excellence of the Book of Proverbs is. that it abounds with such arguments: and without any formal statement of premises and conclusions, presents the truth to us in short, sententious aphorisms, that are plain, obvious, incontrovertible. Whoever has made the least observation on human affairs, must have seen the evil consequences of neglecting our proper business in life, whether in husbandry, or trade, or any other line: and it is easy to infer from thence, that similar consequences must attend a neglect of our Christian duties. Nor is it necessary that this analogy s