Proverbs 22:13

The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets. THE SLOTHFUL (MAN) SAITH, (THEIR IS) A LION WITHOUT - inventing imaginary dangers to excuse his indolence in staying at home, instead of going forth into active business. IN THE STREETS - indicating the silliness of his excuse. Lions do not roam at large "in the streets," but in wild forests....

Verse Proverbs 22:13. _THE SLOTHFUL_ MAN _SAITH_, THERE IS _A LION WITHOUT_] But _why_ does he say so? Because he is a _slothful_ man. Remove his slothfulness, and these imaginary difficulties and dangers will be no more. He will not _go abroad_ to _work_ in the fields, because he thinks there is a _lion_ in the _way_; he will not _go out_ into the _town_ for employment, as he fears to be _assassinated_ in the _streets_! From both these circumstances he seeks total cessation from _activity_....

The point of the satire is the ingenuity with which the slothful man devises the most improbable alarms. He hears that “there is a lion without,” i. e., in the broad open country; he is afraid of being slain in the very streets of the city....

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 22:1 A GOOD NAME IS RATHER TO BE CHOSEN THAN GREAT RICHES. It will be observed that "good" in the Authorized Version is in italics, showing that the epithet is not expressed in the Hebrew, which is simply שֵׁם (_shem_)_, _"name." But this word carried with it the notion of good repute, as in Ecclesiastes 7:1; for being well known implied honour and reputation, while being nameless (Job 30:8) signified not only obscurity, but ignominy and discredit. Hence the versions have ὄνομα καλόν_, nomen bonum, _and Ecclesiasticus 41:12, "Have regard to thy name (περὶ ὀνόματος)_, _for that shall continue with thee above a thousan

THE SLOTHFUL [MAN] SAITH, [THERE IS] A LION WITHOUT,.... Or, "in the street". This he says within himself; or to those who call out to him, and put him on doing the business of his proper calling, whether in the field or elsewhere, which, through his slothfulness, he has a disinclination to; and therefore frames excuses, and suggests this and that difficulty or danger in the way, expressed by a "lion without"; and which shows the folly and weakness of his excuses, since lions do not usually walk in cities, towns, and villages, and in the streets of them, but in woods and mountains; I SHALL BE SLAIN IN THE STREETS; by the lion there; or I shall never be able to get over the difficulties, and through the dangers, which attending to business will expose me to. Some apply this to the difficulties that slothful persons imagine in the learning of languages, arts, and sciences; as Jarchi appli...

CHAPTER 22 INSTRUCTIONS CONTINUED Better than great riches, better than silver and gold is a name and loving favor. If a person has riches and a bad name and is not well thought of, he is less honorable than the poor man who has a name and good reputation. In Ecclesiastes, Solomon says: “A good name is better than precious ointment” Ecclesiastes 7:11). The third verse has a wise message: “The prudent man foreseeth the evil and hideth himself, but the simple pass on, and suffer for it.” The Lord has revealed in His Word the evil which is in store for the sinner and the impenitent. He also has prepared a hiding place, an ark of safety, in His Son, our Lord. The prudent believeth the Word and flees to the refuge; the simple, the unbelieving, pass on and suffer for it when the evil comes. Humility and the fear of the Lord has a reward, while thorns and snares are in the way of the

PROVERBS 22:6. IN THE WAY HE SHOULD GO puts more into the Heb. than it contains. It is lit. train up a child in proportion to his way_ i.e._ train him suitably. The moral implication is absent. The stress is on the effect of training. Proverbs 22:11. RV hides disorder of MT. Read, probably, The king loves the pure in heart, grace of lips is his good pleasure. Proverbs 22:12 a is difficult. RV will not pass. The lit. Heb. is the eyes of Yahweh guard knowledge. The abstract knowledge in Heb. cannot mean its possessors; the eyes of Yahweh are nowhere said to guard anybody, and no Hebrew would say that the eyes of Yahweh guard knowledge in the sense of possessing it, nor does it give any

STREETS. open places....

_slain_ or, more in accordance with the usual meaning of the Heb. word, _murdered_, R.V. The sluggard then offers two absurd excuses for not going forth to his business. -Without," he says, beyond the city walls, in the open country, -there is a lion," ready to tear me in pieces (comp. Jeremiah 5:6); even into -the streets" I dare not venture, lest there some ruffian should -murder" me." When, however, the proverb recurs (Proverbs 26:13), it is the lion that is the professed object of dread within the city: The sluggard saith, There is a lion in the way, A lion is in the streets....

TEXT Proverbs 22:11-21 11. He that loveth pureness of heart, For the grace of his lips the king will be his friend. 12. The eyes of Jehovah preserve him that hath knowledge; But he overthroweth the words of the treacherous man. 13. The sluggard saith, There is a lion without; I shall be slain in the streets. 14. The mouth of strange women is a deep pit; He that is abhorred of Jehovah shall fall therein. 15. Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; But the rod of correction shall drive it far from him. 16. He that oppresseth the poor to increase his gain, And he that giveth to the rich, shall only come to want. 17 Incline thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, And apply thy heart unto my knowledge. 18. For it is a pleasant thing i