Working and Sleeping
Proverbs 10:1-5
Most business owners that I know feel like they are buried in red tape, polices, and regulations that control their industry. For example, it’s crazy how many papers you have to sign when you buy or refinance a house. Why is that? What ever happened to a promise and a handshake? The short answer: the wicked have infected life in the community.
All the paperwork, policies, and regulations come down to the simple fact that people can’t be trusted. People cheat. They lie. They cut corners. They disadvantage others to advantage themselves. So, we intervene. But the intervention comes at a great cost. We all pay when shalom breaks down.
The proverbs of Solomon state, a wise son makes a father glad, but a foolish son is a grief to his mother. Ill-gotten gains do not profit, but righteousness delivers from death. In the ancient near east people lived in larger family groups or what we might call clans. The idea of father and mother goes beyond the immediate family to the community. Skillful living benefits everyone in the community but foolishness grieves us all.
It's good to remind ourselves that Proverbs is all about life in the community. Skillful living isn’t about living well alone. It’s about how we live and flourish together as a community. That community may be a family, a neighborhood, a workplace, a school, or a town. It’s also good to remind ourselves that we all ultimately have to live in the culture we create.
Over the years our western culture has devolved into a culture of selfish, greedy individuals competing with others to get ahead. The result of this is we are buried in policies and regulations because people can’t be trusted. A foolish son is a grief to his mother.
Ill-gotten gain is not referring to theft or other illegal activity. It’s referring to gain that negatively impacts the community. The literal translation would be the treasure of the wicked. Remember the wicked in Proverbs does not just refer to robbers and murderers. It refers to selfish, greedy people who disadvantage others to advantage themselves. When they do this, they do damage to shalom. No community can flourish when the wicked prevail. Piles of regulations exist to manage the wicked.
The righteous—the Tzadik—on the other hand delivers from death. Death here, in poetic language, is referring to the death of a community, the loss of flourishing. The righteous will go so far as to disadvantage themselves in order to advantage the greater community. When they prevail, there is no need for all the policies and regulations. They will do the right thing simply because it’s the right thing.
To live skillfully in a community impacts how I view everything. I view my competition differently. I view my vendors and employees and customers differently. A good deal is when everyone wins. My primary motive is the flourishing of the community not how much money I can accumulate. When the righteous prosper, everyone wins.
The LORD will not allow the righteous to hunger, but He will reject the craving of the wicked. Poor is he who works with a negligent hand, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. He who gathers in summer is a son who acts wisely, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who acts shamefully.
When talking about hunger, the proverb is not referring to food. Again, it’s poetic language. The literal Hebrew is the LORD will not allow the soul of the righteous to hunger. In other words, there is great reward in doing the right thing. Every human soul longs for peace, safety, security, and joy. The route to get there is not selfish ambition but a heart for shalom. When we flourish, we flourish together and feed our hungry souls. The wicked will never be satisfied because no one flourishes in isolation.
This then is seen in the contrast between those who work and those who sleep. In other words, those who do their part to contribute to the community and those who are lazy and take from others. A negligent hand is literally a limp wrist. Work in the ancient world was physical labor. A limp wrist represented someone too lazy to help. A taker rather than a giver.
Think of it this way, if you have a proper view of skillful living then work is your opportunity to contribute to the flourishing of the community. Work becomes good and noble. You do your part and consequently share in the reward of that. But if you are selfish, your work is nothing but a paycheck and the more you prosper the better, regardless of who it hurts.
Notice he who gathers in the summer acts wisely but he who sleeps in harvest acts shamefully. One would expect the contrast to wisely to be foolishly. But instead, the contrast is shamefully. This is because the ancient near east culture was an honor-shame culture. This is foreign to us here in the west. We operate as a guilt-innocence culture which is indicative of an individualistic culture. An honor-shame culture reflects life lived in a community (tribe). Group expectations determine what is worthy of honor and what behavior is shameful. The behavior of the lazy is shameful because it does damage to the tribe, it disadvantages the community.
Right now, the wicked are running the show in almost every area of our culture. We are a selfish, greedy, individualistic culture. The evidence that is true is the need for all the policies and regulations. These would not be needed if the culture was defined by righteousness.
It can all feel overwhelming. But every person has the opportunity to create pockets of flourishing wherever God has placed you. What defines your community? Where do you have influence? Righteousness delivers from death. The change needs to start somewhere, it might as well start with you. This week identify one or two areas where you could begin to make changes that might move others toward flourishing.