Proverbs 19:15

19:14. A discreet and virtuous wife is more valuable than house and riches. 15. A sluggish, slothful disposition makes men poor; it brings them to want. And this applies both to the present life and that which is to come. 16. If we keep God's word, God's word will keep us from every thing really hurtful. We abuse the doctrine of free grace, if we think that it does away the necessity and advantage of obedience. Those that live at random must die. This truth is clearly taught in words enough to alarm the stoutest sinner. 17. God has chosen the poor of this world, to be rich in faith, and heirs of his kingdom. 18. When parents keep under foolish tenderness, they do their best to render children a comfort to them, and happy in themselves.

Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep,.... Slothful persons are generally sleepy, and are very desirous of sleep, and indulge themselves in it; they spend their time, day and night, in sleep and drowsiness; and are quite careless and unconcerned about either their temporal or eternal good; see Proverbs 6:9 ; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger; and perish with it, both in a temporal and spiritual sense: an idle person, that will not work, ought not to eat; and an idle soul, or one that is unconcerned about his soul, and the spiritual food of it, shall perish for want of it.

Proverbs 19:15 . Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep — “As labour makes men vigorous and rich, so sloth and idleness have these two miserable effects, that they insensibly sink the mind into a dull stupidity and unconcernedness about the most necessary things, and thereby reduce a man to extreme want and beggary; to which may be added a third, that they tempt him to shift and use dishonest arts for a livelihood.” — Bishop Patrick.

Verse 15. - Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; "causes deep sleep to fall upon a man" (comp. Proverbs 6:9 ; Proverbs 13:4 ). The word for "sleep" ( תַרדֵמָה , tardemah ) is that used for the supernatural sleep of Adam when Eve was formed ( Genesis 2:21 ), and implies pro. found insensibility. Aquila and Symmachus render it, ἔκστασιν , "trance." Slothfulness enervates a man, renders him as useless for labour as if he were actually asleep in his bed; it also enfeebles the mind, corrupts the higher faculties, converts a rational being into a witless animal. Otium est vivi hominis sepultura , "Idleness is a living man's tomb." An idle soul shall suffer hunger. We have many gnomes to this effect (see Proverbs 10:4 ; Proverbs 12:24 ; Proverbs 20:13 ; Proverbs 23:21 ). The LXX. has introduced something of this verse at Proverbs 18:8 , and here render, Δειλία κατέχει ἀνδρόγυνον , "Cowardice holdeth fast the effeminate, and the soul of the idle shall hunger." "Sloth," as the proverb says, "is the mother of poverty." Proverbs 19:15

15 Slothfulness sinketh into deep sleep, And an idle soul must hunger. Regarding תּרדּמה and its root-word רדם, vid., at Proverbs 10:5. הפּיל, to befall, to make to get, is to be understood after Genesis 3:21; the obj. על־האדם, viz., העצל, is naturally to be supplied. In 15b the fut. denotes that which will certainly happen, the inevitable. In both of its members the proverb is perfectly clear; Hitzig, however, corrects 15a, and brings out of it the meaning, "slothfulness gives tasteless herbs to eat." The lxx has two translations of this proverb, here and at Proverbs 18:8. That it should translate רמיה by ἀνδρόγυνος was necessary, as Lagarde remarks, for the exposition of the "works of a Hebrew Sotades." But the Hebrew literature never sunk to such works, wallowing in the mire of sensuality, and ἀνδρόγυνος is not at all thus enigmatical; the Greek word was also used of an effeminate man, a man devoid of manliness, a weakling, and was, as the lxx shows, more current in the Alexandrine Greek than elsewhere.

PROVERBS 19: 12 The king’s wrath is like the roaring of a lion, but his favour is like dew on the grass. Verse 12 The king's wrath is as the roaring of a lion - There is nothing more dreadful than the roaring of this tyrant of the forest. At the sound of it all other animals tremble, flee away, and hide themselves. The king who is above law, and rules without law, and whose will is his own law, is like the lion. This is strongly descriptive of the character of Asiatic sovereigns. PROVERBS 19: 13 A foolish son is the calamity of his father. A wife’s quarrels are a continual dripping. Verse 13 The contentions of a wife are a continual dropping - The man who has got such a wife is like a tenant who has got a cottage with a bad roof through every part of which the rain either drops or pours. He can neither sit, stand work, nor sleep, without being exposed to these droppings. God help the man who is in such a case, with house or wife! PROVERBS 19: 14 House and riches are an inheritance from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the LORD. Verse 14 A prudent wife is from the Lord - One who has a good understanding, ‫אשה‬ ‫משכלת‬ ishshah mascaleth; who avoids complaining, though she may often have cause for it. PROVERBS 19: 15 Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep. The idle soul shall suffer hunger. Verse 15 Into a deep sleep - ‫תרדמה‬ tardemah, the same into which Adam was thrown, before Eve was taken from his side. Sloth renders a man utterly unconscious of all his interests.

## Sometimes it signifies men, great indeed, but unable to help, that are more mischievous and nought, on which some are apt to rely or depend, though to their loss, as such do, who lean on a weak and broken reed, to their own destruction, 2 Kings 18:21; Isaiah 36:6; Ezekiel 29:6-7 . A rush or bulrush signifies men of the basest and lowest condition, Isaiah 9:14; 19:15. ## Wormwood, because of its ungrateful taste and extreme bitterness, is by a metaphor brought to signify sometimes sin and evil, Deuteronomy 29:18; Amos 5:7; 6:12 . See Deuteronomy 32:32; Isaiah 5:20; Revelation 13:11 . Sometimes punishment or torment, Jeremiah 9:15; 23:15; Lamentations 3:15,19 . See Proverbs 5:4 . So much of the species of things growing out of the earth, which yield any metaphors, to which we may fitly subjoin, where mention is made of the containing subject; which is, ## (1.) A wood. (2.) A garden. A wood, inasmuch as it contains many barren trees, is a symbol of infidelity and impiety, Isaiah 32:15 ; and because it is full of trees and shrubs, it carries the notion of an entire army, Isaiah 10:34 , of both of which we have spoken before in the 10th chap., where we spoke of Carmel and Lebanon.