Sluggards

 A sluggard says, “There’s a lion in the road, a fierce lion roaming the streets!” (Proverbs 26:13)

 

First, it’s likely that the lion referred to was not the African lions we think of when we hear the term. A smaller, Asiatic lion once ranged through the area. It would still have been dangerous, but not quite like the African lion.

When this verse idea came to mind, I knew it was in Proverbs, but I thought that the term sluggard was fool. I’m not sure which I think is worse to apply to myself. Oh, I don’t claim that there’s a fierce lion roaming the streets. I claim I’m going to fail in some way, but I suspect that it’s more likely that I’ll fail than that I’ll meet a fierce lion in the streets.

One issue raised by this verse is the reason for the alarm. The verse is about the behavior of the sluggard. It doesn’t matter if there is really a lion in the streets. The possibility relieves him of the need to go do what needs to be done. It’s not actual fear of an actual fearful thing. Now, if there were a real lion in the streets, he would not be a sluggard if he chose not to go into the streets. A real lion would give him a reason to avoid going outside. The possibility of a lion only gives him an excuse.

The other issue raised by this passage is the definition of sluggard. It refers to a habitually lazy person. Someone lazy is supposedly unwilling to work or use energy. But here’s the problem. What if you are a person who expends lots of energy and works very hard - to avoid having to so something else? In theory, a person could work a full-time job but, upon getting home, decline to do any work. Or, swing it the other way: a person with so much going on at home that there’s no time for a job. Might that person also be a sluggard? Could busyness be a fierce lion in the streets, too.