SEV Biblia, Chapter 6:6
¶ Ve a la hormiga, oh perezoso, mira sus caminos, y sé sabio;
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Proverbs 6:6
Verse 6. Go to the ant, thou sluggard ] hlmn nemalah, the ant, is a remarkable creature for foresight, industry, and economy. At the proper seasons they collect their food-not in the summer to lay up for the winter; for they sleep during the winter, and eat not; and therefore such hoards would be to them useless; but when the food necessary for them is most plentiful, then they collect it for their consumption in the proper seasons. No insect is more labourious, not even the bee itself; and none is more fondly attached to or more careful of its young, than the ant. When the young are in their aurelia state, in which they appear like a small grain of rice, they will bring them out of their nests, and lay them near their holes, for the benefit of the sun; and on the approach of rain, carefully remove them, and deposit them in the nest, the hole or entrance to which they will cover with a piece of thin stone or tile, to prevent the wet from getting in.
It is a fact that they do not lay up any meat for winter; nor does Solomon, either here or in chap. xxx. 25, assert it. He simply says that they provide their food in summer, and gather it in harvest; these are the most proper times for a stock to be laid in for their consumption; not in winter; for no such thing appears in any of their nests, nor do they need it, as they sleep during that season; but for autumn, during which they wake and work.
Spring, summer, and autumn, they are incessant in their labour; and their conduct affords a bright example to men.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 6. Go to the ant, thou sluggard , etc.] That art become surety for another, and got into a snare and net, and yet takest no pains to get out. Or this may be directed, not to the surety, but the debtor; who, through his slothfulness, has contracted debts, and uses no industry to be in a capacity to pay them. Or, it may be, this has no connection with the former; but the wise man proceeds to a new subject, and to dissuade from idleness, which brings ruin on families, and leads to all sin; and, for the instruction of idle and slothful men, proposes the example of the ant, and sends them to it to learn industry of it f128 ; consider her ways ; what diligence and industry it uses in providing its food; which, though a small, weak, feeble creature, yet will travel over flints and stones, climb trees, enter into towers, barns, cellars, places high and low, in search of food; never hinder, but help one another in carrying their burdens; prepare little cells to put their provisions in, and are so built as to secure them from rain; and if at any time their corn is wet, they bring out and dry it, and bite off the ends of it, that it may not grow. These, with others, are taken notice of by Frantzius f129 ; and some of them by Gersom on the place; and be wise ; learn wisdom of it, and be wiser than that, as the Septuagint and Arabic versions: this is a mortification of proud men, that would be reckoned wise, to be sent to so despicable a creature to get wisdom from.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 6-11 - Diligence in business is every man's wisdom and duty; not so much tha he may attain worldly wealth, as that he may not be a burden to others or a scandal to the church. The ants are more diligent than slothfu men. We may learn wisdom from the meanest insects, and be shamed by them. Habits of indolence and indulgence grow upon people. Thus lif runs to waste; and poverty, though at first at a distance, graduall draws near, like a traveller; and when it arrives, is like an arme man, too strong to be resisted. All this may be applied to the concern of our souls. How many love their sleep of sin, and their dreams of worldly happiness! Shall we not seek to awaken such? Shall we not giv diligence to secure our own salvation?
Original Hebrew
לך 1980 אל 413 נמלה 5244 עצל 6102 ראה 7200 דרכיה 1870 וחכם׃ 2449
