Ants, Armed Men, and the Folly of the Folded Hands Text: Proverbs 6:6-11
Introduction: The State as Sluggard's Patron
We live in an age that has declared war on reality, and one of the central fronts in this war is the theater of economics. But economics is never just about money; it is always a branch of applied theology. Every economic system is a direct outworking of a particular view of God, man, and the world. Our modern, secular, and increasingly socialist state is built upon a theology that despises the created order. It seeks to sever the link that God has forged between effort and reward, between diligence and prosperity, between laziness and poverty. It is a system designed to cushion the sluggard, to subsidize his sloth, and to shield him from the consequences that God has hardwired into the fabric of the universe.
The modern welfare state is the institutionalization of the sluggard’s desires. It is the political attempt to repeal the law of the harvest. It tells men that they can sleep when they ought to be gathering, and that the state, through its coercive power of taxation, will ensure that there is bread on their table regardless. This is not compassion; it is corruption. It is the cultivation of vice. It teaches men to covet what their diligent neighbor has produced and to view themselves as victims when their own idleness brings them to want. It is an attempt to build a world where the ant is forced to serve the grasshopper.
Into this confused and rebellious mindset, the book of Proverbs speaks with the bracing clarity of a cold wind. It does not offer complex economic theories. It does not provide a ten-point plan for wealth redistribution. It simply points. It says, "Look at the ant." In this simple command, Solomon demolishes the entire edifice of our therapeutic, state-sponsored laziness. He tells us that wisdom is not found in the halls of government commissions or in the theories of Marx, but in the observable, created reality of a tiny insect. God has written His economic principles into the very behavior of His creatures, and if we had eyes to see, we would learn from them and be wise.
This passage is a direct, unvarnished assault on the sin of sloth. It is not gentle. It does not make allowances for the sluggard’s feelings. It warns him that the universe is a place of cause and effect, and that the effect of a life of ease is a sudden and violent poverty. This is not just practical advice for getting ahead in the world; it is a call to align our lives with the grain of God's creation, to embrace the dignity of work, and to reflect the character of our diligent and provident God.
The Text
Go to the ant, O sluggard, Observe her ways and be wise, Which, having no chief, Officer or ruler, Prepares her food in the summer And gathers her provision in the harvest. How long will you lie down, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? "A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest", Your poverty will come in like a vagabond And your want like an armed man.
(Proverbs 6:6-11 LSB)
The Ant's Rebuke (v. 6-8)
The instruction begins with a command and a destination.
"Go to the ant, O sluggard, Observe her ways and be wise," (Proverbs 6:6)
The address is direct: "O sluggard." The Hebrew word for sluggard paints a picture of one who is sluggish, idle, and lazy. This is not a man who is simply tired and in need of a Sabbath. This is a man whose character is defined by an aversion to work. And God's prescription for him is not a therapy session but a field trip. Go outside. Look down. The cure for your high-minded folly is found in the dirt, observing one of the smallest of God's creatures.
This is a profound lesson in epistemology. Where do we find wisdom? Our culture tells us to look within, to follow our hearts. The Bible tells us to look out, to observe the world God made. This is presuppositionalism in shoe leather. We are to interpret the world through the lens of Scripture, and here Scripture itself points us to the created order as a source of instruction. The ant becomes a preacher, and her sermon is on the virtue of diligence.
What is it about the ant that we are to observe? Verses 7 and 8 tell us.
"Which, having no chief, Officer or ruler, Prepares her food in the summer And gathers her provision in the harvest." (Proverbs 6:7-8)
Here is the heart of the lesson. The ant's work is characterized by two things: internal motivation and foresight. First, she has no external compulsion. There is no "chief, officer or ruler" standing over her with a tiny whip. There is no ant bureaucracy, no Department of Labor, no ant foreman threatening to dock her pay. Her diligence comes from within. It is an innate, God-given drive to do what needs to be done.
This is a stinging rebuke to the sluggard, who must constantly be prodded, nagged, and incentivized to lift a finger. It is also a powerful critique of all top-down, coercive systems of government. The Bible's ideal is a society of self-governing, responsible individuals who work diligently not because the magistrate is watching, but because it is the wise and righteous thing to do. The ant operates on a principle of liberty and personal responsibility. She needs no king, because she has her Creator's law written into her being.
Second, the ant demonstrates foresight. She "prepares her food in the summer and gathers her provision in the harvest." She understands the seasons. She knows that a time of plenty (summer, harvest) is followed by a time of want (winter). She does not live for the moment. She is a long-term thinker. She works when the work is to be done, so that she may eat when the work cannot be done. This is the essence of wisdom: understanding cause and effect, acting in the present in light of the future.
The Sluggard's Delusion (v. 9-10)
Having presented the positive example of the ant, Solomon turns back to the sluggard with two sharp, rhetorical questions.
"How long will you lie down, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep?" (Proverbs 6:9)
The questions expose the sluggard's fundamental problem: he is horizontal when he should be vertical. He is in a state of rest when he should be in a state of action. His life is characterized by an endless postponement of duty. The questions "How long?" and "When?" imply that this state of affairs cannot continue indefinitely. Reality is going to interrupt. The alarm clock of consequences is about to go off.
But the sluggard has an answer. It is not a reasoned argument, but a sleepy, self-justifying murmur. Verse 10 gives us the sluggard's creed, his personal mantra.
"A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest" (Proverbs 6:10)
Notice the deceptive reasonableness of it. He is not planning to sleep forever. Just "a little" more. He is the king of incremental laziness. His downfall does not come in one great act of rebellion, but in a thousand small acts of procrastination. "A little slumber" sounds so harmless. "A little folding of the hands to rest" sounds like a well-deserved break. But this is the language of addiction. The addict never intends to destroy his life; he just wants one more hit. The sluggard never intends to starve; he just wants a few more minutes in bed.
This is the lie that sloth whispers to a man. It tells him that time is infinite, that opportunities will always be there, that the harvest will wait. It minimizes the cost of inaction. But God's world does not work that way. Time is a resource that cannot be recovered. The harvest comes, and then it is gone. The "little" rests, added together, amount to a wasted life.
The Inevitable Invasion (v. 11)
The final verse of our text describes the brutal reality that will shatter the sluggard's drowsy delusions. The consequences are not gentle or negotiable.
"Your poverty will come in like a vagabond And your want like an armed man." (Proverbs 6:11)
The sluggard thought he was in control, snatching little bits of extra rest. But his inaction has summoned two fearsome visitors. First, poverty comes "like a vagabond." A vagabond, or a traveler, is swift and unexpected. The sluggard is lying in bed, thinking everything is fine, and suddenly poverty is at the door. It arrives before he has time to react. The bill for all his "little slumbers" comes due all at once.
But it gets worse. His want, his deep, gnawing need, comes "like an armed man." This is not a polite request for payment. This is a home invasion. This is violence. The armed man does not care about your excuses. He is not interested in your plans to start working tomorrow. He takes what he wants, and you are powerless to stop him. The sluggard wanted a life of ease and peace, but his laziness has resulted in a life of crisis and violence. He sought to avoid the "hardship" of work, and in doing so, he guaranteed for himself the far greater hardship of destitution.
This is a fundamental law of God's world. The path of least resistance is a trap. The easy way is the hard way in the end. The man who embraces the discipline of summer labor enjoys the peaceful fruit of a full pantry in winter. The man who chooses the ease of summer naps faces the violence of winter starvation. You cannot cheat the system God has designed.
The Gospel for Ants and Sluggards
Now, it would be a terrible mistake to read this passage and conclude that the gospel is simply "work hard and you will be saved." The Bible is clear that we are saved by grace through faith, not by our own diligent works (Ephesians 2:8-9). The most diligent man in the world, if he is working for his own glory, is still a sinner in desperate need of a savior. His pantry may be full, but his soul is empty.
However, it is an equally terrible mistake to think that the grace of God in the gospel produces lazy people. The gospel does not abolish the law of the harvest; it fulfills it and empowers us to live according to it. The problem with the sluggard is not just that he is unproductive. His sloth is a symptom of a much deeper spiritual disease. It is a form of rebellion against the God who works and who created us to work in His image. It is a failure to love our neighbor, as our work is the primary means by which we serve others. It is a manifestation of unbelief, a refusal to trust that God's way is good.
When the gospel takes root in a man's heart, it fundamentally changes his relationship to work. We are saved from our sin, and sloth is a sin. We are given a new heart and a new nature. The Holy Spirit, who hovered over the waters of creation, now indwells us, energizing us for good works (Ephesians 2:10). We are no longer motivated by fear of the armed man, but by love for the King who bought us with His blood.
Christ Himself is the ultimate example of diligence. He said, "My Father is working until now, and I am working" (John 5:17). He worked tirelessly to accomplish the task set before Him, the great work of our redemption. He did not fold His hands to rest when He should have been on the cross. He gathered a great harvest of souls, a provision that will last for all eternity.
Therefore, for the Christian, diligence is not a means of earning salvation, but a fruit of having received it. We work hard not to get into the kingdom, but because we are already in it. We go to the ant and we are wise, not just for our earthly provision, but for the glory of the God who made both us and the ant. The gospel transforms the sluggard, not into a mere workhorse, but into a joyful son who finds his delight in imitating his diligent Father, knowing that his labor in the Lord is never in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58).