Amazon keeps inviting me to turn on “1-click ordering.” Yes, it’s a simple way to order through a trusted source without having to specify a payment option or a shipping address or other information, and without having to confirm the order in an extra step or two. It would simplify the steps to that new book or computer part I am about to buy. Yet I’m leery of making my commitment to a purchase too quick and easy. I like the extra steps which give me time to make sure that my order is correct, that the price is what I expected, and that it’s going to the right place. I also appreciate one last chance to decide that maybe I don’t need that item right now after all, so I can delete it from my shopping cart.
The beginning of Proverbs 6, verses 1-5, warns against hasty, thoughtless business transactions. We don’t have enough historical information about business practices in the ancient world to say exactly what is pictured here, though it appears to be the offering of a personal pledge to secure the debt of another person. In other words, it is what we would call co-signing on a loan.
Loaning at interest to fellow Israelites was forbidden by Mosaic law, but no-interest loans were still made as a form of generosity and often some sort of security for the loan was pledged. In the absence of any capital to pledge, it seems a person in need might seek the pledge of another, but that particular practice is discouraged here because of the risk it might bring to one’s own personal property, perhaps a house, or even to one’s own self, since defaulted debts were often covered by selling the debtor into slavery.
So at first glance the wisdom here is a cautious prudence aimed at avoiding business entanglements which could cause personal disaster. With a little leap we might apply that wisdom not only to co-signing on the loans of others but to all hasty business dealings, like shopping on-line or taking on personal debt of any sort. Beware of such transactions and, if you have landed yourself in any such entanglements, as verses 3 to 5 counsel, do not rest until you are free of them. These might be wise words for those, like my own children, taking on or working to pay off hefty student debt.
Verses 6 to 11 of Proverbs 6 continue the theme of diligence with some famous counsel to the “sluggard,” or lazy person. I heard the King James version of the first half of verse 6, “Go to the ant, thou sluggard,” many times as a boy, spoken usually by my great aunt who cherished it as a suitable admonition for lazy children who were slow about their chores.
In any case, this second direction of the chapter, regarding laziness, seems also admirably suited for encouraging the sort of work ethic we value in America. Like pledging security for another person’s debt, laziness also leads to personal disaster, to poverty.
What needs to be remembered here is that it is a logical fallacy (undistributed middle) to reason that since laziness leads to poverty, then if Sally is in poverty then Sally must be lazy. That’s like reasoning that because all cats are animals, then if Sally is an animal, then Sally must be a cat.
So this text is not meant to be a whip to lash the poor with their supposed laziness, but instead a goad for all of us to consider the consequences of not giving proper diligence to the labor necessary to sustain life and well-being.
The other thing to remember about this admonition regarding laziness is that Scripture warns against spiritual laziness and poverty which can exist even in the hardest working and wealthiest of us. To be consumed every waking hour and every day with laboring for money is a form of spiritual sloth which can only lead to the worst spiritual destitution.
Even as I write this I’m reminded of a couple who used to be part of our church who left off attending worship in order to look after their business during the downturn a few years ago. A recent conversation with one of them about their concerns and priorities made it clear that spiritual poverty has been the result, though they “work hard” seven days a week.
This little section of Proverbs seems focused on material diligence, but the lessons seem extremely applicable to spiritual life. Be careful about hasty commitments of any sort, which may bring spiritual ruin. Be diligent and hard-working in spiritual discipline in order to escape a poverty much worse than any lack of money.