I went past the field of a sluggard,
past the vineyard of someone who has no sense;
thorns had come up everywhere,
the ground was covered with weeds,
and the stone wall was in ruins.
I applied my heart to what I observed
and learned a lesson from what I saw:
A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest—
and poverty will come on you like a thief
and scarcity like an armed man.
The sluggard once again proves a truth. One cannot be a sluggard and receive what only the farmer reaps: a harvest. This is a truth that finds itself in the very order of the universe, fallen though it is. Genesis 3:17-19 reveals how it became so. Before the Fall, humankind walked with God in the Garden. How can there be a Garden without a Gardener? The “work” then was accomplished by God’s presence and it was through intimacy that the harvest was given. Because of Adam’s disobedience, the Fall cursed man to instead earn his food by “painful toil” and “the sweat of ‘his’ brow”. Is the core then of the sluggard’s folly ignoring the plight and punishment, the fate of humankind? What does one expect when “Cursed is the ground because of you” and “It will produce thorns and thistles for you”? It should be no surprise then as Proverbs 24:31 reveals the inheritance of the sluggard.
After my daughter reminded us of the comedy of folly in 22:13, we looked closer to answer ‘Where is Jesus? How did He fulfill this proverb to make us into new creations?” A restoration of intimacy with God was the goal, when His very presence – His holy order arranged and did the ‘work’ of the Garden. It is of this intimacy that is spoken of in John chapter 3 as believers are ‘born again’ by their faith in Jesus. Compare both Proverbs 24:30-34 with John 3:1-21. It is because of Jesus and our faith in Him that gives us a mirror to see our true inheritance: eternal life. He wore the thorns on His brow, Matthew 27:29. He turns the weeds into blessings that give strength instead of stealing it from the soil, Hebrews 6. The stone wall that was once in ruins is built anew by Jesus’ blood. He is the Repairer of the Breach (Isaiah 58:12), and is the Cornerstone (1 Peter 2:4-8) of the spiritual house of the people of God.
In the mirror, Jesus stands opposite of the sluggard. His work was in perfect obedience with God, Romans 5:18-19. Even the sluggard is made righteous along with the other inhabitants of Folly’s house should they choose to be made new. As many could see Jesus’ neighbor on the cross to be a sluggard as he chose his last living minute to ask Jesus to remember him when He came into His kingdom, Luke 23:40-43.