So do this, my son, and save yourself, because you have come to the power of your neighbor: go, hurry and plead with your neighbor.
~ Proverbs 6: 3 (NRSV).
The images of Proverbs to date have been flawless, and chapter 6 has only recently deviated from that unforgiving path. This chapter presents several themes, perhaps drawing attention to a scattering pattern that continues throughout Proverbs 10 et seq.
This opening section (verses 1-19) focuses on four clear themes.
Escaping the hunter’s trap
The first verses refer to the imperative of responding with due diligence and promptness regarding those things that are left undone and exposed as far as finances, oaths, and conflicts are concerned.
It is genuinely about living in the good fear of the LORD; that if we do not respond to the perceived dangers of daily life in company, we will be involved in consequences that we will have to pay for; the ones who don’t have a quick reconciliation.
Life often offers many opportunities to put our affairs in order. If perhaps we languish in a less diligent way, we will only blame ourselves, perhaps calling us to the consequences of Proverbs 1: 20-33.
Enter the sloth! – With typical indolence
The above is the ideal precursor for the sloth to enter the fray; however, it is lazy as he or she enters, regardless of the danger. The sloth is as key a character in Proverbs as is Woman Wisdom. He makes several major cameos throughout the rest of the book, and these are meant to warn us not to go his way.
The ant is the perfect contrast to the sloth. The ant has no teacher, but is fully motivated to get her assignments done, on time and on budget, at all times. The ant is always on the job, always paving the way during any off-season downtime.
The sloth sleeps … a lot! Too much. Sleep is the image not only for sleeping and lounging on the couch or couch, it is also a metaphor for a sleepy attitude and approach to life. The Sluggard is destined for a particular kind of folly. An important facet of wisdom, then, is the heart’s drive and resilience to be diligent and also to recover diligently.
Scoundrels and Villains
Two more fools with immoral intentions, sometimes wrapped in one body, enter the next door. Taking a look at them, they have taken the craft of deception to the level of the pathological. However, this person does not realize that everything they do is in God’s sight: they will pay for their misdeeds with a disaster; and it will come without remedy (verse 15).
Many things the LORD despises
The meaning of verse 16 – “six things the LORD hates, seven things detestable to him” – is simple hyperbole. The list grows by one even in the very second the list is considered. Imagine how many more things could be added to this list with a little more thought. So simply put, the LORD despises all sin (but most importantly, never the sinner).
The general theme, however, is about the deceitful heart, for example, “haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood” (verse 17). The parts of the body complete the analysis through hearts that invent evil and feet that rush to run towards evil. This is clearly a person who does not take into account the triad of virtue presented in chapters 1 and 2: righteousness, justice, and fairness.
Resume
It is clear that Proverbs 6: 1-20 takes a different tack than the previous five chapters. Aside from verses 1-5, he deviates for a moment from personalized parental advice and adopts a pattern that we see in much of Proverbs 10 onwards.
In this section you can see that the person with morality problems is lazy, dishonest (verse 19), discordant, devious, and stubbornly irresponsible, that is, he does not heed the warnings of life.
In short, it describes part of our own life experience when we have followed those paths, and we all have and are continually tempted to do so. Perhaps we can all locate these effects within ourselves and in the inferiority of our hearts sometimes in our past.
It doesn’t matter, today Proverbs 6 calls us to be diligent and guard against deviance.
2010 SJ Wickham.