15 The sluggard buries his hand in the dish;
He is weary of bringing it to his mouth again.
16 The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes
Than seven men who can [i]give a discreet answer.
17 Like one who takes a dog by the ears
Is he who passes by and [j]meddles with strife not belonging to him.
18 Like a madman who throws
Firebrands, arrows and death,
19 So is the man who deceives his neighbor,
And says, “Was I not joking?”
20 For lack of wood the fire goes out,
And where there is no whisperer, contention quiets down.
21 Like charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire,
So is a contentious man to kindle strife.
In these verses, keeping in mind that I’ve just taken the next 7 verses arbitrarily, you wouldn’t think vv. 15-16 go very well with the rest of the passage. Truthfully, they would seem to go with vv. 13-14 from yesterday much better. Yet God works in mysterious ways, and I think there is still some connection to be seen, and lessons to learn from this odd coupling.
So yes, we first see the sluggard, the one who is too lazy to even feed himself. Yet he is wise, oh so wise! Not really, but he sure thinks so. As he idly wastes the day away, he has far too much time to think and comes up with some real whoppers. But then, we shift gears, and have these contentious folks, who go around grabbing dogs by the ears…
That’s not really the point, instead they interfere with the business of others, and try to cheat their neighbor. That is, until they get caught red-handed, and “It was all just a joke! I would never really do that!” Solomon reminds us that if we let things alone, they’ll cool down, as we like to say “cooler heads will prevail”
But what about that sluggard, how does he tie into all this? Surely he can’t be bothered to be kindling strife like charcoal or wood to the fire, or can he? What else has he got to do, but meddle in the affairs of others, spouting his “wisdom” for all to hear? You’ve likely heard it said, “Idle hands are the devil’s tools.” And even though that’s a mistranslation of another proverb, it certainly isn’t far from the truth.
Just last night, I saw an example of someone terribly lazy who had nothing better to do than destroy someone else’s property. Who knows what they will say when they are caught, but I wouldn’t be shocked to hear them attempt to utter some profound political statement, or say, “it was just a prank!”
But no, none of that is true, he’s just living proof of this passage. What then ought we to do? If you don’t want to be stirring up contention, get to work! Just the other day, I was reminding my kids (and myself), that everything we do should be done for God. It isn’t for us or for our glory, but His alone. Find something good to do, and put your whole heart into it, “doing it as unto the Lord.”