Pro 22:13 | KingComments | STEP | A sluggard comes up with the most absurd excuses for not working. He ‘sees’ danger outside, but does not see the deadly danger of his laziness. The sluggard is too lazy to use his hands, but his brain works hard and brings forth the most nonsensical thoughts. The sluggard has a strong working imagination. He envisions it: if he were to go across the street to work, it would be his death, because “there is a lion outside”. He is the only one who sees this lion, because all the other people are on their way to work. That his excuse is nonsensical and laughable does not bother the sluggard. Any claim that there is no lion is firmly rejected by him. He has ‘seen’ the lion; therefore, you cannot get him to go out. A sluggard is a foolish prophet, he prophesies about a vision that only he himself has seen and in which he passionately believes. Benaiah, one of David’s heroes, was of a different caliber. He went down in a pit to find a real lion, not to be killed, but to kill the lion and thereby eliminate a danger ( ).

‏ Proverbs 22:13

An Excuse of the Sluggard Not to Work

A sluggard comes up with the most absurd excuses for not working. He ‘sees’ danger outside, but does not see the deadly danger of his laziness. The sluggard is too lazy to use his hands, but his brain works hard and brings forth the most nonsensical thoughts. The sluggard has a strong working imagination. He envisions it: if he were to go across the street to work, it would be his death, because “there is a lion outside”. He is the only one who sees this lion, because all the other people are on their way to work.

That his excuse is nonsensical and laughable does not bother the sluggard. Any claim that there is no lion is firmly rejected by him. He has ‘seen’ the lion; therefore, you cannot get him to go out. A sluggard is a foolish prophet, he prophesies about a vision that only he himself has seen and in which he passionately believes.

Benaiah, one of David’s heroes, was of a different caliber. He went down in a pit to find a real lion, not to be killed, but to kill the lion and thereby eliminate a danger (2Sam 23:20).