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The indolent and improvident are here addressed. They are sent to the inferior creation for a lesson; and not to the greatest and noblest of the animals, but to one of the least and most insignificant of the insects. The providence of the ant has, by some naturalists, been questioned. It has been alleged that during winter they are, like some other insects, in a state of torpidity, and therefore need not the precaution ascribed to them in ver. 8. On this we observe —

1. If the fact of their laying up provisions be ascertained, all analogy more than warrants the conclusion that it is for some end.

2. It is said the stock laid up is not for winter, but for the sustenance of the young, when they need the almost undivided attention of the whole. But as a proof of providence, this comes to the same thing.

3. The assertion that the laying up of provisions by the ant is a mistake may not apply to the ants of every country. In tropical climates they do lay up provisions. The main lesson the sluggard has to learn from the ant is industry.Three grounds of this duty are indicated in Scripture —

1. That persons may not be a burden on society or on the Church.

2. That they may be out of the way of temptation; for there are many temptations in idle habits.

3. That they may have wherewith to assist others, whose needs, from unavoidable causes, may be greater than their own. One perilous characteristic of sloth is, that it is ever growing.

(R. Wardlaw.)

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KJV: Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:

WEB: Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways, and be wise;