Proverbs 24:28-34

Proverbs 24:28-34
English Standard Version
28 Be not a witness against your neighbor without cause,
    and do not deceive with your lips.
29 Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to me;
    I will pay the man back for what he has done.”

​30 I passed by the field of a sluggard,
    by the vineyard of a man lacking sense,
31 and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns;
    the ground was covered with nettles,
    and its stone wall was broken down.
32 Then I saw and considered it;
    I looked and received instruction.
33 A little sleep, a little slumber,
    a little folding of the hands to rest,
34 and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
    and want like an armed man.

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We start with a reminder to no bear false witness against your neighbor (or anyone else for that matter).  That is, don't swear to something being true if you aren't absolutely sure of it and definitely don't swear something is true when you know it to be false. Do not take vengeance into your own hands or repay evil for evil.  No!  Instead, we are to treat others the way that we would want to be treated (even if that's not the way that we have been treated).  The world tells us "Do unto others as they have done unto you," but the Scriptures call us to something higher, "Do unto others as you would have them to do unto you."  Notice the difference?  The world tries to tell us that there is no difference, but the difference is significant.  The first is the idea of "an eye for eye" that make the whole world go blind.  The second is that of always doing what is right to others regardless of how they have treated you.

Now back to the idea from last time of putting in an honest day's work.  The author said that he went past a field that a sluggard (a slothful, lazy person) owned.  The field had not been tilled, plowed, seeded, or tended to in any way.  It was allowed to let the weeds and thorns grow and overrun it so that it was unable to be used for its intended purpose (while the wise man is talking about land here, I think it's a metaphor for man's heart, just like Jesus used a similar metaphor for his Parable of the Soils).  The wall that was built up around it to keep safe what was inside was torn down.  There was no longer any protection from the outside world.  The writer looked at it and realized how this was an object lesson that he and others could learn from.

The lazy man will make excuses each and every moment for why he doesn't need to do that thing that needs to be done right now.  He will put it off forever if he can.  If we put off all the routine maintenance that needs done (both to our properties and our lives) then eventually ruin will come upon us.  What is left won't even be recognizable for its original function and certainly cannot function that way until a major cleanup effort takes place.  Once the weeds and thorns are allowed in, they are hard (nearly impossible) to get rid of.  Once the wall is torn down, there is no protection from thieves and wild animals.  We must take great care to not let our lives, our hearts, become like this field.  Otherwise, poverty will come upon us because we will need food and will have no food to glean from our fields because we did no work to produce any for ourselves or our families.