The Slothful Man
D. C. Gilmore. Proverbs 12:27 The slothful man roasts not that which he took in hunting: but the substance of a diligent man is precious. 1. The lazy man goes hunting. Some are full of the most bustling activity. An old mathematical professor was wont to define work as "steadily overcoming resistance occurring along a fixed line." An intermittent, changing activity manifestly fails to answer the requirements of this definition. 2. The slothful man catches game when he does go hunting. Not only does he act, but he does things. But his slothfulness is made manifest in this: though he be effective, he is not efficient; for — 3. He is too lazy to cook what he does catch. The excitement of the chase is over, he is weary with dragging home his game, so the gun goes into one corner and the game into another, while the man proceeds — with a celerity which would be praiseworthy were it rightly applied — to forget all about it. He waits for the next excitement. His activity has procured no benefits to himself or any one else. There are many people who lose their labour through a disinclination to put the finishing touch to their work. Under excitement they secure certain results, which, if gathered up and made permanent, would be of immense value. But then they get weary, indifferent. They let things slide — to use an expression of the populace. All they have done gradually undoes itself. For lack of but one stone — the keystone — the arch falls. This is the application: When you commence a thing, cease not until you have gathered up the results of your labour in some form of practical and present benefit to your fellow-men. (D. C. Gilmore.) Parallel Verses KJV: The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting: but the substance of a diligent man is precious. WEB: The slothful man doesn't roast his game, but the possessions of diligent men are prized.