Proverbs 6:8 - Exposition

Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. It is this characteristic, combined with what has just been said, which gives point to the lesson the sluggard is to learn. The teacher, as it were, argues: If the ant, so insignificant a creature in the order of the animal kingdom, is so provident, how much more should you be—you, a man endued with superior intelligence, and with so many more resources at hand, and with greater advantages! If the ant, with none to urge, direct, or control her work, is so industrious, surely she provides an example at which you, the sluggard, should blush, since there is every external incentive to rouse you to action—your duty to the community, the urgent advice of your friends, and your dignity as a man. If she provides for the future, much more should you do so, and threw off your sloth. Objection has been taken to what is here stated of the provident habits of the ant in storing food, on the ground that it is carnivorous and passes the winter in a state of torpidity. That the ant does lay up stores for future use has, however, been the opinion of all ages. Thus Hesiod ('Days,' 14) speaks of the ant as harvesting the grain, calling it ἴδρις , "the provident." Virgil says—

" Veluti ingentem formicae farris acervum

Quum populant hiemis memores, tectoque repenunt ."

"So the ants, when they plunder a tall heap of corn, mindful of the winter, store it in their cave." The language of Horace ('Sat.,' 1.50, 32) might be a comment on our passage—

" Parvula (nam exemplo est) magni formica laboris sicut

Ore trahit quodcunque potest, atque addit acervo,

Quem struit, haud ignara ac non incauta futuri,

Quae, simul universum contristat Aquarius annum

Non usquam prorepit, et illis utitur ante Quaesitis sapiens ."

"For thus the little ant (to human lore

No mean example) forms her frugal store,

Gathered, with mighty toils, on every side,

Nor ignorant, nor careless to provide

For future want; yet when the stars appear

That darkly sadden the declining year,

No more she comes abroad, but wisely lives

On the fair store industrious summer gives."

(Francis' Translation.)

The same provident character is noted in AE sop's fable, 'The Ant and the Grasshopper;' see also Aristotle ('Hist. Nat.,' 9.6). All objections on this subject appear to be based on insufficient data, and have been conclusively answered by recent observation. Apart from the remark of Buffon, that "the ants of tropical climates lay up provisions, and as they probably live the whole year, they submit themselves to regulations entirely unknown among the ants of Europe." The late Professor Darwin states of the agricultural ant of Texas, which in many features resembles the ant of Palestine, that it not only stores its food, but prepares the soil for the crops, keeps the ground free from weeds, and finally reaps the harvest. Canon Tristram also observes, "The language of the wise man is not only in accordance with the universal belief of his own time, but with the accurately ascertained facts of natural history. Contrary to its habits in colder climates, the ant is not there dormant through the winter; and among the tamerisks of the Dead Sea it may be seen, in January, actively engaged in collecting the aphides and saccharine exudations, in long flies passing and repassing up and down the trunk. Two of the most common species of the Holy Land ( Alta barbara, the black ant, and Alta structor, the brown ant) are strictly seed feeders, and in summer lay up large stores of grain for winter use. These species are spread along the whole of the Mediterranean coasts, but are unknown in more northern climates. Hence writers who were ignorant of ants beyond those of their own countries have been presumptuous enough to deny the accuracy of Solomon's statement". The Mishna, section 'Zeraim,' also contains a curious piece of legislation which bears testimony to the storing properties of the ant.