Discipline and diligence are two prominent themes in the book of Proverbs. They show up over and over again. Solomon gives them to us with the down-home, backwoods wisdom that is hard to miss. He uses images that are hard to get out of your mind. In Chapter Six, Verse 6, he says, “Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise!”
According to John Silling, a Purdue University entomologist, the ant is an exemplary worker. “Basically, the ant’s entire life, which can range up to seven years, is spent working,” says Silling. “They gather food, bring it back to the nest, and use it for day-to-day meals as well as to store for the winter.” In addition, the amazing insects can be adept horticulturalists, states the professor. Some species “gather bits of grass or leaves and take them back to their nest. On this organic matter, which is used much like fertilizer, they place tiny mushroom spores and grow them for food.” But ants as dairy keepers? That’s right. “Some ants get the majority of their food by ‘milking’ aphids or plant lice, which are often known as ‘ant cows,’ says the scientist. “The ants sometimes herd the aphids down into the ant nests at night or when it starts to get cool; then when it gets warm again, they herd them back up to the plants.”
The Jewish Publication Society’s commentary on this passage says that the illustration of the ant teaches us to be honest. It says, “If the Torah had not been given, we could have learned modesty from the cat [which relieves itself in private], honesty from the ant [which doesn’t steal the food of another ant], and fidelity from the dove [which is monogamous].”[1] I’m inclined to go along with the standard understanding that the lesson from the ant is industry. The ant is hard working all of its life and is never deterred from this mission. An old English proverb that you’ve all heard is that “idleness is the Devil’s workshop.” Notice that the exhortation to watch the ant in Proverbs 6 is sandwiched between exhortations against sexual promiscuity in chapter five and chapter seven. Just as David’s leisurely walk along the roof of his palace opened the door to adultery with Bathsheba, so too is it the case with us all. Many a man has fallen prey to Satan’s devices while leisurely browsing the internet. When we become actively engaged in doing what we’re supposed to do, we are much less likely to fall into the temptation to do what we’re not supposed to do. In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon tells us that one of the more satisfying pursuits in life is work. It’s a gift from God. Ecclesiastes 2:24-25 says, “There is nothing better for mortals than to eat and drink and find enjoyment in their toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God; for apart from him, who can eat or who can have enjoyment?”
[1] Levy, Sarah, and Steven Levy. 2017. The JPS Rashi Discussion Torah Commentary. JPS Study Bible Series. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society.