Pondering Proverbs: And Work is...Work ~ Proverbs 12:11

From time to time, I find enjoyment in offering a few shorter, but hopefully helpful, posts on smaller portions of Scripture (more likely than not from Proverbs somewhere, like last time) which don't necessarily meddle around in the intricacies of the original language or anything, but do nonetheless involve things that have proved themselves to be worth my time pondering. Such is the case at the present. I have, in my reading times, invested a bit of thought into some various things found in Proverbs 12:11 (as well as miscellaneous other related passages scattered throughout Proverbs), and would like to put it down in ink, so to speak, both for your scrutiny and edification. Sooo, let's give some thought to Proverbs 12:11: 

"He who tills his land will have plenty of bread; But he who follows empty pursuits will have poverty in plenty."

As I usually do, I will refer to the former half of the verse as part A, and the latter as part B.

As we begin to consider this verse, we should lay out in simplified thoughts/terms what we encounter in order to better 'dissect' it (so to speak). To encapsulate the big picture, then, we see in this verse two different people doing two different things to two different objects with two different results - each situation making claim to its own respective half of the verse. In the first half - "part A" - we find a person doing the action of "tilling" to the object of "his land". Now, we don't really know a whole lot about this person, except what we're told from his actions - namely that he tills his land. So then, it is reasonable to conclude that since this is all we're told about this fellow, that's all we need to know to get the point of the verse. In other words, the characteristic about this individual that pertains to the teaching presented here is that he tills his land.

So let's give some thought to tilling.

I know I intimated earlier that this post wouldn't bother much with the original language, but my left hand didn't know what my right hand was doing, and the latter was thus left to fumble through my Hebrew text unsupervised. It happened upon the our verse of concern here in Proverbs, and I looked down just in time to notice that a 'literal' translation of "he who tills his land" would be "a tiller of his ground" or a equivalent variation of that wording (like, maybe, "he who tills his land"). This is a person who habitually, characteristically works, manipulates, tills a plot of ground over which he has the warrant by ownership to do so. Without harboring distraction over - say - the desirable nature of his neighbor's field or anything else, he faithfully cares for his own plot of land. Such work isn't terribly glorious or unique, but is often dirty, monotonous, and demanding of one's energy and effort. This work doesn't single the worker out as especially gifted or privileged in society, but placed on him the restraints and burdens that accompanied getting up, putting work clothes on, going outside and collecting the proper equipment, and spending the following hours or however long doing the same thing over...and over...and over...

So it wasn't really that exhilarating - unless, of course, you happened to be enthralled with plows, dirt and other such matters. But even if you were, working in the dirt wouldn't be immediately productive. In fact, plowing itself is often only preparatory labor, and the fruit that would result from such effort wouldn't be enjoyed for some time afterwards when it had grown and ripened. You see, Solomon (the author of this verse) could have said "he who harvests his land has plenty of bread", but he didn't. Instead, he talks about plowing and working the land in general, not just reaping the benefits.

So what's the end product of this tenuous engagement?

"He who tills his land will have plenty of bread..."

 Now of course, this verse would make sense enough if the author was content to say "he who till his land will have bread", but it isn't that short. This hard-working farmer who gets up and goes to do what he needs to do when he needs to do it will not just enjoy having bread, but plenty of it. He doesn't go hungry. He was willing to submit himself to the discomfort and the laborious demands of hum-drum taking care of his dirt again, but as a result he will be satisfied with the enjoyment of more than just the minimum provision, so he has no need to worry over whether or not he will have enough. He was willing to stress himself before by choice, so now he's not subjected to it by force. 
         
So that's situation número uno. A hard working guy who's willing to...work hard. Even if it's boring. Even if it's not his dream job. Even if he gets dirty and tired. Even if. His faithfulness in his laborious engagements translated into provision so that his stomach was indeed satisfied, and his commitment to the task was not dependent on whether or not it qualified as a particularly relaxing one. Whether it was or wasn't, he did it. So he worked when he needed to, and now he can eat when he needs to.

But on to part B, we now meet a fellow with an entirely different mindset. We aren't told if he has a field or not, but even if he does, he's not paying attention to it. Why? He's busy. Something's got his attention. What could it be? If he doesn't work his land, or at least get some land if he doesn't have any, he, quite logically, must be doing something else productive right? Otherwise, how will he have "plenty of bread" - which is a good thing to have, right? We observed just a minute ago that it was by means of his work that person A obtained food, so what could keep this second fellow from doing as the first did and investing in the days to come by means of labor now? Well, you already know the rest of the verse: " but he who pursues worthless things...". Ahh, he is not engaged in the demanding investment of work because he is busy chasing after worthless things, things that have no value and don't produce anything.

As I was busily pondering all this in my head, my right hand, crafty fellow that it is, not only began rummaging around in my books again, but enticed my left hand to join him. This time they targeted my lexicons, and managed to find the entry regarding this word for "empty". Can you guess what it really means?

Empty.

Pretty good, I thought. So whatever these preoccupations are that have claimed this man's attention, they are described only as empty, vain, and void. It is worth observing that there isn't just one thing that has captured this fellow's allegiance, but multiple things. This much is, of course, obvious in the plural usage of the word "things" in the English¹. It's not just one pointless preoccupation claiming this fellow's commitment, but multiple different things. This tells you that there isn't necessarily something unique about one particular pursuit that has captured his attention, but there's something in all of them that is reason enough to demand his time and energy. We aren't told why he might be entranced with these unproductive activities, so it doesn't bear a huge amount of weight on Solomon's point. However he got there, he is now giving his time, energies, and attention to multiple vain interests instead of working his field.

Logically, we don't have to work very hard to finish the equation from here. He is not doing the work, so does not have "plenty of bread". At least, that might be how we would finish the verse. Solomon, however, says something a little different.

"...but he who pursues worthless things lacks sense."

We might have thought that this person lacks bread, but Solomon addresses something else he's missing: sense. The word in Hebrew is "heart". Perhaps there is a more serious absence at hand than this man's lack of bread that the author is highlighting here. Maybe there is something more significant that this gentleman doesn't have which Solomon is directing our attention to. Regardless of whether or not he actually has bread (we're not told directly one way or another in this particular verse, although we can come to a reasonable conclusion from part A), this fellow is lacking sense, and that is what Solomon wants us to know about him. He is indeed actively going after things and putting forth effort to attain them, so whether or not he's doing something isn't the issue. The problem is observable² when we notice that those things are not things that have substance to them, and they don't yield benefit to the pursuer. And yet, not restrained by the possessing of a heart - sense - this man neglects the field and thus it's produce and proceeds after these unrewarding yet attractive (at least to him) activities - whatever they may be, demonstrating a deeper problem than an empty fridge.

So instead....


Work. Do it. Let it be hard. Let it be dirty. Let it be boring. Not only that, but be content with preparatory labor, work that doesn't seem immediately rewarding but does, nonetheless, demand your immediate attention. If we neglect work out of hunger for something else, we're going to be hungry again - this time for real food. But by then, it will be too late. Further, when we realize that we are neglecting work in order to trail after worthless things, we may confidently conclude this about ourselves: we lack heart. We lack sense. That's not at all an arguable point at that juncture - you can bet on it. All excuses excused, pursuit of empty occupations demonstrates an absence of heart.

So work, and enjoy your food in its time.
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 ¹In the original language the word "things" isn't actually there, only the word "worthless" which is plural. It is, however, acceptable to understand it as there, hence its appearance in the NASB. It could also be said as "he who pursues vanities..." or something else that fairly reflects the "empty" concept at hand and Solomon's plural usage of the word.

² I worded it this way because the problem here is not just what the man is chasing after, but the fact that he lacks sense - the former being observable in the latter.