As vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is a sluggard to those who send him. (Proverbs 10:26)
Like cutting off one’s feet or drinking violence is the sending of a message by the hand of a fool. (Proverbs 26:6)
Like an archer who wounds at random is he who hires a fool or any passer-by. (Proverbs 26:10)
A maxim declares, ”A good man is hard to find.” The same goes for a good woman, I guess. Having been in management all my adult life, I’ve noticed an increasing lament among fellow managers over their inability to find dependable people in today’s hiring market.
As a counselor to younger people, I hear the continuing agony of not being able to find trustworthy, high-integrity potential marriage mates. As a founder and former board member of a Christian school, I see exasperation at the flakiness and lack of character of parents and students.
While this perspective may be a function of my advanced years, it also may reflect a shifting of our cultural “value core,” the commitment to virtue above all else. I could cite examples.
If it’s any consolation, King Solomon had to deal with these same issues involving lazy, undependable, and untrustworthy people three thousand years ago! He reserved some of his most colorful figures of speech for describing the perils of relying on the unreliable.
“Vinegar to the teeth” and “smoke to the eyes” are metaphors reserved for the sheer irritation of giving responsibility to lazy, unmotivated people. Expecting performance from these “slugs” (as in “sluggard”) is as annoying as feeling the “fur” on your incisors after eating rhubarb or being hit with a cloud of tear gas. You can’t tolerate either very long.
Principle: To those who rely on them, people with a poor work ethic are a continuing source of annoyance and irritation. At some point, they’ll be driven to seek relief from both.
Some people are not so lazy as they are unthinking. Stupid is the modern equivalent of the more refined biblical word foolish. In a 900 BC equivalent to “shooting yourself in the foot,” Solomon and the boys portray the horrific consequences of giving responsibility to an unwise person—cutting off your feet or drinking violence. Awful.
Principle: To cut your losses before they hit, don’t give any responsibility to a person beyond his “wisdom level.” If you do, it will severely impair both you and the goal pursuit.
Solomon had a great sense of humor. This randomly shooting archer illustration conjures up hilarious-but-frightening images. Like the “loose cannon” metaphor, this picture is of a wild-eyed guy shooting arrows with no care whatever what they hit or where they land. It’s like the cross-eyed discus thrower. He didn’t win many meets, but he surely kept the spectators alert! Those who aren’t selective in the “people choices” they make in life are equally dangerous.
Principle: Choose everyone on whom you plan to rely—friends, spouses, employees, pastors, committee members, and such—with extreme care. Haphazard choices will result in endless and unnecessary hurt.
[from “Wisdom for the Trenches” by Dr. Larry W. Poland]