Sloth and the Sluggard in Scripture

Jason Blackley asked me a week ago what I knew about Sloth. He stumped me. I posted some quotes from Dorothy L. Sayers and C. S. Lewis earlier in the year, but I didn't really know what the Bible had to say.   Since I couldn't sleep, I threw a bunch of verses together. Jason probably has modern resources, I decided to go old school with my Vine's and my concordance. I did use Google. Vine gave the definition of Slothful in his Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.

SLOTHFUL
1. NOTHROS, indolent, sluggish, is rendered "slothful" in Heb. 6:12 A. V. See DULL and synonymous words there and SLUGGISH.
2. OKNEROS, shrinking, irksome, is translated "slothful" in Matt. 25:26. and Romans 12:11, where "in diligence not slothful," R. V., might be rendered 'not flagging in zeal.' (Vines Expository Dictionary)

Under DULL in my Vines Expository Dictionary, he stated

There is a deeper more inborn sluggishness implied in northros, and this bound up as it were in the very life, more than in either of the other words of this group. (p. 343) 

Here are some verses.

• Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man. (Proverbs 6:6-11 ESV)
• A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.(Proverbs 10:4)
• Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to those who send him. (Proverbs 10:26 ESV)
• The hand of the diligent will rule, while the slothful will be put to forced labor. (Proverbs 12:24 ESV)
• The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied. (Proverbs 13:4 ESV)
• Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger. (Proverbs 19:15 ESV)
• The sluggard does not plow in the autumn; he will seek at harvest and have nothing. (Proverbs 20:4 ESV)
• The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor. All day long he craves and craves, but the righteous gives and does not hold back. (Proverbs 21:25-26 ESV)
• I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man lacking sense, and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns; the ground was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down. Then I saw and considered it; I looked and received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man. (Proverbs 24:30-34 ESV)
• The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road! There is a lion in the streets!” As a door turns on its hinges, so does a sluggard on his bed. The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth. The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly. (Proverbs 26:13-16 ESV)
• The sluggard does not plow in the autumn; he will seek at harvest and have nothing. (Proverbs 20:4 ESV)
• Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. (Romans 12:11 ESV)
• And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. (Hebrews 6:11-12 ESV)

I noticed in these verses that slothfulness is tied to pride, poverty, hunger, envy, selfishness, and stinginess.

In Matthew 25, Jesus is preaching about the kingdom of God in the "Parable of the Talents." I have heard two similar interpretations of this parable. One is that God gave us skills, resources, and talents and we should use them diligently for the Kingdom of God and not be slothful. The second interpretation is that Jesus is teaching about the Kingdom of God and is giving the Gospel to us. He wants us to use this information--this good news--to enter the Kingdom of God. We should not be slothful with our talents or the Gospel in either case.

“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ (Matthew 25:14-30 ESV)

My favorite verses on Diligence:

• And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. (Galatians 6:9)
• "Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience." (Hebrews 4:11 ESV)
• Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. (2 Peter 1:10 ESV)
• Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. (2 Peter 3:14 ESV)