Proverbs 12:11

Pro 12:11 He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread: but he that followeth vain [persons is] void of understanding.

Ver. 11. He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied, &c.] This is true of all other lawful callings, manual or mental, - the sweat of the brow or of the brain. Sin brought in sweat, {Gen 3:19} and now not to sweat increaseth sin. Men must earn their bread before they eat it, {2Th 3:12} and be diligent in their callings to serve God and men, themselves and others, with the fatness and sweetness thereof, and then they have a promise they shall be fed. {Psa 37:7}

But he that followeth vain persons, &c.] It is hard to be a good fellow and a good husband too. Qui aequo animo malis immiscetur, malus est, saith one, He that delights in bad company cannot be good.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Pro_12:11

He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread.

The law of labour

It is no mercy to be freed from the law of labour. Nor is it God that frees a man from that law. Among the opulent there are some who break the law of labour, and some who keep it. They keep it by working in their own province, in that state of life into which it has pleased God to call them. There is brain-toil as well as hand-toil; the wear and tear of the mental energies tend more to shorten life than the ordinary labourers wear and tear of body. Some kind of labour is enjoined upon all, by a law of Gods own framing. There is division of labour, but it is a labour nevertheless. Woe to him who craves an idle life, who would slumber existence away in listless reverie! The truth of the text is forcible, whether taken literally or applied spiritually. A contrast is drawn between the industrious and the loiterer. Solomon uses the words wise and foolish, and their kindred terms, in a deep spiritual sense--moral as well as mental, religious as well as intellectual. The fool is he who acts without reference to the Divine above him, and the everlasting before him. As we dare not let things take their course in our worldly business, so neither in our spiritual. Christianity is meant to hallow life in all its phases--to hallow business, labour, recreation. The Sabbath of the Christian is a life-long Sabbath, an every-day Sabbath. Bishop Taylor reminds us that the life of every man may be so ordered that it may be a perpetual serving of God--the greatest trouble, and most busy trade, and worldly encumbrances, when they are necessary, or charitable, or profitable, being a-doing Gods work. For God provides the good things of the world to serve the needs of nature, by the labours of the ploughman, the skill and pains of the artisan, and the dangers and traffic of the merchant. Idleness is called the sin of Sodom and her daughters, and indeed is the burial of a living man. The text suggests two pictures. In the one we have the persevering husbandman, who loses no time, who works with a good heart, and at last enjoys a noble harvest. In the other we have a slothful spendthrift, who whiles away lifes sunshine by basking in it, leaving the evening to care for itself, and heedless of coming night. But it is important to remember that no earthly seed-corn will produce fruit for another world--therefore the seed-corn must be supplied from the heavenly storehouse by the heavenly husbandman--it must be indigenous to the skies, an exotic upon earth. If thou be in earnest for God, He will multiply thy seed sown, and increase the fruits of thy righteousness. (Francis Jacox, B.A.)

Manly industry and parasitical indolence

I. Manly industry.

1. He has manly industry indicated. Agriculture is the oldest, divinest, healthiest, and most necessary branch of human industry.

2. He has manly industry rewarded. Skilled industry is seldom in want.

II. Parasitical indolence..

1. There are those who hang on others for their support.

2. Such persons are fools. They sacrifice self-respect. They expose themselves to degrading annoyances. (Homilist.)

There is great moral value in being well employed

The idle classes are waiting to become the vicious classes. This is vividly illustrated by the well-known story of a friendless girl who, about three generations ago, was thrown upon the world, uncared for. Her children and childrens children came to number over a hundred, desperate and dangerous men and women of crime. No record of earth can tell how many a bright young man or woman thrown out of employ has become a centre of equally dark and ever-widening circles. (Washington Gladden.)

The fate of drones

It will be profitable to idle people to observe the arrangement whereby nature condemns the drones to death in the bee community. No sooner is the business of swarming ended, and the worker-bees satisfied there will be no lack of fertile queens, when issues the terrible edict for the massacre of the drones. Poor fellows! It is to be hoped they comfort themselves with the reflection that their fate is an everlasting homily, presented by nature in dogmatical but most effective fashion, of the uselessness of all who labour not for their living. If one must die for the good of ones kind, by all means let it be as a martyr. Poor fellows! how they dart in and out, and up and down the hive, in the vain hope of escape! The workers are inexorable. (Scientific Illustrations.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Pro 12:11. He that tilleth his land — That employeth his time and strength in an honest calling; shall be satisfied with bread — Shall, through the blessing of God, have food convenient for himself and his family; but he that followeth vain persons — That associates with them, and follows their idle course of living; is void of understanding — Will find at last, by the desperate courses into which they will lead him, that he wants not only bread; but understanding.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES.—

Pro_12:11. Vain persons, or “vanity,” “emptiness.”

MAIN HOMILETICS OF Pro_12:11

SATISFACTION FROM TILLAGE

I. Satisfaction as the result of tillage depends—

1. Upon the performance of a Divine promise. It is long ago since God gave to Noah the promise that “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Gen_9:22), and it has been so invariably fulfilled that men have come to forget upon whom they are depending—in whom they are exercising faith—when they plough the ground and sow the seed. God’s regularity in His performance has bred in men a contempt for the promise and the promise maker. Men speak of the laws of nature and ignore the fact that it is by the Word of the Lord that the “rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater” (Isa_55:10). But so it is. The promise is the power that set the laws in motion at first and that have kept them in motion ever since. There can be no tillage without dependence upon God either acknowledged or unacknowledged. The promise is an absolute one, and implies power in God to fulfil it to the end of time. It can never fail unless God’s power fail, or unless He break His word; these are blessed impossibilities with Him. Therefore, so far as God is concerned the shall of the text is absolute. But it depends likewise—

2. Upon men’s fulfilment of their duties. First, it is not all tillage that will satisfy a man with bread, the tillage must be painstaking and intelligent. The promise of God does not set aside the necessity for the man to be very laborious and to study carefully the nature and needs of the soil which he tills. Agriculture is a science which must be acquired—a man must learn how to till the ground. God claims to be man’s instructor in this matter (Isa_28:26). Then, again, it must be his land that he tills, not land taken by fraud or violence from another. Neither if a man tills the land of another as his servant is he always paid sufficient wages to be satisfied with bread. But this is the greed of man interfering with God’s ordinaton.

II. The promise suggests symbolic teaching. We may look at it in relation to the human spirit. As land must be ploughed and sown with painstaking intelligence if a man is to have the satisfaction of reaping a harvest, so the human soul must be the object of spiritual tillage if it is ever to yield any satisfaction to God or man. There is very much to be got out of the land, but no man can obtain the full blessing unless he cultivate it. So it is with the man himself. A human soul left to lie barren can never become as a “field which the Lord hath blessed.”

(1) It must be prepared to receive the words of God. The “fallow ground” must be broken up, lest the sowing be “among thorns” (Jer_4:3), or the seed fall where it can find no entrance (Hos_10:12; Mat_13:4).

(2) Good seed must be sown. The word of God (Mar_4:14), that “incorruptible seed” by which men are “born again” (1Pe_1:23).

(3) And the spiritual sower must be persevering and prayerful. It is true of natural tillage that “He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap” (Ecc_11:4); it is equally so of soul-husbandry. The world, the flesh, and the devil will be always putting difficulties in the way of a man’s caring for his “own soul.” But these obstacles must be surmounted, and if the seed is watered by prayer God will assuredly send down the rain of the Holy Ghost.

(4) And in spiritual tillage there is also a certainty of satisfaction. This also depends upon not one Divine promise but upon many—upon the revelation of God as a whole. (Upon the opposite character—him “that followeth vain persons,” or vanity, instead of tilling his land or his spiritual nature—see Homiletics on chapters Pro_6:11 and Pro_10:5, pages 79 and 147.)

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS

We might have expected that the antithesis of the second clause would have ended with “shall lack bread,” but the real contrast goes deeper. Idleness leads to a worse evil than that of hunger.—Plumptre.

Vain persons or “empty people”—most signally the impenitent—for they are empty of all good. “That follows after empty people” is a fine characteristic of the impenitent man’s decline. Following others is the commonest influence to destroy the soul.—Miller.

Special honour is given to the work of tilling the land. God assigned it to Adam in Paradise. It was the employment of his eldest son. In ancient times it was the business or relaxation of kings. A blessing is ensured to diligence, sometimes abundant, always such as we should be satisfied with.—Bridges.

Of all the arts of civilised man agriculture is transcendantly the most essential and valuable. Other arts may contribute to the comfort, the convenience, and the embellishment of life, but the cultivation of the soil stands in immediate connection with our very existence. The life itself, to whose comfort, convenience, and embellishment other arts contribute, is by this sustained, so that others without it can avail nothing.—Wardlaw.

The only two universal monarchs practised husbandry.… Some people think that they cannot have enough unless they have more than the necessaries and decent comforts of life: but we are here instructed that bread should satisfy our desires. Having food and raiment, let us be therewith content. There are few that want these, and yet few are content.… To be satisfied with bread is a happy temper of mind, and is commonly the portion of the man of industry, which not only procures bread, but gives it a relish unknown to men that are above labour.—Lawson.

Sin brought in sweat (Gen_3:19), and now not to sweat increaseth sin.… “But he that followeth vain persons,” etc. It is hard to be a good fellow and a good husband too.—Trapp.

Here is encouragement to those who travail in husbandry. They are of as good note with God for their service, if they be faithful, as others whose trades are more gainful, and better esteemed among men. The merchants, and goldsmiths, and others of such places, are not so often mentioned in Scripture as they be, nor animated with so many consolations as they are. The grand promises for blessing on their labour are made to them in special, and the rest must deduct their comforts from thence by proportion.—Dod.

In a moral point of view the life of the agriculturist is the most pure and holy of any class of men; pure, because it is the most healthful, and holy, because it brings the Deity perpetually before his view, giving him thereby the most exalted notions of supreme power, and the most fascinating and endearing view of moral benignity.—Sir B. Maltravers.

Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,

Where wealth accumulates and men decay;

Princes and lords may flourish, or may fade;

A breath can make them, as a breath has made:

But a bold peasantry, their country’s pride,

When once destroyed, can never be supplied.

Goldsmith.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

Special honour is given to the work of tilling the land. God assigned it to Adam in Paradise. (Gen 2:15 .) It was the employment of his eldest son. (Gen 4:2 .) Its origin appears to have been under immediate Divine Teaching. (Isa 28:23-26 .) In ancient times it was the business or relaxation of kings.†1 A blessing is ensured to diligence; sometimes abundant (Gen 26:12 ); always such as we should be satisfied with. (Pro 27:23-27 .)

The principle applies alike to every lawful calling. Industry is an ornamental grace (Pro 31:13-22 ), and a Christian obligation. (Rom 12:11 . 1Th 4:11 .) Most ample is its reward in the work of God. How rich is the harvest for the diligent student of the Scriptures! Truly he shall be satisfied with bread. But idleness is a spot upon our royal name. (2Th 3:10-12 .) As an old writer observes — ’The proud person is Satan’s throne, and the idle man his pillow. He sitteth in the former, and sleepeth quietly on the latter.’†2 The man therefore that followeth vain persons, instead of honest labour, proves himself to be void of understanding, and will reap the fruits of his folly (Pro 13:20 . Act 5:36-37 ) — perhaps throughout eternity.†3

Footnotes:

†1 2Ch 26:10 . ’Omnium rerum, ex quibus aliquid acquirtur, nihil est agriculturâ melius, nihil uberius, nihil dulcius, nihil homine libero dignius.’ Such was the judgment of the Roman Moralist. — Cicero De Offic. B. I. xliii. ’Of all the arts of civilized man, agriculture is transcendently the most essential and valuable. Other arts may contribute to the comfort, the convenience, and the embellishment of life. But the cultivation of the soil stands in immediate connexion with our very existence. The life itself, to whose comfort, and convenience, and embellishment, other arts contribute, is by this sustained: so that others without it can avail nothing.’ Wardlaw on Ecc 5:9 .

†2 Swinnock’s Christian Man’s Calling, Part I. 346.

†3 The LXX gives a curious addition to this verse, not without some wholesome application to young votaries of pleasure — ’He that is sweet in wine-parties shall leave behind disgrace in his strong places.’

Charles Bridges, An Exposition of the Book of Proverbs (1846) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12:11 This proverb is repeated but with a different conclusion in 28:19.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Or, defense.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Note, 1. It is men's wisdom to mind their business and follow an honest calling, for that is the way, by the blessing of God, to get a livelihood: He that tills his land, of which he is either the owner or the occupant, that keeps to his word and is willing to take pains, if he do not raise an estate by it (what need is there of that?), yet he shall be satisfied with bread, shall have food convenient for himself and his family, enough to bear his charges comfortably through the world. Even the sentence of wrath has this mercy in it, Thou shalt eat bread, though it be in the sweat of thy face. Cain was denied this, Gen 4:12. Be busy, and that is the true way to be easy. Keep thy shop and thy shop will keep thee. Thou shalt eat the labour of thy hands. 2. It is men's folly to neglect their business. Those are void of understanding that do so, for then they fall in with idle companions and follow them in their evil courses, and so come to want bread, at least bread of their own, and make themselves burdensome to others, eating the bread out of other people's mouths.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The idler's fate is the result of indolence and want of principle (Pro 6:32; Pro 7:7).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 11. He that tilleth his land] God's blessing will be in the labour of the honest agriculturist.

But he that followeth vain persons] He who, while he should be cultivating his ground, preparing for a future crop, or reaping his harvest, associates with fowlers, coursers of hares, hunters of foxes, or those engaged in any champaign amusements, is void of understanding; and I have known several such come to beggary.

To this verse the Septuagint add the following clause: ος εστιν ηδυς εν οινων διατριβαις, εν τοις εαυτου οχυρωμασι καταλειψει ατιμιαν. "He who is a boon companion in banquets, shall leave dishonour in his own fortresses." This has been copied by the Vulgate and the Arabic. That is The man who frequents the ale-house enriches that, while he impoverishes his own habitation.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(11) Vain persons.—Or, things, such as “searching for hid treasures” (Pro_2:4).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

11. vain persons] We may either supply persons, with A.V. and R.V. text: or things, with R.V. marg. and LXX. μάταια, Vulg. sectatur otium, and in accordance with the usage of this Book in following the Heb. verb here employed by an accus. of a thing, Pro_11:19, Pro_15:9. In the former case the argument expanded will be: To keep bad company argues want of understanding, because it leads not to plenty but to lack of bread. In the latter case we may understand by vain things, idle, useless occupations, thus preserving the contrast to the honest labour of the former clause of the verse.

The LXX. and Vulg. have an interesting addition:

“He that takes pleasure in tarrying long at the wine

Shall leave dishonour in his own stronghold;”

as an example probably of the general principle of the proverb. Comp. Pro_21:17.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread,.... This was man's work in innocence; this he was doomed to do with the sweat of his brow after his fall; every man has his land to till, or some calling, work, or business, to be employed in, either civil or sacred; and it becomes him to be diligent therein, and such as are shall not want bread, but shall have a sufficiency of it;

but he that followeth vain persons is void of understanding: that neglects his business, loiters away his time, spends it in the company of vain, empty, and unprofitable persons; as he shows himself by such a choice that he is void of understanding, or "wants a heart" (s), to improve his time and talents; so before long it is much if he does not want a piece of bread. Thus he that is concerned to have the fallow ground of his heart ploughed up, and righteousness, truth, and holiness, sown therein, that it may bring forth fruit; or who is careful about the welfare and salvation of his immortal soul, and makes diligent use of all means to promote its spiritual good, shall be filled with the bread of life, shall find it and eat it, to the joy and rejoicing of his heart; and, on the contrary, he that associates himself with vain persons, empty of all that is spiritually good, that have only empty notions of religion; or who attend to the profane and vain boastings of antichrist, and all false teachers; and give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, whose words eat as do a canker; these, as they show themselves to want wisdom, so they are and will be brought into starving and famishing circumstances in a spiritual sense. Jarchi interprets the former clause of a man that is studious in his doctrine, that revolves it in his mind, that he may not forget it; and the Arabic version renders the last clause,

"they that run after false demons, their minds are deficient;''

see Rev 9:20.

(s) "deficiens corde", Pagninus; "carens corde", Montanus; "deficitur corde", Schultens.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The contrast is carried on between the life of industry and that of the idle, “vain person” of the “baser sort” (the “Raca” of Mat 5:22). We might have expected that the second clause would have ended with such words as “shall lack bread,” but the contrast goes deeper. Idleness leads to a worse evil than that of hunger.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Idleness. Hebrew, "the idle." Their company is seducing. --- He that, &c. This occurs in the Septuagint, but not in the Hebrew or the new edition of St. Jerome. (Calmet) --- Wine. Or "in taverns." --- Holds. Soldiers have thus been often surprised. (Menochius) --- "Drunkenness is an incitement to lust and madness, the poison of wisdom." (St. Ambrose)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

That tilleth his land; that employeth his time and strength in an honest calling.

That followeth vain persons; that useth their society and idle course of living.

Is void of understanding; shall through his own folly want bread.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

11. Satisfied with bread — Shall have plenty.

Vain persons — ריקים, (rekim,) the raca of Mat_5:22. Idle, profligate, empty-pated men; those who frequent saloons, taverns, ale houses, and other dissolute places, when they should be ploughing, or otherwise earning an honest living. The Septuagint here adds a proverb not in the Hebrew which is worthy of preservation: “He that enjoys himself (or spends his time) in banquets of wine, shall leave dishonour in his own strongholds.” The idea is, that he shall leave a heritage of dishonour to his household. Compare Pro_28:19; Gen_3:19.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A contrast between industry and idleness, repeated at Pro_28:19. He that tilleth his land. Agriculture was the first of industries, and always highly commended among the Jews, bringing a sure return to the diligent. (Pro_10:5 Pro_20:4 Pro_27:18, Pro_27:23-27; and Ecc 20:28) He that followeth after vain persons; rather, vain things; mataia , Septuagint, empty, useless employments, profitless business, in contrast to active labour on the land. The Vulgate renders, qui sectatur otium, "he who studieth ease;" but the original, reikim, will not bear this meaning. Is void of understanding; he not only, as is implied, will be reduced to poverty, but shows moral weakness and depravity. The Septuagint and Vulgate here introduce a paragraph not found in our Hebrew text: "He who takes pleasure (ov estin hduv ) in carouses of wine will leave disgrace in his strongholds (ocurwmasi )". (Isa_28:7, 8 Hab_2:16) Probably this verse is derived from the following, with some corruption of the text.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tilleth - That employs his time in an honest calling. Vain persons - In an idle course of living.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

11 He that tilleth his own ground is satisfied with bread,

And he that followeth after vain pursuits is devoid of understanding.

Yet more complete is the antithetic parallelism in the doublette, Pro 28:19 (cf. also Sir. 20:27a). The proverb recommends the cultivation of the field as the surest means of supporting oneself honestly and abundantly, in contrast to the grasping after vain, i.e., unrighteous means of subsistence, windy speculations, and the like (Fl.). ריקים are here not persons (Bertheau), but things without solidity and value (lxx μάταια; Aquila, Theodotion, κενά), and, in conformity with the contrast, not real business. Elsewhere also the mas. plur. discharges the function of a neut. noun of multitude, vid., נגידים, principalia, Pro 8:6, and זדים, Psa 19:14 - one of the many examples of the imperfect use of the gender in Hebr.; the speaker has in ריקים, vana et inania, not אנשׁים (Jdg 9:4), but דברים (Deu 32:47) in view. The lxx erroneously at Pro 28:19, and Symmachus and Jerome at both places understand ריקים of slothfulness.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

v. 11. He that tilleth his land shall be satisfied with bread, his industry ordinarily being rewarded in this manner; but he that followeth vain persons, vanity, idleness, laziness, is void of understanding, lacks the very principles of ordinary common sense.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

worthless projects

"worthless plans" or "worthless tasks"

the fruit

This refers to a person's actions and thoughts. Just as fruit on a tree shows what kind of tree it is, in the same way a person's words and actions reveal what his character is like.

translationWords

worthy

evil

fruit

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

He who tills his soil will be sated with bread To be understood according to its apparent meaning, but according to its allegorical meaning, [this means] he who constantly reviews his studies lest they be forgotten.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.