Proverb 10:4

“He who has a slack hand becomes poor,
But the hand of the diligent makes rich.”

This verse is rich with meaning and beauty. There’s a lot to glean from the words, but it has to be worked out; which is beautiful, because that’s exactly what the verse is trying to convey.

The words I am about to write are as a result of hard work. Not “hard” as compared to other types of work. But hard compared to merely reading the verse and assuming I know what it means to have a slack or diligent hand, or to be poor or rich. Hard in the sense that it took me more time to find out what it means than it took me to read it. Hard in the sense that looking up words and mulling them over in my mind and writing out what I’m perceiving takes time and commitment. Hard in the sense that I had to wake up at 5:30 in order to achieve it all, before I have to go to work. And the real beauty is that it isn’t hard at all because it’s worth all of the toil. Because I get more out of it than I put in. And because I look forward to both the process and the results—even though some days (just a couple of days ago, in fact), I convince myself that an extra hour of sleep is worth giving it up. It’s not.   

For the following, I’ve looked up the Hebrew words and definitions for slack, poor, diligent and rich. And then I also looked up the English definitions for them, in addition to other terms found within the Hebrew definition. I do this for a fuller, richer understanding of the terms and their use in context. Before doing so, I had a bland understanding of this verse, based on an oversimplified interpretation. At first glance, I had perceived the meaning to be:

People who don’t work won’t gain money;
But those who work hard, can earn a lot (of money).

That interpretation is true and it is one accurate interpretation, I believe. But after digging a little further into this mine of words, the additional interpretations empower the Proverb with much fuller and deeper takeaways. Case in point:

To have a slack hand is to be remiss, or lack attention to duty. The implication here reaches much farther than a simple instruction to clock in every day and earn my keep. And that the more I “work” the more money I will make. It, in fact, has to do with everything I put my hands to.

It suggests to me that merely reading scriptures isn’t enough. I have to study them; That feeding my children, clothing them and sending them to school isn’ t enough. I have to teach them spiritual nourishment, nakedness, wisdom and understanding; That having an idea isn’t enough. I have to bring that idea to fruition; That knowing how to do something isn’t the same as doing the thing; It’s the difference between knowing how to read music and playing a song. One is much richer and more fulfilling than the other.

And there’s a slippery slope inferred: that neglecting to attend to my duty—and not just carry it out—can lead to idle hands; idle hands can become treacherous or deceitful when they are not carrying out the duties Lady Wisdom is suggesting. It’s not the duty itself that is emphasized, but the attention to duty that enriches and determines the outcome of my work. And for what?

If I neglect the attention to my duties (including, but not limited to my day job), I will become poor. But the Proverb isn’t merely addressing my lack of monetary income here. It’s pointing out the I will become a destitute, lacking the basic necessities of life—and it’s not merely referring to food, water and shelter. But also to confidence, peace of mind, soundness of mind, clarity of mind, security, love contentment, joy, gratitude and a plethora of other gifts that enrich our minds, hearts and souls—in addition to our bodies. You see, we need much more than food and water to survive. A slack hand makes a man poor—in need of all of these. He doesn’t only go hungry; his heart despairs, his mind convolutes, his spirit wavers. 

Conversely, a diligent hand promotes an incisive mind. The root word “incise” illustrates so perfectly the work we are to do with our hands: cut, mark, wound a surface. Open it up, dig and dig deeper until you find the jewel you are looking for. And then mine it. The diligent man is eager and determined to excavate his reward. Again, the Proverb isn’t merely referring to a wage. But intelligence, excellence, friendship, and a myriad of other things we extract from decidedly picking up the sharp tools and instruments to carve through the superficial. From being alert, pointing our attention to deeper things.

And when I learn to do that, I become rich—in every sense of the word: I accumulate not just money, but my time is somehow stretched. My wages may not grow in gain, but they grow in their reach. My experiences are deeper and I am stronger, more pleased with the outcome. My life becomes vastly interesting because of the fullness of complexities and diversities I am introduced to and navigate through. I become more fruitful, producing much from my day-to-day commitments. My small devotions to the process produce large quantities of rewards, plentiful and abundant. 

Which reminds me of where this all started, in the garden where God commanded Adam and Eve to do one thing: be fruitful and multiply. 

*All definitions were taken from the New Oxford American Dictionary and the Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance.