He that gathereth in summer [is] a wise son,.... Which is the time of gathering the fruits of the earth, and laying them up against winter, as the ant is said to do, Proverbs 6:8;
[but] he that sleepeth in harvest [is] a son that causeth shame; to himself, and to his parents and relations. The sum of the proverb is, that, in the time of health and youth, persons should be active and industrious in their several callings and stations, and provide against a time of sickness and old age; and that they should lose no opportunities, neither in a natural nor spiritual way, of doing or receiving good.