He also that is slothful in his work,.... Remiss in it; hangs down his hands, and does not care to make use of them, but neglects his business:
is brother to him that is a great waster: a prodigal man, who spends his substance in riotous living: the sluggard and the prodigal are brethren in iniquity; for, though they take different courses, they are both sinful, and issue in the same manner; both bring to poverty and want. Or, "brother to a master that wastes" p; a slothful servant and a wasteful master are near akin, and come into the same class and circumstances. Jarchi interprets it,
"he that separateth from the law, though a disciple of a wise man, is a brother to Satan;''
whose name is Apollyon, the waster and destroyer. A man that is slothful in spiritual things, though a professor of religion, and has a place in the house of God, is brother to him that is a waster and persecutor of it; see Matthew 12:30.
p לבעל משחית "domino devaststionis", Gejerus; "domino dissipanti", Mercerus.