Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:
Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. From the particular exhortation of the surety to sleepless energy (Proverbs 6:4), Solomon passes to a general exhortation to industry. God designs us to learn many a lesson from His creatures in the natural world. There is in each creature some spark of the divine excellency testifying silently against our deficiencies. "Go to the ant" as thy teacher. The ant does not borrow or beg, nor is it starved by neglecting to provide for its wants in time, but of its own accord burns with zeal for toil, without any one urging it (Gejer, from Basil). All the ants move on the same path (Aristotle, 'Hist.,' 9: 48). The ants that are without a load make way for those most laden (Plutarch). The burden which would be too difficult to carry they divide. The oldest go before as the leaders, and the others follow (OElian, in 'Poli. Synopsis'). They construct their houses and cells under ground, and fill their stores with grain, and have channels sunk to drain off the rain; and if their food becomes wet, they bring it out to dry, and hide their food in cells protected from the rain.
Moreover, he does not bid us to consider the ant's ways in order that we may be more learned, but that we may "be wise." It is with a view to practice that knowledge is here recommended (Bochart). Kirby and Spence ('Entomology,' p. 313, Exodus 7, London, 1856) doubt that the ants store up their food against winter; nor does it necessarily follow from the statement here: it simply states, they provide their meat in summer, and gather it in harvest.