Proverbs 24:31

Grown over with thorns— We know very few of the thorns which are mentioned in Scripture. The ononis spinosa, or rest-harrow, that most pernicious and prickly plant, covers whole fields and plains in Egypt and Palestine. I make no doubt but this is referred to in some parts of the Holy Scripture; and shall leave it to the philologists to determine which of the thorns here mentioned it is. The Arabs at present in Egypt call it akol. This is perhaps that which Moses means when he curses the earth: it grows in great plenty promiscuously with the large thistles, in the uncultivated parts of Egypt. See Hasselquist's Travels, p. 289.

REFLECTIONS.—The observations and reflections which this wise king makes, are daily verified.

1. In worldly affairs, sloth and poverty are almost inseparably connected. See the picture of a negligent husbandman; he sleeps when others wake; his field, uncultivated, is covered with weeds, the hedge broken down, no revenue arising to the owner; and, as the necessary consequence of his neglect, want and wretchedness seize him as an armed man. And this will be the case in every trade and business with those, who, instead of diligence and activity, leave their affairs at random, live careless and negligent, expose themselves, and necessarily rush on their ruin. When such objects strike us, we must stay and pause, and learn wisdom by the reflections that we make on their folly.
2. In our spiritual concerns, the same observations hold good. The soul of the careless sinner is like this field of the slothful, over-run with the rank weeds of corrupt and vile affections; open to the inroads of every temptation; no fruit produced to God's glory, or his own comfort: yet, secure he sleeps on in the devil's arms, and cares not to be disturbed in his fatal dream; till, seized at last by death, and brought to a throne of judgment, too late he discovers his miserable condition, and receives the doom of the slothful in the place of torment. Such negligence in others should quicken our diligence, to break up the fallow ground of our hearts, to root out the thorns and nettles of corrupt desires, which are natives of the soil, to guard against the entry of temptation; and, watching unto prayer, daily to be working out our own salvation, and bringing forth those fruits of faith and holiness, whereby ourselves may be enriched, and which, through Jesus Christ, are to the praise and glory of God.