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The sluggard says, "There is a lion outside! I will be killed in the streets!"
Verse Takeaways
1
The Absurdity of Excuses
All commentators agree that the sluggard's excuse is intentionally absurd. Scholars explain that the satire lies in the ingenuity of the excuse—a lion in the city streets—which is highly improbable. The point is to highlight the foolish and creative lengths to which a lazy person will go to justify their inaction and avoid responsibility.
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4
18th Century
Presbyterian
The point of the satire is the ingenuity with which the slothful man devises the most improbable alarms. He hears that “there is a lion without,” t…
19th Century
Anglican
The slothful man saith, There is a lion without ... —No excuses are too absurd for him; he fears to meet a lion in the op…
17th Century
Reformed Baptist
The slothful [man] says, [there is] a lion without or, "in the street".
This he says within himself; or to th…
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The slothful man talks of a lion outside, but does not consider his real danger from the devil, that roaring lion within, and from his own slothful…
