Caring for Flocks and Herds
27: 23-27
A proverb is a short and memorable saying designed to be our blueprint for living in the world that ADONAI has created. It is important to note that proverbs are not promises; they are generally true principles, all other things being equal.
This proverb, addressing the son as an owner of flocks and herds, warns him to personally concern himself with the well-being of his animals. Know the state of your flocks, and put your heart into caring for your herds (27:23 NLT). It takes a lot of effort to provide animals with pastures and water, and to breed them appropriately (Genesis 31:38-42). It takes energy, discipline, kindness, shrewdness, and other virtues given by wisdom. Moreover, all should not be left to servants. The master’s eye, like that of Bo’az, should, as much as possible, overlook the work (see the commentary on Ruth, to see link click Ar – Bo’az and the Overseer).517
For riches don’t last forever, and the crown might not be passed to the next generation (27:24 NLT). The motive here suggests that such care is necessary even if the farmer has some “money in the bank.” If one lives off of past riches, the proverb warns, and neglects one’s day-to-day work, the surplus will run out, and then the crops and animals will not be there to provide any food.
After the hay is harvested and the new crop appears and the mountain grasses are gathered in, the lambs will provide your clothing, the goats will sell for enough to buy a field, and you will have enough goats’ milk for yourself, your family, and your servant girls (27:25-27 NLT). This proverb unit seems to advocate a fundamental dependence on renewable resources, such as letting fresh grass replace dried grass and gathering vegetation from the mountains and crops for food. Lambs and goats provide food, milk, and clothes. All that is really necessary for life are associated with the things that are part of a farmer’s daily life. Dreaming of treasures and crowns may distract people from what is really important in the long run.
That wisdom is concerned about the right strategy to sustain life may be seen in the book of Ecclesiastes, where a lengthy passage gives advice to work hard in light of the risks of life: Ship your grain across the sea; after many days you may receive a return. Invest in seven ventures, yes, in eight; you do not know what disaster may come upon the land. If clouds are full of water, they pour rain on the earth. Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there it will lie. Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap. As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things. Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well518 (see the commentary on the Life of Solomon Cx – Work Diligently, Live Joyfully and Responsibly).
Dear heavenly Father, thank You for being so wise, loving and caring. You promise is so wonderful that you will live in those who believe in You. You are kind to animals and so should we. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them shall fall to the ground apart from your Father’s consent (Matthew 10:29). You even care that the ox who is treading out the grain is not muzzled and is able to eat some of what he is treading on. You are not to muzzle the ox while it is threshing (Deuteronomy 25:4). You matured and trained several of your great leaders by having them work as shepherds, out in the fields daily with flocks of animals. David was a great shepherd in caring for his sheep (First Samuel 17:34-36a). Joseph and his brothers pastured their flock (Genesis 37:2). Moses kept the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, in the land of Midian (Exodus 2:15, 3:1). Serving You is a Joy! In Messiah Yeshua’s holy Name and power of His resurrection. Amen
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