The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance,
but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.
The getting of treasures by a lying tongue
is a fleeting vapour and a snare of death.
The violence of the wicked will sweep them away,
because they refuse to do what is just.Proverbs 21:5-7
These verses belong together in their general thought. In 5a the message is clear: a man whose primary concern is to be absolutely thorough in everything he does will count for something, and his life will tell in society. He will be known as a certain kind of man. If he is in industry, he will have a reputation for integrity; if he is a tradesman, people will know who to go to, to get a job well done. Thoroughness always tells. By contrast (5b), the 'hasty' man - here the word has the force of a 'thruster' or 'go-getter' - comes to want. In this word, Proverbs challenges a whole philosophy of life: the 'get-rich-quick' attitude, with short cuts to wealth, which occupies so many people's waking moments and has made modern society such a querulous and dangerously discontented place. Worse still, when such a philosophy grips people, it can lead to dishonesty (6), and the getting of treasure by a lying tongue becomes justifiable to them. If they cannot come by it honestly they will not scruple to be dishonest. Then 7 becomes almost inevitable, and ruin will stare them in the face. What is not realised is that there is something inherently self-destructive in the principle of evil; it inevitably leads men down and ultimately destroys them. As the Apostle James says (1:14, 15): 'Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren'. There is more than enough in these words for one day's meditation. Surely their message to us is: Resist beginnings.