Verse 6. We may _infer_ Rehoboam's character from such exhortations as these. And these and following precepts derive much interest from what we have reason to believe was his character. His position bore some resemblance to that of our own Charles II., at the voluptuous court of Versailles, before his accession to the throne, and the character of the one was in some respects similar to that of the other. The unhappy example of his own father Solomon, in his old age, was more potent for evil than the precepts of the Proverbs were for good. At the age of forty-one Rehoboam was a feeble libertine. The warnings of the _Icón Basiliké_ fell flat on the ears of the royal author's own son, and Rehoboam derived little benefit from the book of Proverbs.--_Wordsworth._ Verses 6 to 8. Our whole present life is the time for action; the future for retribution, which shall be ushered in by the judgment: the latter is the harvest (Matt. xxv. 3, 4).--_Fausset._ How is man degenerated from the nobility of his creation, that an insect must be a pattern unto him. He that goes well without a guide is fit to be a guide, he that does well without an overseer is fit to be an overseer, he that orders himself well without a ruler is fit to be a ruler. Let the ant, therefore, be a guide unto the sluggard, and teach him to guide himself, who guides herself so carefully. Let the ant be his overseer, which he sees to overgo himself so much in pains and labour. Let the ant be his ruler, and by her example command him to work which rules herself so well in working.--_Jermin._ First, as the ant in summer gathereth whereupon to live in winter, so every Christian in a time of quietness should gather out of God's word, that in trouble and adversity he may have wherewith to live spiritually. Secondly, we ought to labour by the example of the ant, that we get the fruit of good works, in the harvest of this present life, so sedulously and diligently, that in the time of winter and judgment we perish not with hunger.--_St. Augustine._ These precepts have a spiritual meaning and are to be applied to the soil of the heart and mind. As Bede says here, "The present life is compared to summer and harvest, because now, in the heat of trials, we must reap and lay up for the future, and the day of death and judgment is the winter for which we must prepare, and when there is no more any time for preparation."--_Wordsworth._ Man, that was once the captain of God's school, is now, for his truantliness, turned down into the lowest form, as it were to learn his A B C again; yea to be taught by these meanest creatures. . . . Let no man here object that word of our Saviour, "Take no thought for the morrow." There is a care of _diligence,_ and a care of _diffidence;_ a care of the head and a care of the heart; the former is needful, the latter sinful.--_Trapp._