Proverbs 14:4

“Where no oxen [are] the crib [is] clean, etc.] Or “empty”f385, so Jarchi and Aben Ezra. Oxen were used in Judea in several parts of husbandry; in ploughing the land, bringing home the corn, and in threshing or treading it out, (<052210>Deuteronomy 22:10 25:4). Now where these are not, or not used, where husbandry is neglected, there is no straw in the crib for beasts, and much less food for men; or rather, no corn or “wheat”f386 on the “threshingfloor”f387, or in the barn, granary, or storehouse; for so the same word is rendered, (<245026>Jeremiah 50:26); and in this manner it is interpreted by Gersom here, as also by Kimchif388: the word translated “clean” is used for “wheat”, (<300805>Amos…”

“crib is clean--empty; so "cleanness of teeth" denotes want of food (compare Amo 4:6). Men get the proper fruit of their doings (Gal 6:7).”

“i. e., Labor has its rough, unpleasant side, yet it ends in profit. So also, the life of contemplation may seem purer, “cleaner “than that of action. The outer business of the world brings its cares and disturbances, but also “much increase.” There will be a sure reward of that activity in good works for him who goes, as with “the strength of the ox,” to the task to which God calls him. return to 'Top of Page'”

“The crib - The stable is empty of food for cattle, and much more for man. In the same sense cleanness of teeth is put for famine, Amo 4:6. The strength - By their labours, or by diligence in husbandry, which then was principally managed by oxen. Proverbs 14:6”

“14:4 It’s easy to keep a stable . . . clean if it is empty, but a farmer without an ox has no harvest.”

“clean: Amo 4:6 but: Pro 13:23; Co1 9:9-11 Proverbs 14:5”

“The switch and the preserving, Pro 14:3, may have given occasion to the collector, amid the store of proverbs before him, now to present the agricultural figure: Without oxen the crib is empty; But rich increase is by the strength of the plough-ox. This is a commendation of the breeding of cattle, but standing here certainly not merely as useful knowledge, but as an admonition to the treatment in a careful, gentle manner, and with thankful recompense of the ox ( Pro 12:10), which God has subjected to man to help him in his labour, and more generally, in so far as one seeks to gain an object, to the considerate adoption of the right means for gaining it. אלפים (from אלף, to cling to) are the…”