“Judges and officers you shall place for you within all your gates.” (Devarim 16:18)
There is an interesting Midrash (Devarim Rabbah 5:2) that is connected with this verse as follows:
“This is what the verse in Mishlei 6:6-8 says: ‘Go to the ant, Atzel (lazy one)! See its ways and become wise. Though it does not have a commander, officer, or governor, it prepares its bread in the summer and amasses its food at the harvest.’
Why did Shlomo HaMelech (King Solomon, author of Mishlei) see fit to teach the lazy person a lesson from the ant? The Rabbis said... it [the ant] lives only six months... its diet is only one-and-a-half wheat kernels, yet it goes and gathers in the summer everything that it finds – wheat, barley, and lentils [much more than it needs].
Rabbi Tancḥuma said: All that it needs in life is only one-and-a-half wheat kernels, yet it gathers so much. Why does it do so? Because it says: ‘Perhaps Hashem will decree life upon me [greater than six months], so I will have something prepared to eat.’ Rabbi Shimon ben Yocḥai said: ‘There was once an incident where they found three hundred Koor [a large measure of food] in its hole, from what it gathered from summer to winter.’
That is why Shlomo HaMelech said: ‘Go to the ant, lazy one! See its ways and become wise.’ You, too, should prepare for yourself Mitzvos in this world for the World to Come. What is meant by ‘See its ways and become wise?’ The Rabbis said: See the proper behavior that it exhibits, as it eschews robbery.
Rabbi Shimon ben Chalafta said: There was once an incident involving a certain ant that dropped a wheat kernel. All the others came and smelled it, but not one of them would take it. The first ant came back and took it. See the wisdom that it has, all this virtue that it has, which it did not learn from any other creature, and it has neither judge nor officer, as it is stated: ‘It does not have a commander, officer, or governor’. [The ant that doesn’t have any guidance from any of these figures, yet it still does the right thing] you, for whom I appointed judges and officers [to provide you with guidance], all the more so that you should heed them [and do the right thing]. That is, ‘Judges and officers you shall place for you within all your gates.’”
Rav Yitzchok Levovitz ZT”L (1946-2008), was a student of Rav Shmuel Rozovsky ZT”L at the Ponovitch Yeshiva and was a Mashgiach in Yeshivos and Kollelim. Rav Levovitz’s explains the Midrash’s connection of the ant’s determination in collecting an ample supply of food with its staying far away from theft. He writes as follows: The ant gathers food because perhaps Hashem will extend its life. The Gemorah in Sanhedrin 24b lists the groups of people that are invalid to provide testimony in a Jewish court of law – among them are gamblers and those who loan money at interest rates. The Gemorah asks: But what does a gambler do wrong?
The Gemorah answers because they do not partake in the settling of the world – they do not have productive jobs. In other words, they want to earn money easily, by gambling and playing games, without work or effort. This attitude does not contribute to the settling of the world.
A person who is lazy and does not work hard, undergoes a change in his character trait of integrity. His sense of Emes – truth, becomes warped and distorted, and he is like a gambler who cannot be trusted to testify in court truthfully and accurately.
Accordingly, we should all be industrious like the ant with a strong aversion to theft, and not be lazy like the gambler who loses his integrity.
