Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean,
but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.Proverbs 14:4
Here again the RSV translates differently from the AV, giving the meaning that where there is no work there is no produce. But the AV as it stands yields a clear and challenging meaning, which is that it is sometimes possible to pay too high a price for cleanliness and orderliness. A farmer can keep his cattle shed spotless and immaculate only by dispensing with his cattle - which is a high price to pay for cleanliness, if the cattle happen to be important for the farm. Doubtless he would prefer an untidy crib and have the oxen working for him. The mess - and the smell - are things to be put up with on a farm. This is a principle of wide application. On the domestic level, where there are children, there are two possible attitudes that parents can adopt towards the shambles of the playroom floor: they can insist that the room must be kept spick and span, with everything just so - if they are house-proud this is what they will feel like. If they aim at this, there will be a price to be paid in terms of what they will do to their children in terms of stifling their natural development. On the other hand, they can allow them freedom to make a mess and in so doing encourage development both physically and mentally. This is not a plea for indiscipline, or slovenliness, but as Kidner puts it, for the readiness to accept upheaval, and a mess to clear up, as the price of growth. Orderliness, as he says, can reach the point of sterility. What is true on the domestic level is just as true in spiritual life. If we think of the Church of God as a 'workship' rather than as a 'showpiece', then orderliness could be on occasion a stultifying, not to say paralysing, factor in the spiritual situation. We must not expect spotless 'floors' where things are being 'made'!