Proverbs27chapter 27

The chapter ends with the clearest management lesson in the Bible: "be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds: for riches are not for ever." Flocks had to be counted, inspected for injury and disease, moved between pasture and water, folded at night against wolves and thieves, and shorn in season. Nobody could do that from a distance.

The economics are then spelled out: "the lambs are for thy clothing, and the goats are the price of the field, and thou shalt have goats' milk enough for thy food." Sheep gave wool for the household's cloth, goats gave milk, cheese, and hair for tents, and surplus animals bought land. A flock was a bank account, a wardrobe, and a dairy at once — and unlike a crown, it renewed itself.

"Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend." Blades were kept keen by drawing them against another piece of iron, with sparks and noise. The friendship in view is abrasive on purpose.

"As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man." There were no mirrors in an ordinary house beyond a polished bronze disc; most people saw themselves in a still bowl or cistern. The comparison assumes you have leaned over water to look at yourself.