23:1 When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
consider carefully what is before you,
23:2 and put a knife to your throat
if you possess a large appetite.
23:3 Do not crave that ruler’s delicacies,
for that food is deceptive.
vv1-3 If you find yourself sitting in the lap of luxury – take care! Don’t be greedy. Exercise self-restraint. Know your weaknesses. Far from nourishing you, these delicacies may ruin your health.
Many have a pre-occupation with food and drink. Many are the diseases associated with dietary indiscretion. See Mt 18:8f; Rom 13:11-14; 1 Cor 11:20.
23:4 Do not wear yourself out to become rich;
be wise enough to restrain yourself.
23:4f Riches are illusary – they are unreachable, unsatisfying, unkeepable. See Mt 6:20; Lk 12:15, 1 Tim 6:17; Heb 10:34.
23:5 When you gaze upon riches, they are gone,
for they surely make wings for themselves,
and fly off into the sky like an eagle!
23:6 Do not eat the food of a stingy person,
do not crave his delicacies;
His food is tempting; his words are inviting, but he is grudging and resentful. See Prov 15:17.
23:7 for he is like someone calculating the cost in his mind.
“Eat and drink,” he says to you,
but his heart is not with you;
23:8 you will vomit up the little bit you have eaten,
and will have wasted your pleasant words.
Verse 6-8 read in the AV:-
6 Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye,
Neither desire thou his ddainty meats:
7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:
Eat and drink, saith he to thee;
But his heart is not with thee.
8 The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up,
And lose thy sweet words.
There is a tradition of quoting the highlighted part of v7 in the form,
‘As a man thinketh, so is he’.
In that form, it has become a goto verse for purveyors of ‘positive thinking’.
See note following for discussion of this
23:9 Do not speak in the ears of a fool,
for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
It is sometimes better to keep quiet, than to fuel the fires of those who ridicule God’s truth. Mt 7:6; Lk 23:9. We need to pray for wisdom to know when to speak, and when to keep silence.
23:10 Do not move an ancient boundary stone,
or take over the fields of the fatherless,
23:11 for their Protector is strong;
he will plead their case against you.
v10f – The poor and the vulnerable are under God’s special protection. Psa 68:5; Acts 6:1-6; Jas 1:27.
23:12 Apply your heart to instruction
and your ears to the words of knowledge.
23:13 Do not withhold discipline from a child;
even if you strike him with the rod, he will not die.
23:14 If you strike him with the rod,
you will deliver him from death.
v13f To withhold discipline is negligent, cf Eli, 1 Sam 3.
The divine pattern, Heb 12:11.
Not a vent for anger, but the application of love.
Not always to be used – a medicine, not a food.
23:15 My child, if your heart is wise,
then my heart also will be glad;
23:16 my soul will rejoice
when your lips speak what is right.
23:17 Do not let your heart envy sinners,
but rather be zealous in fearing the LORD all the time.
23:18 For surely there is a future,
and your hope will not be cut off.
23:19 Listen, my child, and be wise,
and guide your heart on the right way.
23:20 Do not spend time among drunkards,
among those who eat too much meat,
23:21 because drunkards and gluttons become impoverished,
and drowsiness clothes them with rags.
23:22 Listen to your father who begot you,
and do not despise your mother when she is old.
23:23 Acquire truth and do not sell it—
wisdom, and discipline, and understanding.
“Solomon bids us (Prov 23:23) to buy the truth, but doth not tell us what it must cost, because we must get it though it be never so dear. We must love it both shining and scorching. Every parcel of truth is precious as the filings of gold; we must either live with it, or die for it.” (Thomas Brooks)
Some who sold the truth:-
- Esau, Heb 12:16f.
- Judas, Mt 27:3ff.
- Demas, 2 Tim 4:10.