Pro 23:1 When you sit to dine with a ruler, note well what is before you,
This is good advice to one unaccustomed to the rich supplies of a ruler’s table. Tempted to indulge his appetite, or thirst, a man might display gluttony or lose control of his tongue and spoil his opportunity for further service. Pro 23:2 and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony.
There is no thought of suicide in this advice, but rather an expression of the need to kill the greed.
Pro 23:3 Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive.
There may be nothing wrong with the food, but often the purpose of such hospitality is to promote some selfish scheme and achieve some sinister end— perhaps to make the guest forget caution and talk freely. However attractive the dainties, either stay away or keep your mind on business and not pleasure (see v. 6; ch. 24:1).
Pro 23:4 Do not wear yourself out to get rich; do not trust your own cleverness.
This is no eulogy, accolade of the slackness that leads to poverty, rather is it a warning against making selfish gain, instead of service, the goal. Worldly wisdom admonishes a man to look out for himself and to gather all the wealth he can as fast as he can. Such advice speaks of early retirement and the enjoyment of leisure, as if work were a curse instead of a blessing.
In practice, those who permit the love of money to be the chief motivating force usually find that they are unable to relax even when what they first thought to be ample funds have been accumulated.
Pro 23:5 Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.
Riches are uncertain. Wars and depressions have abundantly demonstrated that. The first clause suggests that when a man’s eyes alight upon his riches, suddenly they are gone (see Prov. 16:16; John 6:27).
Pro 23:6 Do not eat the food of a begrudging host, do not crave his delicacies;
The warning against partaking of the hospitality of such men is, no doubt, based in part upon the fact that they look for a return from everything they give (see Deut. 15:9). In contrast, there are those who look upon others with “a bountiful,” or “good,” eye (Prov. 22:9; cf. Phil. 2:4).
Pro 23:7 for he is the kind of person who is always thinking about the cost. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.
The particular application of this clause is to the covetous man who carries out the forms of friendly entertainment and plays the genial host, interested in the welfare of his guest, while his mind is casting about for some way to defraud him. There is a general application to all men. Since the issues of life spring from the heart (ch. 4:23), and a man is defiled by what comes out of him rather than by what goes in (Matt. 15:18–20), it follows that a man is as he thinks.
Pro 23:8 You will vomit up the little you have eaten and will have wasted your compliments.
There is probably a tinge of irony in this clause. The context supports the thought that you owe your host no pleasant words of thanks, since you have gained no real benefit, and he has given no genuine hospitality. Hence your friendly words are lost upon the covetous host.
Pro 23:9 Do not speak to fools, for they will scorn your prudent words.
That is, do not try to make the fool hear and understand wisdom. His heavy mind is so set on his own foolish way that your words are lost (see ch. 1:22). All you are likely to gain is his resentment.
Pro 23:10 Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless,
Pro 23:11 for their Defender is strong; he will take up their case against you.
Defender. Heb. go’el, the only occurrence of this word in Proverbs. Go’el at times designates a near kinsman, whose responsibility it is to avenge bloodshed and to see to the welfare of those in the family who are in need (Lev. 25:25, 47–49; Num. 35:9 29). Upon the go’el rested the obligation to marry a related widow to perpetuate the line of the deceased husband (see on Ruth 2:20; cf. Ruth 4:1–10). In the text before us God represents Himself as the go’el of the needy. He will take up the case of the oppressed and will avenge the innocent (Prov. 22:23).
Pro 23:12 Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge
This clause seems to mark the beginning of a new series of proverbs. Some consider v. 11 the end of the section of advice, sent to one afar, which began with ch. 22:17 (see on ch. 22:17, 21).
Pro 23:13 Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish them with the rod, they will not die.
One of the weaknesses of men is the tendency to postpone correction of a child’s wrong habits until these habits have become troublesome to the parent. In their early stages these forms of behavior are often laughed at and commented on in the hearing of the child. Thus, the time when they might be easily corrected goes by and the main outline of a warped character is formed (see chs. 13:24; 19:18).
Pro 23:14 Punish them with the rod and save them from death.
Save his life by inculcating those good habits of obedience that make for longevity (Ex. 20:12). “Hell,” Heb. she’ol, is here representative of death.
Pro 23:15 My son, if your heart is wise, then my heart will be glad indeed; (Pro 23:15) My son, if your heart is wise, then my heart will be glad indeed;
My son, if your heart is wise, then my heart will be glad indeed;
Pro 23:16 my inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.
The tutor can judge the success of his work by the way the pupil responds.
Pro 23:17 Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear of the LORD.
Servants of God are sometimes tempted to envy sinners, because these evildoers seem to prosper and to live a happy and carefree life (see Ps. 37:1; 73:3, 17; Prov. 3:31; 24:1, 19).
Pro 23:18 There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.
However well the wicked may fare in this life, and however much the righteous may suffer, the aftertime will correct the situation. The hope of the sinner in this world will fail, and the expectation of the righteous will surely come to pass.
Pro 23:19 Listen, my son, and be wise, and set your heart on the right path:
Despite all that may have been written to the contrary by secular students of the human mind, it is still a positive duty to control the emotions and desires that spring up within the mind (Rom. 12:3). Right thinking leads to right acting (see Prov. 23:7).
Pro 23:20 Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat,
The parallelism implies that literal feasting is the subject under consideration.
Pro 23:21 for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags.
There are at least two reasons for this. Drunkenness and gluttony are costly vices that refuse to be controlled by a shortage of money. They also handicap a man in his work and limit his earning capacity (see ch. 24:33, 34).
Pro 23:22 Listen to your father, who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
Pro 23:23 Buy the truth and do not sell it— wisdom, instruction and insight as well.
Truth is a treasure to be gained at any cost and never to be relinquished, whatever the temptation. The ability to see clearly the application of principle to daily happenings requires diligent application and a willingness to admit error. The closer a man comes to his Saviour, and the more he studies the Word of God, the more his eyes are opened to the real nature of things.
If self-serving creeps in and the eyes are closed to facts in order that some temporal advantage may be gained, the truth is being sold, and the man is in danger. If the process of self-deception continues, there comes a time when all understanding of the value of truth is lost and the man is doomed. Few realize how dangerous are the little self-deceptions in which they indulge, or for what petty price they sell truth and eternal life.
Pro 23:24 The father of a righteous child has great joy; a man who fathers a wise son rejoices in him.
Pro 23:25 May your father and mother rejoice; may she who gave you birth be joyful!
The original curse of sin fell heavily upon the mother (Gen. 3:16). When sin entered, it became certain that many of the sons of men would fail to find the way of salvation and would perish. Each mother brings forth her children with this dreadful fate as a possibility. It is this common sorrow of womankind that makes keen the mother’s joy when her child chooses to walk in the way of eternal life.
Pro 23:26 My son, give me your heart and let your eyes delight in my ways,
It seems that Wisdom herself begins to speak as Solomon returns to the oft-repeated warning against unchastity (v. 27; cf. chs. 5:3; 6:24; 7:5).
Pro 23:27 for an adulterous woman is a deep pit, and a wayward wife is a narrow well.
Pro 23:28 Like a bandit she lies in wait and multiplies the unfaithful among men.
Pro 23:29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes?
Here begins an ode about drunkenness. The poetic diction and imagery make it a strikingly vivid picture of one of the greatest causes of sin and sorrow that Satan has stimulated men to invent. The first two exclamations may be translated literally, “Who has Oh!? Who has Alas!?” Hence the song begins with the groans of the drinker who has awakened to a painful reaction from a night of indulgence.
Quarrels frequently arise in one of the later stages of drunkenness. Men will fight with their best friends. Though abilities are reduced by liquor, many are still well able to inflict physical harm as well as incalculable psychological damage upon the innocent and helpless members of their families when they return home after a round of drinking. Babbling. Heb. śiach, perhaps better, “complaint” as in Job 7:13; 9:27; 10:1; still better, “concern,” “despair,” rather than the foolish talk that marks the more genial part of the drinking bout, which the translation,
“Complaints,” Śiach refers to the remorse most victims of the craving for alcohol feel when they awake to a realization of their behavior.
Needless bruises. That is, they are entirely unnecessary. These are suffered both by the drinkers and by their families.
Bloodshot eyes. Literally, “darkness of eyes.” The bloodshot eyes peering dimly at the world are part of the recovery phase.
Pro 23:30 Those who linger over wine, who go to sample bowls of mixed wine.
Those who tarry long at the wine are the ones who suffer the afflictions listed in the previous verse. The longer men drink, the stronger the wine they crave, until they take to mixed wine. This is thought to be not the relatively mild drink prepared by mixing wine with water, but rather wine to which have been added spices and drugs calculated to increase its intoxicating power.
Pro 23:31 Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly!
This is a warning against being allured by the undeniably attractive appearance of red wine sparkling with the gaseous products of fermentation until it comes to have something of the fascination of an eye.
If intoxicating liquor entailed exertion in its imbibing, it is probable that fewer would be deceived by it into drinking enough to impair their judgment. Tradition has attempted to surround the drinking of wine with a measure of distinction and has linked it with important occasions in family and national history. Yet wine remains as cruel and deceptive in august surroundings as it does in the hovels of poverty-stricken drunkards.
Pro 23:32 In the end it bites like a snake and poisons like a viper.
Wine is well likened to the poison of a snake. Both produce disastrous effects on the body.
Pro 23:33 Your eyes will see strange sights, and your mind will imagine confusing things.
Alcohol affects first the higher centres of the brain, where are seated judgment and discretion. The power of decision is slowed, and the difference between right and wrong is blurred. The drinker says things that he would never think of saying while sober and laughs at the inanities of others as if they were the product of the choicest wit.
But the intoxicated brain does not produce inanities, common sense, alone; evil thoughts and plans spring up and are often carried out by men who would never approve such wickedness when in full possession of their faculties.
Pro 23:34 You will be like one sleeping on the high seas, lying on top of the rigging.
The picture is often taken to be that of a man trying to sleep in a world that seems to be heaving and turning like a confused sea. Some have referred it to the drugged sleep that finally comes to the drinker. He sinks down into a coma not far removed from death, with every faculty drowned in alcohol, as inert and helpless as a lifeless body floating on the waves of the sea.
Pro 23:35 “They hit me,” you will say, “but I’m not hurt! They beat me, but I don’t feel it! When will I wake up so I can find another drink?” The drunkard may be speaking to himself, or he may be replying to the chiding of a friend. He admits the quarrels but claims that he suffered no harm. He is dimly aware of the disabilities he has suffered in the impairment of his faculties, yet he longs for the time when he will have recovered enough from his irresistible drowsiness so that he can start the process all over again. Truly such a man is the slave of the master he has chosen (see Rom. 6:16), but God is able to release him from that servitude (see Rom. 6:18; 7:23–25).