CHAPTER XXIII.
CRITICAL NOTES.--+1. When thou sittest,+ etc. Miller here translates _"Forasmuch as thou sittest,"_ and applying the word _ruler_ to God gives to the proverb a meaning entirely different from that generally attached to it. See his remarks in the Suggestive Comments. +What is before thee?+ Rather _"Who is before,"_ etc. +2. Put a knife,+ etc. Zöckler, Ewald, and others translate, _"Thou hast put,"_ or _"thou puttest."_ The meaning may then be "Thou hast virtually destroyed thyself if thou art a self-indulgent man." Delitzsch, however, gives the verb the imperative form, as in the English version. +3. Deceitful meat.+ Literally "Bread of lies." Many commentators understand this to mean a deceptive meal, which is not given from motives of hospitality. +5. Wilt thou set thine eyes?+ etc. Rather _"Wilt thou look eagerly after it, and it is gone?"_ +6. Him that hath an evil eye+--_i.e.,_ the jealous man. +11. Their Redeemer.+ Their _Goel,_ or Avenger. In the Hebrew law this word is applied to the nearest kinsman. (See Ruth iii. 12.) +17. Let not thine heart envy,+ etc. The verb translated _envy_ refers to both objects in the verse, and is better translated _"strive after."_ Miller renders it _"be aglow."_ "It is," he says, "a verb expressive of all emotion." (See Numb. xxv. 11-13.) +18. Surely there is an end.+ Delitzsch here reads, _"Truly there is a future."_ "The root of the Hebrew," says Miller, signifies _afterward._ +20. Eaters of flesh.+ This may be translated _"Devourers of their own flesh"--i.e._, those who destroy their bodies by sensual indulgence. +23.+ The word _also_ should be omitted in this verse. The three nouns in the second clause stand in apposition to the one in the first. +Instruction,+ rather _"discipline."_ +25.+ This verse should be, _"Let thy father and thy mother be glad, and her that have thee rejoice."_ +26. Observe,+ rather _delight._ +28. As for a prey,+ Delitzsch and Zöckler here translate _"like a robber."_ +Transgressors,+ rather _"the faithless."_ +30. Mixed wine--+_i.e.,_ wine mixed with strong spices. +31. When it giveth his colour,+ etc., literally, "When it showeth its eye." This may refer to its _brightness,_ or to the _head,_ or _pearl_ of the wine. +"When it moveth itself,"+ etc., rather _"when it glideth down with ease."_ +33. Strange women,+ rather _"strange things."_
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 1-3.
THE TEMPTATIONS OF THE TABLE.
+I. The table of a wealthy man is a place of temptation to the sin of overindulgence.+ At such a table there is a great variety of dishes, and the human appetite, in common with every bodily sense and mental faculty, delights in variety. The eye is best pleased with a diversified landscape, the ear with a diversity of sound, and the mind when it can vary the objects of its contemplation. So man's appetite is most gratified by a variety of food, and there is much more temptation to excess under such circumstances than when his hunger has to be satisfied from a single dish. Then, again, the food at such a repast is generally of the most tempting kind--all the countries of the world are put under contribution to supply it with dainties, and much skill and time is expended upon the preparation of the food. There is little danger of eating too much when bread is the only fare, but it begins and increases in proportion to the palatable nature of the viands. And the proverb seems to be addressed to those to whom a seat at the rich man's or ruler's table was not an every-day occurrence--to those to whom it was not given to feast so sumptuously every day--and this would increase the force of the temptation. The variety and the rarity of the dishes is much more tempting to one unaccustomed to such feasts.
+II. It is most degrading and injurious to yield to such a temptation.+ This is implied in the strong metaphor which Solomon uses. An undue indulgence in the pleasures of the table, even when it does not amount to positive gluttony, is a most fruitful source of disease, and for this cause, if for no other, dainty food well deserves the name which is here given to it. But it is also most injurious to man's better nature; it is often the first step to habits of intemperance and licentiousness, but if it does not lead to them it is altogether incompatible with intellectual and moral excellence. A man who is not master of his appetite is below the brute and can be neither great nor good. It is well to remember that an _appeal to the appetite_ was one of the elements in the first temptation. An Eastern fable runs thus: "A king once permitted the devil to kiss him on either shoulder. Immediately two serpents grew from his shoulders, which, furious with hunger, attacked his head and attempted to get at his brain. The king tore them away. But he soon saw with horror that they had become part of himself, and that, in wounding them he was lacerating his own flesh." Such is the deplorable condition of every victim of appetite and lust.
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
First, thy duty is to be temperate as to the _quantity_ of thy diet. . . . God gave man food to further, not to hinder him in his general and particular calling, and surely they sin who feed till, like fatted horses, they are unfit for service. . . . Christians may cheer nature, but they must not clog it. It is a great privilege in the charter granted us by the King of Kings, that we should have dominion over the creatures; but it will be a sordid bondage if we suffer them to have dominion over us. Socrates was wont to say, that evil men live that they may eat and drink, but good men eat and drink that they may live. . . . Secondly, thy duty is to be temperate as to the _quality_ of thy diet. Though no certain quality of food can be set down, yet in general this must be observed, that we make not provision for the flesh (Rom. xiii. 12). We may preserve the flesh, but we must not provide for the flesh. Our enemy is strong enough already, we need not put more weapons into his hands. . . . The Christian may take his food, but his food must not take him. . . . It is not unlawful to eat dainties, but it is unlawful to set the mind upon them. . . . We may eat and digest dainties, but we may not crave and desire dainties. God made man not for fleshly dainties, but for spiritual delights. . . . Elijah could be content with a raven for his cook. Daniel fed and thrived upon pulse: he looked fairer by it than those that did eat the king's fare. Brown bread and the gospel are good cheer, said the martyr. John the Baptist could live upon locusts and wild honey. The apostles had some ears of corn for a Sabbath-day's dinner. Though God is pleased out of mercy to afford us better provision, yet our work must be to mind moderation.--_Swinnock._
It is of the Lord that hunger is painful and food gives pleasure; between these two lines of defence the Creator has placed life with a view to its preservation. The due sustenance of the body is the Creator's end; the pleasantness of food is the means of obtaining it. When men prosecute and cultivate that pleasure as an end, they thwart the very purpose of Providence.--_Arnot._
(It will be seen that the following comment is based on Miller's rendering. See Critical Notes.) Kings like to see their guests eat. At the very utmost, this part of our behaviour is a matter of indifference. But of God nothing could be more exact. We see all eating with Him; in fact, feeding upon Him, as though He were Himself bread. _"Forasmuch,"_ therefore is just in place. _"Discerning well who is before thee,"_ that also, is perfectly consistent. And then our sin, what is that? Why, fleshly appetite! What is innocent at courts is idolatry in the banquet to the skies. . . . Serving the creature more than the Creator, Paul expresses it; and gives us ample analogy after a New Testament kind (Rom. i. 25, see also James iv. 3), for understanding, how we _have put a knife to our throat, if we be men given to appetite.--Miller._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF VERSES_ 4 _and_ 5.
THE DECEITFULNESS OF RICHES.
In order to get the true meaning of this proverb it is necessary to define what Solomon understands by labouring to be rich. We call the possessor of vast estates or a large account at the bank a rich man, and so he is, if he lives within his income, paying his way and having a surplus to bestow upon the needy. But so is the village smith, who with less than a hundredth part of the income of the nobleman or merchant prince "looks the whole world in the face and owes not any man." Riches and poverty are but relative terms, and when we consider how indispensable it is that some men should possess more than a mere sufficiency for their personal needs, we may be sure that the wise man did not mean to discourage all effort to gain even more than enough for our daily needs. But the _labour_ which is here forbidden is evidently that all-absorbing pursuit of wealth which engrosses the entire man to the exclusion of higher claims. When men make gold their god instead of their servant it is obvious that the boundary line of lawful pursuit is passed, and that deprecated in the proverb is entered upon. The text--
+I. Condemns all following after wealth under the inspiration of the natural heart.+ Man's _"own wisdom"_ is an insufficient and dangerous guide in this matter as in all others. The unrenewed heart of man is selfish and sordid, prone to think only of its own desires and to set up a false standard of happiness. Only the wisdom that cometh from above can show men what is worth striving after, what will really bless the present and afford satisfaction in the future. If a man buys and sells and gets gain with a constant reference to the will of God, and in dependence upon Him, he will not _labour_ to be rich--in other words, he will, with Paul, _learn in whatever state he is to be content,_ and will know how to fulfil the duties which come with abundance and how to exhibit the graces which can only be manifested in poverty.
+II. Teaches that only those who do not trust in riches can really enjoy their possession, or escape bitter sorrow in their loss.+ Every rich man knows that it is possible that his wealth may leave him, and that it is certain that he must leave his wealth. The uncertainty of retaining them through life, and the certainty of losing them at death, are two thorns which must be found in the pillow of everyone who makes riches the chief good of his existence, and must surely deprive him of any heartfelt satisfaction from their possession. The soul of man is made for something higher and more lasting than any earthly good, and of all that men call good, and esteem precious, there is nothing which has less to satisfy the cravings of the soul than mere material wealth, or that is more easily and quickly lost. The only way, therefore, to get any present satisfaction in it, and to ensure oneself against future disappointment from it, is to follow the Apostolic injunction, and _"trust not in uncertain riches, but in the living God"_ (1 Tim. vi. 17).
_OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS._
Not like a tame bird, that returns; nor like a hawk, that will show where she is by her bells; but like an eagle, whose wings thou canst neither clip nor pinion. All their certainty is in their uncertainty, and they are only stable in this, that they cannot be stable. . . . Wealth is like a bird; it hops all day from man to man, as that doth from tree to tree; and none can say where it will roost or rest at night. It is like a vagrant fellow, which, because he is big-boned, and able to work, a man taketh in a-doors, and cherisheth; and perhaps for a while he takes pains; but when he espies opportunity the fugitive servant is gone, and takes away more with him than all his service came to.--_T. Adams._
What a startling interdict this! What an immense proportion of the world's toil, and especially in such a community as our own, does it bring under condemnation and proscription! Were all the labour directed to this forbidden end to cease,--How little would be left!--what a sudden stagnation would there be of the turmoil of busy activity with which we are daily surrounded! What are the great majority of men about,--in our city and in our country? What keeps them all astir? What is the prevailing impulse of all the incessant bustle and eager competition of our teeming population? Are not all,--with a wider or narrower estimate of what riches mean,--"labouring to be _rich?_"--The love of fame has been called the universal passion. Is not the love of money quite as much, if not more, entitled to the designation? Yes; and many a time does the _wisdom_ of the world set itself to the defence of the world's toil and the world's aim--alleging many plausible, and some more than plausible, things in its pleadings. "Riches," say they, "keep a man and his family from dependence. Riches enable a man to enjoy many comforts that are in themselves lawful and desirable. Riches procure a man distinction and influence in society. By this and other means, riches put it in a man's power to do good:--why should we not 'labour to be rich?'" It is all true; and the plea is in part quite legitimate. Yet Solomon, by the Spirit, with the authority, and in the kindness of God, enjoins--"labour _not_ to be rich."--_Wardlaw._
It were a most strange folly to fall passionately in love with a bird upon the wing. . . . How much better were it, since riches will fly, for thyself to direct their flight towards heaven, by relieving the necessitous servants and members of Jesus Christ.--_Bishop Hopkins._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 6-8.
FEIGNED GENEROSITY.
+I. Men's inward life and feelings are often directly opposed to their outward life and actions.+ A man is here pictured as manifesting a large hospitality. His board is laden with dainty meats and surrounded with guests whom he presses to eat and drink with such an appearance of goodwill that it seems ungenerous to suspect him of insincerity. But words and even deeds do not always proclaim the man. "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he;" and this man's thoughts give the lie to his actions. He gives of his good things from no desire to cheer and relieve those who are poorer than himself, or to cement the bonds of friendship with his equals, but for some unworthy, and, it may be, from some base motive. He puts on for the time the garment of benevolence, but he is a "wolf in sheep's clothing," and will not hesitate to throw off his disguise, if the selfish ends which he has in view demand it. It is painful for us to be obliged to admit the truthfulness of the portrait here sketched by the Wise Man, but we know that it is not an exaggerated one.
+II. Those who encourage such hypocrisy will meet with a well-deserved punishment.+ It is taken for granted, and it is undoubtedly true, that there is a false gloss upon such feigned generosity which makes it easy to distinguish from the real thing. And, if we accept the hospitality of such a man knowing it to be a deception, we too practise hypocrisy, and thus become a partaker of his evil deeds. Such a man is guilty of two heinous sins, he is first a covetous and self-seeking sinner and then he is a gross hypocrite. The covetous man is according to the Inspired Book an idolator (Col.