Proverbs: Chapter 23

For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ website.

Salient points:

• There's a connection between an insatiable appetite for food and an insatiable appetite for money (vs.1+, 4+).
• Gluttony isn't the central theme of this first passage. (That is firmly addressed in v.20.) The wisdom to see through superficial hospitality, along with self-control, seems to be the issue.
• As mentioned before, money is dangerous. Its pursuit can take over our lives! A visual image is nearly suggested by the text: A 1000-lb man, whose life centers completely around food, is unbalanced, distorted, unnatural. So with the one who worships Mammon.
• It is easy to envy (prosperous) sinners (v.17). But our true future hope is the Lord, not a financial plan that could make us so comfortable we don't need to rely on God.
• The sad thing about the drunkard (vs.29-35) is that, despite the evidence, he sees no problem with his habit. He even boasts!
• Interesting alternative: The Septuagint (LXX), the Bible the apostles used as they took the message to the Greco-Roman world, has a different, longer reading for the drunkenness passage in vs.29-35.
• And so there are three intertwined themes in this chapter: food, drink, money. The world has little wisdom when it comes to these matters, but God's children are to follow a different path.

Daily challenge:

• Heart check: money. Is my life inordinately centered around earning money?
• Am I controlled by keeping up appearances, competing with myself to set new records, believing the world's messages about wealth and retirement, fearful about old age? Or is my hope in the Lord?

Tomorrow: Proverbs 24