The Pulpit Commentary on Proverbs 23:3

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

Be not desirous of his dainties. (For "dainties," see on Proverbs 23:6.) Be not too greedy of the bounties of the royal table, so as to forget discretion, and be led to say and do things which are inexpedient or unseemly. For they are deceitful meat. Oftentimes such entertainment is not offered for friendship's sake, but for some sinister purpose—to make a man expose himself, to get at a man's real character or secrets. Far from being a sign of favour and good will, the seeming honour is deceptive and dangerous. We all know Horace's lines, 'Ars Poet.,' 434, etc.—

"Reges dicuntur multi, urgere culullis

Et torquere mero, quem perspexisse laborant,

Au sit amicitia dignus."

Hitzig quotes the Eastern proverb, "He who eats of the sultan's soup burns his lips, even though it he after a length of time." We have too the Indian saying, "An epicure digs his grave with his teeth," which is true in more senses than one. "Keep thee far from the man that hath power to kill," says Siracides (Ecclesiastes 9:13); "so shalt thou not be troubled with fear of death: and if thou come unto him, commit no fault, lest he presently take away thy life; remember that thou goest in the midst of snares, and that thou walkest upon the battlements of the city." Then for the reasons which induce a ruler to ply a guest with wine, we have, "In vino veritas, quod est in corde sobrii, est in ore ebrii." Theognis writes—

ἐν πυρὶ μὲν χρυσόν τε καὶ ἄργυρον ἴδριες ἄνδρες

γιγνώσκους ἀνδρὸς δ οἶνος ἔδειξε νόον,

καὶ μάλα περ πινυτοῦ τὸν ὐπέρ μέτρον ἤρατο πίνων,

ὥστε καταισχῦναι καὶ πρὶν ἐόντα σοφόν.

The Septuagint combines the ending of Proverbs 23:2, "But if thou art more insatiable, desire not his victuals, for these appertain to ( ἔχεται) a false life."

Proverbs 23:4, Proverbs 23:5

These form a pentastich.

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