good (as an adjective) in the widest sense · adjective, masculine singular absolute
dinner
אֲרֻחַ֣ת'a.ru.Chat
H737
a ration of food · noun, common feminine singular construct
herbs
יָ֭רָקYa.rok
H3419
properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
love
וְאַהֲבָהve.'a.ha.vah-
H160
affection (in a good or a bad sense) · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
stalled
אָ֝ב֗וּס'a.Vus
H75
to fodder · verb, qal passive participle, masculine singular absolute
ox
מִשּׁ֥וֹרmi.Shor
H7794
a bullock (as a traveller) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
hatred
וְשִׂנְאָהve.sin.'ah-
H8135
hate · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Proverbs 17:1 Better is a dry morsel, and quietness therewith, than an house full of sacrifices with strife.
Proverbs 21:19 It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman.
Psalms 133:1-3 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
Matthew 22:4 Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are kill…
Philippians 2:1 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
1 John 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
Luke 15:23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Proverbs 15:16-17
Solomon had said in the foregoing verse that he who has not a large estate, or a great income, but a cheerful spirit, has a continual feast; Christian contentment, and joy in God, make the life easy and pleasant; now here he tells us what is necessary to that cheerfulness of spirit which will furnish a man with a continual feast, though he has but little in the world - holiness and love.
I. Holiness. A little, if we manage it and enjoy it in the fear of the Lord, if we keep a good conscience and go on in the way of duty, and serve God faithfully with the little we have, will be more comfortable, and turn to a better account, than great treasure and trouble therewith. Observe here, 1. It is o…
dinner--or, "allowance" (Kg2 25:30) --
of herbs--and that the plainest.
and hatred--(compare Pro 10:12, Pro 10:18).
John Gill on Proverbs 15:17
Better is a dinner of herbs, where love is,.... What Plautus (i) calls "asperam et terrestrem caenam", "a harsh and earthly supper", made of what grows out of the earth; which is got without much cost or care, and dressed with little trouble; a traveller's dinner, as the word (k) signifies, and a poor one too to travel upon, such as is easily obtained, and presently cooked, and comes cheap. Now, where there are love and good nature in the host that prepares this dinner; or in a family that partakes of such an one, having no better; or among guests invited, who eat friendly together; or in the person that invites them, who receives them cheerfully, and heartily bids them welcome: such a dinne…
A second series which begins with a proverb of the power of human speech, and closes with proverbs of the advantages and disadvantages of wealth.
Pro 15:7
7 The lips of the wise spread knowledge;
But the direction is wanting to the heart of fools.
It is impossible that לא־כן can be a second object. accus. dependent on יזרוּ (dispergunt, not יצּרוּ, Pro 20:28; φυλάσσουσι, as Symmachus translates): but the heart of fools is unrighteous (error or falsehood) (Hitzig after Isa 16:6); for then why were the lips of the wise and the heart of the fools mentioned? לא־כן also does not mean οὐχ οὕτως (an old Greek anonymous translation, Jerome, Targ., Venet., Luther): the heart of the fool is quite…
The Church Fathers
Better is the hospitality of vegetables served with friendship and grace than a fatted calf served with enmity. Often we accept simpler, more frugal hospitality offered in good conscience—as guests at the table of those who are unable to furnish us with more—in preference to elevated words "lifted up against the knowledge of God" and proclaiming with ample plausibility a sentiment alien to the Father of our Lord Jesus who has given the law and the prophets.
"Herbs with love are better than a fatted calf with deceit." This is reminiscent of what we said before, that herbs are not the Agape, but that meals should be taken with charity. A middle course is good in all things, and no less so in serving a banquet. Extremes, in fact, are dangerous, but the mean is good, and all that avoids dire need is a mean. Natural desires have a limit set to them by self-sufficiency.
"It is better the hospitality with vegetables." I will explain what [Solomon] says. If one fears God and also enjoys the benevolence of people, it is still better for him to have little property than an abundance. Indeed, pleasure is not in abundance, but abundance is in pleasure, as Hesiod says. One who neglects offenses settles the future judgments about them. A stupid person does nothing sensibly, whereas the judicious one directs, that is, displays actions of free opinion. Those who despise consulting other people about what must be done, despise advice. It then happens that those people, who think they are something when they are nothing, wander in error.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Meals — Are at the present day “eaten from a round table little higher than a stool, guests sitting cross-legged on mats or small carpets in a circle, and dipping their fingers into one large dish heaped…
Ox — Heb. bakar, “cattle;” “neat cattle”, (Gen. 12:16; 34:28; Job 1:3, 14; 42:12, etc.); not to be muzzled when treading the corn (Deut. 25:4). Referred to by our Lord in his reproof to the Pharisees…
Cattle · Stall-fed — Stall-fed
Diet Of The Jews, The · Of the poor, frugal — Of the poor, frugal
Family · INFELICITY IN — INFELICITY IN
Food · .Herbs — .Herbs
Hatred · Embitters life — Embitters life
Herbs · Given for food — Given for food
Herbs, & C · Cultivated for food — Cultivated for food
Love To Man · Necessary to true happiness — Necessary to true happiness
Malice · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Ox, The · Often stall-fed for slaughter — Often stall-fed for slaughter
This better than proverb shows the relative value of wealth. A substantial meal (steak) is good, but love is better.
Rashi on Proverbs 15:17
than a fattened ox To feed him fat meat and to show him an angry countenance. than a fattened ox אבוס. An ox into whose mouth they stuff the food against his will, in order to fatten him. Likewise (I Kings 5:3): “fatted (אבוסים) fowl.” And it can be explained allegorically as referring to the handful—the little bit offered up by the poor—[being better] than an ox for a sin-offering offered up by a wicked man. Another explanation: Better a repast of herbs To give a poor man. where there is love To show him a friendly countenance.
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
