Proverbs 15:17

Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith. BETTER (IS) A DINNER (HEBREW, 'ªruchat (H737 ) - A TRAVELER'S DINNER; FOOD FOR A JOURNEY) OF HERBS WHERE LOVE IS, THAN A STALLED OX AND HATRED THEREWITH. After the "fear of the Lord," in Proverbs 15:16, follows "love" toward, and on the part of, one's neighbour. This shows the kind of "feast" which the Holy Spirit commends (Proverbs 15:15)....

Verse Proverbs 15:17. _BETTER_ IS _A DINNER OF HERBS_] Great numbers of _indigent_ _Hindoos_ subsist wholly on _herbs_, fried in oil, and mixed with their rice....

A DINNER OF HERBS - The meals of the poor and the abstemious. The “stalled ox,” like the “fatted calf” of Luke 15:23, would indicate a stately magnificence....

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 15:1 A SOFT ANSWER TURNETH AWAY WRATH. Two things are here to be observed: an answer should be given—the injured person should not wrap himself in sullen silence; and that answer should be gentle and conciliatory. This is tersely put in a mediaeval rhyme— "_Frangitur ira gravis_ _Quando est respensio suavis_." "Anger, however great, Is checked by answer sweet." Septuagint, "A submissive (ὑποπίπτουσα)_ _answer averteth wrath." Thus Abigail quelled the excessive anger of David by her judicious submission (1 Samuel 25:24, etc.). BUT GRIEVOUS WORDS STIR UP ANGER. A word that causes vexation makes anger rise the higher. Ὁργῆς ματαίας εἰσὶν

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 dinner, with such circumstances, is better THAN A STALLED OX, AND HATRED THEREWITH; than an ox kept up in the stall for fattening; or than a fatted one, which with the ancients was the principal in a grand...

CHAPTER 15 THE BETTER THINGS One can read through the proverbs recorded in this chapter and ask the question, What are the better things? A soft answer which turneth away wrath is better than grievous words Proverbs 15:1. The tongue of the righteous which useth knowledge aright is better than the mouth of fools Proverbs 15:2. Better is the prayer of the upright than the sacrifice of the wicked Proverbs 15:8). Better is he that followeth after righteousness than the way of the wicked, for the one the Lord delights in, the other is an abomination Proverbs 15:9). Better is the heart that seeketh knowledge than to feed on fool

PROVERBS 15. This chapter makes no new departure. Proverbs concerning the moral government of the world again occupy the chief place. One (Proverbs 15:11) is noteworthy as showing an extended conception of the sphere of God's government. Earlier Heb. religion regarded Sheol as outside the kingdom of God; there the dead do not praise or remember Him. We have also some more psychological proverbs dealing with the value of cheerfulness. PROVERBS 15:2. UTTERETH ARIGHT: paraphrase rather than translation, lit. makes good. Read drops (as Deuteronomy 32:2; Job 29:22), a more natural contrast to pours out in...

BETTER IS A DINNER OF HERBS— They eat very little meat in the east in comparison with what we do: bread, _dibbs, leban,_ butter, rice, and a very little mutton, make the chief of their food in the winter, says Dr. Russel, speaking of the common people of Aleppo; as rice, bread, cheese, and fruit, do in the summer. Dr. Shaw gives a like account of the abstemiousness of the Arabs. This sparingness is occasioned, not by animal food being disagreeable to them, but by the straitness of their circumstances. The Arabs abound in cattle; but, being forced to draw all the other conveniencies of life from the profit they make of them, they kill very few for their own use. The Israelites were in much the same situation; great strangers to trade and manufactures; their patrimony but small, as they were so numerous; and therefore Solomon might with great propriety describe a ruinously expensive way of...

TEXT Proverbs 15:12-22 12. A scoffer loveth not to be reproved; He will not go unto the wise. 13. A glad heart maketh a cheerful countenance; But by sorrow of heart the spirit is broken. 14. The heart of him that hath understanding seeketh knowledge; But the mouth of fools feedeth on folly. 15. All the days of the afflicted are evil; But he that is of a cheerful heart hath a continual feast. 16. Better is little, with the fear of Jehovah, Than great treasure and trouble therewith. 17. Better is a dinner of herbs, where love is, Than a stalled ox and hatred therewith. 18. A wrathful man stirreth up contention; But he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife. 19. The way of the sluggard is as a hedge of thorns; But the path of the upright is

1. GRIEVOUS] i.e. annoying. 'If one pour in hot water let the other pour in cold.'...