Chapter 23

How easily impressed are you by lavish hospitality? How much presence of mind do you exercise in social situations? The wise man stays alert and sober, and keeps thinking hard about why he is there and what he needs to say or find out. He probably eats only a few mouthfuls of the sumptuous meal set before him, and takes just two or three small sips of the wine. His mind is focused on more important matters. He needs his wits about him.

The foolish person, on the other hand, is ruled by his appetites, gets carried away and overindulges. As a result, he talks too much, lowers his defenses, reveals confidences and may be easily influenced and taken advantage of.

We all need enough money to live, but have you fallen in love with the idea of "richness" itself, of having a great deal of money simply for the sake of having it? That is a fleeting and meaningless goal, says Solomon, so do not wear yourself out pursuing it.

Successful people make meaningful, enduring achievement their goal, and the wealth that accrues is secondary. Look for ways to make a tangible contribution to society instead, and you will prosper.

Perhaps you had no choice but to eat with the ruler mentioned earlier, but here is a different situation. Although a wicked person may put on friendly face, and wine and dine you lavishly, his sole desire is to deceive and use you in some way. Learn to read the evil intent that shines from the eyes of such individuals, says Solomon, and keep clear.

Food that tastes good as you eat it may well be poisoning you, and be vomited up later. Similarly, if you swallow the lies and schemes of this evil man, you will bitterly regret it when you come to the sickening realization of how he has tricked you. Stay alert.

As the man thinks in his heart, says Solomon, so is he. A major theme of the Proverbs is that a person can grow and change for the better by changing the way he habitually thinks and reacts deep inside, in his heart, in his subconscious mind perhaps -- and that he can do so by deliberately monitoring his thoughts and feelings, and moderating the ingrained attitudes and values that have unconsciously developed since early childhood.

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The theme continues. Another individual with whom you should not waste your time with is the foolish person who will simply ignore your good advice. He may in fact be so stupid that he actually despises the wisdom of your words, and find them irritating.

Once again, how good a judge of character are you? Can you discern foolishness, and learn when to offer advice and when to withhold it? How aware are you of the attitudes of people you are talking to?

The fool is foolish because of the way he unthinkingly thinks in his heart, as we saw in the previous proverb. What will it take to wake him up to reality and open his eyes to the warped attitudes and false assumptions that have been ruining his life?

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As noted earlier, removing old landmarks implies taking advantage of the weak, taking away their rights and stealing their property.

Orphans in particular are vulnerable people and we have a moral duty to help rather than exploit them. James says: "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress" (James 1:27).

The fatherless are weak, but their redeemer is mighty. If we oppress them, God will plead their case and may find us guilty when we stand before his judgment throne, a situation best avoided.

Attitude is the key to learning. People who really want to learn, do learn. They pay very close attention and listen hard. They are active learners, and spend time analyzing, thinking through and inwardly digesting what they have been taught. One of the laws of learning is that the lesson must be rethought in the mind of the learner, and that is just what they do.

The learning process also engages their emotions, and they begin to appreciate the beauty of their subject and find joy in understanding and applying it. Diligent study and burning the midnight oil becomes a labor of love – and previously unsuspected interests and latent abilities begin to germinate and emerge.

Punishment is bad, cry bishops and others who should know better, and as a result, in direct contradiction to Solomon’s injunction, modern parents are positively discouraged and even forbidden by law from correcting their children. Better avoid confrontation, say the psychologists, and never try to tell a child what to do – always ask and cajole instead, give choices and offer rewards.

All miss the point that the rod of correction, wisely applied when really needed, helps a wayward child recover control of his emotions and become a more sound-minded individual as a result – in contrast to the growing number of disturbed and mentally unstable children with "special needs" who plague our school classrooms.

The theme continues. The rod of correction is just one tool of the concerned parent. Far more important is the need to win the hearts of our children by being models of love, patience, encouragement, diligence and self-control that they can admire and emulate. If our lips speak right things, then they will learn to do the same – and give us joy rather than heartache. Do we pursue that vision as a practical possibility?

Once again Solomon reminds us that no matter how much sinners seem to be getting away with, no matter how rich and powerful they become, they are not to be envied, because their long-term prospects are bleak indeed.

Death may be the end of this physical existence, but there is hope beyond – in particular, the resurrection of the righteous dead at Christ’s return, and a joyful expectation of eternal life in the kingdom of God (1 Corinthians, chapter 15).

The individuals Solomon describes here are ruled by their appetites to the extent that their priorities are mixed up and their work is neglected. They lack self-discipline and live very disorganized lives.

How well do you use your time? If you waste time, where does it go? Do you plan your work then work your plan, or are you at the mercy of you emotions, working if you feel like it, not bothering if you don’t?

Do you set targets and achieve them, or just muddle on and see what happens? Are you ruled by moods? Do you neglect unpleasant but important tasks – such as going over the bank statement and balancing the checkbook? When you have a potentially difficult phone call to make, does paperwork suddenly become more appealing?

We have just read about those who find pleasure in youthful and immature over indulgence, but what gives you pleasure? More importantly, perhaps, what pleasure do you give to others, especially to those who gave you your very life?

How can you restore to them the joy they found in your birth? Solomon’s answer seems to be that you do it by the way you live, by the kind of person you become. Are you wise and understanding? Do you seek Truth, and try to do what is right and good?

Are you developing your abilities and making good use of them? Are you righteous – God-fearing, kind, generous, patient and self-controlled in what you say and do?

As a child you could not properly understand and empathize with your parents and their experiences of life, but now you can. What can you learn from them and from their mistakes? Do you seek their advice? They have your best interests at heart. Do you bounce your ideas off them and get their unique viewpoint on things? Older people usually have a broader perspective and better understanding of what is really important in life.

In Solomon’s clever multi-metaphor, a whore is like a deep pit, and a strange woman, an adulteress, is like a narrow well. The man who falls into either may find himself trapped, and unable to extricate himself from their influence – because the pit is deep and the well is very narrow. Illicit sex ruins many lives, and can become an addiction.

Solomon’s advice is to prepare your heart in advance to deal with this or any other of life’s temptations. The heart is the seat of desire and the home of the imagination which enables us to picture situations in advance and rehearse our response to them. So use it to feel the lasting pain and balance it against the fleeting pleasure on offer.

The abuse of alcohol is our most serious drug problem, which is perhaps why this section if so long. The person described here begins by spending too much time drinking, probably to the neglect of other matters, as an escape from reality. He then moves on, in search of stronger stuff and more exotic concoctions. He now drinks for the sake of drinking, and becomes so desperate he will even drink wine that is still fermenting, still foaming and full of unsettled red sediments.

His behavior becomes bizarre, and he says foolish things he would normally be ashamed of. He becomes argumentative, gets into brawls. He becomes legless, staggers about and may get very badly hurt. Finally he lies down in the gutter to sleep it off. Excessive amounts of alcohol and associated substances enter his bloodstream, like the venom of a snake, creating the toxins that lead to drunken hallucinations and a severe hangover. His drunkenness has become an addiction, and next day he will do it all again. His life is ruined.

That at least seems to be literal message, but it is important to remember that the proverbs are also metaphors, and carry additional layers of meaning. In both Old and New Testaments, for example, intoxication can represent false ideas and self-deception. So perhaps Solomon is using this very long section to ask us if we have yet sobered up to reality and a realization of our own immense intellectual and creative potential? Is our behavior still shaped by false beliefs?

Does our warped understanding of how the world actually works cause us to stagger ineffectually through life, with no real focus or direction? Highly successful people, it is said, live in a state of constant astonishment as they observe the self-imposed limitations of those around them.

Have we yet become sufficiently enlightened to start thinking for ourselves, to begin to question convention and externally imposed expectations, to see ourselves as others see us, to see our foolishness and to re-examine the role that we have been passively accepting? Is our normal thinking still as shallow, impulsive and even as irrational as that of the intoxicated person Solomon describes?