Bible Commentaries

What is before thee - Beware lest dainties tempt thee to excess. Or, "consider diligently who is before thee," the character and temper of the ruler who invites thee.

i. e., "Restrain thy appetite, eat as if the knife were at thy throat." Others render the words "thou wilt put a knife to thy throat" etc., i. e., "indulgence at such a time may endanger thy very life."

Dainties ... deceitful meat - Such as "savory meat," venison Genesis 27:4, offered not from genuine hospitality, but with some by-ends.

Cease from thine own wisdom - i. e., "Cease from the use of what is in itself most excellent, if it only serves to seek after wealth, and so ministers to evil." There is no special contrast between "thine own wisdom" and that given from above, though it is of course implied that in ceasing from his own prudence the man is on the way to attain a higher wisdom.

Set thine eyes - literally, as in the margin, i. e., "gaze eagerly upon;" and then we get an emphatic parallelism with the words that follow, "they fly away as an eagle toward heaven;" "certainly make themselves wings."

A different danger from that of Proverbs 23:1. The hazard here is the hospitality of the purse-proud rich, avaricious or grudging even in his banquets.

Evil eye - Not with the later associations of a mysterious power for mischief, but simply, as in the margin ref. and in Matthew 20:15.

Thinketh - The Hebrew verb is found here only, and probably means, "as he is all along in his heart, so is he (at last) in act."

The "fool" here is one willfully and persistently deaf to it, almost identical with the scorner.