Proverbs 23:6

Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(6) Him that hath an evil eye.—A sordid, grudging temper.

Benson Commentary

Proverbs 23:6-8. Eat not thou the bread of him that hath an evil eye — Of an envious or covetous man, who secretly grudges thee the meat which is set before thee. For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he — Thou must not judge of him by his words, for in them he professes kindness, (as it follows,) but by the constant temper of his mind, which he hath fully discovered to all that know him by the course of his life. Eat and drink, saith he, but his heart is not with thee — He hath no sincere love to thee, but inwardly grudges thee that which he outwardly offers thee. The morsel, &c., shall thou vomit up again — When thou perceivest his churlish disposition and conduct, his meat will be loathsome to thee, and thou wilt wish that thou hadst never eaten it; and lose thy sweet words — Thy pleasant discourse, wherewith thou didst adorn his table, and design both to delight and profit him, is lost, and of no effect to him, and thou wilt be ready to repent of it.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

23:1-3 God's restraints of the appetite only say, Do thyself no harm. 4,5. Be not of those that will be rich. The things of this world are not happiness and a portion for a soul; those that hold them ever so fast, cannot hold them always, cannot hold them long. 6-8. Do not make thyself burdensome to any, especially those not sincere. When we are called by God to his feast, and to let our souls delight themselves, Isa 25:6; 55:2, we may safely partake of the Bread of life. 9. It is our duty to take all fit occasions to speak of Divine things; but if what a wise man says will not be heard, let him hold his peace. 10,11. The fatherless are taken under God's special protection. He is their Redeemer, who will take their part; and he is mighty, almighty.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

6-8. Beware of deceitful men, whose courtesies even you will repent of having accepted.

evil eye—or purpose (Pr 22:9; De 15:9; Mt 6:23).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Of him that hath an evil eye; of the envious or covetous man, who secretly grudgeth thee the meat which he sets before thee, as this phrase is used, Proverbs 28:22 Matthew 20:15; as, on the contrary, a liberal man is said to have a good eye, Proverbs 22:9.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye,.... A sordid covetous man, that grudges every bit that is eaten, in opposition to a man of a good eye, or a bountiful one, that is liberal and generous, Proverbs 22:9; if he invites to a meal, do not accept of it, sit not down at his table to eat with him:

neither desire thou his dainty meats; or savoury food, so as to lust after it; See Gill on Proverbs 23:3.

Geneva Study Bible

Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an {e} evil eye, neither desire thou his delicacies:

(e) That is, covetous, as contrary a good eye is taken for liberal as in Pr 22:9.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

6. evil] i.e. grudging. See Proverbs 22:9 note, and comp. Deuteronomy 15:9; Matthew 20:15.

dainty meats] Better, dainties.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 6-8. - Another maxim, here a heptastich, concerning temperance. Verse 6. - Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye; the envious and jealous man, in contrast to the "good of eye" (Proverbs 22:9). Vulgate, Ne comedas cum heroine invido. Septuagint, ἀνδρὶ βασκάνῳ, the man who has the evil eye that fascinates, which, however, is a later idea; here the notion is rather of a grudging, sordid temper, that cannot bear the sight of others' happiness or prosperity (comp. Deuteronomy 15:9; Matthew 20:15). Ecclus. 16:8, Πονηρὸς ὁ βασκαίνων ὀφθαλμῳ, "The envious man hath an evil eye; he turneth away his face, and he is one who despiseth men." Dainty meats; as in ver. 3. The word (matammoth) occurs also throughout Genesis 27, where it is rendered, "savoury meat." Talmud, "To ask a favour from a miser is as if you asked wisdom from a woman, modesty from a harlot, fish on the dry land." Proverbs 23:6

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

There now follows a proverb with unequally measured lines, perhaps a heptastich:

6 Eat not the bread of the jealous,

   And let not thyself lust after his dainties;

7 For as one who calculates with himself, so is he:

   "Eat and drink," saith he to thee;

   But his heart is not with thee.

8 Thy morsel which thou hast enjoyed wilt thou cast up,

   And hast lost thy pleasant words.

As טוב עין, Proverbs 22:9, benignus oculo, denotes the pleasantness and joy of social friendship; so here (cf. Deuteronomy 15:9; Matthew 15:15) רע עין, malignus oculo, the envy and selfishness of egoism seeking to have and retain all for itself. The lxx ἀνδρὶ βασκάνῳ, for the look of the evil eye, עין רע, עינא בישׁא (cattivo occhio), refers to enchantment; cf. βασκαίνειν, fascinare, to bewitch, to enchant, in modern Greek, to envy, Arab. 'an, to eye, as it were, whence ma‛jûn, ma‛ı̂n, hit by the piercing look of the envious eye, invidiae, as Apuleius says, letali plaga percussus (Fleischer). Regarding תּתאו with Pathach, vid., the parallel line 3a. 7a is difficult. The lxx and Syr. read שׂער [hair]. The Targ. renders תּרעא רמא, and thus reads שׁער [fool], and thus brings together the soul of the envious person and a high portal, which promises much, but conceals only deception behind (Ralbag). Joseph ha-Nakdan reads

(Note: In an appendix to Ochla We-Ochla, in the University Library at Halle, he reads שׂער, but with פליגא [doubtful] added.)

שׂער with sn; and Rashi, retaining the schn, compares the "sour figs," Jeremiah 29:17. According to this, Luther translates: like a ghost (a monster of lovelessness) is he inwardly; for, as it appears in שׂער, the goat-like spectre שׂעיר hovered before him. Schultens better, because more in conformity with the text: quemadmodum suam ipsius animam abhorret (i.e., as he does nothing to the benefit of his own appetite) sic ille (erga alios multo magis). The thought is appropriate, but forced. Hitzig for once here follows Ewald; he does not, however, translate: "like as if his soul were divided, so is it;" but: "as one who is divided in his soul, so is he;" but the verb שׁער, to divide, is inferred from שׁער, gate equals division, and is as foreign to the extra-bibl. usus loq. as it is to the bibl. The verb שׁער signifies to weigh or consider, to value, to estimate. These meanings Hitzig unites together: in similitudinem arioli et conjectoris aestimat quod ignorat, perhaps meaning thereby that he conjecturally supposes that as it is with him, so it is with others: he dissembles, and thinks that others dissemble also. Thus also Jansen explains. The thought is far-fetched, and does not cover itself by the text. The translation of the Venet. also: ὡς γὰρ ἐμέτρησεν ἐν ψυχῇ οἱ οὕτως ἐστίν (perhaps: he measures to others as penuriously as to himself), does not elucidate the text, but obscures it. Most moderns (Bertheau, Zckler, Dchsel, etc.): as he reckons in his soul, so is he (not as he seeks to appear for a moment before thee). Thus also Fleischer: quemadmodum reputat apud se, ita est (sc. non ut loquitur), with the remark that שׁער (whence שׁער, measure, market value, Arab. si'r), to measure, to tax to as to determine the price, to reckon; and then like חשׁב, in general, to think, and thus also Meri with the neut. rendering of ita est. But why this circumlocution in the expression? The poet ought in that case just to have written כי לא למו דבּר בשׂפתיו כן הוא, for he is not as he speaks with his mouth. If one read שׁער (Symmachus, εἰκάζων), then we have the thought adapted to the portrait that is drawn; for like one calculating by himself, so is he, i.e., he is like one who estimates with himself the value of an object; for which we use the expression: he reckons the value of every piece in thy mouth. However, with this understanding the punctuation also of שׁער as finite may be retained and explained after Isaiah 26:18 : for as if he reckoned in his soul, so is he; but in this the perf. is inappropriate; by the particip. one reaches the same end

(Note: We may write כּן הוּא: the Mehuppach (Jethb) sign of the Olewejored standing between the two words represents also the place of the Makkeph; vid., Thorath Emeth, p. 20.)

by a smoother way. True, he says to thee: eat and drink (Sol 5:1), he invites thee with courtly words; but his heart is not with thee (בּל, like Proverbs 24:23): he only puts on the appearance of joy if thou partakest abundantly, but there lurks behind the mask of liberal hospitality the grudging stubborn calculator, who poisons thy every bite, every draught, by his calculating, grudging look. Such a feast cannot possibly do good to the guest: thy meal (פּת, from פּתת; cf. κλᾶν τὸν ἄρτον, Aram. פּרס לחמא, to divide and distribute bread, whence פּרנס, to receive aliment, is derived) which thou hast eaten thou wilt spue out, i.e., wilt vomit from disgust that thou hast eaten such food, so that that which has been partaken of does thee no good. פּתּך is also derived from פּתּה:

(Note: Immanuel makes so much of having recognised the verb in this פּתּך (and has he persuaded thee), that in the concluding part of his Divan (entitled Machberoth Immanuel), which is an imitation of Dante's Divina Commedia, he praises himself on this account in the paradise of King Solomon, who is enraptured by this explanation, and swears that he never meant that word otherwise.)

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