◄ Proverbs 15:17 ►
Better a dish of vegetables where there is love than a fattened ox with hatred.
Study Bible
Better a dish of vegetables
The phrase "Better a dish of vegetables" suggests a simple, humble meal. In the ancient Near Eastern context, a "dish of vegetables" would have been considered a modest offering, often associated with the poor or those of lower social standing. The Hebrew word for "vegetables" (יָרָק, yarak) implies basic sustenance, emphasizing the simplicity and humility of the meal. This phrase sets the stage for a comparison between material wealth and spiritual richness, highlighting that the quality of relationships and the presence of love are more valuable than the abundance of material possessions.

where there is love
The phrase "where there is love" underscores the central theme of the verse: the importance of love and harmony in relationships. The Hebrew word for "love" (אַהֲבָה, ahavah) conveys deep affection, care, and commitment. In the biblical context, love is a fundamental principle that governs relationships, reflecting God's nature and His commandments. This phrase suggests that love transforms even the simplest of circumstances into something precious and fulfilling, aligning with the broader biblical teaching that love is the greatest of virtues (1 Corinthians 13:13).

than a fattened ox
The phrase "than a fattened ox" represents wealth, abundance, and luxury. In ancient times, a "fattened ox" was a symbol of prosperity and was often reserved for special occasions or feasts. The Hebrew word for "fattened" (אָבּוּס, abus) indicates an animal that has been well-fed and prepared for sacrifice or celebration. This phrase contrasts with the earlier mention of vegetables, highlighting the disparity between material wealth and the richness of love. It serves as a reminder that external abundance does not guarantee internal peace or happiness.

with hatred
The phrase "with hatred" introduces a stark contrast to the love mentioned earlier. The Hebrew word for "hatred" (שִׂנְאָה, sin'ah) denotes enmity, animosity, and discord. This phrase suggests that even the most lavish meal is tainted and undesirable when accompanied by strife and hostility. In the biblical worldview, hatred is a destructive force that undermines relationships and community, contrary to God's desire for unity and peace among His people. This phrase serves as a caution against valuing material wealth over the health and harmony of relationships.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Solomon
Traditionally regarded as the author of Proverbs, Solomon was the son of King David and known for his wisdom. His proverbs often provide practical insights into living a life that honors God.

2. Ancient Israel
The cultural and historical context of this proverb is ancient Israel, where meals were significant social and familial events, and the type of food served could reflect one's wealth or status.

3. Meals in Ancient Times
Meals were not just about sustenance but were also a time for fellowship and relationship-building. The contrast between a simple meal and a lavish feast highlights the importance of relational harmony over material abundance.
Teaching Points
The Value of Love Over Material Wealth
True contentment and joy come from love and relationships, not from material abundance. Prioritize love in your home and relationships over the pursuit of wealth.

The Danger of Hatred and Strife
A lavish lifestyle cannot compensate for a lack of love. Strife and hatred can destroy the joy that material wealth might bring. Seek peace and reconciliation in your relationships.

Contentment in Simplicity
Embrace simplicity and find contentment in the love and relationships you have. A simple life filled with love is more fulfilling than a life of luxury filled with discord.

The Importance of Relational Harmony
Strive for harmony in your relationships, valuing love and unity over material possessions. This reflects the heart of God and brings true satisfaction.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the cultural context of meals in ancient Israel enhance our understanding of Proverbs 15:17?

2. In what ways can we prioritize love and relationships over material wealth in our daily lives?

3. How do the teachings of 1 Corinthians 13 and Matthew 6:19-21 reinforce the message of Proverbs 15:17?

4. Reflect on a time when you experienced the truth of this proverb in your own life. How did love or strife impact your experience?

5. What practical steps can you take to cultivate a home environment where love is prioritized over material abundance?
Connections to Other Scriptures
1 Corinthians 13
This chapter emphasizes the supremacy of love over all other virtues and gifts, aligning with the idea that love is more valuable than material wealth or abundance.

Matthew 6:19-21
Jesus teaches about storing treasures in heaven rather than on earth, which parallels the idea that love and relationships are more valuable than earthly possessions.

Philippians 4:11-13
Paul speaks about contentment in all circumstances, which relates to finding joy and satisfaction in love and relationships rather than in material wealth.
Sermons
Domestic Love and Union Recommended and EnforcedJ. Seed, M. A.Proverbs 15:17
The Source of SatisfactionW. Clarkson Proverbs 15:13, 15-17
AlternativesE. Johnson Proverbs 15:16, 17
People
Abaddon, Solomon
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Allowance, Better, Calf, Dinner, Dish, Fat, Fatted, Fattened, Green, Hate, Hatred, Herbs, Love, Meal, Ox, Served, Simple, Stalled, Therewith, Vegetables
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Proverbs 15:17

     4476   meals
     4532   vegetables
     4618   calf
     5875   hatred

Proverbs 15:16-17

     5450   poverty, spiritual
     8812   riches, ungodly use

Library
God, the All-Seeing One
A sermon (No. 177) delivered on Sabbath morning, February 14, 1858 At The Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens by C. H. Spurgeon. "Hell and destruction are before the Lord: how much more then the hearts of the children of men?" -- Proverbs 15:11. You have often smiled at the ignorance of heathens who bow themselves before gods of wood and stone. You have quoted the words of Scripture and you have said, "Eyes have they, but they see not; ears have they, but they hear not." You have therefore argued that …
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs

The Hedge of Thorns and the Plain Way
A sermon (No. 1948) delivered at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington, by C. H. Spurgeon. "The way of the slothful man is as an hedge of thorns: but the way of the righteous is made plain."--Proverbs 15:19. You must have noticed how frequently godly people almost wear out their Bibles in certain places. The Psalms, the Gospel of John, and parts of the Epistles are favourite portions, and are thumbed in many an old believer's Bible till the fact is very noticeable. There are certain sheep-tracks …
C.H. Spurgeon—Sermons on Proverbs

God, the All-Seeing One
We have in our text, first of all, a great fact declared,--"Hell and destruction are before the Lord ;" we have, secondly, a great fact inferred,--"How much more then the hearts of the children of men?" I. We will begin with THE GREAT FACT WHICH IS DECLARED--a fact which furnishes us with premises from which we deduce the practical conclusion of the second sentence--"How much more then the hearts of the children of men?" The best interpretation that you can give of those two words, "hell" and "destruction," …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 4: 1858

How the Humble and the Haughty are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 18.) Differently to be admonished are the humble and the haughty. To the former it is to be insinuated how true is that excellence which they hold in hoping for it; to the latter it is to be intimated how that temporal glory is as nothing which even when embracing it they hold not. Let the humble hear how eternal are the things that they long for, how transitory the things which they despise; let the haughty hear how transitory are the things they court, how eternal the things they …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

And He had Also this Favour Granted Him. ...
66. And he had also this favour granted him. For as he was sitting alone on the mountain, if ever he was in perplexity in his meditations, this was revealed to him by Providence in prayer. And the happy man, as it is written, was taught of God [1112] . After this, when he once had a discussion with certain men who had come to him concerning the state of the soul and of what nature its place will be after this life, the following night one from above called him, saying, Antony, rise, go out and look.' …
Athanasius—Select Works and Letters or Athanasius

Epistle cxxii. To Rechared, King of the visigoths .
To Rechared, King of the Visigoths [82] . Gregory to Rechared, &c. I cannot express in words, most excellent son, how much I am delighted with thy work and thy life. For on hearing of the power of a new miracle in our days, to wit that the whole nation of the Goths has through thy Excellency been brought over from the error of Arian heresy to the firmness of a right faith, one is disposed to exclaim with the prophet, This is the change wrought by the right hand of the Most High (Ps. lxxvi. 11 [83] …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

Contention Over the Man Born Blind.
(Jerusalem.) ^D John IX. 1-41. [Some look upon the events in this and the next section as occurring at the Feast of Tabernacles in October, others think they occurred at the Feast of Dedication in December, deriving their point of time from John x. 22.] ^d 1 And as he passed by, he saw a man blind from his birth. [The man probably sought to waken compassion by repeatedly stating this fact to passers-by.] 2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Rabbi, who sinned, this man, or his parents, that he should …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

"And the Life. " How Christ is the Life.
This, as the former, being spoken indefinitely, may be universally taken, as relating both to such as are yet in the state of nature, and to such as are in the state of grace, and so may be considered in reference to both, and ground three points of truth, both in reference to the one, and in reference to the other; to wit, 1. That our case is such as we stand in need of his help, as being the Life. 2. That no other way but by him, can we get that supply of life, which we stand in need of, for he …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

"Now the End of the Commandment," &C.
1 Tim. i. 5.--"Now the end of the commandment," &c. We come now, as was proposed, to observe, Thirdly,(474) That faith unfeigned is the only thing which gives the answer of a good conscience towards God. Conscience, in general, is nothing else but a practical knowledge of the rule a man should walk by, and of himself in reference to that rule. It is the laying down a man's state, and condition, and actions beside the rule of God's word, or the principles of nature's light. It is the chief piece …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

"Thou Shall Keep Him in Perfect Peace, Whose Mind is Stayed on Thee, Because He Trusteth in Thee. "
Isaiah xxvi. 3.--"Thou shall keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee." All men love to have privileges above others. Every one is upon the design and search after some well-being, since Adam lost that which was true happiness. We all agree upon the general notion of it, but presently men divide in the following of particulars. Here all men are united in seeking after some good; something to satisfy their souls, and satiate their desires. Nay, but they …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Authority and Utility of the Scriptures
2 Tim. iii. 16.--"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." We told you that there was nothing more necessary to know than what our end is, and what the way is that leads to that end. We see the most part of men walking at random,--running an uncertain race,--because they do not propose unto themselves a certain scope to aim at, and whither to direct their whole course. According to men's particular …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

An Exposition on the First Ten Chapters of Genesis, and Part of the Eleventh
An unfinished commentary on the Bible, found among the author's papers after his death, in his own handwriting; and published in 1691, by Charles Doe, in a folio volume of the works of John Bunyan. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR Being in company with an enlightened society of Protestant dissenters of the Baptist denomination, I observed to a doctor of divinity, who was advancing towards his seventieth year, that my time had been delightfully engaged with John Bunyan's commentary on Genesis. "What," …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

I Will Pray with the Spirit and with the Understanding Also-
OR, A DISCOURSE TOUCHING PRAYER; WHEREIN IS BRIEFLY DISCOVERED, 1. WHAT PRAYER IS. 2. WHAT IT IS TO PRAY WITH THE SPIRIT. 3. WHAT IT IS TO PRAY WITH THE SPIRIT AND WITH THE UNDERSTANDING ALSO. WRITTEN IN PRISON, 1662. PUBLISHED, 1663. "For we know not what we should pray for as we ought:--the Spirit--helpeth our infirmities" (Rom 8:26). ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. There is no subject of more solemn importance to human happiness than prayer. It is the only medium of intercourse with heaven. "It is …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

How Christ is the Way in General, "I am the Way. "
We come now to speak more particularly to the words; and, first, Of his being a way. Our design being to point at the way of use-making of Christ in all our necessities, straits, and difficulties which are in our way to heaven; and particularly to point out the way how believers should make use of Christ in all their particular exigencies; and so live by faith in him, walk in him, grow up in him, advance and march forward toward glory in him. It will not be amiss to speak of this fulness of Christ …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

Proverbs
Many specimens of the so-called Wisdom Literature are preserved for us in the book of Proverbs, for its contents are by no means confined to what we call proverbs. The first nine chapters constitute a continuous discourse, almost in the manner of a sermon; and of the last two chapters, ch. xxx. is largely made up of enigmas, and xxxi. is in part a description of the good housewife. All, however, are rightly subsumed under the idea of wisdom, which to the Hebrew had always moral relations. The Hebrew …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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