Proverbs 17:1 Commentary and Bible Study

The proverb contains two separate contrasts which taken apart would mean little, but which taken together provide a powerful comparison because of the overriding importance of one over the other. If it were to say, ‘Better a dry morsel, than a house full of sacrifices’, few would agree, and if it simply said, ‘Quietness is better than strife’, few would disagree. The value of the proverb is in putting the two things together for by doing so the real comparison of the verse is made. One good thing may compensate for the lack of another good thing, and the first may be so much more important than the second that contentment is possible even allowing for this lack. If we have to live simply, says Solomon, but at the same time can enjoy peace, good relations with our family, freedom from anxiety and quarrelling then this is far better than the converse. No amount of prosperity or luxury or plenty can make up for a household that is full of strife and bitterness. To have a house full of sacrifices was to enjoy the feasts that accompanied these sacrifices, for in the case of the peace offering the family was allowed to eat what remained of the sacrifice after the Lord’s portion had been taken (the fat and the kidneys), and it was an occasion for inviting friends for celebration. But strife at the same time makes such plenty to be a bitter experience and spoils everything. In the world friendship tends to take second place to fun; there is usually a third party involved because by and large people cannot relate without this. What comes first is the pleasure and the enjoyment, so that if this is taken away, it is rare to find deep friendship that persists. For this reason it is dangerous to promote youth fellowships in the church, for they offer a substitute for deep friendship in the Lord. A generation is separated off from the rest of the church, and relationships are always based on some organized activity.Translating this into spiritual terms we may say that the Christian can be content with little in this life if he has peace with the Lord, if he knows that his sins are pardoned, and that he has been adopted into the family of God. His new relationship with the Lord promises everlasting joy in the presence of God, so that the brief hardships of this life are easy to bear since they are no indication of God’s love towards him. That love guarantees an endless supply of good things, and the best of all is the love of God itself for it holds him in the heart of God as the apple of his eye. But to store up treasure on earth while God remains our enemy is to appoint certain destruction for ourselves in the future, when time runs out for us and we must make restitution for all that we have stolen from the Lord.