Proverbs 23 · The Lantern

When you sit down to eat with a leader, pay close attention to what has been set before your face,

What therefore is "the table of the powerful one," except the mind of that one who says, "I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me"; and "when I am weak, then I am strong"? On this "clean table of the powerful one," that is, in his heart, in his mind is offered "a loaf" to the Lord.

Divine Scripture commands that, when we have been invited to a rich man's banquet, we should with understanding put forth our hand to the dishes. And so for us too the banquet of Scriptures has been set out as a rich man's feast. We have come into a meadow; it has very many flowers: here the rose is red, there the lilies gleam white, there are flowers of every kind.

When you sit down to eat with a ruler, etc. All things are said through allegory: When you sit down to read with a teacher, to be refreshed by the bread of the word, diligently understand what is written, and maintain the discernment of sacred reading in your speech, if, however, you are such a one and so learned that you have in your power your soul, and not as an unlearned on…

and put a knife to your throat, if, in such a way, you could hold your soul in your own power.

Do not desire his foods, in which is the bread of deceit.

Do not be willing to labor so that you may be enriched. But set limits by your prudence.

Do not raise your eyes toward wealth that you are not able to have. For they will make themselves wings, like those of an eagle, and they will fly in the sky.

Do not eat with an envious man, and do not desire his foods.

For, like a seer and an interpreter of dreams, he presumes what he does not know. “Eat and drink,” he will say to you; and his mind is not with you.

The foods that you had eaten, you will vomit up. And you will lose the beauty in your words.

Do not speak into the ears of the unwise. They will despise the doctrine of your eloquence.

Do not touch the boundaries of little ones, and do not enter into the field of the fatherless.

For their close relative is strong, and he will judge their case against you.

Let your heart enter into doctrine, and let your ears enter into words of knowledge.

Do not be willing to take away discipline from a child. For if you strike him with the rod, he will not die.

As small children who are negligent in learning become more attentive and obedient after being punished by their teacher or tutor, and as they do not listen before the lash, but, after feeling the pain of a beating, hear and respond as though their ears were just recently opened, improving also in memory, so likewise with those who neglect divine doctrine and spurn the commandm…

If the evil will is always to be left to its own freedom, why are careless shepherds rebuked, and why is it said to them, "The wandering sheep you have not called back, that which was lost you have not sought"?

When someone presumes to commit a sin against God, he ought to suffer a monastic penance. This should be done in a kind and devout spirit, so that through rebuke he may be corrected in this life in such a way that he may not perish in the future. For every sin which is not corrected in this world will be punished in the future life.

You will strike him with the rod, and so shall you deliver his soul from Hell.

My son, if your soul will become wise, my heart will be glad with you.

And my temperament will exult, when your lips will have spoken what is upright.

Let not your heart compete with sinners. But be in the fear of the Lord all day long.

For you will have hope in the end, and your expectation will not be taken away.

Listen, my son, and be wise, and direct your soul along the way.

Do not be willing to be in the feasts of great drinkers, nor in the carousings of those who gather to feed on flesh.

For those who waste time drinking, and who surrender themselves to symbols, will be consumed. And those who sleep will be clothed in rags.

Listen to your father, who conceived you. And do not despise your mother, when she is old.

Purchase truth, and do not sell wisdom, or doctrine, or understanding.

The father of the just exults in gladness; he who has conceived the wise will rejoice in him.

Let your father and your mother be joyful, and may she who conceived you exult.

My son, offer me your heart, and let your eyes keep to my ways.

For a loose woman is a deep pit, and a foreign woman is a constricted well.

She lies in wait along the way like a robber. And the incautious one whom she sees, she will put to death.

Who has woe? Whose father has woe? Who has quarrels? Who falls into pits? Who has wounds without cause? Who has watery eyes?

By the mention of redness of eyes—a sign of death—it is made clear that the wine-bibber is already dead to the Word and to reason. It declares his death to the Lord. If one forgets the motives that prompt him to seek the true life, he is dragged down to corruption.

Since you are the presbyters and deacons of Christ, you ought always to be sober, both among yourselves and among others, so that you may be able to warn the unruly. Now the Scripture says, "The men in power are passionate.

To whom wounds without cause? etc. Wounds without cause, because many, filled beyond measure with wine, have received wounds in their limbs out of fear, which they have endured for no cause; weakening of the eyes, because the immoderate drink of wine produces darkness to many physical sights and blindness of inner senses.

Is it not those who linger over wine, and who strive to be drinking from their cups?

Do not gaze into the wine when it turns gold, when its color shines in the glass. It enters pleasantly,

but in the end, it will bite like a snake, and it will spread poison like a king of snakes.

Your eyes will see women who are outsiders, and your heart will utter perversities.

And you will be like someone sleeping in the middle of the sea, and like a pilot, fast asleep, who has lost his hold on the helm.

And you will say: “They have beaten me, but I did not feel pain. They have dragged me, and I did not realize it. When will I awaken and find more wine?”

Proverbs23