Proverbs 15:17 "Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith."
If you knew that there was something in our world that made everything better, wouldn't you want it? If you knew that some possession made everything in your life better, wouldn't you be serious or even desperate about getting it? This proverb suggests that there is such a thing that makes everything better and it is LOVE.
In this proverb, the talented teacher gives us two dining scenarios to easily imagine - an actual dinner of herbs versus an anticipated steak dinner. In one home, money is tight. In the other home, money seems to be no object. In the first home, dinner is always only herbs or vegetables but not because it’s a vegan household. The poor people don't have the resources to raise or buy meat. They would love to sink their teeth into a delicious cut of beef but they just can't afford it. In the second home, it's a very different financial story as they have the resources to raise their own beef and in their barn is a stalled ox. That particular ox has been purchased and maintained exclusively for food. It is not used for work in the garden or on the field. It is kept in the stall so it keeps all of its fat and meat - its owner doesn't want it killing any calories running around or working. This animal is the "fatted calf" of Luke 15 and is raised exclusively for a savory meal of meat. Those at the dinner table in the first home know that other homes have filets, strip steaks, T-bone steaks, sirloin steaks, ribeye steaks and even hamburger. While they eat their vegetable soup for dinner, they can smell the neighbor grilling up some freshly cut steaks.
For most of us who really enjoy the tastes of different foods, it's easy to imagine how easy it would be to become disappointed in that first home. We can easily envision looking at what's on the table with discontentment knowing or smelling what's on the table of the second home. It would be like going to Longhorn or Outback and ordering a side of green beans because of cost restraints but then watching everyone around you eat ribeye and porterhouse steaks. It would be so easy to feel like a failure. It would be so easy to get upset at your spouse for not making enough money or for not managing the budget well. It would be so easy to be overcome with ingratitude, jealousy and bitterness. The second home seems like such a better home with a better dinner and ultimately, a better life. But is it a better scenario? Is having a stalled ox better than a dinner of herbs? Is a strip steak better than a garden salad?
According to Solomon, the price on the menu or in the grocery store doesn't determine which meal is better. The taste-buds don't determine which is better. The nutritious qualities don't determine which is better either. What makes either meal or home better is the presence of LOVE. Without love, the steak dinner is not better than the vegetable soup. With love, the little side salad is better than the massive tomahawk steak. Love is the x-factor in any home or relationship. The wealthy carnivorous king is not knocking steak dinners or suggesting that having the resources to raise beef is in any way bad. He is not encouraging anyone to go Vegan or to downplay financial security. This proverb has everything to do with seeing what's most important in a home, at a table and in relationships. No matter a couple's financial scenario, love makes everything better.
Going out for a fancy steak dinner is good but if no love accompanies that relationship, it's not better than staying in and eating a salad. Fancy food doesn't make anyone happy. No amount of money can buy love. No amount of meat in the barn or in the freezer can compensate for a cold marriage or contentious family. Financial security may help reduce stress in some areas of a home but it doesn't do anything to cultivate or produce true love. Love is a choice. Love is choice that requires a sacrifice of self, not necessarily of silver. The smell of burning savory flesh on the grill is not what makes a home a special home - the smell of burning selfish flesh on the altar of love is what a home a special home.
Love makes everything better. With love, a tiny apartment is better than a big home without love. With love, job making minimum wage is better than a six-figure job without love. With love, taking public transportation is better than having two $60,000 SUVs without love. With love, going through cancer together is better than being healthy without love. Love makes everything better. For that reason, we should pursue love with a greater effort than money. We should put more effort into building loving relationships than we do in building successful careers. We should put more effort into bringing love into our homes than bringing income into our homes. Men should be more concerned with harvesting love than any crop. Women should be more concerned with decorating their homes with love than with any decor. Men should be spending more time working on their love game than their golf game. Women should be spending more time attending to their husbands than scrolling the social media. Men should work harder at bringing love home than they do at bringing the bacon home. Women should focus more on cultivating a loving home than they do a perfect home.
It is a most common error to pursue financial security and household success as the priority of our collective lives. We invest thousands of dollars into an education, relocate for the best career opportunities, work long hours and subscribe to extreme budgetary practices to accrue the wealth necessary to build big homes, buy multiple cars, live "comfortably" and save gobs of money so we can retire early BUT do the absolute bare minimum when it comes to LOVE. This is why God gave us the Bible. This is why He inspired a young king to write a simple statement about two very different homes. Wisdom cries out, "money makes nothing better but love makes everything better!" Get an education on love. Put in long hours on love. Relocate only for love's sake. Subscribe only to that which facilitates more love in the relational bank. See love as something worth investing in and building up. It's the x-factor. No matter what happens in life, if you have love, it'll be better than if you didn't.
If you knew that there was something in our world that made everything better, wouldn't you want it? If you want everything in your life and in your home to be made better, put love in it. The only thing it'll cost you is self-denial but it'll be worth it.
In this proverb, the talented teacher gives us two dining scenarios to easily imagine - an actual dinner of herbs versus an anticipated steak dinner. In one home, money is tight. In the other home, money seems to be no object. In the first home, dinner is always only herbs or vegetables but not because it’s a vegan household. The poor people don't have the resources to raise or buy meat. They would love to sink their teeth into a delicious cut of beef but they just can't afford it. In the second home, it's a very different financial story as they have the resources to raise their own beef and in their barn is a stalled ox. That particular ox has been purchased and maintained exclusively for food. It is not used for work in the garden or on the field. It is kept in the stall so it keeps all of its fat and meat - its owner doesn't want it killing any calories running around or working. This animal is the "fatted calf" of Luke 15 and is raised exclusively for a savory meal of meat. Those at the dinner table in the first home know that other homes have filets, strip steaks, T-bone steaks, sirloin steaks, ribeye steaks and even hamburger. While they eat their vegetable soup for dinner, they can smell the neighbor grilling up some freshly cut steaks.
For most of us who really enjoy the tastes of different foods, it's easy to imagine how easy it would be to become disappointed in that first home. We can easily envision looking at what's on the table with discontentment knowing or smelling what's on the table of the second home. It would be like going to Longhorn or Outback and ordering a side of green beans because of cost restraints but then watching everyone around you eat ribeye and porterhouse steaks. It would be so easy to feel like a failure. It would be so easy to get upset at your spouse for not making enough money or for not managing the budget well. It would be so easy to be overcome with ingratitude, jealousy and bitterness. The second home seems like such a better home with a better dinner and ultimately, a better life. But is it a better scenario? Is having a stalled ox better than a dinner of herbs? Is a strip steak better than a garden salad?
According to Solomon, the price on the menu or in the grocery store doesn't determine which meal is better. The taste-buds don't determine which is better. The nutritious qualities don't determine which is better either. What makes either meal or home better is the presence of LOVE. Without love, the steak dinner is not better than the vegetable soup. With love, the little side salad is better than the massive tomahawk steak. Love is the x-factor in any home or relationship. The wealthy carnivorous king is not knocking steak dinners or suggesting that having the resources to raise beef is in any way bad. He is not encouraging anyone to go Vegan or to downplay financial security. This proverb has everything to do with seeing what's most important in a home, at a table and in relationships. No matter a couple's financial scenario, love makes everything better.
Going out for a fancy steak dinner is good but if no love accompanies that relationship, it's not better than staying in and eating a salad. Fancy food doesn't make anyone happy. No amount of money can buy love. No amount of meat in the barn or in the freezer can compensate for a cold marriage or contentious family. Financial security may help reduce stress in some areas of a home but it doesn't do anything to cultivate or produce true love. Love is a choice. Love is choice that requires a sacrifice of self, not necessarily of silver. The smell of burning savory flesh on the grill is not what makes a home a special home - the smell of burning selfish flesh on the altar of love is what a home a special home.
Love makes everything better. With love, a tiny apartment is better than a big home without love. With love, job making minimum wage is better than a six-figure job without love. With love, taking public transportation is better than having two $60,000 SUVs without love. With love, going through cancer together is better than being healthy without love. Love makes everything better. For that reason, we should pursue love with a greater effort than money. We should put more effort into building loving relationships than we do in building successful careers. We should put more effort into bringing love into our homes than bringing income into our homes. Men should be more concerned with harvesting love than any crop. Women should be more concerned with decorating their homes with love than with any decor. Men should be spending more time working on their love game than their golf game. Women should be spending more time attending to their husbands than scrolling the social media. Men should work harder at bringing love home than they do at bringing the bacon home. Women should focus more on cultivating a loving home than they do a perfect home.
It is a most common error to pursue financial security and household success as the priority of our collective lives. We invest thousands of dollars into an education, relocate for the best career opportunities, work long hours and subscribe to extreme budgetary practices to accrue the wealth necessary to build big homes, buy multiple cars, live "comfortably" and save gobs of money so we can retire early BUT do the absolute bare minimum when it comes to LOVE. This is why God gave us the Bible. This is why He inspired a young king to write a simple statement about two very different homes. Wisdom cries out, "money makes nothing better but love makes everything better!" Get an education on love. Put in long hours on love. Relocate only for love's sake. Subscribe only to that which facilitates more love in the relational bank. See love as something worth investing in and building up. It's the x-factor. No matter what happens in life, if you have love, it'll be better than if you didn't.
If you knew that there was something in our world that made everything better, wouldn't you want it? If you want everything in your life and in your home to be made better, put love in it. The only thing it'll cost you is self-denial but it'll be worth it.
Posted in Proverbs Commentary
Posted in Solomon, love, Hatred, Dinner, Steak, Vegan, relationships, marriage, family, home, children, finances, money, wealth, career, Relocation, Budget, Retirement
Posted in Solomon, love, Hatred, Dinner, Steak, Vegan, relationships, marriage, family, home, children, finances, money, wealth, career, Relocation, Budget, Retirement
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