Proverbs 17.1
“Better is a dry morsel with quiet than a house full of feasting with strife.”
The picture here is two different dinner tables: One is a family gathered around a table full of food, but the family is fighting and arguing. The other is a family gathered around a table that has very little food. It’s a meager meal, but the family is grateful, loving, and enjoying each other’s company.
The family with little food but lots of love is much better off than the family with lots of food but little love. What makes a home peaceful and fulfilling is not how much “stuff” you have, but how much love and commitment you have.
Chapter 15 of Proverbs also gave us two “better than” verses that communicate a similar message: “Better is a little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble with it. Better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a fattened ox and hatred with it.” (Proverbs 15.16-17)
Proverbs 17.2
“A servant who deals wisely will rule over a son who acts shamefully and will share the inheritance as one of the brothers.
A wise servant will be promoted over a foolish son. A son has the benefit of his relationship with his father, but the father’s estate (farm, factory, business) requires diligence and productivity. Sometimes children are entitled, foolish, and lazy, and they squander the opportunity presented to them by their position in the family.
A diligent and disciplined servant, on the other hand, will win the favor of the master of the household. His position in the family business isn’t determined by birth, it is determined by performance and productivity. Proverbs 10 teaches the same principle: “A slack hand causes poverty, but the hand of the diligent makes rich. He who gathers in summer is a prudent son, but he who sleeps in harvest is a son who brings shame.” (Proverbs 10.4-5)
Consider the story of Joseph. He was a teenage foreign slave and a shepherd, which was definitely not a place of privilege in Egypt. But through wisdom, hard work, and God’s blessing he advanced in Potiphar’s house. Then, even tough accused and convicted of rape, faithfulness in prison earned him an administrative role, and eventually a promotion to serve Pharaoh himself. Eventually Joseph passed Pharaoh’s sons and ruled Egypt.
This is why I constantly emphasize “trust God and do the work.” The life to which the Lord calls you requires disciplined work. Avoiding that work is disobedience to the Lord. Doing the work is obedience … and it is an act of worship.
Consider also that Proverbs 17.2 refers to Gentiles who trust in Jesus versus Jewish people who do not. “The son who acts shamefully” refers to the physical descendants of Abraham who disobey the Covenant and reject the Messiah. The servant who rules wisely refers to the Gentiles who trust in the Messiah and are faithful to the covenant.
This is the message in the New Testament:
“Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness … Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed.’ So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.” (Galatians 3.6-9)
“In Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” (Galatians 3.28-29)
