Proverbs 23:1-8

These seemingly disconnected proverbs actually have a common thread. Their intent is to warn us to be careful about what we take into our hearts and minds because they will shape what we do with our lives and therefore determine what we become.

On the surface, the series of proverbs concerns being wary of exploitative personalities in general and, especially, exploitative personalities who are sitting in positions of influence and power. Verses 1-3 warn against getting too close to the ruler because he most likely has ulterior motives and he is thinking of using you to further himself.

Verses 4 and 5 warn us to check our own motivations and desires, because if there is a strong drive and ambition to accomplish, and in this case accrue wealth, then we are much more likely to fall into the trap of allowing ourselves to be used in an immoral scheme because of our desires.

Verses 6-8 warn us to look beyond what is attractive to our senses and discern what is in the person's heart. It is evil—in this case; in these verses—and you are being set up to be used for his ends all the while he is promising you riches—riches that, in the end, are going to cause you grief.

All of these pieces of wisdom are true in a literal sense, but if one understands the food that is mentioned in the Proverbs to be figurative of what we are feeding our minds, then the Proverbs are warning us that what we take in is going to largely determine what we become.

Perhaps the decisive phrase in these eight verses is, "As he thinks in his heart, so is he." Heart, to the Hebrew Bible writers, meant the same thing to them as mind does to us. It is totally illogical to think that one can feed his mind with the literary equivalent of junk food and think that somehow the beauty of holiness is going to result.