The Feast Without the Friend (Proverbs 15:17)
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Proverbs 15:17
Better is a dinner of herbs where love is
than a fattened ox and hatred with it.
This verse today is a visual of the previous verse, Proverbs 15:16, which we prayed through yesterday. This is the feast without the Friend.
Better is a dinner of herbs where love is
than a fattened ox and hatred with it.
I’ve joked with friends who are dating to quote this verse when they can only afford ramen for a dinner date. I think it’s great for that. More importantly, I think the truth it conveys is critical to the Christian life.
Bishop Hall, an old preacher, said of this verse:
‘Riches and poverty are more in the heart than in the hand. He is wealthy who is content. He is poor who wants more’.
Let me read that again, because it’s not just rhyming poetry – it’s perspective-shifting:
“Riches and poverty are more in the heart than in the hand. He is wealthy who is content. He is poor who wants more.”
It’s far better to share things in lack with those you love than to have things in abundance while hate abounds. A crust with Christ is sweeter than a feast with friction. It’s yet another lesson in proper perspective and priority, because our relationships with each other are far more important than our possessions.
And yet, though it may sound obvious enough, how easily we reverse this. We tell ourselves we’re sacrificing now to love better later – working overtime to provide for our families, studying late to secure a stable future. But what begins as love’s labor can become love’s neglect. We gain the world for them… and lose them.
Now this isn’t a call to stop providing – it’s a reminder not to forget who you’re providing for.
This proverb is an invitation – to see our tables not just as places to eat, but places to love.
To ask: are we building a life that’s full of things, but empty of presence?
And it points us to Jesus. He left the feast of heaven to dine with the poor, the overlooked, the unlovable – to sit down with sinners. He doesn’t just offer a better meal; He becomes the bread we need. A crust with Him is sweeter than a banquet without Him. With Him it’s a continual feast, and He’s always a friend.
So I’ll ask you today:
Are you building a life of luxury at the cost of love?
Or are you learning to feast on the love that never runs out?
Maybe something came to mind – a relationship, a habit, a hunger for more – let’s bring that into prayer now.
