As a Man Thinks (20)

When dealing with such a person, Scripture says, do not eat or crave what he offers you. This is because he is not the person that he presents himself to be – he is not as he appears, but "as he thinks within himself, so he is" (NIV, margin).

Now we have finally arrived at 23:7. It should be obvious by now that the verse is not teaching positive thinking, or that man has some mysterious power to transform or enrich himself by the power of his mind. The verse is talking about something entirely different. It is teaching about shrewd social behavior in the light of the truth about human nature.

The NIV translates one with an evil eye as "a stingy man" in verse 6, and consistent with this, it renders verse 7 as, "for he is the kind of man who is always thinking about the cost." But this might be slightly too interpretive, even though "think" here can mean "calculate." The ESV has "for he is like one who is inwardly calculating," and in the margin, "for as he calculates in his soul, so is he."

As the second portion of verse 7 explains, you must not accept what one with an evil eye offers because, although he urges you to eat and drink, "his heart is not with you." He is not just being hospitable, but he has an ulterior motive. He is trying to give you one impression, when in reality he has something else in mind. He is not the kind of person that he appears to be, but his true self is indicated by what goes on in his thinking, and the way he calculates costs and benefits in everything he does.

The passage is teaching you to distinguish between appearance and reality in human interactions. Things are not always as they seem, and people are not always as they appear. So if there is any indication at all that the person is a hard, mean, ambitious, and calculating person, beware, and avoid partaking of the things that he offers you. If you eat his food, accept his gifts, and hear his flatteries, you will be in his debt, and then you are trapped.

But more than this, verse 6 says, "do not crave his delicacies." When you covet something that another person offers, you can be baited, trapped, and manipulated. When you covet something, you are more likely to compromise your moral principles to obtain it, or to otherwise act against your better judgment. Therefore, when encountering one with an evil eye, we must not only control our actions, but also rein in our desires.

(to be continued)