Thus reads Proverbs 22.29-23.9:

Do you see a man skillful in his work?
He will stand before kings;
he will not stand before obscure men.
When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
observe carefully what is before you,
and put a knife to your throat
if you are given to appetite.
Do not desire his delicacies,
for they are deceptive food.
Do not toil to acquire wealth;
be discerning enough to desist.
When your eyes light on it, it is gone,
for suddenly it sprouts wings,
flying like an eagle toward heaven.
Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy;
do not desire his delicacies,
for he is like one who is inwardly calculating.
“Eat and drink!” he says to you,
but his heart is not with you.
You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten,
and waste your pleasant words.
Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,
for he will despise the good sense of your words.

This looks to me like an identifiable “unit”–a series of Proverbs on a single theme or topic.

29.29 begins with a promise that sounds like a blessing. It is indeed a blessing but one with temptations and challenges. 23.1-8 in my view is a simple chiasm that shows the danger of depending on kings as a path to riches:

When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
observe carefully what is before you,
and put a knife to your throat
if you are given to appetite.
Do not desire his delicacies,
for they are deceptive food.

Do not toil to acquire wealth;
be discerning enough to desist.
When your eyes light on it, it is gone,
for suddenly it sprouts wings,
flying like an eagle toward heaven.

Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy;
do not desire his delicacies,
for he is like one who is inwardly calculating.
“Eat and drink!” he says to you,
but his heart is not with you.
You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten,
and waste your pleasant words.

The ruler and the stingy man are the same person. And the middle portion shows the hopes and ambitions of the one sitting at his table. Hoping to get rich by getting rich friends is a vain hope. While it may happen to some people, it is not a reliable strategy for making one’s fortune. So be careful. Don’t expect to much.

The chiasm ends with a warning that flattery will not gain favor. The next verse (23.9) ends this section with a warning that your wisdom will not be appreciated either.

Jesus reproduced this wisdom in another situation:

He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” (from Luke 14)