Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Proverbs · About this commentary
The Glory of Kings Is to Search Out a Matter
Proverbs 25:1-14
1 These also are proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out. · WEB
Hezekiah's scribes open their collection with concealment and investigation, and follow it with advice about where to sit at a banquet.
The heading dates the collection: These also are proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out. Two and a half centuries after Solomon, a king's officials went through older material and made a further selection. The book's own account of how it came together is in that sentence.
What they placed first is a contrast between two glories. It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter. God's greatness is shown in what he does not disclose. A king's is shown in investigating until he finds out. The two are not in competition. One is praised for withholding and the other for digging, and together they describe a world in which there is always more to be found and never everything.
The next verse extends the concealment downward: As the heavens for height, and the earth for depth, so the hearts of kings are unsearchable. The man whose job is to search out matters is himself not readable, which is a warning to anyone who deals with him.
Then the refining image, used twice in two verses to make one point. Take the dross from the silver and the refiner has material to work with. Take away the wicked from the king's presence, and his throne will be established in righteousness. A government is described as metal with impurities in it, and the impurities are named as people. What establishes a throne is not the king's virtue alone. It is who is standing near him.
The banquet advice that follows is the most socially precise thing in the book: Don't exalt yourself in the presence of the king... for it is better that it be said to you, "Come up here," than that you should be put lower. Take a low seat and risk being promoted in public. Take a high one and risk being moved down in front of everyone who saw you take it. Jesus told the same story as a parable at a wedding feast and drew the same conclusion Luke 14:8–10.
The section closes with three comparisons about words. A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver — the right thing said at the right moment, valued as craftsmanship. A faithful messenger is as the cold of snow in the time of harvest, which is the most refreshing thing imaginable in that climate. And the man who promises what he does not give is as clouds and wind without rain. Every sign of the thing arriving, and nothing arriving.
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