Proverbs 25:1-13

Observations About Kings

Pro 25:1-13

Here is a very simple exercise, and yet one of great consequence. The men of Hezekiah king of Judah "copied out" certain proverbs, which had been probably scattered about in various writings or spoken in ordinary conversation: but now the time had come when Hezekiah was desirous to bring all these wise words into one book, and so give them permanence. We find, therefore, in these proverbs which follow, not the wise sayings of one man only, but the conclusions which had been reached by long-continued observation and very varied experience of human life. The man of physical science delights to gather together what he terms facts, and the wider the basis from which he can collate his facts the better satisfied is he with their general teaching; it is not enough for him to find an odd fact here and there, he must find his facts in series well-connected and long-continued, and so repeating themselves as to constitute their action into the operation of a law. When the man of literal science discovers one fact, then another of the same nature, and ten more, and can then multiply by ten again, he begins to realise what he terms certainty, and to formulate upon the basis of these facts what he terms a law of nature. There can be no objection to such induction and to such nomenclature; on the other hand, it ought not to be denied that there are moral facts and moral consequences, repetitions of action and repetitions of issue, so that by taking a large breadth of life into view men should be able to detect the existence and operation of a moral law, and should discover certainty in moral philosophy, and be able to warn the ages that such and such actions will issue in such and such events. There is no mere speculation in such reasoning; it expresses a fact, a certainty, a judgment. This is emphatically the case with the Book of Proverbs, which may be regarded as a storehouse of facts ever accessible to the use of the moralist, whether philosopher or practical teacher.

"It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter" ( Pro 25:2 ).

Concealment is not a fantastic art, practised merely for the purpose of puzzling and bewildering the human mind. Rather, there is in every little thing, so-called, a whole universe, could we but grasp the particle in all its content and meaning. When we suppose ourselves to have reached the end, we discover to our surprise and delight that we have but realised the beginning. In God's work there is no end; it is all beginning, all new suggestion, all new and brilliant opportunity. On the other hand, kings concern their minds with matters purely political, which can be thoroughly searched out and understood in all their practical relations and bearings. Kings are not to live a haphazard life, taking things for granted and giving rough solutions of subtle and vital problems; they are to diligently consider the philosophy of statesmanship and sovereignty, and to rest their throne upon a basis of reason. So also when it comes to matters of practical justice: they are not to take a superficial view of cases brought under judgment; they are to search into them, to compare statements, to trace out the operation of motives, and thus they are to reach conclusions which should be marked by reasonableness and equity. Nothing frivolous is becoming in rulers. Even justice itself, how practical soever it may appear, is founded upon the deepest philosophy. Men should not extemporise law, even for social purposes, because law that is extemporised is likely to be inspired by passion and to be marred by partiality or prejudice. It is the beauty of the deepest and grandest social law that it was formed in anticipation, rather than in retrospect of social order or disorder. Magistrates do not sit on the bench to make law and to formulate punishment, when they are under the excitement of an individual case; the law was made in secret, in solemn quietude, under a deep sense of responsibility, and is therefore supposed to be untainted by prejudice or passion; the magistrate has simply to acquaint himself with the law, and to administer it in its purity. God and kings are not set in opposition in this text, in any sense that would bring discredit upon either. From whatever point the universe originated, it is a universe of concealment; that is to say, it holds within itself enigmas and riddles which the human mind has hardly begun to appreciate. Say the universe was created in one grand solemn act, as if by the immediate realisation of a divine word: then how much is there to be explored! what an analytic work remains to tempt the imagination, and to refine the senses to the highest quality and expression! Say the universe began in a tuft of fire-smoke; see then how wondrous was the concealment that within a little cloud of fiery mist there should have been hidden a universe so grand, magnificent, and radiant as that which is accessible to our senses; in either way the issue was great, the concealment profound, and the opportunity for the education of human inquiry and the chastening of human imagination was boundless and gracious. We may search into the works of God without being merely curious; in searching into those works we should take with us a spirit of reverence, for reverence may be able to see many things which are concealed from the eyes of self-conceit and even from the vision of genius.

"The heaven for height, and the earth for depth, and the heart of kings is unsearchable" ( Pro 25:3 ).

The compliment thus paid to a king may be considered to be ironical rather than literal. The lesson points in the direction of the depravity of the human heart, when that heart is brought under the influence of ambitions of a secular and selfish kind. The idea would seem to be that the heaven could be measured in height, and the earth could be represented in plain figures for depth, but when both these arithmetical miracles have been performed there remains the impossibility of rightly reading the heart of a king. Who can ever find out all that is written in a king's mind? It may be supposed that in the Book of Proverbs we have something like the personal testimony of a king, so that we have not to deal with a commentator who is making notes upon what he himself has observed in the life and ministry of kings; we have rather an autobiographer who is reading to us somewhat of the secret of his own mind. In general terms the case may be put thus: the king is talking to you, but his words have a double meaning; under an appearance of extreme civility he is hiding a very selfish policy; whilst apparently treating you with the greatest geniality he is in fact endeavouring to lead you to your destruction. The king has many points of interest to consider; he has to balance and refine and adjust, and conduct a very intricate system of manipulation, so that he himself can hardly at all times tell his own purpose; he himself may be surprised into conclusions, and may merge out of a fog of diplomacy into the clear light of reason and justice: the teaching of history is, beware of kings who are not simple-minded, frank-hearted men, but diplomatists, managers, manipulators, persons who do not reveal their whole purpose or discover their entire resources. Live with the simple, the true, the meek; deal only with men whose object is righteous and beneficent, and avoid all men whose minds are involved, bewildered, diseased by the action of diplomacy and by all the perversity of selfish calculation.

"Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer. Take away the wicked from before the king, and his throne shall be established in righteousness" ( Pro 25:4-5 ).

When the dross is taken from the silver there results a vessel to the refiner that is to say, he is able to make a vessel out of the pure metal: the dross hindered his processes; not until the dross was removed could he really begin to shape his vessel, or if he had done so the vessel itself would have been impaired and worthless. We are here taught not to begin what may be called our final processes until initial processes have been thoroughly accomplished. Always there is a negative work to be done before the positive or constructive work can be wisely and successfully attempted. Take up the weeds from the garden before you plant your flowers; remove the dross before you shape a vessel out of the silver; remove the old building before you lay the new foundations: do all manner of introductory work before you set yourselves with all zeal and determination to build the house or the temple. So with regard to the social vessel: "Take away the wicked from before the king," in other words, take away the dross, take away everything that is of the nature of alloy, destroy all evil counsels; and then the throne of the king shall be established in righteousness, and being established in righteousness it shall be permanently established. Only righteousness is eternal in its duration. That which is wicked has in it the principle of decay, and only time is required to bring that principle to its final issue. Righteousness feeds, as it were, upon eternal resources; it draws its supplies from every attribute of God; it lives to do good; it is more than mere uprightness, rectitude, or stern virtue; it is pureness, kindness, holiness, charity; it belongs to the very throne of heaven.

"Put not forth thyself in the presence of the king, and stand not in the place of great men: far better It is that it be said unto thee, Come up hither; than that thou shouldest be put lower in the presence of the prince? whom thine eyes have seen" ( Pro 25:6-7 ).

The same doctrine is laid down by Jesus Christ in the Gospel according to Luke. It is a doctrine which belongs to the Bible of human history as well as to the Bible of divine revelation. Men who have put themselves into wrong positions have soon come to know how great is the mistake which they have made. They do not fill the positions; their responsibility sits too heavily upon them; their faculties are not equal to the discharge of their unfamiliar duties, thus at every point they are driven into vexation, they are fretted and exasperated, by action which they cannot control. Always work within the limits of your strength; always be sure that you can do more than you are attempting to do. The man who boasts of an ability beyond his strength is always brought to disappointment and humiliation. The proverb points out the better way of procedure. It says in effect, Take the lowest place, and then possibly you may be called to a higher; it is better to go up than to go down: go down you most certainly will, if you have taken too eminent a place; your incapacity, your inadequacy will soon be discovered, and the discovery will lead to your deposition; and the man whose deposition has been noticed by his friends, or by the public at large, is by so much weakened or disabled, so that he really cannot effectively use the talents with which he has been endowed. Do not seek to be aggressive in the matter of self-promotion. When you are wanted at the front you will be sent for; when any throne is vacant which you can occupy with dignity and efficiency you will undoubtedly be called to its occupation. Here we find the meaning of true contentment; it is not a state of mind devoid of ambition, but a state of mind in which ambition is controlled and chastened, awaiting a call evidently true and wise that it may advance to some higher position. Well-controlled ambition is itself an element of energy in the mind; it does not operate outwardly and aggressively, but it operates in the sense of moving every faculty in an upward direction, and stimulating every ability quietly to attempt some further duty in life.

"A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver" ( Pro 25:11 ).

The reference may here be to time, as thus: A word spoken at the proper time. Words are not always of equal value; expressions used to-day may be pointless and pithless, and the same expressions used to-morrow under altered conditions may be full of moral inspiration and energy. Some people always speak at the wrong time. They assure themselves that they have spoken wise words, which may be perfectly true, but even wisdom may be thrown away. As the next verse picturesquely puts it, "As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear." When the ear is not obedient the eloquence of wisdom itself is lost. Men should study opportunity; sometimes their friends may be ready to receive the word, may be even eager to listen to it, and wise teachers should be on the alert to notice every sign of interest, every attitude of attention, and to respond to the same with joy and with measured haste. Sympathy itself has often been so administered as to become an exasperation. There are times when men cannot bear even to have passages of Scripture hurled at their heads. Sorrow is not to be rudely encroached upon, but is to be approached gracefully, tenderly, modestly. Sometimes we best give advice to others by giving it to ourselves. There are men who have the gift of monologue, so that in the presence of others they can be talking to themselves, and yet all the while be talking indirectly and happily to those who are in sorrow. All this counsel is not to be taught in words; it is to be taught to the man by the Spirit of God, and is to be practised in secret, and is often to be practised as if it were not being practised, that wise, singular, gracious art, which can hardly be explained, yet which can be felt, and which can be used with infinitely happy effect.

"As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to them that send him: for he refresheth the soul of his masters" ( Pro 25:13 ).

Snowstorms are not referred to, because they might be untimely and even disastrous. Snows were employed in eastern countries for the purpose of cooling drinks in the summer time. We know what it is to use ice in attempering our liquids; we praise the cool drink, speaking of it as grateful, comforting, and refreshing: that is the meaning of the use of snow in this verse, as the cold of snow in the time of harvest in a hot day, as it enables men to drink with pleasure when they are thirsty, as it turns a liquid into a healthy stimulant, so is a faithful messenger to them that send him: for he speaks wise words wisely; he studies opportunity and turns it into religious action; he considers exactly what men can bear, and how much they can hear at a time with advantage, and he measures the delivery of his message according to the ability of those who have to receive it. There is nothing hot, eager, violent in his manner; everything is measured, considered, adjusted, and the wise man is seen in every word and in every tone. We must never forget that there may be as much in the tone as in the actual word itself. We may repeat the identical terms of a message, and yet not deliver the message at all. Gentlest words may be delivered in roughest tones; then all their meaning is lost, and their music is as if it had never been. When we are called upon to repeat a message we are called upon to repeat it in the original tone in which it was delivered. Apply this law to the delivery of the Gospel, and consider how we are called upon to reproduce the very tone of Jesus Christ. The words which he uttered were gracious, and the mouth with which he pronounced these words was also gracious; the whole manner was marked by ineffable dignity, tenderness, persuasiveness. What if we be delivering evangelical truths in an unevangelical tone? What if we be remembering the words and forgetting the tears? What if we have but a cross of wood, and not that cross of flesh quivering with agony which was stretched upon it. The true cross is on the cross; the Son of God with outstretched limbs and drooping head represents the Cross which Christian preachers have to declare. Who is sufficient for the delivery of this message? Men may be trained to utter Gospel words, but they cannot be trained to shed Gospel tears. It is at this point that we are called upon to be true to ourselves, to express our inmost and deepest feeling; then shall the delivery of the Gospel be complete, all its words being words of inspiration, and all its pathos being a distinct utterance of that which the heart itself tenderly experiences.

Notes

"25-Proverbs 29:27 . The superscription of this section, 'These are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out,' is, in many ways, significant. It pre-supposes the existence of a previous collection, known as the Proverbs of Solomon, and recognised as at once authentic and authoritative. It shows that there were also current, orally or in writing, other proverbs not included in that collection. It brings before us an instance, marked indeed, but one which we cannot think of as solitary, of the activity of that period in collecting, arranging, editing the writings of an earlier age. It is a distinct statement that both the collection that precedes, and that which follows, were at that time, after careful inquiry, recognised as by Solomon himself. The chapters to which it is prefixed present a general resemblance to the portion Pro 10:1 to Proverbs 22:16 , which all critics have regarded as the oldest portion of the book. There is the same stress laid on the ideal excellence of the kingly office (compare Pro 25:2-7 with Pro 16:10-15 ), the same half-grouping under special words and thoughts, as e.g., in the verses Proverbs 25:2-7 , referring to kings, in the words 'take away,' in Proverbs 25:4-5 , in the use of the same: word (in Hebrew) for 'strife' or 'cause' ( Pro 25:9 ), of 'gold' ( Pro 25:11-12 ), of the 'fool' in the first ten verses of Proverbs 26:0 , of the 'slothful' in Proverbs 26:13-16 , of the Righteous' in Proverbs 29:2 , Proverbs 29:7 , Proverbs 29:16 . The average length of the proverbs is about the same; in most there is the same general parallelism of the clauses. There is a freer use of direct similitudes. In one passage ( Pro 27:23-27 ) we have, as an exceptional case, a word of counsel which is neither a proverb nor a comparison, and is carried through five verses, in which, unless we assume a latent allegory, like that of the 'vineyard of the slothful,' in Proverbs 24:30-34 , the instruction seems to be economic rather than ethical in its character; designed, it may be, to uphold the older agricultural life of the Israelites as contrasted with the growing tendency to seek wealth by commerce, and so fall into the luxury and profligacy of the Phœnicians." The Speaker's Commentary.

"As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to them that send him: for he refresheth the soul of his masters" ( Pro 25:13 ). "Here again we have a picture of the growing luxury of the Solomonic period. The 'snow in harvest' is not a shower of snow or hail, which would in fact come as terrifying and harmful rather than refreshing (comp. 1 Samuel 12:17-18 , and yet more the proverb in the next chapter, 1Sa 26:1 ); but rather the snow of Lebanon or Hermon put into wine or other drink to make it more refreshing in the scorching heat of May or June. The king's summer-palace on Lebanon (1 Kings 9:19 ; Son 7:4 ) would make him and his courtiers familiar with a luxury which could hardly have been accessible in Jerusalem. And here also he finds a parable. More reviving even than the iced wine-cup was the faithful messenger. That the custom thus referred to was common in ancient as well as modern times we know from Xenophon ( Memorab, II. 1, § 30), and Pliny ( Hist. Nat. Pro 19:4 ). In Proverbs 10:26 , it will be remembered, we have the other side of the picture, the vexation and annoyance caused by a messenger who cannot be trusted, compared to the sour wine that sets the teeth on edge." Ibid.

Prayer

Almighty God, we thank thee that in thyself alone is satisfaction for our souls. We have hewn to ourselves cisterns, broken cisterns that could hold no water. We have sought pleasure where there is none. We have endeavoured to find gardens in the wilderness, and we have returned from stony places, stung with disappointment. There is no rest but in thyself. We have tasted the world's pleasures, and they are. bitter after awhile; they are sweet only for one dying moment, at the last they bite like a serpent, and sting like an adder. In thy presence is fulness of joy, and at thy right hand alone are pleasures for evermore. In our Father's house there is bread enough and to spare; we will then no longer perish with hunger, but with all haste, and joy, and expectation we will crowd into thy house, and accept the hospitality of thy love. Thou dost not turn us away from the door. The Lord is very pitiful and kind. Thou art a Father expecting thy prodigal son every moment. Thou wilt not close the door, for even yet the wanderer may come. We have learnt this of thee from Jesus Christ our Saviour. He always told us of our Father. He taught us to call thee our Father in heaven. He often spoke of thee as our heavenly Father. God is love. The mercy of the Lord endureth for ever. The pity of the Lord is a continual compassion. The Lord is gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. We have learnt this also from thy Son, our Saviour and Sacrifice, our Priest and Intercessor, the living Son of the living God. Make thyself known to us in him, according to the pressure of our need. We are strong, yet are we weak. Every heart knoweth its own bitterness. There is a shadow upon every life. Some are breathing prayers in secret they dare not and cannot put into words. Hear the sighing of those that are ill at ease. Withdraw the thorn which has wounded the heart to its inmost fibre. Let thy people find new supplies of grace. Surprise them by the sudden incoming of light. Show them that even yet there is meal in the barrel and oil in the cruse, and whilst they seek these things may they grow under the strong hand of faith. Destroy the spirit of fear, for it destroys our rest. Perfect love casteth out fear. Do thou, therefore, create in our hearts perfect love. The love that never doubts, the love that hopeth evermore, the love to which there is no midnight, for the midnight is as the noonday. Pity us wherein we are little and weak, wherein we are vain and foolish, and grant us the spirit of wisdom and understanding, and of a sound heart. When we go out into the world again, may we go as men who have seen God, and may the vision of the Lord leave its impress of light upon our very countenances, so that men will know in what high heights we have been by the shining of our faces and the fragrance of our robes. Amen.