Proverbs 25:1

These [are] are also proverbs of Solomon,.... These that follow to the end of the book, as well as those which go before. Here begins a "third", some say a "fourth" part of this book.

These are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out. Proverbs 25:1-28.

Chapters 25 Observations about kings, . A caution against contentions, ; against revealing of secrets, . The reason of this caution, ; with divers other rules, . These, which are contained in this and the following chapters. The men of Hezekiah; certain persons appointed by Hezekiah for that work, whether prophets, as Isaiah, Hosea, or Micah, who lived in his days, or some others, it is neither evident nor material. Most of them are political precepts, and such as in a special manner concerned Hezekiah and other princes to know, for the conduct of their house and kingdom. Copied out; either out of other books or writings of Solomon, concerning natural or civil things, of which we read ; or out of the historical records which were then extant concerning Solomon’ s speeches and actions in the history of the kings of Judah, which is oft mentioned in Holy Scripture.

Proverbs 25:1 These [are] also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out.Ver. 1. These also are proverbs of Solomon, which the men.] Solomon "hath his thousand out of this his vineyard of three thousand proverbs," and these men of Hezekiah that kept, and yet communicated, the fruit thereof, "their two hundred." It is good for men to be doing what they are able for the glory of God and good of others, if it be but to copy out another man’ s work, and prepare it for the press. Them that any way honour God he will honour; that is a bargain of his own making, and we may trust to it. Prima sequentem honestum est in secundis tertiisque consistere. - Cic, de Orat.

XXV. 7. THE THIRD GREAT OF THE BOOK; ANOTHER OF , CHIEFLY IN (Proverbs 25-29). (1) These are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah copied out.—To this time they had existed, it may be, partly by oral tradition, partly in writing, but now Hezekiah, in his anxiety to preserve these sacred memorials of the past, had them copied out and formed into one collection. To his care we probably also owe the compilation of Books II. (Psalms 42-72) and III. (73-89) of the Psalter, in the former of which are included several psalms of David’s which had not found a place in Book I., though this last-named book consists almost, if not entirely, of psalms ascribed to him. In the same manner the present book (Proverbs 25-29) contains proverbs of Solomon which apparently were not known to the compiler of the previous collection.

CHAPTER XXV A new series of Solomon's proverbs. God's glory in mysteries. Observations concerning kings. Avoid contentions. Opportune speech. The faithful ambassador. Delicacies to be sparingly used. Avoid familiarity. Amusements not grateful to a distressed mind. Do good to your enemies. The misery of dwelling with a scold. The necessity of moderation and self-government. NOTES ON CHAP. XXV Verse 1. These are also proverbs of Solomon] In my old MS. Bible, this verse concludes the preceding chapter. It seems that the remaining part of this book contains proverbs which had been collected by the order of King Hezekiah, and were added to the preceding book as a sort of supplement, having been collected from traditionary sayings of Solomon. And as the men of Hezekiah may mean Isaiah, Shebna, and other inspired men, who lived in that time, we may consider them as of equal authority with the rest, else such men could not have united them to the sacred book. The chronological notes in the margin of this and the five following chapters denote the time when the proverbs contained in them were collected together in the reign of Hezekiah, about two hundred and seventy years after the death of Solomon.

V. Fourth Collection of Proverbs. Chaps. 25–291. The Title. See Introd., ch. iii. p. 24. This Title is interesting as affording a proof that a revival of literary activity accompanied the revival of religion and of national prosperity which marked the reign of Hezekiah. Hezekiah himself was a poet of no mean order (Isaiah 38:9 ff.); and “the men of Hezekiah” were doubtless a body of scribes engaged under the direction of the king in literary labours. But beside this, this brief title is one of those “fragments of history,” which, as Professor Sayce has shown, “have been illuminated by the progress of oriental research,” and “the importance and true significance of which can now be realised for the first time.” This Title points, he thinks, to the existence of a royal library in Jerusalem, into which these proverbs, never before edited, were now gathered and “copied out,” and similar to the libraries which are now known to have existed in the cities of Babylonia and Assyria. “The vassalage of Judah to the king of Assyria in the reign of Ahaz had necessarily led to the introduction of Assyrian culture into Jerusalem. Ahaz himself had led the way. In the court of the palace he had erected a sundial, a copy of the gnomons which had been used for centuries in the civilised kingdoms of the Euphrates and the Tigris. But the erection of the sundial was not the only sign of Assyrian influence. The most striking feature of Assyrian and Babylonian culture was the libraries, where scribes were kept constantly employed, not only in writing and compiling new books, but in copying and re-editing older ones. The ‘men of Hezekiah’ who ‘copied out’ the proverbs of Solomon performed duties exactly similar to the royal scribes in Nineveh.” (The Higher Criticism and the Verdict of the Monuments, pp. 475, 476, 4th edition.) copied out] ἐξεγράψαντο, LXX.; transtulerunt, Vulg.

A new section. Copied out - In the sense of a transfer from oral tradition to writing.

1. These are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out — This is the title of this section.