Ralph Wardlaw Lectures on Proverbs - Proverbs 25:1 - 25:7

Online Resource Library

Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | Download

Ralph Wardlaw Lectures on Proverbs - Proverbs 25:1 - 25:7


(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)

This Chapter Verse Commentaries:



LECTURE LXXVI.



Pro_25:1-7.



"These are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out. It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter. The heaven for height and the earth for depth, and the heart of kings is unsearchable. 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. Put not forth thyself in the presence of the king, and stand not in the place of great men: for 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."



At this point commences the fourth division of this Book, extending to the close of the twenty-ninth chapter.-In 1Ki_4:32, it is said of Solomon, in enumerating the particulars of his extraordinary wisdom,-"he spoke three thousand proverbs." And what he is thus said to have spoken, it is evidently designed to be understood, he committed to writing. The full collection of these sententious maxims of wisdom had been kept, it would appear, in the possession of the house of David, or of the kings of Judah. The selection in the preceding part of the Book had been made by Solomon himself. Those which follow were added in the time of good king Hezekiah; by the direction, there is every reason to suppose, of that exemplary prince, for the religious benefit of his people. "The men of Hezekiah" stands in the Septuagint translation, "the friends of Hezekiah"-meaning, in all likelihood, Isaiah and other inspired men. Like the proverbs-which precede, these must be regarded, by their admission into the Jewish canon of Scripture, as having the sanction, not only of the wisdom and experience of Solomon, but of divine authority; and we owe them the same reverential regard as we owe to other parts of God's Word.



The "men of Hezekiah" by whom they were "copied out" were employed, by the providence of God, in doing a service to all future generations. They have added to the precious practical instructions by which we are directed in our conduct on earth, and are trained for the perfection of heaven. Thus are there various kinds and degrees of usefulness in the church of God. Solomon, in selecting and composing these gems of moral and spiritual instruction, was more honoured than those by whom they were merely copied; but the copyists were of eminent service.-And what would have become of the church of God, in ages preceding the invention of the art of printing, but for the labours of scribes, in taking copies of what had been "given by inspiration of God?"



Verse Pro_25:2. "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings to search out a matter."-Without entering at large into the interesting subject of the union of manifestation and concealment,-of discovery and of secrecy,-in the divine administration, (which the style of exposition does not allow,) perhaps the following truths may be considered as comprehended in this brief but striking statement-"It is the glory of God to conceal a thing:"-



1. Taking it in contrast with the latter part of the verse-"but the honour of kings is to search out a matter,"-there is implied the idea that the divine knowledge is universal, perfect, and free from everything of the nature of inquiry, investigation, effort, in the acquisition. His acquaintance with all things is, in the strictest sense, intuitive, and, in the strictest sense, complete. He requires no "searching out" in order to discover anything; nor is it possible to make any addition to His knowledge. The past, the present, and the future are alike before His all-comprehensive mind. He sees all the present. He remembers all the past. He fore-sees all the future. His knowledge is "light without any darkness at all;" and it is light that is equally clear through the immensity of the universe, and through all time and all eternity!



2. The language implies God's entire independence and supremacy, as a part of His glory. He "giveth not account of any of his matters," further than, in sovereignty, He sees meet to do. He conceals when he pleases. He discloses when he pleases:-"Who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?" and who can demand the disclosure of any one of the secrets of the infinite and independent Mind?



3. The impenetrable depth of his counsels is a part of God's glory. His "judgments are a great deep." What line of created wisdom can fathom them?-



"Not angels, that stand round his throne,

Can search his secret will!"



"Canst thou, by searching, find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? It is high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know? The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea." "O the depth of the riches, and wisdom, and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" This is fitted to inspire us, His intelligent creatures, with "reverence and godly fear." In the sovereign secrecy, the unapproachable reservation, the unfathomable mysteriousness of the divine counsels,-in the very requirement that we humbly bow, in adoring submission, where we cannot comprehend, without asking a question, or urging a further disclosure:-in all this, there is something that gives the Creator His proper place. There is in it a sacredness, an awfulness, that mates us feel, as we ought to do, our infinite distance. This is God's glory.



4. In all God's most mysterious and incomprehensible ways, He is entitled to entire and undoubting confidence. His very secrecy is a test of principle, and thus one of the means of bringing glory to his name in the exercise of principle in our feelings and conduct towards him. Were there no concealment, there would be no trial of faith, no trust. And while God brings honour to himself by thus drawing forth the confiding filial love of his children, He lays up glory for his name against the day of future disclosure, when all shall be made plain,-the day of the "revelation of the righteous judgments of God!"



It is His glory, that, after all the discoveries of himself made to us, both in his works and in his word, we yet are constrained to exclaim-"How little a portion is known of Him!" The little is full of wonder; but infinitude is still in concealment. And even of the vast and complicated schemes of providence and of grace, how much is there, after all we see and all He has told us, respecting which we are still left to say-"The day will declare it!"



"But it is the honour of kings to search out a matter."-The general meaning and spirit of these words, from the position of contrast in which they stand, appears to be, that it belongs not to man, how elevated soever in authority and honour he may be, to assume airs of divinity, and presume to think of imitating the peculiar prerogatives of the supreme Ruler. It is the province of earthly rulers to keep their own place, and, instead of "thinking of themselves more highly than they ought to think," to "think soberly," and, in humbleness of mind, to endeavour, in the application of all their powers, to fulfil the ends for which they have been entrusted with their power.



It becomes kings to imitate, in the administration of their government, the righteousness and the mercy of the divine;-but there are points in which all imitation would be presumption. They must not imitate Him in intuitive discernment and instantaneous decision; nor must they imitate Him in profound secrecy and impenetrability of counsel and procedure.



As to the former:-it must be the effect of one or other of these things-pride, or vanity, or hasty passion, or indolent remissness. And no one of these is an honour to a prince, but the very reverse. In every case of judgment that involves the rights and affects the well-being of individual subjects, and in every measure that embraces more extensively the prosperity and happiness of the community, and may either, on the one hand, effectually promote these, or on the other, expose them to injury or to risk, it is his incumbent duty, and it is his "honour,"-instead of hasty and peremptory decision,-to search out the matter; to consider, to consult, to compare advices, to weigh all evidence, on either side, with scrupulous conscientiousness,-laying together, in regard to every public measure, all its various bearings and tendencies, and possible or probable results. Intuition belongs only to God; and instant decision can be warrantable only in the case of him who possesses it.



And as to the latter:-it too is the result of pride and selfsufficiency,-of the arrogance of royalty. From nothing else can the assumption proceed of studious secrecy, and distance, and elevation, and mystery, into which their subjects beneath them must not presume to pry, or attempt to penetrate;-and the affectation of deciding and acting on grounds that must by no means be known, but wrapt up in the mystery of sovereignty and the haughty reserve of false greatness. Such procedure, considered as the general character of the dealings of royalty, maybe dictated by fear; but not by attachment nor confidence; nor is it fitted to engender either. The honour of a king, in "searching out a matter" is-to show, in his general procedure, with openness and unreserve, the grounds on which it is founded,-thus manifesting confidence in his people, a desire to show them and to satisfy them of his real regard, while, at the same time, he keeps his place, maintains his legitimate authority, and is unswayed, to the right hand or to the left, by any momentary clamour of popular threatening. This is his glory. This gives the most desirable and enviable of all honour to a ruler,-a place in the hearts of his people, a throne in their affections.



The same principle, it may be observed, applies to all in authority, as well as to kings,-whether in the state or in the church; to all magistrates and judges, to all private arbiters, to masters in reference to their servants, to parents in reference to their children; to pastors of churches, and to brethren entrusted with any matter for investigation. It is at once duty and honour to search out everything that comes under their cognizance. The honour should ever be regarded as lying in the fairness and impartial justice of the decision, and in the completeness with which it meets every branch and bearing of it, so as to leave no ground for subsequent dissatisfaction and complaint; not in the mere off-hand and summary quickness with which it is dispatched, and by which fools seek to get to themselves the credit of extraordinary perspicacity,-of seeing at a glance through intricacies that would cost others a process of anxious scrutiny.



In the next verse a comparison is intended: "as the heaven for height, and the earth for depth, so the heart of kings is unsearchable."



It is quite true, notwithstanding what we have before said, and in perfect consistency with it, that a wise prince will, in regard to some of the measures of his administration, be on the reserve. There are plans which depend on secrecy for their success, and of which the premature disclosure would be the ruin. There may at times be secrets that are confidential between governments, as well as between individuals,-of which the divulging would be a breach of the faith of treaties, and might expose the rights and liberties of other nations to hazard.



I scarcely think, however, had this been the sentiment intended, it would have been expressed in terms so very strong. That "the heart of kings is unsearchable," and as incapable of being known as the height of the heaven to be measured and scaled, or the depth of the earth to be penetrated,-is surely too strong a mode of expressing the propriety of secrecy, howsoever profound, in regard to some of their measures. As the third verse seems to stand in opposition to the second, I am inclined to think that it is not to be understood as commendatory, or as expressing what is right and ought to be; but rather as having reference to the generally prevailing character of the monarchs of those days, and of those eastern countries. They were despots;-their governments absolute, and inimical to everything like popular freedom. Decisions were come to, and sentences pronounced, and both carried into instant execution; persons were seized; property was confiscated; liberty was forfeited; life itself was taken away, without warning, and for reasons which nobody knew, and nobody dared to ask: and complaint was more than unavailing;-it was unpardonable presumption, for which death was lenity. All was hidden, all mysterious; and no one could be sure for an hour what might, amidst the dark intrigues of a despotic court, be impending over him. With public measures, it was the same. Wars were waged; treasures were lavished; blood flowed; for causes which many a time had their origin in personal caprice, or whim, or resentment. The secret depths of the despot's bosom were out of reach.



Should it, on the other hand, be thought unlikely that Solomon, himself a king, should speak in terms so strongly condemnatory of kings in general,-and should it be thought more reasonable, as by many it will, and perhaps justly, that the words are descriptive of the greatly superior difficulties and weighty interests and cares of royalty, to those in all ordinary and more private occupations-I cannot illustrate this view of the subject better than in the language of another:-"The affairs of government are so various and complicated, they have so many designs to carry on, so many mischiefs to obviate, so many opposite tempers of men to consider, and so many difficulties to encounter, that persons in a lower station cannot possibly understand the reasons of a great part of their conduct, or the ends which they have in view. It is therefore presumptuous in subjects to be rash with their censures on the public management. Those who take a liberty to despise dominions, and speak evil of dignities, should be sure that they do not speak evil of those things which they understand not."



Verses Pro_25:4-5. "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." Here too is a comparison. As in order to the production of a beautiful vessel, such as "the refiner" would approve and commend, the material of which the vessel is to be made must be purged of its alloy;-so, in order to the general government of a prince being of a nature to prove conducive to the benefit of his people and to the stability of his throne, the wicked must be removed from his presence and from all intimacy with his life and counsels.-How many princes, themselves well-principled and inclined to what is right, have been misled by the influence of profligate and artful counsellors,-especially when their own minds, though rightly disposed, are deficient in vigour and decision of character! They are then easily made the dupes of clever but unprincipled men, who can set measures of the worst and most impolitic kind in lights that are imposing and captivating; and who can not only "make the worse appear the better reason," but by the acts of flattery undermine their better principles and gradually assimilate them to themselves, and bring them to do as they will. Nay, even the very best princes may sometimes be thwarted and weakened, and prevented from carrying out their own measures of wise policy, by the too great ascendency of certain individuals, both in the state and in the army. David felt this, when he lamented the fall of the murdered Abner, whose death, which had been perpetrated by Joab, he weakly allowed to pass unvisited by the vengeance which the law of God demanded.*



* See 2Sa_3:38-39.



The sentiment is, as we have before noticed, most false and dangerous, that private or personal character is of little consequence in a prince or in his counsellors;-that what is chiefly to be looked to is, right political principles, with intelligence and firmness to work them consistently and steadily;-that, in a word, public and political character is alone to be minded. Nothing can be plainer than that the principles of private character will infallibly infuse their influence into a man's official and public conduct. Surely we can repose greater confidence in the counsels and procedure of the man whom we know to be under the influence of sobriety, purity, integrity, and piety, than in him who is destitute of all right moral principle, and under the dominion of profligacy, unrighteousness, incontinence, selfishness, and irreligion! The prevention of the corruption of a monarch's principles by the "taking away the wicked from before him," tends both to the prosperity of the people and to the stability of the government. The example of the prince contributes to the increase in the community of the "righteousness which exalteth a nation;" and the manifestation of steadfast integrity, and of conscientious solicitude to do all that can be done for the public good, and not for mere personal and selfish ends, attaches the people to the throne. And this attachment is the prince's best security,-as well as his richest earthly reward.



Let us not forget-since we are not ourselves either the possessors or the heirs of thrones, however interested in the characters of those who occupy them,-that there is a general principle in the sentiment of these verses, which admits of other applications. That which corrupts princes corrupts the occupants of all the different stations in society as well as them. We have here, as exemplified in the high places of the earth, the apostolic maxim-"Evil communications corrupt good manners." If you would have your children "vessels for the finer;" if you would have the dross and the tin of their native corruption effectually purged away; if you would have them "walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father,"-then must you, as far as lieth in you, "take away the wicked from before them;"-you must keep them from the contaminating contact of the unprincipled and ungodly,-from "the counsels of the workers of iniquity." They may counteract and nullify all your efforts for their moral and spiritual benefit,-and by their perverting influence, "pierce you through with many sorrows."