Proverbs 25:1

These are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

XXV.

7.THE THIRD GREAT DIVISION OF THE BOOK; ANOTHER COLLECTION OF SOLOMONIC PROVERBS, CHIEFLY PARABOLIC IN CHARACTER (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.

Benson Commentary

Proverbs 25:1. These — Which are contained in this and the following chapters; are also the proverbs of Solomon — Lessons on piety and virtue, sententiously delivered by Solomon, and collected out of his works by some of the servants of that good king, Hezekiah; who, setting himself with all his heart to reform the people of Judah, among other things which he did for that purpose, and wherein God blessed his endeavours, (2 Chronicles 31:21,) caused these proverbs to be transcribed out of the ancient records, for their fuller instruction.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

25:1-3 God needs not search into any thing; nothing can be hid from him. But it is the honour of rulers to search out matters, to bring to light hidden works of darkness. 4,5. For a prince to suppress vice, and reform his people, is the best way to support his government. 6,7. Religion teaches us humility and self-denial. He who has seen the glory of the Lord in Christ Jesus, will feel his own unworthiness. 8-10. To be hasty in beginning strife, will bring into difficulties. War must at length end, and might better be prevented. It is so in private quarrels; do all thou canst to settle the matter. 11,12. A word of counsel, or reproof, rightly spoken, is especially beautiful, as fine fruit becomes still more beautiful in silver baskets. 13. See what ought to be the aim of him that is trusted with any business; to be faithful. A faithful minister, Christ's messenger, should be thus acceptable to us. 14. He who pretends to have received or given that which he never had, is like the morning cloud, that disappoints those who look for rain. 15. Be patient to bear a present hurt. Be mild to speak without passion; for persuasive language is the most effectual to prevail over the hardened mind. 16. God has given us leave to use grateful things, but we are cautioned against excess.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A new section.

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

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 25

Pr 25:1-28.

1. The character of these proverbs sustains the title (see [646]Introduction).

also—refers to the former part of the book.

copied out—literally, "transferred," that is, from some other book to this; not given from memory.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

PROVERBS Chapters 25

Observations about kings, Proverbs 25:1-7. A caution against contentions, Proverbs 25:8; against revealing of secrets, Proverbs 25:9. The reason of this caution, Proverbs 25:10; with divers other rules, Proverbs 25:11-28.

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 1 Kings 4:32; 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.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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. The Targum and Syriac version read,

"these are also the deep proverbs of Solomon;''

and the Arabic version adds,

"the exposition of which is difficult;''

which the men Hezekiah king of Judah copied out; out of the writings of Solomon; out of his three thousand proverbs, it, nay be; or out of the public records, which contained an account of his words and deeds. Who these men were is not certain; perhaps his ministers of state, Eliakim, Sheban, and Joah; or the prophets of his time, Isaiah, Micah, and Hosea: the Targum and Syriac version call them his "friends". Whoever they were, no doubt they were employed by Hezekiah; and which is recorded to his honour, that he was so careful to preserve such useful sayings, and annex them to those that were already collected and put together as above. This verse, it is likely, was written by one of the copiers. The proverbs begin in Proverbs 25:2.

Geneva Study Bible

These are also proverbs of Solomon, which the {a} men of Hezekiah king of Judah {b} copied out.

(a) Whom Hezekiah appointed for this purpose.

(b) That is, gathered out of various books of Solomon.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

V. Fourth Collection of Proverbs. Chaps. 25–29

1. 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.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 1-ch. 29. - Part VI. SECOND GREAT COLLECTION OF SOLOMONIC PROVERBS, gathered by "the men of Hezekiah," in which wisdom is set forth as the greatest blessing to the king and his subjects. Verse 1. - The superscription: These are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah King of Judah copied out. The word "also" implies that a previous collection was known to the compiler of the present book - probably the one which we have in Proverbs 10-22:16, of which nine proverbs are inserted here. But there was still a large number of proverbial sayings attributed to Solomon, and preserved partly by oral tradition and partly in writing, which it was advisable to collect and secure before they were lost. The zeal of Hezekiah took this in hand. He was not, as far as we know, an author himself, but he evidently felt a warm interest in literature, and "the men of Hezekiah," not mentioned elsewhere, must have been his counsellors and scholars, to whom was entrusted the duty of gathering together into a volume the scattered sayings of the wise king. Among those contemporaries, doubtless, Isaiah was eminent, and it is not improbable that Shebna the scribe and Josh the chronicler were members of the learned fraternity (2 Kings 18:18). The verb rightly translated "copied out" (athak) means, properly, "to remove," "to transfer" from one place to another (transtulerunt, Vulgate); hence it signifies here to copy into a book words taken from other writings or people's mouths. The sayings thus collected, whether truly Solomon's or not, were extant under his name, and were regarded as worthy of his reputation for wisdom. The title is given in the Septuagint, thus: Αῦται αἱ παιδεῖαι Σαλωμῶντος αἱ ἀδιάκριτοι α}ς ἐξεγραψαντο οἱ φίλοι Ἐζεκίου τοῦ βασιλέως τῆς Ἰουδαίας. What is meant by ἀδιάκριτοι is uncertain. It has been translated "impossible to distinguish," equivalent to "miscellaneous;" "beyond doubt," equivalent to "genuine," "hard to interpret," as in Polyb., 15:12, 9. St. James (James 3:17) applies the term to wisdom, but the interpreters there are not agreed as to the meaning, it being rendered "without partiality," "without variance," "without doubtfulness," etc. It seems best to take the word as used by the LXX. to signify "mixed," or "miscellaneous." Proverbs 25:1

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

1 These also are proverbs of Solomon,

   Which the men of Hezekiah the king of Judah have collected.

Hezekiah, in his concern for the preservation of the national literature, is the Jewish Pisistratos, and the "men of Hezekiah" are like the collectors of the poems of Homer, who were employed by Pisistratos for that purpose. גּם־אלּה is the subject, and in Cod. 1294, and in the editions of Bomberg 1515, Hartmann 1595, Nissel, Jablonsky, Michaelis, has Dech. This title is like that of the second supplement, Proverbs 24:23. The form of the name חזקיּה, abbreviated from יחזקיּהוּ (חזקיּהוּ), is not favourable to the derivation of the title from the collectors themselves. The lxx translates: Αὗται αἱ παιδεῖαι Σαλωμῶντος αἱ ἀδιάκριτοι (cf. James 3:17), ἃς ἐξεγράψαντο οἱ φίλοι Ἐζεκίου, for which Aquila has ἃς μετῆραν ἄνδρες ἐζεκίου, Jerome, transtulerunt. העתיק signifies, like (Arab.) nsaḥ, נסח, to snatch away, to take away, to transfer from another place; in later Heb.: to transcribe from one book into another, to translate from one language into another: to take from another place and place together; the Whence? remains undetermined: according to the anachronistic rendering of the Midrash מגניזתם, i.e., from the Apocrypha; according to Hitzig, from the mouths of the people; more correctly Euchel and others: from their scattered condition, partly oral, partly written. Vid., regarding העתיק, Zunz, in Deutsch-Morgenl. Zeitsch. xxv. 147f., and regarding the whole title, vol. i. pp. 5, 6; regarding the forms of proverbs in this second collection, vol. i. p. 17; regarding their relation to the first, and their end and aim, vol. i. pp. 25, 26. The first Collection of Proverbs is a Book for Youth, and this second a Book for the People.