Proverbs 25:1

Proverbs 25:1 is a heading for the collection that runs through chapter 29 (Proverbs 25–29). “These are also proverbs of Solomon” tells us the sayings come from the same king as the earlier ones, and the word “also” marks them as a further collection added to what came before. Most of them are short sayings, often of two lines, built on comparisons and observations of life, and many deal with kings, courts, justice and the conduct of rulers and their subjects. They rest on the foundation the book laid at its opening, that “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7).

The word for proverbs, mâshâl, means a saying, proverb, byword, parable or oracle. Here it names a collection of wise sayings, each one short enough to remember and shaped to teach. Solomon reigned over Israel in the tenth century BC, a time of great prosperity, and Scripture records him as the author of a great many proverbs and songs (1 Kings 4:32).

Hezekiah ruled the southern kingdom of Judah in the late eighth and early seventh centuries BC, around 715 to 686 BC, well over two hundred years after Solomon. He was one of Judah’s most faithful kings. He removed idolatry, restored the right worship of the temple, and trusted the LORD when Assyria threatened the land (2 Kings 18:3–7).

Verse 2 sets two lines against each other, as Proverbs often does: God against kings, glory against honour, concealing against searching out. Both lines are true at once, and each belongs to its own sphere.

The word for glory, kâbôwd, means glory, honour and splendour, and it can also mean wealth. Used of God it speaks of his majesty. The verb “to conceal”, çâthar, means to hide or conceal. The proverb says that God’s glory shows in the things he keeps hidden. He holds knowledge far beyond what any of his creatures can grasp, and he keeps the right to make known what he will, when he will. The LORD says of himself, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8–9).

Verse 3 sets two pictures from creation beside the king. “The heaven for height”: the word shâmayim means the heavens, the sky above us with its clouds and its stars, a height no one could reach or measure. “And the earth for depth”: ʻômeq means depth, here the deep places under the earth, hidden from anyone who walks on it. Beside these the proverb sets the heart of kings, and says it too is unsearchable.

The heart, lêb, is in Scripture the centre of a person: thought, will, feeling and conscience together. A king’s heart is his whole inner life, his plans, fears and purposes. The word behind “unsearchable”, chêqer, means a searching or finding out, and the line says that the king’s heart is beyond any such searching. It is close kin to the verb châqar in verse 2, and the two proverbs answer each other. The king searches out the matters of his kingdom, and his own heart remains beyond the search of those he rules. The comparison with the heavens and the deep is a deliberate overstatement, and it makes the point vivid.

A king carried decisions of war and peace, justice and the welfare of thousands. His court was a place of planning, alliances and pressure, and his deepest thoughts were rarely made known to his people or even to his closest advisers. That is part of the weight of the throne, which leaves a ruler alone with his choices, as David knew when he took up the kingship of all Israel (2 Samuel 5) and Solomon when his reign began (1 Kings 3).

Verse 4 turns to the refiner’s workshop. Silver, keçeph, was named from its pale colour, and the word can also mean money. Silver as it came from the ore, or melted down from old pieces, held impurities called dross, çîyg, the refuse that separates from metal when it is smelted. Dross left in silver weakens it and lowers its worth. The refiner heated the metal until the dross rose to the surface, and then skimmed it away. “Take away”, hâgâh, is the plain word for removing it.

When that is done, “there shall come forth a vessel for the finer”. The verb yâtsâʼ means to go or come out, and here pure metal comes out of the fire. A vessel, kᵉlîy, is anything made for use: a tool, an implement, a utensil or a container. The finer is the refiner, from tsâraph, to melt and refine metal. The silver is now fit for his purpose, ready to be worked into something useful and fine. The work is hard and exacting, and it ends in something of real value.

Verse 5 applies the refiner’s lesson to the king. “Take away the wicked from before the king”: the wicked, râshâʻ, are those who are guilty, morally wrong and ungodly. “Before the king” places them in his presence, among the advisers, officials and judges who stand near the throne and shape its decisions. In a court that meant bribery, favouritism and self-serving counsel, all of which turn justice aside and weaken the king’s rule. Even a good king’s own uprightness is undone when wicked men speak in his ear and act in his name.

“And his throne shall be established in righteousness.” The throne stands for the king’s rule as a whole. The verb kûwn means to set up, make firm and establish, and of a throne it means a reign that is secure and lasting. The word for righteousness, tsedeq, means rightness, righteousness and justice, in conduct, in judgment, in speech and in honest weights. A throne established in righteousness is firm because it is just. Proverbs says the same elsewhere: “for the throne is established by righteousness” (Proverbs 16:12), and “The king by judgment establisheth the land” (Proverbs 29:4).

David made this his own resolve as king: “I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the LORD” (Psalm 101:8). Israel prayed for a king who would judge the people with righteousness and defend the poor (Psalm 72:1–4). The sayings that follow in the chapter go on with life at court, counselling humility in the king’s presence (Proverbs 25:6–7) and care in handling disputes (Proverbs 25:8–10). Hezekiah, whose men copied this saying, was himself a king who cleared idolatry out of Judah.

Each of these sayings finds its fullest meaning in Jesus Christ. Solomon’s wisdom, preserved by Hezekiah’s men, points to the one who is “the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24), in whom “are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). He is the Word made flesh (John 1:1–14), and he came to fulfil the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 5:17).

God’s glory is to conceal, and in Christ he has made himself known. The Son is “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15) and “the brightness of his glory” (Hebrews 1:3). Paul speaks of “the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory” (1 Corinthians 2:7–8), now made known in the gospel. The greatest matter anyone can search out is Christ himself, as the wise men from the east searched for the King of the Jews (Matthew 2:1–2).

The hearts of earthly kings are hidden from their people, but this King’s heart is open to all. Jesus said, “I spake openly to the world... and in secret have I said nothing” (John 18:20). He knew what was in man (John 2:25), and his own heart is shown in his invitation to all who labour and are heavy laden to come and find rest (Matthew 11:28–30).

He is also the pure vessel. He was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15). As the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), he was made sin for us so that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (2 Corinthians 5:21). In him we become new creatures (2 Corinthians 5:17), made for the good works God prepared (Ephesians 2:10), and the Spirit goes on refining us until we are conformed to his image (Romans 8:29).

And he is the King whose throne is established in righteousness. On the cross he disarmed principalities and powers (Colossians 2:15). When he returns he will rule with a rod of iron (Revelation 19:15) and gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and those who do iniquity (Matthew 13:41–43). Of the increase of his government and peace “there shall be no end”, and it is upheld “with judgment and with justice” for ever (Isaiah 9:7).

These five verses give us a God whose glory is greater than all we can search out, and who has still taken care that his wisdom reaches us, kept by a faithful king’s scribes across the centuries. They give the rulers of this world their charge: to search out the truth, to clear away corruption, and to rest their thrones on righteousness. They show us that the hidden hearts of the powerful lie open before the LORD, and that he refines his people as silver is refined, to make them fit for his use. Above all they point to Jesus, the wisdom of God in person, whose heart is open to us and whose throne will stand in righteousness for ever.