Proverbs25chapter 25

Proverbs 25:1

These are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out is the book's fifth header, and it states plainly what the canon rarely says so directly, that inspired material could be gathered and preserved by later scribes rather than only written once and left untouched. Hezekiah reigned roughly two and a half centuries after Solomon, and Henry reads the note as the canon's own picture of faithful editorial work, a reforming king's men collecting scattered sayings rather than inventing new ones.

Proverbs 25:2-3

It is the glory of God to conceal a thing opens the Hezekiah collection with a proverb about kingship itself, and the honour of kings is to search out a matter completes the pair by contrast, God's glory in mystery answered by a king's glory in diligent inquiry. The heaven for height, and the earth for depth, and the heart of kings is unsearchable widens the comparison, a ruler's mind kept as hidden from ordinary view as the sky's height, and Gill reads the verse as counsel for a king's own conduct as much as a statement about kings in general.

Proverbs 25:4-5

Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer gives the metallurgy that the next verse applies directly to government: take away the wicked from before the king, and his throne shall be established in righteousness. Bridges reads the pairing as deliberate, corrupt counselors named as the dross that must be removed before a kingdom's silver can be trusted, the same refining image the prophets use of Israel itself.

Proverbs 25:6-7

Put not forth thyself in the presence of the king, and stand not in the place of great men counsels modesty in rank, and the reason given anticipates the Gospels: 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. Henry notes the older writers heard the same principle in Christ's parable of the wedding guest at Luke 14:8-10, a teaching drawn straight from this proverb's own logic of humility rewarded rather than assumed.

Proverbs 25:8-10

Go not forth hastily to strive warns against rushing into a dispute before knowing how it will end, lest thy neighbour hath put thee to shame with facts the accuser had not checked. Debate thy cause with thy neighbour himself, and discover not a secret to another keeps a quarrel contained to the two parties, since a secret told to a third person to strengthen one's case can turn into infamy that never turns away once it has escaped. Gill reads the sequence as a small law of conflict, private matters kept private until they must not be.

Proverbs 25:11

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver is among the most quoted lines in the book, a rare word ordinarily rendered fitly or well-timed set against a costly image, gold fruit set into silver carving. Delitzsch reads the picture as praising not eloquence alone but timing, the same true word landing well at one moment and badly at another, so fitness rather than mere content is the proverb's real subject.

Proverbs 25:12

As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear pairs with the verse before it, a matched image of costly jewelry for a matched subject, correction well received rather than a word well timed. Bridges reads obedient ear as the hinge of the whole proverb, since the same wise rebuke ornaments one listener and is despised by another, the value depending on the hearer as much as the speaker.

Proverbs 25:13

the cold of snow in the time of harvest: As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to them that send him praises reliability with an image of relief in the middle of hot, exhausting work. He refresheth the soul of his masters names the effect directly, and Henry reads the verse as a small tribute to an unglamorous virtue, the messenger who simply does what he was sent to do valued as highly as any more visible service.

Proverbs 25:14

clouds and wind without rain: Whoso boasteth himself of a false gift is like clouds and wind without rain answers the faithful messenger of the previous verse with his opposite, a man whose promise gathers like a storm and produces nothing. Gill reads the image as especially pointed in a farming setting, where clouds without rain were not a mild disappointment but a real loss, matching the real cost of a promised gift that never arrives.

Proverbs 25:15

By long forbearing is a prince persuaded, and a soft tongue breaketh the bone pairs patience with gentleness against a ruler's resistance, and the bone image is the proverb's surprise, the softest instrument breaking what force could not. Bridges reads the verse alongside 15:1's soft answer turning away wrath, both proverbs teaching that persistence and gentleness together move even hard, powerful men.

Proverbs 25:16-17

Hast thou found honey, eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it turns a table proverb into a rule of moderation for anything good, since even honey sickens in excess. Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbour's house, lest he be weary of thee, and so hate thee applies the same principle to friendship, and Gill reads the pairing as one lesson given twice, the best things, sweetness and company alike, ruined by too much rather than too little.

Proverbs 25:18-20

A man that beareth false witness against his neighbour is a maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow stacks three weapons for one sin, a false word as capable of ruin as any blade. Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint moves from the weapon to the disappointment, trust placed where it cannot bear weight, and the final image, singing songs to a heavy heart, compared to taking away a garment in cold weather and vinegar upon nitre, is Bridges's example of the collection's care for emotional timing, comfort offered wrongly doing real harm rather than none.

Proverbs 25:21-22

If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink is quoted directly at Rom 12:20, Paul carrying the proverb's own words into his teaching on overcoming evil with good. Thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head is read two ways by the bench, either shame that may soften an enemy's conscience or, in one older reading, a figure for God's own coming judgment made more certain by the kindness shown; the Lord shall reward thee closes the verse with the promise either reading leaves standing.

Proverbs 25:23

The north wind driveth away rain, so doth an angry countenance a backbiting tongue draws on the weather patterns of the land, a north wind there commonly clearing the sky, to picture a firm and visibly displeased face silencing a talebearer before he can finish his work. Delitzsch reads the proverb as counsel for anyone who must sit in company with a backbiter, since a plainly disapproving look does what argument often cannot.

Proverbs 25:24

It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman and in a wide house echoes 21:9 almost word for word, the collection repeating its own sharpest household proverb rather than smoothing it away. Henry reads the repetition as the book's honesty about domestic strife, a cramped rooftop corner genuinely preferable to a spacious home filled with constant contention.

Proverbs 25:25-26

As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country pictures relief across distance, a traveler's report finally arrived, and the next verse turns the same freshness image dark: a righteous man falling down before the wicked is as a troubled fountain, and a corrupt spring. Gill reads the pairing as deliberate contrast, one verse the water a thirsty soul longs for, the next the water no one can safely drink, a righteous man's compromise spoiling what should have stayed clear.

Proverbs 25:27-28

It is not good to eat much honey returns to the chapter's earlier image and extends it, so for men to search their own glory is not glory, ambition for one's own praise sickening the soul the way excess honey sickens the body. He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls closes the collection with its plainest picture of self-control, a person with no inward government left exposed the way an unwalled city lies open to any raider.