Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge,
Ver. 20. Have not I written to thee excellent things?] Heb., Princely things; principles for princes, rare and royal sentences. The word signifies, say some, the third man in the kingdom for authority and dignity. Others read the words thus: Have not I three times written for thee concerning counsels and knowledge, - meaning his three books, proverbial, penitential, nuptial. The Canticles were penned perhaps in his younger years, saith one, a when his affections were more warm, active, and lively in spirituals; the Proverbs in his manly, ripe age, when his prudence and parts were at highest, most grave, solid, settled; Ecclesiastes in his old age, &c.
a Key of the Bible, by Mr Roberts.