Proverbs 25:1 - Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Bible Comments

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

Proverbs 25:1-28. Here begins the third part of the whole book: a selection from the 3,000 proverbs which Solomon spoke (1 Kings 4:32; Ecclesiastes 12:9), copied out nearly 300 years after by "the men of Hezekiah" (perhaps Isaiah and Micah, Shebnah and Joah, 2 Kin. 28:18). The bringing forth of the Word of God from its obscurity was a fitting accompaniment of the reformation which that good king undertook (2 Chronicles 31:21; cf. 2 Chronicles 29:1-36 and 2 Chron

30), as in that effected by Josiah subsequently. Frequent quotations from this part in the New Testament stamp its canonicity (cf. Proverbs 25:5-7 with Luke 14:8-10; Proverbs 25:22 with Romans 12:20; Proverbs 26:11 with 2 Peter 2:22; Proverbs 22:1 with James 4:13-14: cf. Introduction to Proverbs).

These (are) also proverbs ... the men of Hezekiah ... copied out. The "also" implies Solomon's authorship of these, no less than of the preceding proverbs. The Holy Spirit did not appoint all Solomon's proverbs indiscriminately to be put into the canon for all ages, but a selection suited for the ends of revelation. How unwise is the indiscriminate publication in biographies of all that good men have written or spoken!

Proverbs 25:1

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