# 470 The Proverbs – ‘A manual for living’ (MSG). Proverbs 25 (1) Wisdom for those in “leadership training” groups.

Hezekiah, who reigned 200 years after Solomon, was a good king, compared to many before and after him. In 2 Kings 18:3-5 it says of him, He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father David had done. He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles [all connected with false worship] … Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him…  Read chapters 18-20 for even more details of him doing what was right in God’s eyes.

So, one gets the idea he was a king the nation could be proud of!

But it seems as well as the good things he did as described in these chapters (also in 2 Chronicles 29-32), he also “supervised the formation of this added collection of Solomon’s proverbs.” (# 55) Proverbs which Nielson says, “offer wisdom that is less intimate than in the father-son exchanges, and that is more public, as to a group in leadership training.” (# 55)  

Proverbs 25:1 says

These are more proverbs of Solomon, compiled by the men of Hezekiah king of Judah:

So, let’s check out what may have been taught in “Leadership 101” in 700BC. It begins:

² It is the glory of God to conceal a matter;
    to search out a matter is the glory of kings.
³ As the heavens are high and the earth is deep,
    so the hearts of kings are unsearchable.

The environment for these lessons is when one is in the presence of royalty or the noble (25:1-8, 15) and in their courts where they rule over the people and so “it makes sense to take these proverbs as addressing someone who needs to learn how to get along in noble society. And the quality he needs is humility.” (# 55)

In v.2 we discover that It is the glory of God to conceal a matter. Consider Paul’s doxology in Romans:

³³ Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
    How unsearchable his judgments,
    and his paths beyond tracing out!
³⁴ “Who has known the mind of the Lord?
    Or who has been his counselor?”
³⁵ “Who has ever given to God,
    that God should repay them?”
³⁶ For from him and through him and for him are all things.
    To him be the glory forever! Amen.  (Romans 11:33-36)

So often, the ways of God are beyond the understanding of us simple human beings! As it says in Isaiah:

⁸ “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
⁹ “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) 

The Proverb then continues that to search out a matter is the glory of kings.
Although very different from God, it seems “A king gets glory if he can uncover the truth and administer justice.” (NIV Study Bible) Or as Nielson says, “God’s glory is clearly superior in that all mysteries are hidden in his sovereign majesty; kings are glorious in their God-granted privilege of searching out these mysteries (as Solomon in his wisdom did).” (# 55)

So then, why verse 3?

 ³ As the heavens are high and the earth is deep,
    so the hearts of kings are unsearchable.

Neilson suggests, “Perhaps because the listener is to learn that he can no more understand a king’s heart than he can understand the greatest mysteries of God’s creation. From God’s perspective the king’s heart is not unsearchable… but from the perspective of one who should humbly fear the Lord and the king (24:21a), one glory reflects the other.” (# 55)

The key word then in this lesson is, “humility”, as verses 6-7 stress as follows;

⁶ Do not exalt yourself in the king’s presence,
    and do not claim a place among his great men;
⁷ it is better for him to say to you, “Come up here,”
    than for him to humiliate you before his nobles.

Humility is not only required in the situation discussed above, but it is an important character quality in all of life. The prime example being Jesus when on earth. Read the account in Luke 14:7-11 when Jesus basically teaches the same truth as vv. 6-7 and concludes:

For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. (Luke 14:11)

So, the first lesson in “Leadership 101” is simple:

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. (James 4:10)