Proverbs 25:27

It is not good to eat much honey: so for men to search their own glory is not glory. (IT IS) NOT GOOD TO EAT MUCH HONEY ( ); SO (FOR MEN) TO SEARCH THEIR OWN GLORY (IS NOT) GLORY. Glory follows him that seeks it not. The English version supplies "not" in the second clause from the first, as often happens (cf. ). To be humble when glory unsought comes to us, and to attribute all glory to God, is our wisdom. Compare the awful warning (); also Jesus' example (; ; ;...

Verse Proverbs 25:27. IT IS _NOT GOOD TO EAT MUCH HONEY_] _Coverdale_ translates the whole passage thus: "Like as it is not good to eat to muche hony; even so, he that wyll search out hye thinges, it shal be to hevy for him." _As he that etith myche honye, and it is not to him_ _goode; so, that is a sercher of mageste, schal ben oppressid of_ _glorie_ - Old MS. Bible. He that searches too much into _mysteries_, is likely to be confounded by them. I really think this is the _meaning_ of the place; and shall not puzzle either myself or my reader with the discordant explanations which have been brought forward with the hope of illustrating this passage....

SO FOR MEN ... - A difficult sentence, the text of which is probably defective. The words are not in the original. Many commentators render: so to search into weighty matters is itself a weight, i. e., people soon become satiated with it as with honey. Possibly a warning against an over-curious searching into the mysteries of God’s word or works....

EXPOSITION VERSE 1-29:27 PART VI. SECOND GREAT COLLECTION OF SOLOMONIC PROVERBS, gathered by "the men of Hezekiah," in which wisdom is set forth as the greatest blessing to the king and his subjects. PROVERBS 25:1 _The_ _superscription: _THESE ARE ALSO PROVERBS OF SOLOMON, WHICH THE MEN OF HEZEKIAH KING OF JUDAH COPIED OUT. The word "also" implies that a previous collection was known to the compiler of the present book—probably the one which we have in Pr 10-22:16, of which nine proverbs are inserted here. But there was still a large number of proverbial sayings attributed to Solomon, and preserved partly by oral tradition and partly in writing, which it was advisable to colle

[IT IS] NOT GOOD TO EAT MUCH HONEY,.... That is too much otherwise it is good to eat, Proverbs 24:13; but too much is hurtful, it surfeits the stomach increases choler e and creates loathing; and indeed, too much of anything is bad f; SO [FOR MEN] TO SEARCH THEIR OWN GLORY [IS NOT] GLORY: to set forth their own excellencies, to sound forth their own praises to seek honour of men, to use all methods to gain popular applause; this is not glorious and praiseworthy, but dishonourable; or it may be rendered as it literally lies in the original, "but to search out", or "the searching out of their glory [is] glory" g; either the glory of righteous men, as Aben Ezra interprets it, such as stand and do not fall before the wicked; to search out their excellencies and virtues, and follow their example, is glorious and honourable: or to search the glory of the knowledge of divine

IV. THE PROVERBS OF SOLOMON COLLECTED BY THE MEN OF HEZEKIAH CHAPTER 25 Here begin the proverbs which the good king Hezekiah, under the guidance of the Spirit of God, added to this book. “This title is interesting as affording a proof that a revival of literary activity accompanied the revival of religion and of national prosperity which marked the reign of Hezekiah. The men of Hezekiah were doubtless a body of scribes engaged under the direction of the king in literary labors.” Very fittingly the opening verses of this collected portion of proverbs relate to the king. While it is the glory of God to conceal a thing, the glory of kings is to search out a matter. God has many things concealed as to Himself, the great universe, creation and His ways in providence; but kings should inquire diligently into the matters brought before them and search them out in their administration of justi...

FIRST DIVISION. In general character this division shows a resemblance to the Sayings of the Wise, containing a number of quatrains and synthetic couplets, and but few antithetic couplets. PROVERBS 25:2 B. A series of three quatrains relating to kings. Proverbs 25:4 b. Very obscure. Refining silver does not produce a vessel, and the parallelism with Proverbs 25:5 b is unsatisfactory. LXX it will be wholly purified probably represents the original text. Proverbs 25:6 f. _cf._ Luke 14:8....

is not _glory_ The words _is not_are not in the Heb., but are supplied both in A.V. and R.V. text. The R.V. marg. has, "_But_for men _to search out their own glory is glory_. The Hebrew text is obscure." It would seem as though the author of the proverb threw down in the second clause the terms of the comparison and left us to adjust them: "so is it with searching out your own glory, and glory"; q.d. Glory, like honey, is a good thing, but to be too much engrossed with your own share of the one is like eating too much of the other....

IT IS NOT GOOD TO EAT MUCH HONEY— See on Proverbs 25:16 and Isaiah 7:15. Delicious as honey is to an eastern palate, it has been thought sometimes to have produced terrible effects. Thus Sanutus in the _Gesta Dei per Francos,_ informs us, that the English who attended Edward I. into the Holy Land died in great numbers, as they marched in June to demolish a place; which he ascribes to the excessive heats, and their intemperate eating of fruits and honey. This, perhaps, may give us the thought of Solomon, contained in this verse. He had before in Proverbs 25:17 mentioned, that an excess in eating honey occasioned sickness and vomiting; but if it was thought sometimes to produce deadly effects, there is a greater en

TEXT Proverbs 25:20-28 20. As one that taketh off a garment in cold weather, and as vinegar upon soda, So is he that singeth songs to a heavy heart, 21. If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; And if he be thirsty, give him water to drink: 22. For thou wilt heap coals of fire upon his head, And Jehovah will reward thee. 23. The north wind bringeth, forth rain; So doth a backbiting tongue an angry countenance. 24. It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop, Than with a contentious woman in a wide house. 25. As cold waters to a thirsty soul, So is good news from a far country. 26. As a troubled fountain, and a corrupted spring, So is a righteous man that giveth way before the wicked. 27. It is not good to eat much honey;...