Proverbs 25:7

For 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 whom thine eyes have seen. FOR BETTER (IT IS) THAT IT BE SAID UNTO THEE, COME UP HITHER (QUOTED IN LUKE 14:8 ) THAN ... BE PUT LOWER IN THE PRESENCE OF THE PRINCE WHOM THINE EYES HAVE SEEN. - i:e., whom thou hast placed thyself unduly so near as familiarly to see him. The nearer thou wast to him (by thine arrogance) the greater the disgrace of being put far from him, he looking on. Kings in the East separate themselves far from even those whom they admit into their presence....

Verse Proverbs 25:7. _COME UP HITHER_] Our Lord refers to this, see Luke 14:8, and the notes there. Be humble; affect not high things; let those who are desperate climb dangerous precipices; keep thyself quiet, and thou shalt live at ease, and in peace. Hear the speech of a wise _heathen_ on this subject: - Quid fuit, ut tutas agitaret Daedalus alas; Icarus immensas nomine signet aquas? Nempe quod hic alte, dimissus ille volabat. Nam pennas ambo nonne habuere suas? Crede mihi; bene qui latuit, bene vixit; et infra Fortunam debet quisque maner

The pushing, boastful temper is, in the long run, suicidal. It is wiser as well as nobler to take the lower place at first in humility, than to take it afterward with shame. Compare Luke 14:8, which is one of the few instances in which our Lord’s teaching was fashioned, as to its outward form, upon that of this book....

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

FOR BETTER [IT IS] THAT IT BE SAID UNTO THEE, COME UP HITHER,.... It is much more to thine honour and credit to seat thyself in a place rather beneath than above thee; which being observed by some of the officers at court, or by him whose business it is to look after such things, he will beckon or call to thee to come up to a higher and more honourable place: THAN THAT THOU SHOULDEST BE PUT LOWER, IN THE PRESENCE OF THE PRINCE WHOM THINE EYES HAVE SEEN; than that thou shouldest be thrust away with a severe rebuke for thy boldness and arrogance, in approaching too near the king's person, and taking the place of some great man, which did not become thee, and be forced down to a lower place, to thy great mortification; and the more, as this will be in the presence of the prince thou hadst the curiosity of seeing, and the ambition of making thyself acceptable to, by a gay and splendid appea...

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....

BETTER. See note on Proverbs 8:11....

_Come up hither_ Comp. Luke 14:8-10, and Introd. p. 33. _whom thine eyes have seen_ This aggravates the disgrace: you have pressed presumptuously into the inner circle, so as to stand face to face with the prince, and there "in his presence" shalt thou be humiliated....

WHOM THINE EYES HAVE SEEN— Houbigant closes this verse with the words, _in the presence of the prince,_ and reads the 8th verse thus, _Be not hasty in pleading thy cause, to divulge what thine eyes have seen; lest in the end thou knowest not what to do, when thy neighbour shall have confuted thee._ The Vulgate renders it somewhat similar, _Do not hastily produce, in a quarrel, what thine eyes have seen: lest afterwards thou be not able to recal it, when thou hast disgraced thy friend._ The two next verses seem to countenance this interpretation....