Proverbs 8:15 Commentary and Bible Study

What a wonderful verse this is. What is Solomon saying? Is he saying that all kings have wisdom from God and they are all very wise? Well, we do not see too much of that. We see folly, terrible mistakes in different parts of the world, cruelty, oppression. We see people, sometimes, throwing their kingdoms away because they so oppress the people, and then the whole thing blows up in their faces. So is it true? No, this is a picture of insight. The verse is assuming the rare case of a good king. How do kings reign? Solomon was the wisest of kings in his day, though sadly he failed morally, but he knew well enough how kings reign. He had learnt from his father David that when you reigned over a country you could not do it entirely by your own wit and wisdom: you had to appoint counsellors. His father had many, and some were not particularly wholesome people, though they were extremely wise in their way, particularly his mighty men of valour. Solomon knew that a royal court had to have counsellors. It had to have people who were deeply knowledgeable in different fields and so it is today. The Prime Minister does not come into office and sit there deciding everything alone. We have to pay for enormous institutions of state, for the intelligence service, for all the people who put together the statistics, and all the people who interpret them, and all the people who give advice on the basis of them. How do kings reign? By a great army of additional helpers and specialists and proven (we hope!) people in all fields.