Proverbs 25:2 is Powerful and Laden with Spiritual Truth!
In Proverbs 25:2 (KJV) we find this extraordinary verse, “[It is] the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings [is] to search out a matter.” If we look carefully at the text as it reads in the original Hebrew using an Interlinear Bible or Online cross-reference like this: https://www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/pro/25/2/t_conc_653002 we find that it can also read like this…”[It is] the glory of God to conceal a “word” (because it is from the Hebrew דָּבָר (dāḇār)H1697, a masculine noun): but the honour of kings[is] to search out a “word” (because the word that was translated into English as “matter” is also the same word found in the original Hebrew to be דָּבָר (dāḇār) H1697, which is translated more than eight hundred times in the Old Testament as “word.”)*. It appears, therefore, that God is telling us that He is glorified by the concealing of The Word (Jesus Christ) in the Bible, and the believers are “honored” by being made able to search out The Word (Who is Jesus Christ) when reading the Bible.
NOTE: Jesus makes all believers “kings” and “priests”, as we read in Revelation 1:5&6, “And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” This is reiterated in Revelation 5:10, where we see from the preceding verses that Jesus, as the Lamb of God, has redeemed the believers by His shed blood, “And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.”
Note how this is also consistent with what we read in Job 36:7 when speaking of God regarding the believers, “He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous: but with kings [are they] on the throne; yea, he doth establish them for ever, and they are exalted.“
And in 1 Peter 2:9, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light;”
Ephesians 2:4-7, “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.“
We should also be aware that this is all entirely consistent with what God tells us in Jeremiah 33:3, “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” And this verse was not translated as well as it could have been, as the original Hebrew word for “mighty things” is בָּצַר (bāṣar)H1219 which could also be translated as “hidden things” or “concealed things”, given that it has also been translated as “restrained”, “walled up”, and “withholden”. Note the similarity with what we find in Isaiah 48:6, “Thou hast heard, see all this; and will not ye declare [it]? I have shewed thee new things from this time, even hidden things (נָצַר (nāṣar))H5341, and thou didst not know them.” The original Hebrew word that is translated here as “hidden things” could also be translated as “guarded”, “protected”, “preserved”, “kept close”, or “kept secret”, which indeed is a synonym for “hidden things” or “concealed things”.
“Dāḇār” is also found in other key verses:
- Note what is found in Proverbs 16:20 where the King James Version translation reads, “He that handleth a matter wisely shall find good:…” but in the original Hebrew it reads, “He who wisely understands or heeds unto the word (דָּבָר (dāḇār))H1697 shall find good…”
- And in Psalm 56:10 we read (as also translated in the King James Version), “In God will I praise his word (דָּבָ֑ר (“dabar”))H1697: in the Lord will I praise his word (דָּבָר (dāḇār))H1697.”
- And in Psalm 33:6 we read, “By the word (דָּבָר (dāḇār)) of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.”
- And in Psalm 145:5, “I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works (actually “words” (דָּבָר (dāḇār))H1697 in the original Hebrew).“
Through the use of this Bible Study Help it is hoped that the reader will, by the grace of God, come to know The Word, the Lord Jesus Christ [Remember that we read in John 1:1-3, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” and in John Chapter 1, verse 14, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”]. In 1 John 1:1 we find, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;” And to make the connection between Jesus (the Son of God) and the Word as unmistakable as possible, we read in 1 John 5:7, “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.”
Searching out “The Word”, Who Is Jesus
God said, in Proverbs 2:4, to seek out Wisdom as if searching for a hidden treasure: ” If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as [for] hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.”
Romans 16:25, which reads, “Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,“. Additional support is found in Colossians 2:2&3, where we read, “… to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God (God the Holy Spirit, Who reveals the mystery), and of the Father (God the Father), and of Christ (God the Son, Jesus); In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
We are also told, in effect, to carefully study and correctly handle the scriptures. 2 Timothy 2:15, tells us to, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.“ But remember that it only God, Who Is the Author of the Bible, and He Alone is the One Who can provide the necessary understanding to those whom He graciously blesses with the “ears to hear and the eyes to see”, such that they might testify of Jesus and worship God in the spirit of prophesy. For more on this please see “Searching the Bible for ‘Hid Treasures’ ”
We should also remember what we are told in Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret [things] belong unto the LORD our God: but those [things which are] revealed [belong] unto us and to our children for ever, that [we] may do all the words of this law.” and Psalm 25:14, “The secret of the LORD [is] with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.“
Conclusion
Jesus made clear in John 5:39 that we are to “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” In Jesus’s day, the scriptures consisted ONLY of the Old Testament! We therefore have a clear mandate to search in the Old Testament, to see how gloriously and amazingly God has embedded The Lord Jesus Christ within so many of the passages of the Old Testament, and the The Road to Emmaus account clearly serves to further underscore Jesus’ mandate. Moreover, Jesus added to the above verse in John 5:45 “Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is [one] that accuseth you, [even] Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?”
It should also be specifically noted by the reader that all of the studies found on the Bereanseaching website are drawn, almost exclusively, through cross-referencing of pertinent Bible verses (only by “comparing spiritual things with spiritual” as we are told in 1 Corinthians 2:13), because the Bible is its own source book of God’s Wisdom and Truth. This writer desires to make clear that we only need to seek after God’s Spiritual Wisdom and Truth, “which the Holy Ghost teacheth“, and “not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth.” (again from the same verse: 1 Corinthians 2:13)
Finally, it is the hope of this teacher that the reader might see that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the “Mystery”, and that Jesus Christ is the “Secret” and the “Hidden Wisdom” of the whole Bible, which everyone, Jew or Gentile, so desperately needs for Salvation from the curse of sin and death. This is succinctly stated in John 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
For greater elaboration on what the Bible means by the word “Mystery”, please see God’s Word is a Mystery
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