1 Kings 4:32

32 He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand and five.

1 Kings 4:32 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 4:32

And he spake three thousand proverbs
Wise sayings, short and pithy sentences, instructive in morality and civil life; these were not written as the book of Proverbs, but spoken only, and were taken from his lips, and spread by those that heard them for the use of others, but in process of time were lost; whereas the above book, being written under divine inspiration, is preserved: and

his songs were a thousand and five;
some things that were useful to improve the minds and morals of men he delivered in verse, to make them more pleasant and agreeable, that they might be the more easily received and retained in memory; but of all his songs, the most: excellent is the book of Canticles, called "the Song of Songs", being divine and spiritual, and dictated by the inspiration of the Spirit of God: he was both a moral philosopher and poet, as well as a botanist and naturalist, and well-skilled in medicine, as the following words suggest, ( 1 Kings 4:33 ) .

1 Kings 4:32 In-Context

30 The wisdom of Solomon was greater than the wisdom of all the people of [the] east and more than all the wisdom of Egypt.

31 He was wiser than all the men: Ethan the Ezrahite; Heman, Calcol, and Darda the children of Mahol; and {he was very well known}.

32 He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand and five.

33 He spoke concerning the trees, from the cedar which [is] in Lebanon up to the hyssop which grows on the wall; he also spoke concerning the animals, concerning the birds, concerning the creeping things, and concerning the fish.

34 They came from all the nations to hear the wisdom of Solomon; from all the kings of the earth who had heard [of] his wisdom.