1 Kings 4:32

32 And he speaketh three thousand similes, and his songs [are] five, and the chief one;

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 and the wisdom of Solomon is greater than the wisdom of any of the sons of the east, and than all the wisdom of Egypt;

31 and he is wiser than all men, than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, sons of Mahol, and his name is in all the nations round about.

32 And he speaketh three thousand similes, and his songs [are] five, and the chief one;

33 and he speaketh concerning the trees, from the cedar that [is] in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that is coming out in the wall, and he speaketh concerning the cattle, and concerning the fowl, and concerning the creeping things, and concerning the fishes,

34 and there come out of all the peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth who have heard of his wisdom.