1 Kings 4:32

32 And he spoke three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a 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 And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the sons of the east and all the wisdom of the Egyptians.

31 For he was wiser than all men, than Ethan, the Ezrahite, and Heman and Chalcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and he was named in all nations round about.

32 And he spoke three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five.

33 And he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springs out of the wall. He also spoke of animals and of fowl and of serpents and of fishes.

34 And they came from all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.