The Glory of Kings (1 of 3)

— by David D. Herring

“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.”  (Proverbs 25:2)

What does this scripture mean?

I didn’t know why — and wouldn’t know for a long time — but God called my attention to this scripture.  It fascinated me for reasons I couldn’t express.  To whom does it refer?  The first part seems obvious: it refers to God, who has hidden something.  The second part is less obvious.  It refers to kings in the plural.  Which kings?  Who are they?

Good questions!

God wants us to come to Him with such questions.  The answers are often hidden in plain sight in The Bible.  This bit of wisdom, in fact, points to the answer to my questions about the kings in Proverbs 25:2.  How often have I read a scripture thinking I understood it when I really didn’t?  Later, re-reading it again, something clicks and I see and understand it in a whole new way.  It’s as if the scripture suddenly opens up to reveal a hidden treasure — a deeper, more profound meaning that I can’t believe I overlooked before.

So I re-read Proverbs 25:2; and then the next verse, which says: “As the heavens are high and the earth is deep, so the hearts of kings are unsearchable.”  This verse suggests the kings are people who should search out a matter but not within their own hearts because the matter can’t be found there.  Who are these kings?

Who is Jesus?  (God sometimes answers questions with questions.)

I know Jesus is king; certainly in my life.  But I don’t think that’s the answer here.  The verse doesn’t say THE KING, it says kings.  Scanning through scriptures, I see where it says Jesus is the Word… Jesus is the Son of God… Jesus is the Son of Man… Jesus is the Messiah… Jesus is king…  There it is: Jesus is the king of kings!  (1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 17:14)

I placed all things under Jesus’ feet and appointed him to to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.  (Ephesians 1:22-23)

I interpret this to mean Jesus is greater than all other kings and has authority over them.  In this regard, “kings” can refer to anyone; and if it can refer to anyone, then it can refer to everyone.

Because I love you, I raised you up with My Son and made you alive again, even when you were dead in your transgressions, and seated you with Jesus — in Jesus — in Heaven.  (Ephesians 2:4-6)

I began to see and understand.  If I interpret Proverbs 25:2-3 based on the wisdom I find in Ephesians 2:4-6, then “kings” refers to everyone who is in Jesus.  So I am king and you are king.  All who surrender to Jesus Christ are seated in Him, the king of kings, on His heavenly throne.  God made it so to fulfill His Word when He first created us:  “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule…over all the earth...” (Genesis 1:26)

This understanding points to the fractal nature of God's Word. Each of us is a "little Christ" and together we form the one big body of The Christ. This points to the purpose and destiny of those who follow Jesus. (See also Melissa Joslin's eloquent comment about my first blog in which, much to my pleasant surprise, she too cited this very same proverb!)

We were made to rule in His image but we forfeited our kingship right out of the gate, and so rulership over earth was usurped by another.1,2,3  For many generations after Adam and Eve  humans had no status, spiritually speaking.  We were left to our own devices, with no claim to the divine and no inheritance to pass on except painful toil and death — doomed to go from dust to dust, as it were.  The way to eternal life was barred.

Our situation changed, however, when God made a covenant with Abraham.4  His relationship offered new hope for “an inheritance,” spiritually speaking, for all the rest of us.  Just like a kingship, the inheritance of this “covenant” was handed down from Abraham to Isaac, then to Jacob, then to Joseph, and so on.  To have known them, one wouldn’t have considered these to be “kingly” men.  They were unremarkable, really, just ordinary nomads.  Aside from their covenant with God, they were no different from anyone else.

Their covenant relationship with Me is entirely the point.

Apart from their relationship with God, their stories have no point.  This is why their stories are preserved in the Old Testament — to illustrate how those who walk by faith in a covenant relationship with Jesus will be remade in His image and have eternal life. The stories of the Old Testament foreshadow this plan.

“And [Jesus] has made us kings and priests unto God and His Father…” (Revelation 1:6)

 Now that I know who the kings are, I want to know what it means to be a king.  And I want to understand the first part of the scripture: what is the “matter” that God conceals and that we kings are to seek out? (To be continued...)

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1 Genesis 3:17-24

2 Matthew 4:8-9

3 John 14:30

4 Genesis 12:2

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Discussion Questions:

1. What does Proverbs 25:2 mean to you?

2. Who do you think are the "kings" to whom it refers?

3. What do you think is the "matter" that God conceals?