Proverbs 16:10

A divine sentence, Heb. divination, which is sometimes taken in a good sense for prudence, as it is Isaiah 3:2. A great sagacity and piercing judgment to discern dubious and difficult cases. Is; or, should be; for the verb is wanting in the Hebrew, and this may be supplied as well as is. And he seems not so much to speak of the matter of fact, as if it were thus in all kings, which is notoriously and confessedly untrue, as of the duty of kings, in whom wisdom is a necessary qualification. For thus the two following proverbs concerning kings, Proverbs 16:12,13, must be understood, otherwise they are repugnant to common experience. Of the king; either,

1. Of wise kings, who only are worthy of that name and office; king being here put for a wise king, as a name is put for a good name, and a woman for a good woman, Ecclesiastes 7:28; and then this is true in fact, as it was in David. 2 Samuel 14:17, and in Solomon, 1 Kings 3:28. Or,

2. Of kings in general, in the sense before given; for seeing the word is generally expressed without any limitation, both here and Proverbs 16:12,13, it may seem presumption to confine it to those few kings which are or were wise and good. Transgresseth not; or, shall or should not transgress, or go beyond the bounds of religion and justice.