Psalms 49:3,4

My mouth shall speak of wisdom I shall not treat of trivial things, nor of those I have but slightly considered; but about the most weighty matters, which my mind hath greatly pondered. I will enrich your souls with wisdom, which is better than the wealth of the world, which you covet; and I will teach you how to direct all your actions aright unto that scope at which you aim, the being happy. I will incline mine ear I will hearken to what God by his Spirit speaks to me, and that I will now speak to you. To a parable Which properly is an allegorical speech, but is often taken for an important, and withal dark doctrine or sentence. I will open I will not smother it in my own breast, but publish it to the world. My dark saying So he calls the following discourse, because the thing in question ever hath been thought hard to be understood. “Much of the eastern wisdom consisted in the understanding of parables; and in the interpretation of dark sayings or riddles: the mysterious cover to this kind of wisdom made it the most high-prized accomplishment. And here, when the psalmist was to raise and engage the attention of his audience, he promises that he would speak of those things, in which the highest wisdom was supposed to consist: and, indeed, it must be confessed that, in the composition of this Psalm, he has made use of every art to render it worthy the subject.” Dodd, and Warburton's Divine Legation.