“These also are proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied” (Proverbs 25:1).
The human process by which the holy Scriptures were compiled is not a focus of the inspired writers. The finished product of God’s inspired, inerrant, written revelation is far more significant than the scaffolding needed to construct it. The church in Corinth missed this point when it began focusing on the “scaffolding” of spiritual gifts and lost sight of the love and the “perfect” (1 Cor. 13:10) these gifts were to build before they went extinct (1 Co. 13:8).
Throughout the Scriptures, there are snippets of information which provide a brief glimpse into the compilation of God’s word. Shortly before his death, Moses entrusted a written copy of the Law to the priests (Deut. 31:9). These trustees of the first books of the holy Scriptures were specifically instructed to put this sacred document beside the ark of the covenant (Deut. 31:26) and to read it to all Israel every seven years at the Feast of Tabernacles (Deut. 31:10-11).
In Proverbs 25:1, we are informed that King Solomon’s proverbs had been collected and were being copied by King Hezekiah’s men. Though their reigns were separated by nine generations (Mat. 1:6-9) and over two hundred years, Solomon’s inspired wisdom had been preserved.
Human curiosity can easily come up with more questions about the compilation of the Scriptures than are answered in them. These unrevealed things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed in the Scriptures belong to us that we may do them (Deut. 29:29).
