Searching out one's own glory is no more glorious than gorging on honey.
A paired saying about excess is grounded in Proverbs 25:27: It is not good to eat much honey, nor is it glory to search out one's own glory (v. 27). The two halves rhyme.
It is not good to eat much honey echoes something already said in Proverbs 25:16. Honey in moderation is sweet; honey in excess is sickening. The principle is restated as setup for the parallel.
Nor is it glory to search out one's own glory. The man who chases his own honor, who works to magnify his own name, finds the result is exactly opposite to honor. Self-promotion is to glory what gluttony is to honey: the more aggressively pursued, the less satisfying. Real glory is given by others. Compare John 8:54: "If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing." The verse closes the warning against self-promotion that began at verse 6.
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Proverbs 25:27 meaning
A paired saying about excess is grounded in Proverbs 25:27: It is not good to eat much honey, nor is it glory to search out one's own glory (v. 27). The two halves rhyme.
It is not good to eat much honey echoes something already said in Proverbs 25:16. Honey in moderation is sweet; honey in excess is sickening. The principle is restated as setup for the parallel.
Nor is it glory to search out one's own glory. The man who chases his own honor, who works to magnify his own name, finds the result is exactly opposite to honor. Self-promotion is to glory what gluttony is to honey: the more aggressively pursued, the less satisfying. Real glory is given by others. Compare John 8:54: "If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing." The verse closes the warning against self-promotion that began at verse 6.