When a king’s face brightens, there is life; his favor is like a rain cloud in spring.
These two verses show the power of kings, which is every where great, but was especially so in those eastern countries, where they were absolute and arbitrary. Whom they would they slew and whom they would they kept alive. Their will was a law.
Commenting on Proverbs 16:14-15
In the light of the king's countenance is life,.... When he looks with a pleasant smiling countenance on a person that has been under his displeasure, and especially if under a sentence of death, it is as life from the dead: so the light of the countenance of God, the King of kings; the discoveries of his love, the manifestations of himself, his gracious presence...
light of . . . countenance--favor (Psa 4:6). life--preserves it, or gives blessings which make it valuable. the latter rain--fell just before harvest and matured the crop; hence specially valuable (Deu 11:14).