The text widget ignore the value in the option database for certain options. Examples are -spacing[123]. This fact is not documented in the text manual page.
After a bit of source diving, there's an option in the 'flags' field of the Tk_OptionSpec struct in tkText.c named TK_OPTION_DONT_SET_DEFAULT which prevents the value to be read form the option database (line 490 of tkConfig.c). This value is not documented in the Tk_SetOptions manual page, which states " At present only a single flag is supported: TK_OPTION_NULL_OK". There is also TK_CONFIG_NULL_OK in tkText.c, also not documented.
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TK_CONFIG_NULL_OK is public and should be documented.
TK_OPTION_DONT_SET_DEFAULT is public and should be documented.
No idea whatsoever why they're set on the -spacing[123] options...