|
This is a text reader for the article below:
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Wednesday 2/11/26
Thru the Bible: Proverbs 30
Message Video Player
Message Audio Player:
Podcast: Download (Duration: 57:30 — 104.9MB)
When a Proverb becomes a Parable
Proverbs 30:1-33,
“(1) The words of Agur son of Jakeh. The oracle.
It is suggested that this opening line serves as a type of “title” for this chapter’s wise sayings. An expanded translation of these words might be,
“Agur’s confession and petition” and would extend from verses 2-9.
If this is true then “the Man” mentioned here in verse 1 is Agur himself.
This section is followed by 23 verses (v. 10-33) which are a series of prophetic admonitions given through this man Agur.
The name Agur אגוּר ’Āg̱ûr is unique in scripture and in the Hebrew language is directly connected to another word found only in the Song of Solomon and that only once. That word is ֱאגוֹז ’eg̱ôz and means nuts or nut trees. In Song of Solomon 6:11 it is sometimes translated as “walnut trees”.
Agur son of Jakeh is unknown to us from scripture, which implies a couple of things which are neither to be considered emphatic or even too terribly important in themselves but here they are:
- Agur is very likely not a Jew at all. He is very likely from another nation from which Solomon, in all his international trade and dealings, collected some of his “sayings” of wisdom which were later compiled into the inspired book of Proverbs.
- Agur is either a prophet or one who prophesied these words. We get that from the word “oracle”.
The word “oracle” הַמַּשָּׂא (hammassaʾ) means “the burden”. This was frequently used as a title before prophetic utterances.
A second possibility is that the word “oracle” may simply be a name representing a place – as perhaps the geographical origin of the man named Agur. However, it is altogether more likely that the word “oracle” describes what follows as an important revelation.
If he was a prophet, then he is the second example we have from scripture of a prophet of God who was outside the covenant people of Israel during the time of the old covenant. Balaam would be the other. While Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law offered Moses wise counsel, there is nothing in the text which would indicate it was prophetic in nature.
This goes to show that however limited the examples may be, God is not limited to a certain people and never has been. He is the God and Creator of all!
“The man declares, I am weary, O God; I am weary, O God, and worn out.”
As I already suggested, the words “the man” refers to Agur himself. This is made all the more certain by the use of the definite article making the statement demonstrative, and thus clarifying the reference is to Agur.
“(2) Surely I am too stupid to be a man. I have not the understanding of a man. (3) I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the Holy One.”
Now this is astounding and impressive all at the same time. As I have taught you throughout our trek Thru the Bible, the phrase “the Holy One” is used almost exclusively throughout both Testaments as a reference to Jesus Himself – specifically in His physical, human form. Meaning Jesus the human! One of the most clear attestations to this is found in Psalm 16:10, “You will not abandon My soul to the realm of the dead, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see physical decay.”
Now this is interesting because the word in Psalm 16:10 is ḥāsîḏ (חָסִיד, while the word here in Proverbs 30:3 is . However, there is in fact a strong interpretive, theological, and linguistic connection between ḥāsîḏ (חָסִיד, often rendered “holy one” or “faithful/pious one“) in Psalm 16:10 and the concept of a messianic “Holy One” (qāḏôš, קָדוֹשׁ) as it appears here in Proverbs 30:3 and throughout the Old Testament. This is given verification in the writings of the New Testament.
While the Hebrew term ḥāsîḏfocuses on covenantal loyalty or devotion, its application to the resurrection of Jesus (as argued by Peter in Acts 2 and Paul in Acts 13) connects it directly to the theological understanding of Jesus as the ultimate, sinless “Holy One” in His humanity and even more specifically to His physical body itself.
The reason this is so astounding and impressive is because this was not widely understood by the common Israelite, so to have a foreigner prophecy about the incarnation of the Messiah, is truly remarkable!
That is this referring to Jesus, is made even more clear by the next words which Paul also wrote in Romans 10.
“(4) Who has ascended to heaven and come down? – See Romans 10:6
Paul primarily quotes and adapts Deuteronomy 30:12–14, in his statement to the Romans which was an inspired interpretation linking the “ascending to heaven” motif with the person and work of Jesus Christ. This, in a sense, serves as an answer to the mystery of “the Holy One” posed by Agur’s prophetic oracle.
The rest of this verse also strongly points to Jesus both thematically and prophetically.
Each phrase makes use of anthropomorphic language. The questions are ironically posed to point out that while many things are impossible to mankind, they are not impossible to God.
All five of these immediately summon to mind a similar list of questions posed by God to Job in Job chapters 38-41. God presented those questions to Job to call him out in his pride and cause him to reclaim his proper place of humility before God. God even employed a similar and pointed close to His statements to Job by asking, “Tell me if you know?” or “Surely you know.” [see Job 38:4-5]
All of these phrases like “gathering the wind in his fists” are intended to express God’s complete sovereignty and control over His creation. They also serve as an ironic statement pointing out man’s lack of complete understanding of even the most basic things on earth and his failure to truly know its Creator.
Who has gathered the wind in his fists?
Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment?
Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is his name, and what is his son’s name? Surely you know!
(5) Every word of God proves true; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.
(6) Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you and you be found a liar.
(7) Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die:
(8) Remove far from me falsehood and lying;
give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, (9) lest I be full and deny you and say,
“Who is the LORD?”
or
lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.”
Now I did not spend a lot of time seeking to confirm this, but I imagine that in one way or another the next 5 verses (v. 10-14) provide examples of the two things Agur requested God do for him – namely, removing falsehood and lying from his lips AND giving him neither riches nor poverty.
“(10) Do not slander a servant to his master, lest he curse you, and you be held guilty.
(11) There are those who curse their fathers and do not bless their mothers.
(12) There are those who are clean in their own eyes but are not washed of their filth.
(13) There are those—how lofty are their eyes, how high their eyelids lift!
(14) There are those whose teeth are swords, whose fangs are knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, the needy from among mankind.”
It seems to me that Proverbs 30:10-14 acts as an illustrative, negative example of the principles in verses 7-9, highlighting the sins of pride, greed, and dishonesty (specifically slandering a servant, dishonoring parents, and self-righteousness).
These verses depict the behaviors that result from not following the wisdom of Agur’s prayer for integrity and moderate contentment.
Now, from this point forward Agur’s proverbs make use of a literary device known as graded numerical sequence or more familiar to you- numerical parallelism.
In Hebrew poetry and wisdom literature, the author typically introduces a number in the first line and then increases it by one in the second line to create a sense of heightening or climax.
It is used to emphasize completeness and draw attention to the final item in a list, which most often is the most important point of that particular proverbial statement.
In biblical numerology, the number 4 frequently represents the world, creation, or a complete set (e.g., four corners of the earth, four seasons). By listing four items, Agur suggests he is covering all aspects of a specific behavior or phenomenon.
Ultimately, the number four represents a “complete” unit, allowing the author to present a concise, powerful, and memorable observation about the created order and human behavior.
There are times when this numbering is actually used to suggest an open-ended number of examples, but in this chapter it probably signifies completeness.
Verses 15-16 (Insatiability): Four things that never say, “Enough!”
“(15) The leech has two daughters: Give and Give.
This is apparently the beginning of an escalating proverb beginning with 2, then going on to 3 and then ending on 4.
The New English translation adds the word “crying”. I am not certain what the grammatical justification there is for that but, it certainly helps the phrase make more sense. Leeches or horseleeches do not give, they take. So it makes more sense for the words to say that the leech has two daughters that both cry “give, give”!
The NET notes say,
“The next two verses describe insatiable things, things that are problematic to normal life. …the “leech” seems to have been selected to begin the section because it was symbolic of greed – it sucks blood through its two suckers. This may be what the reference to two daughters calling “Give! Give!” might signify (if so, this is an implied comparison, a figure known as hypocatastasis).”
Three things are never satisfied; four never say, “Enough”:
(16) Sheol (the grave or the realm of the dead),
the barren womb,
the land never satisfied with water, and
the fire that never says, “Enough.”
Throughout the book of Proverbs the word translated here as “enough” הוֹן (hon) means “wealth,” but here it has the nuanced meaning of “sufficiency” or “enough”.
Now verse 17 appears to stand alone as a punctuated statement between the numerical proverbs found before and after. If there is a connection, as there is in verse 20 which otherwise appears to stand alone, I was unable to discover it.
“(17) The eye that mocks a father and scorns to obey a mother will be picked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by the vultures.”
Some suggest that this phrase should reflect that the mother being referenced is old or of white hair.
God made sure to press upon the Jewish people the necessity of honoring the elderly and especially their parents. Very strong warnings and penalties were associated with dishonoring them! Since God never changes, our current generation is in great danger of judgment due to their escalated dismissal of and disrespect for the generations which preceded them.
The idea here is something akin to a child giving his parents the “evil eye”. So the punishment is talionic – an eye for eye.
The reference to “the valley” may indicate a place where people were not given a decent burial, but were left in the open field for the birds of prey to pick away at the corpses. This is an image often employed in prophetic passages regarding judgment.
Verses 18-19 (Mysteries): Four things too amazing/mysterious to understand
“(18) Three things are too wonderful for me; four I do not understand:
The meaning here is that Agur can only admire these wonders – but is at a loss to explain them. This does not mean that it would be beyond him to navigate a ship on the high seas or that his reaction to a beautiful young woman would be different than most other men, but that these things are so wonderful, complex and even intuitive to reduce to numbers.
One of the meanings of the word intuitive helps us here. “Intuitive” refers to immediate insight, understanding, or decision-making based on feelings or instinct rather than conscious, systematic reasoning. And I think that is the way Agur intended at least the final example to be understood.
While the two examples which are within the realm of human experience, their workings out defy definition. All four examples in verse 19 reveal parts of God’s creative plan and therefore can be enjoyed and appreciated without fully comprehending them.
This list includes things which are in some sense mystical and are all linked to the word “way” which represents a “course of action” with the fourth one being the supreme example. The word “virgin” may be an overstep in translation for a modern reader because the idea is that of a young woman who has reached sexual maturity and is therefore of the age to be courted eventuating in marriage and physical, sexual union. This fact makes verse 20 appear as if it is actually a fifth but silent part of this list, serving as the actual final example by means of being an anti-type.
“(19) the way of an eagle in the sky,
the way of a serpent on a rock,
the way of a ship on the high seas, and
the way of a man with a virgin.”
(20) This is the way of an adulteress: she eats and wipes her mouth and says, “I have done no wrong.”
As I said regarding verse 17, verse 20 almost appears to stand alone between lists of numerical parallelism, but in this case I think it serves as the final example of the above list. Agur set forth the list as containing FOUR examples, and it does if one only counts those which are favorable. But verse 20 builds on the examples of the way of a man with a young maiden who is available for marriage physical intimacy by another example which is even more inextricable. A woman, whose understanding and appreciation of her own sexuality is so distorted that she openly engages with nearly anyone sexually, married or not, and sees no sin or defilement in it. That truly is amazing and beyond understanding!
Verses 21-23 (Social Order): Four things that make the earth tremble/overturn social order
“(21) Under three things the earth trembles; under four it cannot bear up:
(22) a slave when he becomes king, and
a fool when he is filled with food; (23)
an unloved woman when she gets a husband, and
a maidservant when she displaces her mistress.”
Now the line regarding the “unloved” woman stands out in the list for good reasons.
All the other examples regard problematic behaviors in each which belongs to person who is the subject of the verb in that line… i.e. what the servant, fool, and female servant do or are implied to do.
But when we get to the “unloved woman” one would be inclined to see her as the victim but the parallels do not direct us to see her as such but as a cause of difficulty, just like the others. The question is, why is it a difficulty for an unloved woman to finally get married?
The directions this can go due to the grammar of the Hebrew are too much to drag you through, so I will simply default to the Septuagint which I often do when I can, since they understood ancient Hebrew better than we. The Septuagint infers a contrast with the husband translating this line as “when a hateful woman obtains a good husband.” Here this woman has some apparent terrible or hateful qualities (e.g. being contentious, controlling, selfish). For such a woman to marry a good man, would fit in a list of things the earth cannot bear!
Verses 24-28 (Wisdom): Four small things that are extremely wise
“(24) Four things on earth are small, but they are exceedingly wise:
(25) the ants are a people not strong, yet they provide their food in the summer;
(26) the rock badgers are a people not mighty, yet they make their homes in the cliffs;
(27) the locusts have no king, yet all of them march in rank;
(28) the lizard you can take in your hands, yet it is in kings’ palaces.”
Depending on your translation, the final line may have either a spider or a lizard. In the end, it doesn’t matter, though I am inclined to think it is a spider.
The point is that there are types of both spiders and lizards which are easy to catch and hard to catch. The example offered is of a creature which is easy to catch, and yet, it is still quite impossible to keep them from making the king’s home their own.
Verses 29-31 (Majesty): Four things that are stately in their stride
“(29) Three things are stately in their tread; four are stately in their stride:
(30) the lion, which is mightiest among beasts and does not turn back before any;
(31) the strutting rooster,
the he-goat, and
a king whose army is with him.”
“(32) If you have been foolish, exalting yourself, or if you have been devising evil, put your hand on your mouth. (33) For pressing milk produces curds, pressing the nose produces blood, and pressing anger produces strife.”
Blessings!
Tri
Blessings!
