Proverbs · chapter 30 of 31
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Proverbs 30 collects the words of Agur, son of Jakeh, a sage who admits the limits of his understanding before the God no one can fully grasp. He affirms that every word of God proves true, asks for neither poverty nor riches, and presents numerical sayings about what is never satisfied, four things too wonderful to understand and four small animals that are wise.
Proverbs 30 begins a different section of the book: the words of Agur, son of Jakeh, a sage of whom we know nothing beyond his name. Unlike the earlier chapters, which gather the counsel of teachers, Agur begins by admitting how much he does not know. His style is marked by numerical sayings of the type, three things, and even four, which invite us to look at the world with wonder.
Agur introduces himself as the son of Jakeh and addresses his oracle to Ithiel and Ucal (v. 1). He confesses with irony that he is more ignorant than any man, has no human understanding, has not learned wisdom and does not know the Holy One (vv. 2-3). He asks who has ascended to heaven and come down, who has gathered the wind in his fists, who has wrapped up the waters in a garment and who has established all the ends of the earth, and what his name and his son's name are (v. 4). Every word of God proves true, and he is a shield to those who take refuge in him; we are not to add to his words (vv. 5-6).
Then comes Agur's prayer: he asks for two things before he dies. Remove far from him falsehood and lying, and give him neither poverty nor riches but only the food he needs, lest he be full and deny the Lord or be poor and steal (vv. 7-9). Next he describes four kinds of people: those who curse their fathers, those who are pure in their own eyes yet unwashed of filth, those whose eyes are lofty and those who devour the poor (vv. 11-14). The leech has two daughters who cry, Give and Give (v. 15), and there are four things that never say, Enough: Sheol, the barren womb, the land never satisfied with water and fire (vv. 15-16).
Then come the things too wonderful: the way of an eagle in the sky, a serpent on a rock, a ship on the sea and a man with a young woman (vv. 18-19). Four things make the earth tremble: a servant who becomes king, a fool filled with food, an unloved woman who gets a husband and a maidservant who displaces her mistress (vv. 21-23). Four animals are small but exceedingly wise: ants, rock badgers, locusts and the lizard (vv. 24-28). The chapter ends with a warning to put your hand on your mouth if you have exalted yourself, for churning milk produces butter, pressing the nose produces blood and forcing anger produces strife (vv. 32-33).
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Agur asks who has ascended to heaven and come down, who gathered the wind and who established the ends of the earth, and what his name is. The questions leave the reader before the Creator; Christians see in them an expectation of God's full revelation in Christ.
Every word of God proves true, and he is a shield to those who take refuge in him; we are not to add to his words. The verse teaches us to trust Scripture as a reliable word and not to mix it with human inventions.
Agur asks that falsehood and lying be kept far from him, and that God give him neither poverty nor riches but only the food he needs. He recognizes the dangers of both extremes: abundance can lead to forgetting God, and want to the temptation to steal.
Four things on earth are small but exceedingly wise, and the first listed are the ants, a people without strength who prepare their food in the summer. Agur teaches that wisdom is learned by observing creation.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Agur, son of Jakeh. — Proverbs 30:1
Answer: It proves true, and God is a shield to those who take refuge in him. — Proverbs 30:5
Answer: That falsehood and lying be kept far from him, and that he be given neither poverty nor riches but only the bread he needs. — Proverbs 30:7-8
Answer: Give and Give. — Proverbs 30:15
Answer: The ants, the rock badgers, the locusts and the lizard. — Proverbs 30:24-28
Answer: Put his hand on his mouth. — Proverbs 30:32
The prayer of Proverbs 30:8-9 is a good guide for a small group: ask for truth, ask for enough and recognize the dangers of abundance and of scarcity. It is a chance to talk about how much we consider enough and how worry about money affects us.
Agur also teaches us to observe. In class you can look at four small creatures, like ants or rock badgers, and see what they teach: foresight, refuge, teamwork and presence even in palaces. Agur's humility at the start is the best starting point for studying the Bible.
Proverbs 30 shows a humble sage amazed before the Creator and his creation. Chapter 31 closes the book with the words of Lemuel, his mother's counsel on justice and the poem of the capable wife.
Nothing is known of him outside this chapter. Neither his time nor his homeland is certain, and some even debate whether the word is a personal name. Tradition treats him as a sage whose words were inspired and included in the book, and his simplicity is one of his greatest values.
Agur asks for the name of God and of his son. In its original setting it points to God as incomparable and beyond anyone's full knowledge by himself. Christians often read here an anticipation of the revelation of the Father and the Son in the New Testament, without claiming that Agur understood it that way.