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This man declared to Ithiel—to Ithiel and Ucal:. The words of Agur the son of Jakeh : Proverbs 30 is a collection of wisdom from a man known only to this chapter of the Bible. When the men of Hezekiah gathered additional material for Proverbs Proverbs , they added these words of Agur.
We have no other mention of Agur the son of Jakeh. Other men of wisdom beside Solomon are described in 1 Kings Some think that Agur is another name for Solomon Ross says the Jewish Midrash asserts this but this is unlikely.
Agur seems to have been a public teacher , and Ithiel and Ucal to have been his scholars. It is much better to give our full attention to the teaching than to indulge in unprofitable speculation about the writers. His utterance : This has the sense of a prophetic word, inspired by God. Like Solomon earlier in the book Proverbs , Agur understood that his words here came from God. The wisdom of Agur in Proverbs 30 is filled with observations on life and the natural world.
This man declared to Ithiel : These proverbs are wisdom sayings that Agur spoke to two other men, Ithiel and Ucal. Again, we have no other mention of these men in the rest of the Bible. Some interpreters such as Trapp have thought that the names Ithiel and Ucal were symbolic, hidden references to the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ. This is unlikely. But if he had meant this of Christ, why should he design him such obscure and ambiguous names, as if he would not be understood? Surely I am more stupid than any man, And do not have the understanding of a man.
I neither learned wisdom Nor have knowledge of the Holy One. Surely I am more stupid than any man : Many previous proverbs teach that humility is an essential aspect of wisdom.
Here, with poetic exaggeration, Agur declared his own limitations when it comes to understanding and wisdom. David said, I was like a beast before you Psalm Job spoke of man, who is a worm Job Nor have knowledge of the Holy One : Agur was also careful not to boast of his spiritual knowledge. He brings his lesson to us with great humility, not from a position of superiority.
Who has ascended into heaven, or descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? Who has ascended into heaven : In a section that sounds much like Job , Agur called men and women to understand their limitations in understanding God and His creation. The wise and humble answer to each of these questions is, God, and not man. And none but he who made and governs all the creatures can know and teach these things.
Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Do not add to His words, Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar.
It is all good and all helpful, being completely pure. Because it is pure it can and should be trusted. Every thing that God has pronounced, every inspiration which the prophets have received, is pure, without mixture of error, without dross. Whatever trials it may be exposed to, it is always like gold : it bears the fire , and comes out with the same lustre , the same purity , and the same weight. Go to the Book. Here all is light and purity. While the secret things belong to the Lord our God, yet the things that are revealed are our holy directory.
The sense is that God gives His pure word to protect His people if they will use the wisdom and encouragement of His word to put their trust in Him. Additionally, a shield is something we trust , and if we wisely trust God and His revelation of Himself in His word, He will protect us. He tells the truth and we will be found a liar. Sooner or later, however, such superinterpreters will be shown to be wrong.
It has added all the gross stuff in the Apocrypha , besides innumerable legends and traditions , to the word of God! And this Church has been reproved , and found to be a liar , in attempting to filiate on the most holy God spurious writings discreditable to his nature. Two things I request of You : These verses contain a wise and humble prayer from Agur. He earnestly asked God for two things , and he wanted to receive them on this side of eternity Deprive me not before I die.
Remove falsehood and lies far from me : Agur first asked for personal integrity. He wanted to be a man marked by truth, and not by falsehood and lies. In verse 5b, Agur mirrors Psalm when speaking of God as a shield to those who trust Him. He who does is a liar and is subject to a rebuke from the Lord. Strong words indeed! He asks for a modest life due to potential deceit which comes from both extremes.
What he and we are to seek is a life of sufficiency from the Lord not from things of the world. Verse Cursing a father and not blessing a mother cf.
Exodus Verse Looking pure but full of filth cf. Matthew , James Verse Arrogance cf. Psalm , Proverbs , James Verse Ungodly speech and spite for the poor cf.
Verses address the greedy by declaring they are like a leech for whom there is never enough. By way of contrasting the glorious with the profane, Agur expresses things too wonderful for him. Each is an object lesson. Hypocrisy is likened to them in verse 20 when an adulteress seeks to hide her sin yet claims innocence. The reading of R. Jakeh of Massa , making Massa a proper name, is however preferred by some scholars. See Proverbs , note.
Pulpit Commentary Verses Cornelius a Lapide offers the following opinion concerning this appendix, which no one can hesitate to say is well founded, if he attempts to give it a spiritual interpretation, and to discern mysteries under the literal meaning: "Quarta haec pars elegantissima est et pulcherrima, aeque ac difficillima et obscurissima: priores enim tres partes continent Proverbia et Paraemias claras, ac antithesibus et similitudinibus perspicuas et illustres; haec vero continet aenigmata et gryphos insignes, sed arcanos et perdifficiles, turn ex phrasi quae involute est et aenigmatica, tum ex sensu et materia, quae sublimis est et profunda.
This seems to be the correct rendering of the passage, though it has been made to bear very different interpretations. It is plainly the tide of the treatise which follows Wire Agur and Jakeh were is utterly unknown. The Jewish interpreters considered that "Agur son of Jakeh" was an allegorical designation of Solomon - Agur meaning "Gatherer," or "Convener" see Ecclesiastes ; Ecclesiastes ; Jakeh , "Obedient," or "Pious," which thus would indicate David.
Jerome somewhat countenances the alle gorical interpretation by translating, Verba Congregantis , filii Vomentis , "The words of the Collector, son of the Utterer. Massa "burden," is usually applied to a solemn prophetical speech or oracle, a Divine utterance Isaiah ; Isaiah , etc. Others find Massa in the Hauran, or on the north of the Persian Gulf. But we have no satisfactory account of a country thus called, and its existence is quite problematical; therefore the ingenious explanations founded on the reality of this terra ignota need not be specified see Introduction, pp.
Gratz has suggested that in place of hamassa should be read hammoshel , "the proverb writer;" but this is a mere conjecture, unsupported by any ancient authority. If, as seems necessary, we are compelled to resign the rendering, "of Masse," or "the Massan," we must fall back on the Authorized Version, and consider the term "oracle" as applied loosely and abnormally to these utterances of wisdom which follow.
That they are not of the nature of Divine communications can be seen at once by consideration of their contents, which are mainly of human, and not of the highest type, and, though capable of spiritual interpretation, do not possess that uniqueness of purpose, that religious character and elevation of subject, which one expects in the enunciations of an inspired prophet.
This view does not militate against their claim to be regarded as Holy Scripture; their place in the canon is secured by other considerations, and is not affected by our suspicion of the inappropriateness of the term applied to them; and, indeed, it may be that the very human element in these utterances is meant to be unsatisfying, and to lead one to look for the deep spiritual truths which underlie the secular surroundings.
Agur is some poet or moralist, well known in Solomon's time, probably one of the wise men referred to in Proverbs see below. The rest of the paragraph is of greater obscurity than the former portion. The man spake unto Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and Ucal. According to this rendering, the man is Agur, who is introduced as uttering what follows in ver.
The name Ucal occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament; Ithiel is found once, in Nehemiah , as the name of a Benjamite. Wordsworth regards the names as symbolical of the moral character of those whom the author designs to address, explaining the former as equivalent to "God with me," and the latter as denoting "consumed" with zeal, or "strong," "perfect. You must be Ithiels, if you are to be Ucals. The Syriac takes this view of the words; to the same opinion lean, more or less, the Jewish translators Aquila and Theodotion, Aben Ezra, Vatablus, Pagninus, and others, and it is the simplest and easiest solution of the difficulties which have been seen in the clause.
But many modern commentators have declared against it; e. The repetition of Ithiel seems unmeaning; one sees no reason why it should be repeated more than Ucal. But if we take the words in dispute as proper names, no statement to be confirmed has been made.
We are, then, constrained to take them in another sense. Jerome translates them, writing, Visio quam locutus est vir , cum quo est Deus , et qui Deo secum morante confortatus. The LXX.
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