Bible Commentaries
Proverbs 30

Verses 1-3

THE two concluding chapters of this Book are an appendix to the Proverbs of Solomon. Nothing certain is known of the writers; and it is vain to speculate, where God is silent. Far better is it to give the full interest of our mind and heart to the matter of instruction, than to indulge unprofitable curiosity respecting the writers. Our ignorance of the writers of many of the Psalms in no degree hinders their profit to us. We know their author, when the penmen are hid. It is enough for us to be assured, that they were "holy men of God," who wrote "as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." (2 Peter 1:21 .)

Agur was doubtless one of the wise men found in many ages of the Old Testament Church. His words were a prophecy; — that is — divine instruction†1 given unto Ithiel and Ucal (Ithiel especially) probably two of his scholars, whose names are equally unknown to us. Perhaps they came to him for instruction, and he was led to express himself in the most humbling sense of his own ignorance. ’You come to me for instruction. But surely I am more brutish than any man; not having the advantages of learning wisdom (Amos 7:14-15 ), or the knowledge of the holy God (Daniel 4:18 ), and of the holy revelation of his name.’

His language is indeed strong. Stronger could scarcely have been used. He confesses himself to be, not only brutish, as man is by nature;†2 but, though enlightened by heavenly teaching, more brutish than any man. Were these the words of truth? Or were they the affectation of modesty? Or was it false humility, dishonorably denying the work of God? He was now speaking from the mouth of God. And how could he dissemble in his name? He spake the truth as it really is, as consciousness could not but speak; as self-knowledge under divine teaching dictated. For let a man take "the candle of the LORD;" given him to "search all the inward parts of the belly" (Proverbs 20:27 ); and what a mass of vanity will he find there! Such folly mixed with his wisdom! such ignorance with his knowledge! that, instead of pluming himself upon his elevation above his fellow-men, he can but cry out in shame — Surely I am more brutish than any man! Whoever knows his own heart, knows that of himself, that he can hardly conceive of any one else being so degraded as himself.†3

Add to which — it is the child of God comparing himself with his perfect standard. And in the perception of his own short-comings, the most discerning clear-sighted penitent feels, that he can never abase himself as he ought before his God — He would lie low, lower still, infinitely lower, in the dust. Holy Paul, comparing himself with the spirituality of the perfect law, exclaims — "I am carnal, sold under sin." (Romans 7:14 .) Isaiah, in the presence of a holy God — cries out — "Woe is me, for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips." (Isaiah 6:5 .) Job in the manifestation of the power of God sinks into absolute nothingness and unworthiness. (Job 40:4 ; Job 42:6 .) David in the full view of the wisdom of God is made to see the perverseness of his own folly, and take up the very confession of Agur — "So foolish was I, and ignorant; I was as a beast before thee"!†4 The nearer our contemplation of God, the closer our communion with him, the deeper will be our self-abasement before him; like the winged seraphs "before the throne, who with twain cover their faces, and with twain cover their feet." (Isaiah 6:2 .) Well, therefore, may the wisest and holiest of men, though "renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him" (Colossians 3:10 ), take up the humiliating confession — Surely I am more brutish than any man — Genuine humility is the only path of wisdom. Unless a man stoops, he can never enter the door. He must become "a fool, that he may be wise."†5 And when he is humbled in his shame, then let him see the house of his God in its breadth and length (Ezekiel 44:5 ); enjoying clearer, and panting still for clearer manifestations of the incomprehensible God.

But how reverently should we approach this divine presence! With what holy hands should we open his revelation! dreading a careless, light, and presumptuous spirit; yet withal cherishing those nobly ambitious desires for deeper and higher knowledge; yea — reiterating them before our God with that repetition, which to a carnal mind would be nauseating tautology; but which he who knows our hearts loves to hear, and will beyond our desires abundantly fulfill.

Footnotes:

†1 This was a frequent Scripture name for ordinary instruction. Proverbs 31:1-31 . 1 Corinthians 14:1, 1 Corinthians 3-4. 1 Thessalonians 5:20 .

†2 Job 11:12. Psalms 49:20 . Jeremiah 10:14 .

†3 Compare Proverbs 14:10 . The following remarks of a profound divine will illustrate this subject - ’He that has much grace, apprehends, much more than others, that great height to which his love ought to ascend: and he sees better than others, how little a way he has risen towards that height. And therefore estimating his love by the whole height of his duty, hence it appears astonishingly low and little in his eyes - True grace is of that nature, that the more a person has of it, with remaining corruption, the less does his goodness and holiness appear, in proportion, not only to his past, but his present deformity, in the sin that now appears in his heart, and in the abominable defects of his highest and best affections.’ - Edwards on Relig. Affections, Part 3. Sect 6.

†4 Psalms 73:1-22, ’a beast.’ The original is the plural of excellence conveying an intensitiveness, not easy to transfer acceptably into our idiom. Bp. Horsley gives it - ’I was as a brute before thee.’

†5 1 Corinthians 3:18 . There is a fine ray of wisdom in that consciousness of ignorance, that led Socrates to confess - ’I only know one thing - that I know nothing.’ Compare 1 Corinthians 8:2 .

Verse 4

Can we wonder that Agur should have acknowledged his brutishness, now that he was contemplating the majesty of God, so wondrous in his works, so incomprehensible in his nature? The eye was blinded by the dazzling blaze of the sun. To behold Jehovah ascending and descending in his own glorious person;†1 afterward in the person of his dear Son†2 (for in his great work was not his Father’s name in him?†3); to see him holding the loose winds as firmly as a man might hold in his fists;†4 to see his almighty control of the waters,†5 and his establishment of the ends of the earth†6 — this is a sight, that might make the highest and wisest of men sink into nothingness before him. Who hath done this, none can doubt. The challenge is thrown out as a demonstration that it was God alone. ’Shew me the man, that can or dare arrogate this power to himself.’†7

But when we pass from the works to their great Maker, truly it is an overwhelming view — What is his name, if thou canst tell? "Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? He dwelleth in the light, which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, nor can see."†8 How can we express him in words, or conceive of him in thought? Child of God! "Be still, and know that he is God." (Psalms 46:10 .) Restrain thy reason. Humble thy faith. "Lay thine hand upon thy mouth." Lie in the dust before him. "O the depth!" (Romans 11:33 ) — open only to him whose "understanding is infinite."†9

But how does the mystery increase! What is his name, if thou canst tell? And who can tell? "No one knoweth the Son, but the Father." (Matthew 11:27 .) Yet there is a Son in the Eternal Godhead; a Son, not begotten in time, but from eternity (Proverbs 8:22-30 ); his name therefore, not as some would have it, a component part of his humiliation, but the manifestation of his Godhead: co-existent with his Father in the same ineffable nature, yet personally distinct.†10 What is his name? and what his Son’s name? Sovereignty — Omnipresence — Omnipotence is his. He too controls the winds and waters,†11 and establishes the earth,†12 as one, who is in the visible "form of God, and thinketh it not robbery to be equal with God." (Philippians 2:6 .)

What is his name? The secret name is easily spelt. (Revelation 19:12-13 .) But the mystery is hid. We must not enquire too curiously.†13 Be careful that we stop, where Revelation stops. Beyond this bound, every step is a trespass "on forbidden ground," intruding into those things which we have not seen, "vainly puffed up by our fleshly mind." (Colossians 2:8 .) Many however are so bewitched by their own fancy, that they conceive themselves to understand this name. They think far higher of their wisdom than Agur did, and are at no loss at all to explain what they conceive in their proud ignorance to be the full meaning of the inscrutable subject. But the genuine disciple acknowledges the nature of the Son to be alike incomprehensible with that of the Father. He humbly lies at his feet, and thankfully adores the mystery, which he cannot "by searching find out." (Job 11:7 .)

Yet what Revelation hath brought up to us from these untraceable depths are pearls of great price. Let us reverently gather them for the enriching of our souls. So far as our Divine Teacher leads us by the hand, let us diligently follow him. Within his bounds let us freely expatiate, through the length and breadth of the land. The wholesome dread of being "wise above that which is written," must not damp the holy ardor to be wise and wiser continually in that which is written. ’Curiously to inquire is rashness; to believe is piety; to know indeed is life eternal.’†14 Unsearchable as he is in his greatness; yet so near is he to us, that we can rest in his bosom. Yours — Christian — is the unspeakable privilege to be one with him, who is One with God. And therefore, if you tell his name, as you are bound to tell what is revealed, is it not all that is infinitely great, combined with the endearing relations — Husband — Brother — Savior — King?

Footnotes:

†1 Genesis 11:7; Genesis 17:22 ; Genesis 18:21 . Exodus 3:8 .

†2 John 1:51; John 3:13 ; John 6:62 . Ephesians 4:9-10 .

†3 John 10:30, John 10:38 ; John 14:10 . Compare Exodus 23:21 .

†4 Job 28:25. Compare Psalms 104:3 ; Psalms 135:7 . The Heathens dreamed of a lower Deity, whom Jupiter appointed as storekeeper, to still or raise the winds at his pleasures. Hom. Odyss. K. 21, 22. Virg. Æn. i. 69, 70.

†5 Job 26:8; Job 38:8-11 . Isaiah 40:12 . Jeremiah 5:22 .

†6 Job 26:7; Job 38:5 . Psalms 93:1 ; Psalms 119:90 .

†7 Bishop Hall.

†8 Job 11:7-9. 1 Timothy 6:16 . Compare Job 38:3-4 .

†9 Psalms 147:5. Isaiah 40:28 .

†10 ’We have a full and clear testimony of the distinction of persons, and that the Son is equal to the Father, and of the same substance with him.’ Lavater. See Scott in loco. Mr. Holden considers this interpretation to be ’natural and unforced, and very suitable to the context.’

†11 Matthew 8:26; Matthew 14:32 .

†12 Hebrews 1:3.

†13 Genesis 32:29. Judges 13:18 .

†14 Bernard.

Verses 5-6

Nothing is learned solidly by abstract speculation. Go to the book. Here all is light and purity. Though "secret things belong to the LORD our God; yet the things that are revealed" are our holy directory. Everything is intended to influence the heart and conduct. (Deuteronomy 29:29 .) How unlike the sacred books of the heathen, or the sensual religion of Mahomet! Here is no license, or encouragement to sin, no connivance at it. All lurking sins, cherished in the dark cavern of pollution, are brought to light, and reproved. Every word of God is pure. Of what other book in the world can this be said? Where else is the gold found without alloy? The word is tried. (Heb.) It has stood the trial, and no dross has been found in it. ’Having God for its Author, it has truth without any mixture of error for its matter.’†1 "The words of the LORD are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times."†2

But if every word of God is pure, take care that no word is slighted. How few range over the whole Revelation of God! To take a whole view of the universe, we should embrace not only the fruitful gardens, but its barren deserts, coming equally from the hand of God, and none of them made for nought. To take a similarly comprehensive view of the sacred field, we must study the apparently barren, as well as the more manifestly fruitful, portions. Meat will be gathered from the detailed code of laws, from the historical annals of the kings, and from the "wars and fightings" — the prolific results of "the lusts of men." (James 4:1 .) The whole Scripture is Scripture, and "all Scripture is profitable." (2 Timothy 3:16 .)

Favoritism however is a besetting snare in the sacred study. A part is too often taken instead of the whole, or as if it were the whole. One is absorbed in the doctrinal, a second in the practical, a third in the prophetical, a fourth in the experimental, Scriptures; each seeming to forget, that every word of God is pure. Some clear defect in the integrity of profession proves unsoundness. The doctrinist becomes loose in practice; the practical professor self-righteous in principle. The prophetic disciple, absorbed in his imaginative atmosphere, neglects present obligations. The experimental religionist mistakes a religion of feeling, excitement, or fancy, for the sobriety and substantial fruitfulness of the gospel. All remind us of our Lord’s rebuke — "Ye do err not knowing the Scriptures." (Matthew 22:29 .)

The great exercise therefore is — to bring out the whole mass of solid truth in all its bearings and glory. So wisely has God linked together the several parts of his system, that we can receive no portion soundly, except in connection with the whole. The accuracy of any view is more than suspicious, that serves to put a forced construction upon Scripture, to dislocate its connection, or to throw important truths into the shade. Apparently contradictory statements are in fact only balancing truths; each correcting its opposite, and, like the antagonal muscles, contributing to the strength and completeness of the frame. Every heresy probably stands upon some insulated text or some exaggerated truth, pressed beyond "the proportion of faith." But none can stand upon the combined view and testimony of Scripture. Nor let it be sufficient, that our system includes no positive error, if some great truths be lacking. Let it be carefully grounded upon the acknowledgment — Every word of God is pure. Some of us may err in presumptuous familiarity with Scripture; others in unworthy reserve. But if the heart be right, self-knowledge will develop the error, and self-discipline will correct it.

Christian simplicity will teach us to receive every Divine Truth upon this formal ground — that it is the word of God. Though it is not all of equal importance, it will be regarded with equal reverence. We acknowledge implicitly God as the Author of every particle of Scripture, and that every word of God is pure. To reject therefore one ’jot or tittle is a sufficient demonstration,’ — as Dr. Owen admirably observes — ’that no one jot or tittle of it is received as it ought. Upon whatsoever this tittle and inscription is — ’The Word of Jehovah’ — there must we stoop, and bow down our souls before it, and captivate our understandings unto the obedience of faith.’†3

This holy reverence is combined with trust in God. Blessed trust, which brings a shield of special favor over his trembling child!†4 Sometimes indeed is Satan permitted to envelope him in darkness, and to picture, as it were, frightful transparencies upon his prison wall. What would he do in this time of terror, did he not find a shield and a covert in the bosom of his God? Yes — if the word of God be pure, it must be a sure ground of trust. We may take its dictum with undoubting confidence, that he is a shield, as to Abraham of old (Genesis 15:1 ), so to Abraham’s children, that put their trust in him.†5 In all circumstances from within and from without — when I quake under the terrors of the law, in the hour of death, in the day of judgment — "Thou art my shield." (Psalms 119:114 .) Nothing honors God, like this turning to him in every time of need. If there be rest, peaceful confidence, safe keeping, here it is. And where is if found beside? Despondency meets the poor deluded sinner, who looks for some other stay. And even the child of God traces his frequent want of protection to his feeble and uncertain use of his Divine shield.

But the word of God is not only pure, and cannot deceive. It is also sufficient; and therefore, like tried gold, it needs no addition for its perfection. Hence to add to his words, stamped as they are with his Divine authority, will expose us to his tremendous reproof, and cover us with shame.†6 The Jewish Church virtually added their oral law and written traditions. (Mark 7:7-13 .) The Church of Rome is not less guilty, and as a church has been found a liar; adding to the inspired canon a mass of unwritten tradition, and apocryphal writings, with all their gross errors, and in despite of the clearest proof of their human origin.†7 The attempt in our own day to bring tradition to a near, if not to an equal, level with the sacred testimony, is a fearful approach to this sinful presumption. A new rule of faith is thus introduced — an addition to the Divine rule, of co-ordinate authority.†8

The needlessness of this addition is obvious. For if "the holy Scriptures are able to make us wise unto salvation" (2 Timothy 3:15 ), what want we more? And if this were spoken of the Old Testament Scriptures, the sufficiency of a part confirms the larger sufficiency of the whole, while it excludes all reference to any other sufficiency; just as the sufficiency of the early light for all practical purposes, while it precludes the necessity of the light of a candle, establishes the fuller advantage of the light of perfect day. If "Scripture be profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness;" if "the man of God be perfected, and throughly furnished by it" (2 Timothy 3:16-17 ), what clearer demonstration can be given of its absolute completeness? To reflect therefore upon the integrity of this Divine rule of faith, and to shake confidence in its sole authority, is to bring in a false principle, the source of every evil and corruption of the faith.

Never indeed was it so important to clear from all question the momentous controversy — what is, what is not, the Word of God. The Lord has most carefully guarded his pure word from all human admixture. May he preserve his ministers from "teaching for doctrine the commandments of men," saying, "The LORD hath said it, when he hath not spoken"!†9 What a reverential awe, what godly jealousy, should they exercise, to add not to the pure word by the glosses of false interpretation; not to expound their own minds, instead of the mind of God!

Footnotes:

†1 Locke.

†2 Psalms 12:6. Compare Psalms 119:140 . Proverbs 8:8-9 .

†3 Owen on the Perseverance of the Saints, chapter 10. See Life of Mary Jane Graham, chapter 5.

†4 Psalms 2:11-12. Isaiah 66:2 .

†5 Psalms 5:12. Compare the same connection, Psalms 18:30 .

†6 See Deuteronomy 4:2 ; Deuteronomy 12:32 . Revelation 22:18-19 .

†7 Mr. Horne has conferred an obligation upon the Church, by publishing separately his valuable Digest of the Apocryphal Question, from the last edition of his Introduction.

†8 ’Scripture is not the only ground of the faith’ (Newman’s Lectures on Roman, p. 369) ’Catholic tradition is a divine informant in religious matters.’ (Ib. 329) ’the unwritten word’ (Ib. 255) ’We agree with the Romanist in appealing to antiquity as our great teacher’ Ib. 327. Obviously therefore, while the inspiration of Scripture may be admitted, Tradition claims our equal reverence to its authority.

†9 Ezekiel 13:7-9, with Matthew 15:9 .

Verses 7-9

Though Agur had confessed his brutishness before his God; yet his prayers (the most accurate test of a man of God) prove him to have been possessed of deep spiritual understanding. "We ask, and receive not, because we ask amiss, that we may consume it upon our lusts." (James 4:3 .) How wisely gracious therefore is the teaching of the divine Comforter, "helping our infirmities" in prayer, and by molding our petitions, "according to the will of God," ensuring their acceptance. (Romans 8:26-27 .) Agur’s heart must have been under this heavenly teaching; dictating his prayers by a primary regard to his best interests, and by a spiritual discernment of what would probably be beneficial, and what injurious to them.

Two things he especially required — not as though he had nothing else to ask, but as being the pressing burden of the present moment. And these he asks — as if he would take no denial (Genesis 32:26 ) — with all the intense earnestness of a dying sinner — Deny me them not before I die!

His prayers are short, but comprehensive. Though little is said, yet that little is fraught with matter; framed in its proper order. Spiritual blessings occupy the first place; temporal blessings are secondary, and in subserviencey to them.

Remove from me vanity and lies. Is not this the atmosphere of the world? vanity its character — lies its delusion; promising happiness, only to disappoint its weary and restless victims? How can the heaven-born soul breathe in such a world? Everything deadens the heart, and eclipses the glory of the Savior. "The soul cleaveth to the dust." "All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father, but is of the world." (1 John 2:16 .) And therefore "they that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy." (Jonah 2:8 .) A soul that knows its dangers and its besetting temptations, will live in the spirit of this prayer of the godly Agur — remove from me — far from me — as far as possible, vanity and lies. "Turn away mine eyes" — prayed a saint of God in the same watchful jealousy — "from beholding vanity. Remove from me the way of lying." (Psalms 119:37, Psalms 119:29 .)

But how singular, yet how fraught with instruction, is Agur’s second prayer! All are ready to pray against poverty. But to deprecate riches — this is not nature’s desire, but an impulse of godly fear and trembling, that cometh from above. ’Give me not riches’ — is scarce the prayer of one in ten thousand. Agur, as a wise man, desired the safest and happiest lot; not, as Israel of old, "meat for his lust;"†1 but food convenient for him, measured out in daily allowance,†2 suitable to his need. This is obviously not a fixed measure. It implies, not a bare sufficiency for natural life, but a provision varying according to the calling, in which God has placed us. ’If Agur be the master of a family, then that is his competency, which is sufficient to maintain his wife, children, and household. If Agur be a public person, a prince or a ruler of the people; then that is Agur’s sufficiency, which will conveniently maintain him in that condition.’†3 Jacob when "he had become two bands," evidently required more than when in his earlier life "with his staff he had passed over Jordan." (Genesis 32:10 .) What was sufficient for himself alone, would not have been sufficient for the many that were then dependent upon him. The immense provisions for Solomon’s table, considering the vast multitude of his dependents, might be only a competency for the demand. (1 Kings 4:22 .) The distribution of the manna was food convenient — nothing too much, but no deficiency — "He that gathered much had nothing over; and he that gathered little had no lack." (Exodus 16:18 .) And thus, in the daily dispensation of Providence, a little may be a sufficiency to one, while an overflowing plenty is no superfluity to another. Only let Christian self-denial, not depraved appetite, be the standard of competency. Proud nature never stoops so low.†4 The Apostle distinctly traces to the influence of Divine teaching his Christian moderation in his diversified conditions of abundance and of want.†5 Philosophy may have inculcated the lesson; but Almighty grace alone can command the practice of it.

’It is a question’ — says Dr. South — ’whether the piety or the prudence of this prayer be greater.’†6 Agur was well persuaded of the temptations incident to these two opposite conditions — the vanity and lies belonging to riches (Psalms 62:9 ), the discontent and occasion of sin, which are the snares of poverty. Yet he does not pray absolutely against these states, only submissively. It is the prayer of his choice, the desire of his heart, that God would graciously exempt him from both, and bless him with a middle condition. Nor does he ask this for the indulgence of the flesh. He deprecates not the trouble, anxieties, and responsibilities of riches, which might betoken an indolent, self-pleasing spirit; nor the miseries and sufferings of poverty; but he cries for deliverance from the snares of each condition — Let me not be rich, lest I be full, and deny thee. Let me not be poor, lest I steal, and take the name of my God in vain.

And alas! the danger of these results is but too evident. Both extremes are the borders of fearful temptation. Strange and irrational as it may appear, such is the depravity of our nature, that mercies induce neglect, and often, casting off, of God.†7 Lust is too strong for conscience. Rarely does "the daughter of Tyre come with her gift, or the rich among the people entreat the favor" of their God. (Psalms 45:12 .) Too often, the more we receive from God, the less he receives from us.†8 The twining thorns choke the heavenly plant. (Matthew 13:22 .) And as we prosper in the flesh, we are impoverished in the spirit. But not less imminent are the dangers of pinching poverty; nor is it every Christian, that can honorably grapple with them. Dishonesty is a besetting temptation,†9 followed up by perjury to escape punishment.†10 Thus two commandments are broken, and the sinner is in "the snare of the devil, taken captive by him at his will." (2 Timothy 2:26 .)

The ’golden mean’ (for so even a heathen could describe it†11) is recommended by patriarchs,†12 prophets,†13 and apostles.†14 Nay, our Lord teaches us to pray for it in terms identical with this petition. For what else is our "daily bread" but food convenient for us?†15

We must however be careful, that we use Agur’s prayer in his spirit. Perhaps the Gospel rather teaches us to leave the matter entirely with God. Both riches and poverty are his appointment.†16 It may please him to place us in a high condition; to entrust us with much riches, or to exercise us with the trials of poverty. Many of his children are in both these conditions.†17 And shall they wish it otherwise? Let them rather seek for grace to glorify him in either state. Or if it seem lawful to pray for a change of condition, let us not forget to pray for a single eye to his glory, that his will, not ours, may be done in us. ’Whithersoever God gives’ — said the pious Bishop Hall — ’I am both thankful and indifferent; so as, while I am rich in estate, I may be poor in spirit; and while I am poor in estate, I may be rich in grace.’†18

Footnotes:

†1 Psalms 78:18.

†2 Compare 1 Kings 4:27 . 2 Kings 25:30 .

†3 Mede’s Sermon on Agur’s Choice.

†4 Ecclesiastes 5:10. Habakkuk 2:5 . 1 Timothy 6:9-10 .

†5 I have learned - I have been instructed - expressions taken from the instruction in the Heathen Mysteries. Philippians 4:11-12 .

†6 Sermon on James 3:16 .

†7 Job 21:13-14; Job 22:17-18 .

†8 Deuteronomy 6:11-12; Deuteronomy 8:10-13 ; Deuteronomy 32:15 . Hosea 13:6 . What a deep knowledge of the heart is implied in that petition of our Litany for deliverance in all time of wealth! How hard to realize the time of wealth as the time of special need!

†9 Proverbs 6:30.

†10 Proverbs 29:24. Compare Leviticus 6:2-3 ; Leviticus 19:11-12 . Zechariah 5:3-4 .

†11 ’Auream quisquis mediocritatem

Diligit, tutus caret obsoleti

Sordibus tecti, caret invidendâ

Sobrius aulâ.’ - Horat. Carm. lib. 2. 10.

†12 Genesis 28:20.

†13 Jeremiah 45:5.

†14 Philippians 4:11-12. 1 Timothy 6:6-10 .

†15 The learned Mede insists upon this identity. Things fit and sufficient, precisely answers to arton eipiousion. (Matthew 6:11 ) - ’a sufficiency as it were,’ - epi thn ousian, adequate to our being and support - bread sufficient - the bread we have need of. Thus periousia signifies abundance or superfluity - peri, ultra or super - as it were, an over-being.

†16 The learned Mede insists upon this identity. Things fit and sufficient, precisely answers to arton eipiousion. (Matthew 6:11 ) - ’a sufficiency as it were,’ - epi thn ousian, adequate to our being and support - bread sufficient - the bread we have need of. Thus periousia signifies abundance or superfluity - peri, ultra or super - as it were, an over-being.

†17 Abraham - David - Solomon - with Lazarus and the heirs of his kingdom, James 2:5 .

†18 Works, viii. 195. ’Our Savior, in the prayer he taught, directs us to pray in general, that God would give us daily bread, and deliver us from evil; without specifying the external comfort we might desire, or the particular disagreeable occurrences we might wish to be secured against: but leaving it to the goodness of our heavenly Father to determine what is convenient for us, and what would prove upon the whole really evil. Let us therefore from hence learn to pray, that God would always put us into that condition, which he sees to be fittest for us, and that he would fit us more and more for that condition, in which he places us, whatever it be; granting us wisdom and grace to behave in it after a right manner, and both to discern and improve the advantages annexed to it. By this means, when there was no appearance but of a barren desert, we shall discover mines of gold.’ - Grove’s Sermons.

Verse 10

Let not this Proverb be a shelter for unfaithfulness. How much evil goes on in a family, because those that are privy to it, and ought to inform, shrink from accusing a servant to his master! ’They must not make mischief in the house, or bring themselves into trouble.’ But we owe it alike to master and to servant†1 not to wink at sin. We may owe it to ourselves to accuse the servant to his master for injury to ourselves. (Genesis 21:25-26 .) Yet let a fellow-servant first observe our Lord’s rule of privacy. (Matthew 18:15 .) Let every exercise of faithfulness be in the spirit of love. Beware of the busy wantonness of the talebearer. (Leviticus 19:16 .) Never make trouble for trifles; or accuse the servant, when he may not have the full liberty and power to defend himself. When conscience does not constrain us to speak, the law of love always supplies a reason for silence. The Jewish servants were ordinarily slaves, for the most part crushed by their masters’ oppression. Cruel therefore would it be without strong cause to heap degradation upon a sinking fellow-creature, for whom the Mosaic law prescribed kindness and protection. (Deuteronomy 23:15 .)

The rule however may be more generally applied. David suffered severely from unkind accusations to his royal master.†2 Those who take the most eager pleasure in finding fault are usually those, who can least bear the retort upon themselves. Take heed, lest, while thou art exposing "the mote in thy brother’s eye," thou be reminded to thy deeper disgrace of "the beam that is in thine own eye." (Matthew 7:3-5 .) A curse from thy injured brother may not "come causeless to thee."†3 The motive, which plainly actuated the accusation of the adulteress, only retorted shame upon the accusers. "The conviction of their own consciences" brought their own guilt to mind. (John 8:3-9 .) Should not this remembrance constrain us to "speak evil" needlessly "of no man"? (Titus 3:2 .) Should not the covering of our infinitely provoking offenses induce us gladly to cast a covering over our offending brother, where the honor of God did not forbid concealment?†4

Footnotes:

†1 Matthew 7:12. Leviticus 19:17 .

†2 1 Samuel 22:9-10 ; 1 Samuel 26:19 .

†3 Compare Proverbs 26:2 . Deuteronomy 15:9 . 1 Samuel 26:19 . Compare James 2:13 .

†4 Ephesians 4:31-32. Colossians 3:12-13 .

Verses 11-14

Agur here gives in artificial order (as in some of the Psalms) his observations, probably in answer to his disciples’ inquiries. He describes four different masses that came under his eyes — not a few individuals, but generations; a race of men, like a large stock, descending from father to son. Truly "the thing that hath been, is that which shall be; and that which is done, is that which shall be done; and there is no new thing under the sun." (Ecclesiastes 1:9 .) For these four generations belong to every age. They always have been, and always will be, to the end of time.

Take the first generation. What a disgrace to human nature! cursing their parents! Solon, when asked why he had made no law against parricides, replied, that he could not conceive of any one so impious and cruel. The divine law-giver knew his creature better, that his heart was capable of wickedness beyond conception (Jeremiah 17:9 ); of this wickedness beyond the imagination of the heathen sage. He has marked it with his most tremendous judgment.†1 The cursing of a parent was visited with the same punishment as the blaspheming of God;†2 so near does the one sin approach to the other. The rebel against his parent is ready to "stretch out his hand against God" himself, and to "run upon the thick bosses of his buckler." (Job 15:25-26 .) Many are the forms, in which this proud abomination shews itself; resistance of a parent’s authority,†3 contempt of his reproof,†4 shamelessly defiling his name,†5 needlessly exposing his sin,†6 coveting his substance,†7 denying his obligation.†8 Most fearful is the increase of this generation among ourselves. Every village bears sad testimony to this crying sin, that brings down many a parent’s grey hairs with sorrow to the grave, and spreads anarchy throughout the whole land. No plea of extenuation can be allowed to justify the sin. The authority of parents, even in the lowest degradation, must be respected, when we dare not, must not, follow their examples. But what can be done to stay the threatened invasion of this devastating flood? Once and again let us remember, ere it be too late, discipline, wise, tender, early, discipline; prayer — pleading, patient, believing prayer; diligence — active, direct, prudently applied. Will not our God bless his own means, and give us yet to praise him? Trust, and doubt not.

In what Church do we not find the next generation — pure in their own eyes, yet not washed from their filthiness? (Isaiah 65:5 ). The Pharisees of the Gospel†9 were the living picture, devoted to the externals of religion, and to them exclusively; "washing the outside of the cup and platter," while the inward part was wholly unwashed from its filthiness. We see them in the next generation in the Laodicean Church (Revelation 3:17-18 .) The family at this distance of time is far from being extinct. Their lineal representatives abound among us. Their religion, as of old, is mere ceremony; rigid in forms, but with an inveterate hatred of vital godliness. In the service of the Church they will go through the exercise of confession of sin, and supplication for mercy, as ’miserable offenders;’ still pure in their own eyes, with no conscious filthiness, from which they need to be washed. Nay — they will even at the Lord’s table, engage in a service, as full of contrition and self-renunciation as language could express; yet all this, not to humble the soul in sorrow and confidence, but to feed self-righteousness and delusion. All is formality, and "confidence in the flesh."

Indeed a thin cloak of profession suffices to maintain this self-gratifying judgment. For everywhere it is the great work of Satan, to delude the sinner into a good opinion of himself. His open profession is "according to the course of this world," plunging without scruple into all its follies and pleasures. His baptismal engagement is thrown to the wind. He does not pretend to renounce the devil, the world, or the flesh. Creeds are a matter of indifference. For the hearty service of his God he has no care or concern. And yet, withal, he is pure in his own eyes. He estimates himself by some plausible qualities, or some course of external decorum,†10 while a blind infidel as to the depravity of his nature, which — not the gross acts of sin — gives the stamp to the whole character. Sometimes partial obedience maintains this delusion; while he hides from himself the genuine hypocrisy of secret reserves, which mars all. (1 Samuel 15:13-14 .) He was once impure; but he has gone through a course of purifying observances, has washed himself from his filthiness, little knowing the infinite distinction between being pure in his own eyes, and being pure in the sight of God.

We often see this self-deceiver in the spiritual Church, exhibiting a full and clean profession to his fellow-men; while himself — awful thought! — living at an infinite distance from God. (1 Corinthians 13:1 .) He has got notions of the grand doctrines of the gospel, and he finds it convenient to profess them. Salvation by free grace is his creed, and he will "contend earnestly for" its purest simplicity. He conceives himself to distinguish accurately between sound and unscriptural doctrine. He deems it legal to search for inward evidences, lest they should obscure the glorious freeness of the gospel. All this is a cover for his slumbering delusion. His conscience is sleeping in "the form of godliness," while his heart is wholly uninfluenced by "its power." (2 Timothy 3:5 .) Or perhaps there may be alarming conviction of some powerful corruption, which, if he could master, he would be at peace. But while fixing his eye upon this single sin, he has no conception of the grand fountain of evil within. Sometimes it is the Romish error (common however to human nature) of substituting penance for penitence; some external work of sacrifice for the deep, inwrought principle; or the periodical routine of humiliation, instead of the daily habit. But with all this, there is no mourning for his innate guilt and pollution; no sensibility of sin in thoughts, objects, motives, or prayers; no perceptible change from a proud, self-willed, or worldly spirit. All serves only to soothe his conscience. He is pure in his own eyes — in his own imaginary view and perverted judgment! Yet until he be disturbed in his complacency, how hopeless his condition! (Proverbs 3:7 ; Proverbs 12:15 ; Proverbs 16:2 .)

Whatever allowance we may make in other cases for the pressure of constitutional temperament, here at least the want of all cheering influence is a plain proof of self-delusion. Vital religion is the sugar in the liquid, which impregnates the whole contents of the cup. The path may be thorny, and our light darkness. But sweetness will be mingled in our sorrow, even till the last drop in the cup of life shall be spent. The formalist’s religion is a piece of polished marble in the cup, externally beautiful, but cold and dead; impregnating nothing with an atom of sweetness.

The power of this self-delusion is, that man has no natural conception of the deep stain of sin, such as nothing but the blood of sprinkling can fetch out. The man of God, bathed in the tears of penitence, cries out for this sprinkling alone to "purge him." (Psalms 51:7 .) The tears of the purest repentance in themselves are impure and abominable.†11 It is not the exercise of a day to know the full extent of our corruption. As the Lord leads us into the light of our own hearts, we behold "greater and yet greater abominations." (Ezekiel 8:6 .) The conscience purged from sin becomes more clear for the discovery of remaining pollution. Those who are the most purified will have the deepest sensibility of impurity,†12 and will most deeply value "the fountain opened for sin and uncleanness," with its free invitation — "Wash, and be clean." (Zechariah 13:1 .)

Sinner! if thou be found unwashed from thy filthiness, must it not be certain exclusion from that "place, into which shall not in any wise enter anything that defileth"? (Revelation 21:27 .) Awful indeed will be the final sentence — "He that is filthy, let him be filthy still"! (Revelation 22:11 .)

The next generation provokes our sorrowful amazement. O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids lifted up. Such intolerable arrogance! What greater anomaly does the conscience afford than that of a proud sinner! his eyelids being lifted up, instead of being cast down to the ground. Such is his self-confidence even in the presence of his God! (Luke 18:11 .) And before men — all must keep their distance from these swelling worms! We may see this pride embodied in a system — "the Man of sin, sitting in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God"! (2 Thessalonians 2:4 .) We may see it in worldly greatness — in the pride of Moab;†13 the prince of Tyre;†14 the boasting Antiochus;†15 Haman in all his glory;†16 "Herod arrayed in his royal apparel;"†17 Nebuchadnezzar in his self-pleasing contemplation, before the severe chastening of his God had taught him the wholesome lesson — "Those that walk in pride he is able to abase." (Daniel 4:30 .) In a lower level it is the pride of birth, rank, wisdom, riches, or accomplishments. In every circumstance is this high look specially hateful to God;†18 and the day is appointed in his own purpose for its prostrate humiliation. (Isaiah 2:12 .) Meanwhile little is it conceived, how really contemptible this pride makes its deluded votaries appear before their fellow-creatures. (Psalms 101:5 .) One beam of the divine glory,†19 and one sight of the cross of Calvary,†20 must at once dispel their vain splendid illusion.

The last generation appears before us as a monster of iniquity. We can scarcely draw the picture in its full colors. Conceive of brutes with iron teeth — a wild beast opening his mouth, and displaying, instead of teeth, swords and knives, sharpened ready for their murderous work. (Psalms 57:4 .) Yet withal, these cruel oppressors are marked by pitiful cowardice. They vent their wantonness, only where there is little or no power of resistance. It is not the wolf with the wolf, but with the defenseless lamb; devouring the poor and needy from off the earth,†21 — "eating up my people" — not like an occasional indulgence, but "as they eat bread" their daily meal, without intermission. (Psalms 14:4 .) Such cruel oppressors appear from time to time as a chastening curse to the land; nay, they were found among the rulers of God’s own people,†22 even among the teachers of religion,†23 cloaking their covetousness under the garb of special holiness. God would thus shew us a picture of man left to himself. When the reins are loosened or given up, is there any length of wickedness, to which he may not proceed?

Indeed the four generations teach us this lesson, most valuable, yet most humbling, thoroughly to know. Yet so depraved is man, that he does not understand his own depravity. Nothing is so much hidden from him as himself. (2 Kings 8:13 .) He keeps a good opinion of himself, by keeping the light out of the heart and conscience. His imagination fancies good, where there is nothing but hateful deformity. Under this self-delusion, we deal so gently and tenderly with sin, that no conflict is maintained with it, no sorrow or burden felt concerning it. How deeply do we need the searching light and convincing power of the Spirit of God, to shew us our abominations; to make us tremble at the sight of them; and to let us see, that our remedy must come from God every moment; that no partial change, no external polish, nothing less than the creating power of God, can reach the case for a cure! (Psalms 51:10 .)

Adored indeed be the grace of God, if we be not in one or other of these generations! But let us remember — "Such were some of us" — either disobedient to our parents, or self-righteous in the church, or proud and contemptuous, or cruel and oppressive. But we are washed from our filthiness. (1 Corinthians 6:11 .) Therefore — "who maketh thee to differ?" (1 Corinthians 4:7 ) is the profitable recollection, when we are disposed to forget from whence we are raised, and to whom we owe all that we have and are for his service.

Footnotes:

†1 Proverbs 30:17; Proverbs 20:20 . Deuteronomy 21:18-21 ; Deuteronomy 27:16 .

†2 Leviticus 20:9, with Leviticus 24:11-16 . See the same close connection, Isaiah 45:9-10 . 2 Timothy 3:2 .

†3 2 Samuel 15:1-10 .

†4 1 Samuel 2:25 .

†5 2 Samuel 16:22 .

†6 Genesis 9:22.

†7 Proverbs 19:26. Judges 17:2 .

†8 Matthew 15:4-6 - shewing the identity between cursing, and not blessing, the parent.

†9 Matthew 23:25-27. Compare Luke 16:15 ; Luke 18:10 . John 9:40-41 .

†10 Matthew 19:20. Romans 7:9 . Philippians 3:6

†11 Job 9:30-31. Jeremiah 2:22 .

†12 Compare Romans 7:9 . Philippians 3:6, with Romans 7:14-24 . 1 Timothy 1:15 .

†13 Isaiah 16:6. Jeremiah 48:29 .

†14 Ezekiel 28:2.

†15 Daniel 11:36.

†16 Esther 5:11.

†17 Acts 12:21.

†18 Proverbs 6:17; Proverbs 21:4 . Compare Psalms 131:1 .

†19 Compare Job 42:5-6 . Isaiah 6:5 .

†20 Philippians 2:5.

†21 Psalms 10:8-9. Ecclesiastes 4:1 . Isaiah 3:15 . Amos 2:6-7 ; Amos 8:4 . Micah 2:1-2 . Habakkuk 3:14 .

†22 Amos 4:1. Micah 3:1-3 .

†23 Matthew 23:14.

Verses 15-16

Agur describes in an artificial mode of expression,†1 but with forcible imagery, the cravings of human lust. If viewed in reference to the last generation, they form an admirably finished picture of the merciless and avaricious tyrant. They are like the horseleech, which hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. They are like the three and four things, the grave, the womb, the earth, and the fire.†2 But with a more general reference the figures are graphically instructive. The horseleech with its two-forked tongue like two daughters, sucks the blood with an insatiable appetite.†3 The grave opens the mouth for fresh victims.†4 The barren womb eagerly covets the blessing.†5 The parched earth, after large supplies, still thirsts for more. The fire, when the spark first kindles a coal, or lights upon combustible matter, never ceases to burn as long as fuel is supplied, and in many a disastrous conflagration, leaves us to cry out in fearful wonder, "Behold! how great a matter a little fire kindleth." (James 3:5 .) And yet these are scarcely adequate representations of that insatiable thirst within, that never says — It is enough. The greater the portion, the greater the lust. Every indulgence provokes the appetite.†6 ’The horseleech hath but two daughters. But we have’ — says Bishop Sanderson — ’I know not how many craving lusts, no less importunately clamorous than they; till they be served, incessantly crying, Give, give; but much more unsatisfied than they. For they will be filled in time, and when they are filled, they tumble off, and there is an end. But our lusts will never be satisfied. Like Pharaoh’s kine, when they have eaten up all the fat ones, they are still as hungry and as whining as they were before.’†7

How blessed then is the state, to which the Gospel brings us — "Having food and raiment, let us be therewith content"! What a merciful-deliverance from that "destruction and perdition," the certain end of lawless lust. (1 Timothy 6:6-10 .) Happy child of God! — weaned from his old indulgence! disciplined under his father’s yoke! satisfied abundantly with his father’s love. Whether "he abound or suffer need" — he can say — "It is wealth — I am full, and abound." (Philippians 4:12, Philippians 4:18 .) Has he not found that, which answers every demand, supplies every need, and satisfies every desire? What but God can fill the soul, which God hath made, and made for himself?

Footnotes:

†1 See Proverbs 30:21, Proverbs 30:24, Proverbs 30:29 ; Proverbs 6:16 . Amos 1:3, Amos 1:6, Amos 1:9 ; Amos 2:1, Amos 2:4 .

†2 Holden. Compare Psalms 59:12, Psalms 59:14-15 .

†3 Reformer’s Notes.

’Non missura cutem, nisi plena cruoris hirudo.’

Hor. De Arte Poetica, 476.

†4 Proverbs 27:20. Habakkuk 2:5 .

†5 Genesis 30:1. 1 Samuel 1:6, 1 Samuel 1:11 .

†6 See Augustine’s Confession, Lib. iii. c. 1.

†7 Sermon on Philippians 4:11 . ’By the daughters of the horseleech may be understood covetousness and prodigality. Both then cry, Give - give. The former cries - Give, to keep; the latter cries - Give, to spend. Neither of them saith - It is enough.’ Caryl on Job 20:20 .

Verse 17

Agur here returns to the first generation — the unnatural despisers of their parents. (Proverbs 30:11 .) He had before described their character. Now he links it with the punishment. Observe the guilt only of a scornful look, or the mocking eye, when perhaps not a word is spoken. Certainly if the fifth commandment is "the first with promise" (Ephesians 6:2 ), it is also the first with judgment. No commandment in the breach of it is visited with more tremendous threatenings. What a picture is here given of infamy! Perhaps the case of Absalom furnishes the most striking illustration — a self-willed youth or rebel against his father and his sovereign, made a spectacle of shame before his people! the vengeance of God inflicting the punishment, which was due at the bar of human justice! (2 Samuel 18:17 .) But we may observe a more general illustration of the frightful picture. How many confessions on the scaffold have borne testimony, that the first step towards the untimely end was contempt of parental authority and restraint! The bodies of such criminals were deprived of the rites of burial; exposed either on the gallows, or cast out into the valley, as meat for the fowls of the air.†1 Thus the eye, that hath scornfully mocked his father, became the choice morsel of the eagle or the raven of the valley.†2

But even where there is no such literal fulfillment, the curse is not the less sure. Seldom do we see the disobedient rebels prospering, and blessed in their own children. Retributive justice visits them late, but certain; and the poignant anguish of many a disappointed hope, and many an arrow shot from their own bow, may bear to them the message of their chastising Father — "Thine own iniquities shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee." (Jeremiah 2:19 .)

Footnotes:

†1 See Genesis 40:19 . 1 Samuel 17:46 . 2 Samuel 21:10 .

†2 Bochart conceives the allusion to be the valley - Jeremiah 31:40 - where probably the dead bodies of the criminals were sent. At all events the denial of the rites of burial was one of the severest marks of divine chastisement. Compare Jeremiah 7:33 ; Jeremiah 22:18-19 . The Heathens felt this deprivation to be a special affliction. Homer represents the dying Hector, as entreating Achilles not to give his body to be torn by his Grecian dogs, but restore it to his parents for burial. Lib. XI. 337-343. Virgil also represents Palinurus as begging Æneas either to throw the earth himself upon his body, or to carry it with him through the water, rather than expose it to the birds of prey. - Æn. VI. 363-371.

Verses 18-20

The kingdom of nature is full of wonder, and these wonders full of instruction. Where the philosopher cannot give a reason, the humble disciple may learn a lesson. The depths of nature are the figure of the depths of sin — of the unsearchable deceitful heart. (Jeremiah 17:9 .) The eagle soars in the air with so lofty and rapid a flight, that the eye cannot follow her way. She leaves no scent nor footsteps, by which we might trace her, as the beast on the ground. (Job 39:27 .) The serpent on the sand would leave its mark. But the serpent on the rock leaves no slime like the worm, no feathers like the birds; who then can mark its way? The ship, like the great monster of the deep, "maketh a path to shine after her."†1 But while she ploughs in the midst (in the heart) of the sea, her furrows are quickly closed up, and her way is untraceable. Not less mysterious is the way of a man with a maid. Eminently practiced is the seducer in "the depths of Satan," and a thousand arts does he employ to allure the affections of his unwary victim. And it is often as difficult to penetrate his designs, and to escape his snares, as to trace the way of the eagle, the serpent, or the ship. Let this be a warning to young and inexperienced females, not to trust to their own purity, or to the strength of their own resolutions, or to place themselves in unprotected situations.†2

Equally unfathomable are the devices of the adulterous woman to entangle her prey, and to deceive her unsuspecting husband. Solomon has described the picture with striking and minute accuracy. (Proverbs 7:1-27 ; Proverbs 5:6 .) Such a course of abomination, wickedness, and hypocrisy, as is scarcely to be conceived; indulging her sin as the sweet morsel under her tongue; feasting greedily upon her "stolen waters and secret bread;"†3 yet keeping up the semblance of innocence and purity;†4 wiping her mouth, to prevent all suspicion, suffering no sign of the action to remain. A woman must be advanced very far in the way of sin, before she can present such unblushing a front. Yet every fresh indulgence of lust gives rise to new artifices, "hardening" the heart more fully in the "deceitfulness of sin." (Hebrews 3:13 .) Its fascinations blind it to its real character. Let then the first step be shunned, the most distant path, that may lead to temptation. Where shame ceases to accompany it, the ruin of the victim is accomplished. Abundant warning is given; solemn instruction — many beacons in the path — to show the certain end of this flowery road.†5

Footnotes:

†1 Job 41:32. Compare Psalms 104:26 ; Psalms 107:23-24 . This figure, and that of the eagle, as images of the rapid course of life, are finely illustrated - Wisdom of Solomon 5:11-12 . Witsius admirably defends these figures as worthy of inspiration, against the sneers of neological critics - Misc. Sacra, Lib. i. c. xviii. 31-33.

†2 Ambrose has treated fully upon these four figures. Assuming the chapter to be written by Solomon, he explains his ignorance of them - ’not that he was not able to know them, but because it was not a time for him to know them.’ The way of the eagle he understands to be the ascension of Christ, flying back as an eagle to his Father, carrying man plucked from the jaws of the enemy as his prey with him! And though the ascension was visible, yet what understanding could grasp the apprehension of such Majesty retiring to heaven! The way of the serpent on the rock shadowed the assaults of Satan upon Christ - on whom, as on a rock (unlike the first man, who was earth and dust) he could leave no mark, no footsteps of his malice. The pious father seems to be in some doubt upon the third image. The way of the ship in the sea is the way of God’s church through the sea of persecution. This ship cannot miscarry, because Christ is lifted up in the mast of it - that is - on the cross. The Father sitteth as pilot at the stern of it. The Comforter preserved its prow! Or - Christ is the ship, into which the souls of all true believers do go up; which, that it may be carried more strongly in the midst of the waves, is made of wood, and fastened with iron: this is Christ in the flesh. And who can tell the way of this ship, either into the womb of the Virgin, or the heart of believers? The way of a man in his youth (LXX and some other versions) illustrates the ways of our Savior Christ in his youth upon the earth!’

Such puerile crudities are calculated to bring ridicule rather than reverence to the sacred book. Yet a combined and powerful effort is now made to palm the Fathers upon the church as the primary expositors of Scripture, and the standard of faith! Many patristic expositions of the Proverbs equally gross might have been produced. Apart from higher ground - Can we forbear surprise, that men of taste and learning should affix their imprimatur to such undisciplined folly of interpretation?

†3 Proverbs 9:17.

†4 Genesis 39:13-19.

†5 Proverbs 5:3-5; Proverbs 7:24-27 ; Proverbs 9:18 .

Verses 21-23

Next to things which were unsearchable, Agur now mentions some things that were intolerable — things, for which the earth is disquieted, bringing confusion wherever they are found. Who does not naturally condemn things out of place, as unsuitable and unseemly? Order is the law of the works of God in the world, no less than in the Church;†1 and any breach of order is to be deprecated. Four such evils are here mentioned — two connected with men, two with women; the one class in the community, the other in the family.

The first evil mentioned is — a servant, when he reigneth. This is a serious evil in the family, whether it arises from the mismanagement of the master,†2 or from his own intrigue. (Proverbs 30:23 .) He is obviously out of place; and ruling, where he ought to serve, he must bring disorder. (Genesis 16:4 .) The evil is far greater in a kingdom. Men of low birth may indeed rise honorably by their own merit to a high station. God may call them, as he did Joseph (Genesis 41:41 ), to reign. The evil is the advancement to power of ignorant, unprincipled minions.†3 Men of mean spirit cannot bear to be raised. Intoxicated by sudden elevation, these upstarts shew themselves not only fools, but tyrants;†4 swelling with all the insolence of their unseemly honor. Such was the enmity of Tobiah the Ammonite†5 and the misrule of Haman.†6 What national evil resulted from the elevation of Jeroboam!†7 What anarchy from the successful usurpation of Zimri!†8 Well therefore might the reign of servants be deplored, as a component part of the calamity of disconsolate Zion! (Lamentations 5:8 .) In the ordinary course it can only be viewed as a chastening dispensation. (Isaiah 3:4-5 .) Let us acknowledge with thankfulness our deliverance from it.

Then look at the fool (not an idiot, but a willful sinner) when he is filled with meat. Can we wonder that he should be a trouble and a curse; giving the reins to his appetite, and becoming yet more devoid of understanding than before? The history of Nabal, sunk into brutishness by his own sensual lust (1 Samuel 25:36 ); Elah murdered by his servant, whilst "drinking himself drunk in his steward’s house;"†9 Belshazzar giving himself over to the lust of ungodliness†10 — all these were evils, for which the earth was disquieted, and which it could not bear. Filled with meat — "with surfeiting and drunkenness" they dig as it were their own graves with their teeth, and are set forth as an example in the just punishment of their wicked folly.

Look again into the inner room of the family. What is the origin of discord and palpable misery? An odious woman is in rule. She quarrels with all around her. Her ungoverned tongue and temper are an unceasing source of agitation. Had she known herself, much better for her never to have entered into the marriage bond, than to become the inseparable tormentor of her husband and family.†11 Woman is to man either his greatest curse or blessing. If love be not the earnest of the sacred union, truly will it be a bond of misery, from which only the special mercy of God can deliver. Let the worldly portion of the wife be the last consideration. Take heed, lest worldly glitter open a door for remediless misery.

The odious woman, when she is married, if she be in authority, becomes a national evil. Jezebel was a scourge to Israel, the spring of all Ahab’s wickedness, that brought the heavy judgment of God upon the land.†12 The earth was disquieted for her, and at the last cast her out. (2 Kings 9:30-37 .) Herodias brought upon her husband and his nation the guilt of the blood of the murdered prophet "crying from the ground." (Matthew 14:8 .) If marriage be the ordinance of lust, not of godliness, what wonder if an odious woman should be the result, a canker to every domestic comfort?

The last evil noticed is a frequent source of family trouble — an handmaid, that is heir to her mistress. Want of discipline, simplicity, or integrity, leads to waywardness and self-indulgence; and the house, instead of being under wholesome rule, becomes a prey to envy and strife. The ill-regulated connection between Abraham and Hagar, when the servant became heir to her mistress — occupying her mistress’s place with her husband — became the source of most baneful contention. (Genesis 16:4 .) Our own history presents sad illustration of this intolerable evil. Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour were handmaids, and unhappily heirs, to their respective mistresses while living, in the affections of the sovereign. The royal example of selfishness and lust was a national grievance, in which the handmaids were not wholly guiltless.

And thus in modern society, an handmaid, treated with that familiarity, which breaks down the Divine barriers between the several ranks, has sometimes become heir to her mistress; either succeeding to her property — perhaps to the exclusion of more rightful claimants (Proverbs 29:21 ); or rising into her place by an ill-assorted union, like those above-mentioned, usually productive of much family dissension. Or again, in the higher ranks, she is the heir to her mistress’s dresses. This encourages in her the love of dress and vanity, habits unsuitable to her situation in life; and too often hurtful to her solid respectability and eternal interests.

How needful is it to preserve consistency in every part of our profession! Oh! let us look carefully to it, that no want of wisdom, godly contentment, or self-denial, brings reproach upon that worthy name by which we are called; that there be no spots, to mar that adorning beauty, which might attract those around us to the ways of God.

Footnotes:

†1 Ecclesiastes 3:11. 1 Corinthians 14:40 .

†2 Proverbs 29:21.

†3 Proverbs 19:10. Ecclesiastes 10:5-7 .

†4 Proverbs XX? iii. 3. This danger is accurately drawn by one of the Classic moralists: -

Asperius nihil est humili; cum surgit in altum,

Cuncta ferit, dum cuncta timet; desævit in omnes,

Ut se posse putet; nec bellua tetrior ulla est,

Quam servi rabies, in libera terga furentis.

Claudian. Lib. i. in Eutrop.

†5 Nehemiah 2:10.

†6 Esther 3:1.

†7 1 Kings 11:26-28 ; 1 Kings 12:30 .

†8 1 Kings 16:9-20 . Compare 2 Kings 8:12 .

†9 1 Kings 16:9-10 . Hosea 7:5 .

†10 Daniel 5:1-4, Daniel 5:30 . 1 Samuel 30:16 . 1 Kings 20:16 .

†11 Proverbs 21:9, Proverbs 21:19 ; Proverbs 27:15 .

†12 1 Kings 16:31 ; 1 Kings 21:25 .

Verses 24-28

The mind of man spreads over the length and breadth of creation, and draws instruction from every part of the universe presented to his senses. Everywhere God teaches us by his works as well as by his word;†1 by his works, small as well as great. He instructed Job by Behemoth and Leviathan. (Job 40. 41.) Here he instructs us by the ants and the conies. And indeed in the minute creation his splendor shines as gloriously as in the more majestic. ’At one end’ (of the scale) (as Dr. Paley finely draws the contrast) ’we see an intelligent power arraying planetary systems; fixing, for instance, the trajectory of Saturn, or constructing a ring of two hundred thousand miles diameter, to surround his body, and be suspended like a magnificent arch over the head of his inhabitants; and at the other, bending a hooked tooth, concerting and providing an appropriate mechanism for the clasping and re-clasping of the filaments of the feathers of the hummingbird.’†2

Agur had before mentioned four things, that seemed great, but were really despicable. Here he produces four things little upon the earth, but exceeding wise. Therefore despise them not for their littleness: but admire the wonder-working hand, which hath furnished these little creatures with such sufficient means of provision, defense, and safety. As has been beautifully remarked — ’God reigns in a community of ants and ichneumons as visibly, as among living men or mighty seraphim.’†3 Truly nothing was made for nought. The world of instinct shews that which will put to blush our higher world of reason. Yes, — these four remarkable instances of Almighty skill, the natures and habits of these four little animals, teach many useful and important lessons, to which the greatest philosopher might attend with profit, and "he that hath ears to hear may hear" words of suitable wisdom, rebuke, direction and encouragement for himself.

’Industry is commended to us by all sorts of examples, deserving our regard and imitation. All nature is a copy thereof, and the whole world a glass, wherein we may behold this duty represented to us. Every creature about us is incessantly working toward the ends for which it was designed; indefatigably exercising the powers with which it is endued; diligently observing the laws of its creation.’†4 The ants have already brought the lesson before us (Proverbs 6:6-8 ) — a people not strong;†5 indeed so weak, that thousands are crushed by one tread of the foot; yet wise in preparing their meat in the summer. A quickening sermon do these little insects preach to us! They make preparation for the coming winter. What must be the thoughtlessness of making no provision for the coming eternity! whiling away life in inactivity, as if there was no work for God, for the soul, or for eternity! Shall not we learn to be wise betimes; to improve the present moment of salvation; not to wait for the winter — the verge of life, when that grace, offered now, shall be offered no more? Sinner! if all be lost by thy indolence, wilt not thou be the great loser? What else hast thou to do, but to prepare for eternity? What hope canst thou have of heaven at the last, if thou hast never seriously thought of heaven before? Oh! — ere it be too late, throw thyself at his feet, whose heart overflows with love. If thou art ready, "all things are ready." Exclusion is with thyself, not with thy Savior.†6

The ants are a people not strong. Yet — apart from their wisdom — what people more diligent, more persevering, or more effective? Indeed the union of so many noble qualities in so small a corpuscle is one of the most remarkable phenomena in the works of nature.†7 Weakness, then, is no excuse for indolence, no occasion of despondency. Is it not rather the cheering exercise of faith? (2 Corinthians 12:9-10 .) "The worm shall thresh the mountains." (Isaiah 41:15 .) To the diligent "laborer shall be given the meat, that endureth to everlasting life." (John 6:27 .) "Working out his salvation in helpless dependence," his "labor shall not be in vain in the Lord."†8

As the ants prepare their meat, so do the conies their refuge. Feeble folk as they are, they secure themselves from impending danger by making their houses in the holes of inaccessible rocks.†9 Thus what they want in strength they make up in wisdom. Not less feeble are we; not less exposed to assault. And is not our refuge, like theirs, "the munitions of rocks"? (Isaiah 33:16 .) Are we then, like them, making our house, our home, there? in the foresight of evil hiding ourselves? abiding in our shelter in conscious security? (Proverbs 22:3 .)

Observe again the instinct of the locusts. Some insects, like the bee, are under monarchical government. But the locusts have no king. Yet how wonderful is their order, going forth all of them by bands; like an army with unbroken ranks, and under the strictest discipline!†10 Jerome mentions what he had lately seen — ’When the swarms of locusts came, and filled the lower region of the air, they flew in such order, by the divine appointment, and kept their places as exactly, as when several tiles or party-colored stones are skillfully placed in a pavement, so as not to be an hair’s-breadth out of their several ranks.’†11 Do not these little insects read to us a lesson on the importance of unity and unanimous movement? Here is not an ungoverned, disorderly multitude flying in different directions. But all go forth by bands. All keep their ranks. Many professors, instead of going by bands, prefer an individual course. They belong to no cohort. They are under no discipline. This unsettled principle can never issue in a Christian steadfastness. Unity, not diversity, brings "the good thing of the heart established with grace." (Hebrews 13:9 .) The strength of the Church is — not as an army of irregular soldiers, a regiment in loose disorder, unconnected with each other; but when she goeth forth by bands, united, concentrated, well disciplined, every officer at his post, every soldier in his ranks, each under rule, helpful to each other and to their great cause! (Numbers 2.) "When shall it once be." Lord, heal our unhappy divisions. Unite our energies ’in one holy bond of Truth and Peace, of Faith and Charity.’†12

And what lessons does the spider teach, of ingenuity, patience, and untiring labor and perseverance! ’Its claws or spinning-organs serve both as hands and eyes to the animal.’†13 She forms her web against the walls, as if she took hold of them with her hands. She frames her fine-spun house with such exactness of proportion, as if conversant with mathematical rule.†14 She steals her way alike into the cottage of the poor and king’s palaces; as if God would instruct even the great ones of the earth by this pattern of diligence. Such assiduity; such "diligence" in the work of our high calling, if it shall not bring us into the king’s palaces (Proverbs 22:29 ), will ensure the full reward of the man, whom the Great "King delighteth to honor."†15

The general lesson to learn from these diminutive teachers is the importance of acting wisely according to the principles of our nature, as the best means to secure the greatest quantum of happiness, of which they are capable. God has provided happiness for every nature, and for each its own happiness. In more particular detail how many of us stand condemned by the sermons of these little insects! Let us not be too proud to learn, or too careless to attend to, the humbling but most valuable lessons taught in this school of instruction: "A wise man will hear, and will increase learning." (Proverbs 1:5 .)

Footnotes:

†1 The stupid beasts reprove our ingratitude (Isaiah 1:3 .) The fowls of the air, our inattention (Jeremiah 8:7 ); our unbelieving carefulness (Matthew 6:26 ); and anxious fears (Matthew 10:29-31 .)

†2 Natural Theology. Conclusion.

†3 McCheyne’s Life, p. 34.

†4 Barrow’s Sermon on Industry.

†5 The term - nation or people - is applied to the animal creation, Joel 1:6 ; Joel 2:2. This is a frequent classical allusion. Homer spoke of a nation of bees (Ib. B. 1. 87); of hogs (??? 73); Virgil of fishes, Geor. iv. 430.

†6 Luke 14:16-24. John 6:37 .

†7 Paxton’s Natural History of the Scripture, p. 97.

†8 Philippians 2:12-13. 1 Corinthians 15:58 . Chrysostom ingeniously remarks upon the wonders of divine wisdom, in inspiring so minute a body with such a perpetual desire for labor; teaching us so strongly the lesson, not to affect softness and delicacy, or to fly from toil and labor. He adds - that the wise man, sending us to learn of these little creatures, is just as we should in our families put to shame the disobedience of the elder children, by pointing to the little ones - Behold one much younger and smaller than yourself; yet how pliable and ready he is to do as he is bid!’ Hom. xii. Ad Pop. Antioch.

†9 Psalms 104:18. There is much difficulty in determining this animal, which was reckoned among the unclean (Leviticus 11:55 . Deuteronomy 14:7 .) Dr. Shaw (with whom Parkhurst agrees) considers it to be ’the Daman of Mount Libanus, though common in other parts of Syria and Palestine, of the rabbit size and form. As its usual residence and refuge is in the holes and clefts of the rocks, we have so far a presumptive evidence, that this creature may be the coney of the Scriptures.’ Travels, vol. ii. 160, 161. Mr. Bruce strongly confirms this account from his own observation - adding - ’He is above all other animals so much attached to the rock, that I never once saw him on the ground, and from among large stones in the mouth of caves, where is his constant residence. He is in Judæa, Palestine, and Arabia, and consequently must have been known to Solomon.’ See his Travels, v. pp. 139-147.

’Gaudet in effossis habitare caniculus antris.’

Mart. Epig. Lib. xiii. Ep. 58.

†10 See the picture, Joel 2:7-8, Joel 2:25.

†11 Quoted by Lowth on Joel, ut supra. The mystical locusts have a king. Compare Revelation 9:3-11 .

†12 Prayer for Unity in the Service of Accession - a most suitable and spiritual pleading with the God of Peace.

†13 Kirby’s Bridgewater Treatise, vol. ii. 186.

†14 ’Who made the spiders parallels design,

Sure as Demoivre, without rule or line.’ - Pope.

†15 Interpreter expounded this figure to Christiana; that, as the venomous spider hung by her hands by the wall; so, how full of the venom of sin soever we be, ’yet we may by the hand of faith lay hold of, and dwell in the best room, that belongs to the King’s house above.’ - Pilg. Prog. part ii. Important as this truth doubtless is; yet our inimitable allegorist we judge to have here pressed his imagination beyond due bounds. Accommodation may admit of far greater latitude than exposition; though even in this department - as the Writer would desire to remember for himself - a sober discipline must be exercised.

Verses 29-31

Agur naturally lingers upon this vast field of natural wonders: such a splendid exhibition of the divine perfections! the source of so much light to the world, before the Book of Revelation was fully opened. (Job 12:7-10 .) After having mentioned some striking instances of wisdom, he now singles out a few objects, which appeared to him remarkable for their comeliness in going — the firm and stately walk of the lion,†1 fearless and proud, not turning away for any; the graceful form, and the elegant and swift movements, of the greyhound;†2 the he-goat at the head of the flock, as their guide and protector; and the majesty of the king, inspiring all who approach him with reverence for his authority, and not suffering any rising up against the exercise of his power. (Ecclesiastes 8:2-4 .) From all these many practical lessons may be learned by the man, "who will be wise, and observe these things."

Let us have regard, not only to the various duties of the Christian life, but also to the manner and spirit of their performance. Cultivate not only the integrity, but the comeliness of the Christian character — "the beauty" and uniformity "of holiness;" that there be nothing misshapen or distorted; that there be just proportion in all the parts and features. Christians should be attractive and engaging by the courtesy of their general demeanor. It is not enough to observe "whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure." But "whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, think on these things." (Philippians 4:8 .) Any manifest want of comeliness in our going repels the world from the gospel of Christ. ’If we desire to reign in heaven, we must present ourselves there with this beautiful crown, from whence radiate all kinds of virtue and praise.’†3

Nor let us forget to imitate the features of this comeliness here portrayed; to be fearless as the lion, when pursuing the path of duty, not turning away from any (see Nehemiah 6:3, Nehemiah 6:11 ); to desire the eager spring of the greyhound in our heavenly course; to be useful as the he-goat, as the leader of a godly band; and to maintain our proper authority in any place of trust, as parents or guardians of families; and not to allow any rising up against it.

Footnotes:

†1 See Homer’s fine description, Il. M. 299.

†2 This name is, as Mr. Holden remarks, ’of doubtful import.’ The Hebrew is ’girt in the loins’ - a general phrase - admitting of a great variety of conjecture; so that Poole (Synopsis) considers him to be wisest, ’who confesses he knows not what it is.’ Our translation is however as well supported as any other. Some conceive it to be a leopard. And perhaps this conjecture, combined with the lion and the he-goat, has given rise to the absurd ideality of some Rabbinical and Romanist expositors (not wholly discountenanced by more respectable names), who consider these four creatures to be prophetical of the four great monarchies. Daniel 8. The reader may readily conceive the extent of fancy requisite to maintain this interpretation.

†3 Dallè on Philippians 4:8 .

Verses 32-33

32 If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or if thou hast thought evil, lay thine hand upon thy mouth. 33 Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife.†a

This evidently applies to the preceding illustration — a king, against whom there is no rising. But if thou hast lifted up thyself in despising his authority (Romans 13:1-2 ); or even if thou hast but thought evil; lay thine hand upon thy mouth, restraining the ebullition in silent and humble submission.†1 As a general rule, however, we may be thankful for the caution. If we have done foolishly by provoking irritation, in lifting up ourselves, even in some evil thought, against a brother; quench the rising spark, ere it kindle into a flame. "The thought of foolishness is sin."†2 Yet it is more sinful, when it forces its passage to the mouth. Words increase the sin, shew more of its power, and are more hurtful to others. Obviously it is wise to lay our hand upon our mouth, and to restrain the expression, when we cannot prevent the thought. Better to keep in the infirmity, than to give it vent. But when, instead of the hand laid upon the mouth, there is no discipline, guard, or restraint; "the mouth of the fool poureth out foolishness,"†3 overflowing at the lips, and bringing a flood of trouble upon the soul.†4

How much more, when the lying, heartless, proud worm lifts up itself against the Great King! The foolishness even of an evil thought against him is such, as no tongue can express. The Lord humble us in a tender sensibility of this sin! "Behold! I am vile: what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth." (Job 40:4-5 .)

Towards man however it is often the forcing of wrath, not natural irritation. A peaceable man may be goaded to anger;†5 as the violent shaking of the milk in the churn bringeth forth butter; or the wringing of the nose bringeth blood. The action of force works, that would not otherwise have been done. But fearful is the strife of this forced wrath. Sihon thus provoked his own ruin;†6 the Ephraimites stirred up a murderous strife;†7 Asahel sharpened Abner’s spear by his willful waywardness;†8 Amaziah plunged into destruction by the strife of the forced wrath of Joash, who was disposed to peace and quietness.†9 How multiplied are the sources of misery — the fruit of ungovernable temper and self-will! "Only by pride cometh contention" (Proverbs 13:10 ); and where that contention may end, who can say? ’I am, and profess to be’ — said the godly Bishop Hall — ’as the terms stand, on neither, and yet on both, parts; for the peace of both; for the humor of neither.’

An humble heart will repress the sparks of this unholy fire. A sorrowful spirit for the evil of our thoughts is a component part of the cure. (Ecclesiastes 7:4 .) We should not readily indulge the sin, for which we had been truly humbled before our God. Whereas in the want of this genuine spirit, how reluctant we are to acknowledge our offense towards each other! We can always find some good reason for lifting up ourselves, or for thinking evil. And how hard it goes with our proud tempers to be the first to lay our hands upon our mouths! How much more ready are we to open our mouths in self-justification, than in self-abasement. Thus, instead of quenching, we force, wrath. Instead of the "meekness of wisdom," there "is envy and strife, confusion, and every evil work" (James 3:13, James 3:16 ); enmity between nominal professors of the gospel, and distance even between those, who believe themselves to be members of the same body, heirs of the same inheritance,†10 and bound by the same obligation to love one another.†11 Oh! hasten the blessed time, when the Church shall be fully transformed into the image of her Divine Lord; when it shall be a Church of perfect love in a world of love!

Footnotes:

†a ’Whoso chyrneth mylck maketh butter; he that rubbeth his nose maketh it blede, and he that causeth wrath bryngeth forth strife.’ - Bp. Coverdale.

†1 Proverbs 17:28. Job 21:5 .

†2 Proverbs 24:9. Jeremiah 4:14 .

†3 Proverbs 15:2.

†4 Proverbs 15:18; Proverbs 16:28-29 ; Proverbs 17:14 ; Proverbs 18:7 .

†5 Proverbs 15:1; Proverbs 26:21 ; Proverbs 29:22 .

†6 Numbers 21:23-24.

†7 Judges 12:1-6.

†8 2 Samuel 2:22-23 .

†9 2 Chronicles 25:17-23 .

†10 Ephesians 4:4-6.

†11 John 13:34-35.