Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Proverbs 30:2

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Proverbs 30:2. Surely I am more brutish — These words can in no sense, nor by any mode of speech, be true of Solomon: for while he was the wisest of men, he could not have said that he was more brutish than any man, and had not the understanding of a man. It is saying nothing to the purpose, to say he was so independently of the Divine teaching. Had he put this in, even by innuendo, it might be legitimate: but he does not; nor is it by fair implication to be understood. Solomon is not supposed to have written the Proverbs after he fell from God. Then indeed he might have said he had been more brutish than any man. But Agur might have used these words with strict propriety, for aught we know; for it is very probable that he was a rustic, without education, and without any human help, as was the prophet Amos; and that all that he knew now was by the inspiration of the Almighty, independently of which he was rustic and uneducated.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

30:1-31:31 OTHER COLLECTIONS OF WISE SAYINGS

The personal testimony of Agur (30:1-9)

Agur, some of whose sayings are collected here, was apparently a well known wisdom teacher in the Palestine region. He begins his instruction with a confession that though he longs to know God he cannot, because he is merely a man. No human being can do the great works God has done. Agur challenges his hearers to tell him the name of any person (or the name of that person’s son, if they prefer) who has been to heaven and returned to tell people what God is like (30:1-4). God’s words, and his only, are true, and they are always reliable. Agur has such a respect for the truth of God’s word that he does not want to teach anything that is contrary to it (5-6).
As for the comforts of life, Agur aims at moderation. He desires neither riches nor poverty, lest he be tempted to live as though independent of God (if he were rich) or tempted to steal (if he were poor). His moral values and his lifestyle were inseparable (7-9).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

THE SON OF GOD MENTIONED

"The man saith unto Ithiel, unto Ithiel and Ucal: Surely I am more brutish than any man, And have not the understanding of a man; And I have not learned wisdom, Neither have I the knowledge of the Holy One. Who hath ascended up into heaven, and descended? Who hath gathered the wind in his fists? Who hath bound the waters in his garment? Who hath established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou knowest?"

"Ithiel and Ucal" We are just as much in the dark about these two names as we are of those in Proverbs 30:1 b. In fact, the Hebrew text here (depending upon the vocalization of the Hebrew consonants) is also legitimately translated: "I have wearied myself, O God, I have wearied myself, O God, and come to an end."Ibid. This rendition, of course, fits the context much better than the other one.

The outstanding feature of this paragraph is the marvelous humility of the writer. His confession of almost infinite ignorance in those areas which most deeply concern humanity is a beautiful contrast indeed with the colossal conceit and arrogance which are the twin badges of our mortality. "In his own way, he affirms that reverence is the beginning of knowledge (1 Corinthians 8:2)."Ibid., p. 179.

This whole paragraph is in the same line of thought with Job 38:1-10; and the answer that thunders in our ears at the end of each of these six questions is, "No man"! The writer is speaking of the Holy One (and he used the plural [~'Elohiym] for God).

"Who is his Son?" This is the highlight of the paragraph, and we have taken the liberty of capitalizing the word Son, which is an evident reference to the Mediator. "The writer would not have dared to ask a question like this if he had believed God to be an abstract unity rather than a compound unity."Delitzsch in C. F. Keil, Keil-Delitzsch's Old Testament Commentaries (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company), Vol. 6b, p. 276. Delitzsch interprets the passage, "As a reference to the Mediator in creation, revealed at last as God's son."Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, p. 581. "Greenstone denies that the passage refers to the [@Logos], but offers no positive alternative to explain the passage."Ibid. "Ewald also found here the idea of the [@Logos], as the first-born Son of God; and J. D. Michaelis felt himself constrained to recognize here the New Testament doctrine of the Son of God announcing itself from afar. And why may not this be possible?"Delitzsch, op. cit., p. 276.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

A confession of ignorance, with which compare the saying of Socrates that he was wise only so far as he knew that he knew nothing, or that of Asaph Psalms 73:22.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 30

This is the end of the proverbs that were gathered by Hezekiah's men. Now in the thirtieth chapter we have,

The words of Agur ( Proverbs 30:1 )

Whoever he is. He tells us who he is, but it really doesn't help.

[he's a] son of Jakeh ( Proverbs 30:1 ),

But I don't know who Jakeh is.

even the prophecy: the man spake unto Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and Ucal ( Proverbs 30:1 ),

And men that I don't know. So yet God has seen fit to put this here in the scriptures. Agur declares,

Surely I am more brutish than any man, I have not the understanding of a man. I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy ( Proverbs 30:2-3 ).

In other words, the guy isn't making any claims for himself, Ph.D.'s or anything else. "I have not learned wisdom, nor do I have the knowledge of the holy. I'm more brutish than any man. I don't have the understanding of men." But now he asks some very searching questions.

Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? ( Proverbs 30:4 )

Talking about men.

who has gathered the wind in his fists? ( Proverbs 30:4 )

Surely no man.

who hath bound the waters in a garment? ( Proverbs 30:4 )

Surely no man.

who hath established all the ends of the earth? ( Proverbs 30:4 )

Not man. He's talking about God. He's talking about the things that are in God's category. Paul tells us, "He who has ascended is the same one who first of all descended. And when He ascended, He led the captives or led the captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men" ( Ephesians 4:8-9 ). So, "Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? Who has gathered the winds in his fists? Who has bound the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth?"

what is his name ( Proverbs 30:4 ),

Interesting. But even more interesting, he said,

what is his son's name ( Proverbs 30:4 ),

Referring to God's Son. And so it is an interesting question. He is speaking of the characteristics and the things that belong unto God. He said, "What is His name?" The name, of course, is Yahweh. And what is His Son's name? Yahovah Shua, Jesus.

if you can tell? For every word of God is pure: he [that is, God] is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar ( Proverbs 30:4-6 ).

Don't take upon yourself to add to the Word of God.

Now in Deuteronomy after God gave the law, God gave a warning that a person wasn't to try to diminish the law. Taking away from the commandments that God had given. Or man wasn't to seek to add to it. Yet the Jews in their Talmud added some sixty volumes of interpretation to that law, the Mishnah, the Talmud. Here again, "The Word of God is pure." Now he says, "Don't add to it, lest God reproves you, and you be found a liar."

In the end of the book of Revelation, God pronounces a special curse upon any man who would add to the words of that book or take away from the words of that book. "Unto him who would dare to add to the book, to him shall be added the plagues that are in the book. He that would dare to take away from the words of the book, his name shall be taken out of the book of life" ( Revelation 22:18-19 ).

It is a very heavy thing for a man to presume to speak for God. And God gives some very serious warnings to anyone who would presume to speak for God. "Woe unto them who say, 'Thus saith the Lord,' when I have not spoken, saith the Lord of hosts." And God tells all the things He'll do to that person who dares to speak in the name of the Lord when God hasn't really spoken.

Now in Peter's epistle, he said that, "God hath given to us all that pertains to life and to godliness" ( 2 Peter 1:3 ). Really, you don't need any more than the Word that God has already given. All that we need for life and for godliness has already been given to us in the Word of God. We don't need some modern day revelation from God.

Now the problem of men speaking for God, as there are men who purport that they do, the Catholic Church has placed an aura around the Pope and the papal infallibility so that he supposedly is speaking for God. And his word is acknowledged as being the Word of God. Or with the Mormons, their prophets and their president speaks the word of God. And they have to accept it as scripture, and they can give you argumentation, "Why should God quit speaking to men?" and so forth. And you know, that God is speaking to us today through the prophets and all. The thing is, as is declared here, "Lest he reprove thee and thou be found a liar." Now those men who have purportedly spoken for God, the thing that happens is that the next guy comes along and oftentimes will disclaim what they have said. And he's speaking for God when he disclaims that the previous person said.

Brigham Young, one of the prophets and the leaders of the Mormon Church, supposedly speaking for God said an awful lot of radical things that the church denies today. The Mormon Church denies much of the doctrine that Brigham Young proclaimed. He actually proclaimed that Adam was their God. The only God with whom they had to do. He proclaimed that there are some sins for which the blood of Jesus Christ cannot atone; a person has to shed their own blood to atone for particular sins. The blood of Christ is not sufficient. And he preached this in many a sermon; how you can do those friends a favor by shedding their blood in order that their sins might be expiated.

Now the Mormons today deny this kind of a shedding your own blood for the atonement of your own sins. But yet, one of their prophets declared it speaking for God. Now God doesn't change His mind. Thus, when a man purports to be speaking for God when God hasn't spoken, that man is usually discovered to be a liar. So the Word of God is pure. It doesn't change. It isn't altered. But men so often purportedly speak for God when indeed God hasn't spoken.

Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die: Remove far from me vanity and lies ( Proverbs 30:7-8 ):

Now this is more or less the prayer of this Agur unto God. "Just two things, Lord, I desire. Don't deny me them before I die. Remove me far from vanity and lies."

give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food that is convenient for me: lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain ( Proverbs 30:8-9 ).

He's really seeking just sort of a moderate kind of a life. "I don't want riches, lest I would say, 'Who is God?' And deny God. Or I don't want to be poor either that I would be tempted to go out and steal in order to take care of my needs. So God, just give me that in-the-middle average life."

Don't accuse a servant to his master, lest he curse you, and you be found guilty. Now there is a generation that curses their father, and does not bless their mother. There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet they are not really washed from their filthiness. There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up. There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men ( Proverbs 30:10-14 ).

A wicked generation indeed from verse Proverbs 30:11-14, the different generations that do these wicked things.

Now the horseleach has two daughters, crying, Give, give. And there are three things that are never satisfied, yes, there are four things that say not, It is enough ( Proverbs 30:15 ):

Four things that you can't really satisfy.

First, the eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother ( Proverbs 30:17 ),

I beg your pardon. I just jumped. Four things that say, 'It isn't enough.' The first is:

The grave ( Proverbs 30:16 );

Never says it's enough. People are dying everyday. The second thing:

the barren womb; the earth that is not filled with water ( Proverbs 30:16 );

The dry parched earth.

and the fire, none of them say, It is enough. Now the eye that mocks his father, and despises to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it. Now there are three things that are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not: the way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid. Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eats, and wipes her mouth, and says, I have done no wickedness. There are three things on the earth that are disquieted, and for four which it cannot bear ( Proverbs 30:16-22 ):

Four odious things.

The servant when he reigns; a fool when he is filled with meat; an odious woman when she is married; and a handmaid that is the heir to her mistress. There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise ( Proverbs 30:22-24 ):

Or wiser than wise. Four little things yet so very wise. Wise beyond their own wisdom.

The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer; the conies are but a feeble folk, yet they make their houses in the rocks; the locusts have no king, yet they go forth all of them by bands; the spider takes hold with her hands ( Proverbs 30:25-28 ),

Or the gecko.

and is in the kings' palaces ( Proverbs 30:28 ).

From the ant we learn the wisdom of preparing for the future. How that it lays up its food in the summer. Because somehow the ant has an awareness that the time is coming when it won't be able to get out and lay up food, so it stores up the food while it has the opportunity to do so.

Jesus said in an interesting parable, "Make use of the unrighteousness of mammon, so that when they fail, you will be received into the everlasting kingdom" ( Luke 16:9 ). In other words, use what you have now for your eternal benefit. That's wise. Many people don't have that wisdom. The ant teaches us the wisdom of preparation for the future.

The coney, the little hyrax, teaches us the wisdom of recognizing our own weakness and feebleness and to take shelter in that which is stronger than we are. Makes his home in the rocks. Recognize our own weakness and hide ourselves in that rock, Jesus Christ.

The locust shows wisdom in his cooperative efforts. By himself, the locust can do no harm. As he goes forth in bands, he can be devastating. Oh, that the church would learn the lesson of working together, cooperative endeavors for the kingdom of God.

And finally, the gecko shows its wisdom by taking hold with his hands and as the result, dwells in king's palaces. Even as we are to take hold of the promises of God as they of the Old Testament did, that we might dwell one day in the King's palace.

There are three things which go well, yea, four are beautiful in their going: the lion which is the strongest among beasts, and doesn't turn away for any; the greyhound; and the goat also; and a king, against whom there is no rising up. If you have done foolishly in lifting up yourself, or if you have thought evil, lay your hand upon your mouth. Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing of wrath will bring strife ( Proverbs 30:29-33 ).

And such are the words of Agur. Agur, who is the son of Jakeh, who makes no claims for himself. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

VI. COLLECTION 6: THE WISDOM OF AGUR CH. 30

Chapters 30 and 31 form a distinct section in Proverbs, because neither Solomon (Proverbs 1:1 to Proverbs 22:16; chs. 25-29), nor the unnamed sages (Proverbs 22:17 to Proverbs 24:34), wrote them. Two other wise men, whose names the text records, did. Some expositors speculate that because these men’s discourses occur at the end of the book, the writers probably lived later than the men of Hezekiah. [Note: E.g., Toy, p. 517.] Nevertheless who Agur and Lemuel were, as well as when and where they lived, remain mysteries.

The most distinctive features of Agur’s proverbs are his numerical style of grouping similar items, his picturesque speech, and a unique phrase he used. This phrase, "There are three things . . . even four," occurs with minor changes five times (Proverbs 30:15; Proverbs 30:18; Proverbs 30:21; Proverbs 30:24; Proverbs 30:29; cf. Proverbs 30:11-14).

"The purpose of such a device may be simply to indicate that the list is not exhaustive, though specific (see Amos 1:3; Amos 1:6). Or the purpose may be to emphasize the fourth item on the list." [Note: Jensen, p. 105.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Behind this ironical section, one can perhaps imagine Agur’s sons claiming to be wiser than their father. Agur confessed his own limited understanding, while at the same time making it clear that those he addressed knew no more than he did.

If wisdom is essentially a proper orientation to God, how could Agur say he had not learned wisdom but he knew God (Proverbs 30:3)? In view of the context (Proverbs 30:2; Proverbs 30:4), he probably meant that he had not reached a high level of wisdom. "Wisdom" in Proverbs means understanding as well as godliness (e.g., Proverbs 1:1 b; Proverbs 2:2; et al.). Agur humbly regarded his own discernment as limited, but he did not claim to be a fool.

The only Person who meets Agur’s qualifications in Proverbs 30:5 is God (cf. Job 38-41; Proverbs 8:24-29). He is the only One with perfect understanding. "What is His name?" implies, "Do you fully understand Him?" In the ancient world, knowledge of a god’s name implied understanding of his characteristics, power over him, and closeness to him. The question about His Son’s name evidently means, "Has He imparted His nature or attributes to any other who may in any sense be called His Son?" [Note: Perowne, p. 180.] In the fullness of time, God sent His Son to reveal His character and nature more completely than anyone had known them previously (Hebrews 1:1-2).

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

B. Wisdom about God 30:2-9

Agur began with three declarations. The subject of each is God.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Surely I am more brutish than [any] man,.... "Every man is [become] brutish in his knowledge"; man in his original state was a knowing creature but sinning lost his knowledge, and "became like the beasts that perish"; hence we read of the "brutish among the people": but Agur thought himself not only brutish among the rest, but more brutish than any. So Plato o says of some souls living on earth, that they are θηριωδεις, of a brutish nature; see Jeremiah 10:14. Or I think the words may be rendered, "a brute [am] I [rather] than a man" p; have more of the brute than of the man, especially in the sight and presence of God; a very beast before him, or in comparison of other wise, holy, and good men; or with respect to the knowledge of spiritual, divine, and heavenly things, Psalms 73:22; or "a brute [was] I from [the time]", or "[ever since I was] a man" q; as soon as be was born, being born in sin, and like a wild ass's colt, Job 11:12;

and have not the understanding of a man; or "of Adam" r; who was made after the image of God, which consisted in knowledge as well as holiness; who knew much of God, his nature, perfections, and persons; of the creatures, and the works of his hands and of all things in nature; but affecting more knowledge than he should lost in a great measure what he had, and brought his posterity in and left them in a state of blindness and ignorance, one of whose sons Agur was: or his meaning is, that he had not the understanding, as not of Adam in innocence, and of prophets and other eminent men of God, so not of ordinary men of those who had, he least share of the knowledge of divine things. Aben Ezra, who takes Ithiel and Ucal to be scholars or companions of Agur, supposes, that they asked him questions concerning the divine Being, nature, and perfections, to which he answers in this strain; showing his insufficiency to give them any instruction or satisfaction in such matters, or to discourse on such sublime subjects: or rather his view was to show the blindness and ignorance of human nature with respect to divine things he was about to treat of; and particularly to observe, that the knowledge of a Saviour, and salvation by him, were not from nature, and attainable by that; and that a man must first know himself, his own folly and ignorance, before he can have any true knowledge of Ithiel and Ucal, the mighty Saviour and Redeemer; of the need of him, and of interest in him. Some think his view is to prove that his words, his prophecy, or what he was about to say, or did say, must be owing entirely to divine inspiration; since he was of himself; and without a divine revelation, so very blind, dark, and ignorant; it could not be owing to any natural sagacity of his, who was more brutish than any; nor to any acquired knowledge, or the instruction of men, since he had none, as follows; and so כי, with which the words begin, may be rendered "for" or "because" s, as it usually is, "for I am more brutish, than any man", c.

o De Leg. l. 10. p, 959. p בער אנכי מאיש "bardus sum prae viro", Mercerus "brutus ego prae viro", Cocceius, Schultens. q "Nam brutus sum ex quo vir sum", Junius Tremellius, so Cartwright. r "Nec est mihi intelligentia Adami", Cartwright. s כי "nam", Junius Tremellius "quia", Pagninus, Montanus "quoniam", Michaelis.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      1 The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, even the prophecy: the man spake unto Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and Ucal,   2 Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man.   3 I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy.   4 Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell?   5 Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.   6 Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.

      Some make Agur to be not the name of this author, but his character; he was a collector (so it signifies), a gatherer, one that did not compose things himself, but collected the wise sayings and observations of others, made abstracts of the writings of others, which some think is the reason why he says (Proverbs 30:3; Proverbs 30:3), "I have not learned wisdom myself, but have been a scribe, or amanuensis, to other wise and learned men." Note, We must not bury our talent, though it be but one, but, as we have received the gift, so minister the same, if it be but to collect what others have written. But we rather suppose it to be his name, which, no doubt, was well known then, though not mentioned elsewhere in scripture. Ithiel and Ucal are mentioned, either, 1. As the names of his pupils, whom he instructed, or who consulted him as an oracle, having a great opinion of his wisdom and goodness. Probably they wrote from him what he dictated, as Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah, and by their means it was preserved, as they were ready to attest it to be his, for it was spoken to them; they were two witnesses of it. Or, 2. As the subject of his discourse. Ithiel signifies God with me, the application of Immanuel, God with us. The word calls him God with us; faith appropriates this, and calls him "God with me, who loved me, and gave himself for me, and into union and communion with whom I am admitted." Ucal signifies the Mighty One, for it is upon one that is mighty that help is laid for us. Many good interpreters therefore apply this to the Messiah, for to him all the prophecies bear witness, and why not this then? It is what Agur spoke concerning Ithiel, even concerning Ithiel (that is the name on which the stress is laid) with us,Isaiah 7:14.

      Three things the prophet here aims at:--

      I. To abase himself. Before he makes confession of his faith he makes confession of his folly and the weakness and deficiency of reason, which make it so necessary that we be guided and governed by faith. Before he speaks concerning the Saviour he speaks of himself as needing a Saviour, and as nothing without him; we must go out of ourselves before we go into Jesus Christ. 1. He speaks of himself as wanting a righteousness, and having done foolishly, very foolishly. When he reflects upon himself he owns, Surely I am more brutish than any man. Every man has become brutish,Jeremiah 10:14. But he that knows his own heart knows so much more evil of himself than he does of any other that he cries out, "Surely I cannot but think that I am more brutish than any man; surely no man has such a corrupt deceitful heart as I have. I have acted as one that has not the understanding of Adam, as one that is wretchedly degenerated from the knowledge and righteousness in which man was at first created; nay, I have not the common sense and reason of a man, else I should not have done as I have done." Agur, when he was applied to by others as wiser than most, acknowledged himself more foolish than any. Whatever high opinion others may have of us, it becomes us to have low thoughts of ourselves. 2. He speaks of himself as wanting a revelation to guide him in the ways of truth and wisdom. He owns (Proverbs 30:3; Proverbs 30:3) "I neither learned wisdom by any power of my own (the depths of it cannot be fathomed by my line and plummet) nor know I the knowledge of the holy ones, the angels, our first parents in innocency, nor of the holy things of God; I can get no insight into them, nor make any judgment of them, further than God is pleased to make them known to me." The natural man, the natural powers, perceive not, nay, they receive not, the things of the Spirit of God. Some suppose Agur to be asked, as Apollo's oracle was of old, Who was the wisest man? The answer is, He that is sensible of his own ignorance, especially in divine things. Hoc tantum scio, me nihil scire--All that I know is that I know nothing.

      II. To advance Jesus Christ, and the Father in him (Proverbs 30:4; Proverbs 30:4): Who ascended up into heaven, c. 1. Some understand this of God and of his works, which are both incomparable and unsearchable. He challenges all mankind to give an account of the heavens above, of the winds, the waters, the earth: "Who can pretend to have ascended up to heaven, to take a view of the orbs above, and then to have descended, to give us a description of them? Who can pretend to have had the command of the winds, to have grasped them in his hand and managed them, as God does, or to have bound the waves of the sea with a swaddling band, as God has done? Who has established the ends of the earth, or can describe the strength of its foundations or the extent of its limits? Tell me what is the man's name who can undertake to vie with God or to be of his cabinet-council, or, if he be dead, what is his name to whom he has bequeathed this great secret." 2. Others refer it to Christ, to Ithiel and Ucal, the Son of God, for it is the Son's name, as well as the Father's, that is here enquired after, and a challenge given to any to vie with him. We must now exalt Christ as one revealed they then magnified him as one concealed, as one they had heard something of but had very dark and defective ideas of. We have heard the fame of him with our ears, but cannot describe him (Job 28:22); certainly it is God that has gathered the wind in his fists and bound the waters as in a garment; but what is his name? It is, I am that I am (Exodus 3:14), a name to be adored, not to be understood. What is his Son's name, by whom he does all these things? The Old-Testament saints expected the Messiah to be the Son of the Blessed, and he is here spoken of as a person distinct from the Father, but his name as yet secret. Note, The great Redeemer, in the glories of his providence and grace, can neither be paralleled nor found out to perfection. (1.) The glories of the kingdom of his grace are unsearchable and unparalleled; for who besides has ascended into heaven and descended? Who besides is perfectly acquainted with both worlds, and has himself a free correspondence with both, and is therefore fit to settle a correspondence between them, as Mediator, as Jacob's ladder? He was in heaven in the Father's bosom (John 1:1; John 1:18); thence he descended to take our nature upon him; and never was there such condescension. In that nature he again ascended (Ephesians 4:9), to receive the promised glories of his exalted state; and who besides has done this? Romans 10:6. (2.) The glories of the kingdom of his providence are likewise unsearchable and unparalleled. The same that reconciles heaven and earth was the Creator of both and governs and disposes of all. His government of the three lower elements of air, water, and earth, is here particularized. [1.] The motions of the air are of his directing. Satan pretends to be the prince of the power of the air, but even there Christ has all power; he rebuked the winds and they obeyed him. [2.] The bounds of the water are of his appointing: He binds the waters as in a garment; hitherto they shall come, and no further,Job 38:9-11. [3.] The foundations of the earth are of his establishing. He founded it at first; he upholds it still. If Christ had not interposed, the foundations of the earth would have sunk under the load of the curse upon the ground, for man's sin. Who and what is the mighty He that does all this? We cannot find out God, nor the Son of God, unto perfection. Oh the depth of that knowledge!

      III. To assure us of the truth of the word of God, and to recommend it to us, Proverbs 30:5; Proverbs 30:6. Agur's pupils expect to be instructed by him in the things of God. "Alas!" says he, "I cannot undertake to instruct you; go to the word of God; see what he has there revealed of himself, and of his mind and will; you need know no more than what that will teach you, and that you may rely upon as sure and sufficient. Every word of God is pure; there is not the least mixture of falsehood and corruption in it." The words of men are to be heard and read with jealousy and with allowance, but there is not the least ground to suspect any deficiency in the word of God; it is as silver purified seven times (Psalms 12:6), without the least dross or alloy. Thy word is very pure,Psalms 119:140. 1. It is sure, and therefore we must trust to it and venture our souls upon it. God in his word, God in his promise, is a shield, a sure protection, to all those that put themselves under his protection and put their trust in him. The word of God, applied by faith, will make us easy in the midst of the greatest dangers, Psalms 46:1; Psalms 46:2. 2. It is sufficient, and therefore we must not add to it (Proverbs 30:6; Proverbs 30:6): Add thou not unto his words, because they are pure and perfect. This forbids the advancing of any thing, not only in contradiction to the word of God, but in competition with it; though it be under the plausible pretence of explaining it, yet, if it pretend to be of equal authority with it, it is adding to his words, which is not only a reproach to them as insufficient, but opens a door to all manner of errors and corruptions; for, that one absurdity being granted, that the word of any man, or company of men, is to be received with the same faith and veneration as the word of God, a thousand follow. We must be content with what God has thought fit to make known to us of his mind, and not covet to be wise above what is written; for, (1.) God will resent it as a heinous affront: "He will reprove thee, will reckon with thee as a traitor against his crown and dignity, and lay thee under the heavy doom of those that add to his words, or diminish from them," Deuteronomy 4:2; Deuteronomy 12:32. (2.) We shall run ourselves into endless mistakes: "Thou wilt be found a liar, a corrupter of the word of truth, a broacher of heresies, and guilty of the worst of forgeries, counterfeiting the broad seal of heaven, and pretending a divine mission and inspiration, when it is all a cheat. Men may be thus deceived, but God is not mocked."

Spurgeon's Verse Expositions of the Bible

A Homily for Humble Folks

A Sermon (No. 2140) delivered on Lord's Day, April 27th, 1890 by C. H. Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.

“Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man.” Proverbs 30:2 .

Sometimes it is necessary for a speaker to refer to himself, and he may feel it needful to do so in a way peculiar to the occasion. When Elihu addressed himself to Job and the three wise men, he commended himself to them saying, “I am full of matter, the spirit within me constraineth me”; but when Agur instructed his two disciples Ithiel and Ucal, he spoke in the lowliest terms of himself and declared that he was “more brutish than any man.” Wisdom is justified of her children. Neither of these men was to blame for his opening words to his hearers. Elihu was a young man talking to elderly men of great note for learning: he saw that they had blundered terribly; he felt convinced that he had the right view of the matter under discussion, but he thought it discreet to introduce himself by modestly stating the reasons why he thought he should be patiently heard. Agur was probably a man of years and honor, and possibly his two young friends looked up to him more than was meet, and therefore his principal endeavor was to wean them from undue confidence in himself. He passed the gravest censure upon himself that his hearers might not suffer their faith to stand in the wisdom of men. I can suppose that both Elihu and Agur were equally humble the one so modest that he felt that he needed to commend himself to gain a hearing; and the other so lowly that he feared the hearing he should win would place his personal influence in too high a place.

But did Agur really mean all he said? I cannot doubt it. Forcible expressions are not always to be understood in their strictest sense, yet I have no doubt Agur meant to describe himself as he felt himself to be apart from the grace of God. Or better and more likely, he felt thus brutish and foolish after he had been enlightened by the Spirit of God. One mark of a man’s true wisdom is his knowledge of his ignorance. Have you never noticed how the clean heart always mourns its uncleanness, and the wise man always laments his folly? It needs holiness to detect our own unholiness, and it needs wisdom to discover our own folly. When a man talks of his own cleanness, his very lips are foul with pride; and when a man boasts of his wisdom, he proclaims his folly with trumpet sound. Because God had taught Agur much, he felt that he knew but little.

Especially I think the truth of our text relates to one particular line of things. This man was a naturalist. We have nothing of his save this chapter, but his allusions to natural history all through it are exceedingly abundant. He was an instructed scientist, but he felt that he could not by searching find out God nor fashion an idea of him from his own thoughts. When he heard of the great discoveries of those who judged themselves to be superior persons, he disowned such wisdom as theirs. Other men with their great understanding might be fishing up pearls of truth from the sea; as for himself, he knew nothing but that which he found in God’s Word. He had none of that boasted understanding which climbed the heavens, bound the winds, and swathed the sea, and so found out the sacred name; he was content with revelation and felt that “every word of God is pure.” Not in any earthly school learned he the knowledge of the Holy: all that he knew he had been taught by God’s Book. He had in thought climbed to heaven and come down again: he had listened to the speech of winds and waves and mountains; but he protested that in all this he had not discovered God’s name nor his Son’s name by his own understanding. All his light had come through the Lord’s own Word; and he shrewdly gave this caution to those who thought themselves supremely wise above what is written: “Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.” Philosophy had failed him and revelation was his sole confidence. As for himself, he did not claim that degree of perception and profundity which enabled him to think out God; but he went to God himself and learned from him at first hand through his revealed wisdom. This I take to be his meaning; but I shall not use the text in that way this morning.

Here was a man, who, whatever he really was, held himself in his own opinion and judgment to be an inferior person; and yet nevertheless was a firm believer in his God . He was not only a firm believer, but he was an earnest student of the sacred oracles. All the more because of his ignorance he pressed on to learn more and more of God. Nor was this all, he was a willing worker ; for he spoke prophetically in the name of the Lord. Nor do we even end here; for from this short writing it is clear that he was a joyful truster in God . Brutish as he judged himself to be, he rose into supreme content at every thought of God. Those four points I am going to handle at this time, as the Lord may help me by his Holy Spirit.

I. The first is this a sense of inferiority must not keep us back from faith in God . I will suppose that some one here is saying, “Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man”: our text brings before us a wise man who said this of himself and yet had firm faith in God. If we have to say what Agur said, let us also trust as Agur did. If only wise men might put their trust in God, what would become of nine out of ten of us?

I hope there is nobody here so foolish as to say, “I could trust in God if I were a man of mark.” Ah sirs! to be a man of mark is no help in the matter of faith. I hope no one is so silly as to say, “If I were possessed of great riches I could then come to Jesus.” “How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!” Nor may you say, “If I had great gifts I could trust in the Lord Christ.” Talents involve responsibility, but they do not help towards salvation. Gifts may even drag a man down: only grace can lift him up. The gifted man may be so full of pride that he may never submit himself to the free grace gospel of our Lord Jesus.

I shall deal with more sensible objections than these. There are some who seem as if they could not trust Christ and believe in God because they cannot go with other men in their heights ; and there are others, strange to say, who have the same difficulty because they cannot follow others into their depths .

I will have a word first with those who say, “We cannot hope to be saved because we cannot reach the heights of other men .” You have marked the holy conduct of certain godly men, and setting your own imperfections side by side with their excellences you have not only been humbled, but greatly discouraged. You have concluded that you could be saved if you were like these gracious men; but that, since you fall so far short of their noble character, you must be lost. You have seen them in sickness, and marked their patience and joy, and their acquiescence in the divine will, and you have been greatly humbled, which was well; but you have also fallen into unbelief, which was not well. Since you cannot play the man under fire as these champions do, you fear that you may not hope for eternal life.

Moreover, you have listened to their prayers; you have been edified, you have been aroused, and you have also been driven to tremble. Seeing Jacob in his wrestlings at Jabbok you have cried, “Would God I could wrestle like that man; but as I cannot, woe is me!” You have noticed Daniel go to his chamber and cry unto his God three times a day, and then you have remembered your own forgetfulness and wandering thoughts in the matter of prayer, and you have concluded that you could have no hope of speeding at his throne of grace.

Other aspects of the piety of believers have also discouraged you. To see how they walk with God, how their speech is perfumed with love to Jesus, how their manner of life is above that of the world all this has made you fear that you could never enter into their heritage. These gracious men seem so far above you that you cry, “Surely I am more brutish than any man.”

You have noticed also their usefulness how many souls they have brought to Christ; how God has helped them to guide the bewildered and to instruct the ignorant; and then you have felt that it was natural that such men should have confidence towards God; but as for yourself, what is the use of you? You have felt good for nothing in the presence of persons privileged to do so much for God and men.

You have been even more cast down when you have heard them talk of their high joys. The other day you met with one who wore heaven on his face and you said to yourself, “I wish I knew such joy as beams in this man’s countenance.” You heard your minister describe the deep peace and holy calm which come with full assurance of faith; and every word he spoke about his own joy in the Lord was like a dagger at your heart; for you felt that you could not speak of such a blissful experience. You were never on the top of Tabor never did you behold the transfigured Lord. You are afraid to trust God because you cannot compare with other men in their heights.

Carefully notice two or three little points which I will mention. First, remember that you see these good people at their best . You have not seen their seamy side. Perhaps they have not told you of how at times their feet were almost gone, their steps had well-nigh slipped. You see their days, and not their nights. I think it is a very sweet trait in your character that you do so. In this you differ from the wicked world. The ungodly always notice the bad points in the saints; they eat up the sins of God’s people as they eat bread: it is nourishment to them. As for you, poor troubled one! you observe only the virtues of believers, and you overlook their shortcomings. Surely God has wrought a change in you. In this there is some ground of hope: the Lord who has taken away your envy, malice, and all uncharitableness, will remove the rest of your sins if you bring them before him in repentant faith.

Recollect also that you now see men who have faith in God , and you see in them the result of that faith. Do not imagine that their graces existed before their faith. If you have not the result of faith before you have faith itself, do not be astonished; they had not these excellences before they believed in Jesus. Some of the brightest of them were once the blackest of sinners. “Such were some of you,” said Paul: “but ye are washed.” Can it be a wise thing to say, “I have not those fruits of the Spirit and therefore I will not cultivate the tree of faith from which they grow”? Nay, rather say, “The Lord who made these men what they are, can make me what they are. He that could beautify them with righteousness can also hang my neck with the jewels of holiness.”

Do you not think it would be very great folly on your part if you should refrain from believing in the Lord Jesus on the ground that you had greater need to seek him than other men? Because you lack these things which you see in the saints, and know that you can only have them of the Lord by faith, is that a reason why you should not go to God in faith? This is a grand argument for going at once. Should a man plead his poverty as a reason why he should not ask an alms? Is nakedness a reason for refusing to be dressed? Is hunger a motive for rejecting food? or sickness a motive for shutting out the physician? I argue in the opposite way. Your urgent need is the strongest reason why you should claim of the Lord by faith these promises which he has made to needy souls. If you are more brutish than any man go to the Lord that he may instruct you!

The greater your need, the greater opportunity you have of glorifying God by believing in him for an all-sufficient supply. If you lack all these lovely and needful things which you so much admire in others, it is a sad and grievous want; but if you can believe that the Lord of mercy can and will give you all, you will do great honor to his name. Is it not written, “If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God”? If you were a little sinner and had little needs, God could only be a little merciful and give you a little supply; but the more brutish you are and the less of true understanding you have, the greater opportunity have you of glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ by believing in him for the great things which you evidently need. If you are the greatest fool that ever lived, you will give to Christ all the more honor when you believe that he can make you wise unto salvation. God grant that the heights to which other men reach may never keep you back from faith in God, but may the rather urge you on to believe great things of God!

But further, I said and perhaps I surprised you that the depths of other men have often kept tremblers from a simple faith in God. I know many who say, “I cannot feel as others feel my heart is hard and insensible, and when I listen to what believers tell me of their sharp distresses I fear that I cannot be saved; for into these deep places I have never gone.” These depths are of many kinds; but the mention of one or two may suffice. Some believers have been brought to the Lord through fearful conviction of sin, conviction most overwhelming: they seem to have found their way to heaven round by the brink of hell. “Ah!” say you, “I was never thus shaken over the pit.” Another, after he has been converted, experience awful conflicts: from day to day he struggles with inbred corruptions, and therefore he goes sighing and crying to heaven. There is among the best of men an amount of sorrow which I need not here dwell upon. Ploughing, harrowing, scarifying, fall to the lot of the best of soils. Saints go through fire and through water in their spiritual march to the land of bliss. Perhaps some of you escape these agonies and know but little of the grinding process. Will you therefore fear to believe because you think you are more unfeeling than other men? Will you refuse the cup of life because God has not infused all his bitters into it?

Hearken to me, ye that are so readily cast down: some of these depths you never need wish to know, for they would not be to your advantage but to your loss. The dark side of much that is called Christian experience is not the work of the Holy Spirit at all. In many it is occasioned by a natural crabbedness of disposition: some are so hard that God must use iron wedges with them before their hearts will be reached. There are men with such a proud spirit that they need to be brought down to feed swine before they will arise and go to their Father. Others are obstinate, and wear a brow of brass; and these must be made faint with labor before they will yield. In many instances, the mental distress which attends the work of the Spirit is produced by sickness of body: it is not repentance but indigestion or some other evil agency depressing the spirits. A sluggish liver will produce most of those fearsome forebodings which we are so ready to regard as spiritual emotions. There is such a blending of the physical with the mental that it is hard to name our feelings. All the experience of a Christian man is not Christian experience. The troubled man experiences a good deal, not because he is a Christian, but because he is a man, a sickly man, a man inclined to melancholy. Why will you envy such a person? Do you want to feel his despondency? Do you really desire disease? Do you think you could trust God better if you had a morbid mind and a disordered body? What nonsense! I do not admire your taste; I think you are very foolish.

In multitudes of instances the strange depressions which befall some excellent people are the result of external trouble, of grinding poverty, of frequent bereavements, or of excessive labor. These things may greatly intensify the bitterness of spiritual distress. Do you want affliction? Do you really think that poverty or bankruptcy would help you to believe in God? Give some men a holiday by the sea and their dark thoughts vanish. Were they ever desirable? In desiring what would only grieve you, you remind me of a child that would always cry until its mother said, “What! Do you cry for nothing? You shall have something to cry for before long.” If you covet grief, and even dare to threaten the Lord that you will not believe him unless he vexes you, it may be that he will deal with you according to your desires, and then you will cry in earnest on the other side of your mouth.

Frequently the great darkness through which many true people of God pass is occasioned by Satan. He delights to torment the child of God with blasphemous suggestions or with foul imaginations. Do any of you say, because you are a stranger to this, “We cannot believe”? Why, dear soul, you must be out of your mind to talk so. Bless God with all your heart that you are a stranger to this horrible temptation. Never be so insane as to wish for this dreadful trial. These temptations may come quite soon enough. Desire them? Never, while reason remains to you!

Do you not think too, that many are more deeply convinced of sin and more seriously tried and more fiercely tempted than others, because the Lord has a special design to answer in them? Even when the terrible searching work within is all real, you need not wish for it, for it may not be needful in your case, since God has not the same intention towards you that he has towards the much tempted one. Much more is wanted by way of foundation for a lofty tower than for a humble cottage; and so the grand public life of such a man may need more digging out by inward sorrow than your more private life can possibly require. Our Lord may also be shaping the tried soul for special work. If a man is to be a son of consolation to others, he must be much exercised himself. Barnabas must have tasted the wormwood and the gall, or he cannot mix the cup of consolation for others.

Remember that all Christians are not, and cannot be, of the same calibre. We are all soldiers brethren, but we are not all champions. God calls upon everyone that believes in Christ to fight his battles, but many of us are happy to belong to the rank and file. We cannot all be captains. Only here and there shall we find a David, who with his sling and his stone shall go forth, a solitary champion against gigantic Philistines. For David it was needful that he should fight lions and boars in his youth, or he would not have faced the giant. If God sends us less of inward and outward trials than others, he knows best. We need enough sorrow to drive us from self and carnal confidence, and when that is effected it would be folly to sigh for more. Our wisdom is to leave our experience with the Lord, who will appoint us sun or shade as best will suit our growth. Let us envy no man his standing upon Tabor or Pisgah, and on the other hand let us never desire to make excursions with the Lord’s Jonahs, and go with them to the bottoms of the mountains. Seek not to copy another man’s ups or downs, but wait on God, and put thy trust in him, even though thou shouldst seem to thyself to be more foolish than any other living man.

II. Secondly and very briefly: a sense of inferiority must not keep us from learning . Suppose you have to say “I am more brutish than any man,” you have so much the more need of being taught the things of God. If you have not the understanding of a man there is so much more cause that you should go to school to the Holy Spirit, till the eyes of your understanding shall be enlightened, and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Vital truth is simple. A great many things are hard to understand, but that which is essential to salvation is not difficult. To know thyself a sinner and Christ a Savior, is this a deep mystery? To quit thine own self and thine own trusts simply to rely upon the person and work of the Son of God, is this exceedingly difficult to understand? The safest truth is the simplest. Commonly an invention in machinery grows more simple as it nears perfection; and because God’s way of salvation is perfect, therefore it is simplicity itself. You can know the gospel, for it is not a tough metaphysical problem, but a revelation which he that runs may read.

If thou art staggered by the sublimity of heavenly learning, consider that these things are revealed to babes. Our Lord said, “I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.” Therefore, if you are more than ever conscious of your spiritual babyhood, be none the less assured that the Lord can and will reveal his truths to you.

Remember also that the Holy Ghost is a great Teacher. The best earthly teacher may be able to do very little with such slow scholars as we are; therefore let us go to our heavenly Teacher, that he may give us of his Spirit wherewith we may learn the truth. He can teach young men wisdom, and give to babes knowledge and discretion. When the Lord teaches it is wonderful how quickly we learn. We have frequently met with young children deep-taught in the things of God because the Holy Ghost has been their Teacher.

Let me comfort you by the remark that a sense of ignorance is a very good beginning for a learner. The door-step of the Palace of Wisdom is a humble sense of ignorance. When thou art empty of all fancied wisdom, there is room for God to fill thee with heavenly instruction. If thou art more brutish than any man, I should hope thou art more surely on the way to be made wise from the very foundation, by the teaching of the Spirit of God.

Hang your hope upon that promise: “All thy children shall be taught of the Lord.” You are one of those children, though you are a little one, and therefore you are included in the number of those who shall be taught of the Lord. The Lord will not give up one of the children of Zion as incorrigible. Dunces, whom no other master would tolerate, the gentle Spirit will tenderly instruct. Therefore I say unto you let not a sense of inferiority keep you from following on to know the Lord.

III. I have been very brief upon that second point, and I must be much the same on the third: a sense of inferiority must not keep us back from serving God . What if like Agur we take the very lowest place; yet, like him let us speak on God’s behalf. Who knoweth he may prophesy by us also? Agur’s simple word is called “the prophecy.” If God shall speak by thee my friend, thy thinking so little of thyself will give a charm to thy speech. If God shall use such as thou art he will have all the glory of it, will he not? When the Lord uses a very clever man, there is always the fear that people will ascribe the success to the human instrument. But when the Lord uses the man who owns himself to be a poor foolish creature, then the honor is not divided, but all men see that this is the finger of God. The Lord loves to use tools which are not rusted with self-conceit. An axe which boasteth itself shall not be used upon the thick trees.

God can use inferior persons for grand purposes. He has often done so. Go into his armoury and see how he has worked by flies and lice, by worms and caterpillars, by frogs and serpents. His greatest victories were won by a hammer and a tent-pin, by an ox-goad, by the jawbone of an ass, by a sling and a stone, and such like. His greatest prophets at the first tried to excuse themselves on the ground of unfitness. In the armoury of the Lord you will find few swords with golden scabbards, but you will find many unlikely weapons. God uses what no one else would look upon. The Lord can get much glory out of you my poor desponding friend; wherefore, bestir yourself. Though you think yourself quite unworthy, go on in consecration of heart to yield yourself wholly to God and he will not pass you by.

Bethink you yet again, the Lord does not expect of you more than you can do: it is accepted if it be according to what a man hath, and not according to what he hath not. In building a house there must be the common bricks for the wall as well as the carved stone for the corner. Are you so ambitious that nothing but the chief place will suit you? Fie upon you! Let no man despise anything that may come in to complete the building of the house that God inhabits.

Suppose you feel that you are more brutish than any man, shall I give you a little advice? If you can do but little, make the best of yourself by intensity. In the natural world that creature is most to be feared which is the most energetic, rather than that which is greatest. You shall find your life more in danger from the slender viper than from the huge ox. That which is the fullest of fire and energy will achieve the most. A small musket-ball in full career will do more execution than a great cannon-ball which lies still. Make the best of yourself also by perseverance. If you are a little axe and can give only a small chip at a time, keep on striking, and even the oak will yield to your blows. If you are only a drop, remember that constant dripping wears away stones. Keep on at holy service, and do so all the more because you do so little at any one time. Many littles will make much. Pence given every day will make pounds.

Make up by spiritual force what you lack in natural ability. If you lack talent, get all the more grace and you will be no loser. If you love God more, even though you know less of science, you will live a successful, because a holy, life. If you have a greater love for the souls of your hearers than the man who has ten talents, you may be ten times more a soul-winner than he. It is spiritual power, not mental power, which avails in conversion.

Agur, a little further on in his one chapter, cheers up the humbler sort of people by his talk about little things. In his twenty-fourth verse he says: “There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise: the ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer.” You that cannot do very much, take care never to lose an opportunity. Make hay while the sun shines: seize the seasons and turn them to account. If you were a great man and could at one speech sway the minds of thousands, even then you ought not to be idle; but if you can only deal with one at a time, do not let that one escape you. Copy the bees and the ants and use the summer hours right diligently.

Next, read verse twenty-six. You are feeble; but remember, “The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks.” Keep to the rock, keep to eternal verities, keep to the things which cannot be moved. Never run away from the gospel. There is not much in you , but there is a great deal in Christ: always keep to him. You cannot say much, but let all you do say savor of Christ. Never quit the gospel or you leave the rock of your shelter. Keep to the rocks and you will do much good, and run no risk.

Next, if you are very little you should like the locusts associate with others, and go forth in an orderly way to work. Make yourself useful by dropping into rank, and in holy companionship doing your part in connection with the rest. One locust is a thing to be laughed at but when they go forth in bands they make nations tremble. One believer may accomplish little; but in the ranks of the Sunday-school the many can do wonders.

Suppose you are as little thought of as a spider, yet copy the spider in the two things which Agur mentions. Take hold with your hands. Always be taking hold upon the promise of the great King by the hand of faith. Let your faith come out of your own heart as the spider spins her web out of her own bowels. Be always hanging on to one promise or another, and constantly add to your holding. Have also a holy courage like the spider who is in king’s palaces. She is not satisfied with being hidden away in a barn or a cottage; she pays a visit to Solomon and makes her abode in his painted halls. If you can go anywhere for Christ, go and spin your web of gospel from your inmost soul. Make up your mind that whatever company you are in, you will begin to spin about Christ, and spin a web in which to catch a soul for your Lord. In this way, though you fear you are more foolish than any man, God will make as much use of you as if you were the wisest of men. I pray thee, O feeble one, render to thy Lord such service as thou canst.

IV. Lastly: a sense of inferiority must not hinder our faith in the Lord . Suppose you have to say this morning, very groaningly, “I am more brutish than any man, I have not the understanding of a man.” What then? Are you going to fret and worry about it? Will you therefore refuse to believe in your God? I do not see, if it be true to the fullest extent, that there is any reasonable cause for being cast down in reference to the Lord your God. Would you expect to be saved because you were not brutish? Would you look for heaven because you had a fine understanding and could place a third of the letters of the alphabet at the end of your name? If everybody said “What a highly-cultured man this is!” do you think heaven’s gate would open any the more readily to you? You are on the wrong tack, my friend, if you think so. Capacities and attainments put plumes into the hat but they do not protect the head from error.

Answer me this. Are not the little things in creation full of joy? Do not the dewdrops sparkle on the hedges? When the summer comes walk down your garden and see the thousands of gnats. What are they doing? They are dancing up and down in the sunbeams. The very midges are full of delight. Will you be shamed by a gnat or a midge? No! take you to dancing too; but let it be like that of David when he danced before the ark of God. Rejoice in the Lord always. God gives small creatures great delight. Why should not you be as happy, after your measure, as the angels are? Little stars twinkle for very brightness. If you need humbler examples, look at the little birds and hear how they sing. Great birds seldom have the gift of song. You may listen long before you will hear an ostrich or an emu singing. In our own farmyards neither the turkey nor the peacock charm us with their melody. Little birds awake the sun with their harmonies and make the morning sacred with their psalmody. Tell me, you that feel as if you were less than the least, is there any reason why you should not rejoice in the Lord?

Who had most joy out of the Lord Jesus when he was here? Or rather, who expressed their delight most exultingly? It was not great Peter, nor active James, nor holy John, but it was the children in the temple.

“Children of Jerusalem

Sang the praise of Jesus’ name.”

They shouted “Hosanna!” “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings he hath perfected praise ,” if nothing else. The little ones can praise for they are happy in the sweet simplicity of their faith and in the warmth of their hearts. My dear friend, do the same. Delight thyself also in the Lord. Be glad in the Lord, and express your gladness.

“Ah, sir! I am foolish and ignorant.” Yes, but did you notice in the seventy-third Psalm, which we read just now, that I called your attention to the singular language used by Asaph? He says, “So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee. Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my hand.” God takes care of the foolish and guards the feeble, wherefore, let them rest in his love, and be glad in his care.

Remember that if by reason of our inferiority you and I have to take a back seat, the back seats are still in the house. Our littleness does not alter God’s promise. It is the same promise to the small as to the great; to the weak as to the strong. Our deficiency does not alter our God. He is as full of grace and truth as ever. He does not increase because we are enlarged, neither is he diminished because we have declined. My God, as a babe in grace, is the same God as those rejoice in who have attained to fullness of stature in Christ Jesus. What a blessed God we have! Only to think of him is hope; to know him is fruition. “Yea, mine own God is he,” said David; and he could never have uttered a grander word. “This God is our God for ever and ever,” is a sentence which might as fairly have been spoken in heaven as upon this lower earth. It has a glory tone about it. Come ye little ones, ye backward ones, ye foolish ones, dwell upon the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, with your hearts’ delight. The triune God is yours, your Father, your Redeemer, your Comforter: a triple blessing is thus secured to you; let your triple nature of body, soul, and spirit rejoice therein.

This makes no difference to the covenant of grace. Babes in their long-clothes, if they are heirs, have quite as sure a right to their inheritance as have those who are of full age. One is as legally protected as one-and-twenty. The children cannot yet take full possession by reason of their tender years; but the law defies a rogue to rob even an infant heir of his lawful patrimony. Enjoy you, therefore, O you little ones, the infinite wealth of the covenant, and doubt not your right and title in Christ Jesus!

However little you may be this makes no difference to God’s love to you. Ask yourselves, do you love that full-grown son of yours of twenty-five so much that you have the less love left for your chubby little boy at home of two or three? Bless his little heart! when he climbs your knee to-day and asks whether you have a kiss for him, will you answer “No Johnny, I cannot love you, for you are so little that I give all my love to your older brother, because he knows so much more than you do and can be so useful to me”? Oh no; you love the last one perhaps better than any of them: certainly not less. They say that if there be a child in the family who is a little weak, the mother always loves it most. It is so with our God; he is most tender and most gracious to the weakest and least known. Our Shepherd carrieth the lambs in his bosom and doth gently lead those that are with young: wherefore be not cast down because of your conscious inferiority, but admire the condescending grace of God.

If you feel that you are more brutish than anybody else, yet believe in God up to the hilt; believe in him and trust him with all your heart, and then feel all the more gratitude that he should have loved such a worthless one as you are. Feel all the more content with that free, rich, sovereign grace which has chosen you and ordained you to eternal life. Glorify God-by your very weakness. Glory in your infirmity, because the power of Christ doth rest upon you. Be all the more trustful in God since you have nothing in yourself to rely upon. Say, “The great ones may run alone, but I am a babe, and I must be carried in my Father’s arms; therefore I will have the greater faith to match my greater need.”

Our deep sense of folly and weakness should also keep us humble before the Lord. Where is room for boasting? What have we to glory in? We owe all to mercy, and to mercy shall be all the praise!

Lastly, be more tender to others who like yourself are feeble. It is wonderful how gracious little ones care for other little ones, sympathize with them, pray for them, and comfort them. I believe that the saying is strictly true, that “the poor help the poor”; and I know it is so among the spiritually poor. High and mighty ones cannot help downcast saints: only those who have been afflicted can console the afflicted. In the East, among the Bedouins, in a shepherd’s family, the little children, as soon as they can walk, learn to keep the lambs. You see, the little boy who can only go slowly can lead the little lambs admirably, for he and they go well together. The big father would have taken long strides and so have tired the little lambs; but his little son can only go at a slow pace, and that pace suits the lambs. The weak lambs are pleased with their little shepherd who is a lamb like themselves: he is fond of the lambs, and the lambs feel at home with him. So dear friends, if the Lord permits you to be among the little ones, look after the little ones; and whereas some would have to bend their backs too much to look after the lowly, you are on their level and will naturally care for their state. Thus will you find your sphere of usefulness, and in it you will earn to yourselves a good degree. Though like Agur you feel more brutish than any man, you will so live that nobody would have thought so if you had not told them; and few will believe it when you do tell them. To God alone be glory. Amen.