Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Proverbs 30:5

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Proverbs 30:5. Every word of God is pure] כל אמרת אלוה צרופה col imrath eloah tseruphah, "Every oracle of God is purified." A metaphor taken from the purifying of metals. Every thing that God has pronounced, every inspiration which the prophets have received, is pure, without mixture of error, without dross. Whatever trials it may be exposed to, it is always like gold: it bears the fire, and comes out with the same lustre, the same purity, and the same weight.

He is a shield unto them — And this oracle among the rest. "He is the defence of all them that put their trust in him." לכל lechol, to all, is added here by nineteen of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS.; for instead of לחסים lachosim, to the trusters, they read לכל החוסים lechol hachosim, "to EVERY ONE of them that trust." Where the preposition and adjective are not only added, but the noun is written more full, and more emphatic: but a translation cannot well express it without paraphrase.

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

AN EXHORTATION TO TRUST GOD

"Every Word of God is tried: He is a shield to them that take refuge in him. Add thou not unto his words, Lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar."

"All of the revelation of God is free from error. As originally given, the Bible was free of any error. The alleged mistakes, errors, etc. in ancient manuscripts are insignificant. They do not affect even one percent of the text";George DeHoff's Commentary, Vol. III, p. 305. and they are of no more consequence than a flyspeck on the Washington Monument!

"Add thou not unto his words" This commandment is expanded and made a part of the New Testament. "If any man shall add unto the words of the prophecy of this book, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in the book; and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, which are written in this book" (Revelation 22:18-19). (See our comment on this passage in Vol. 12 (Revelation), of the New Testament commentaries.)

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Out of this consciousness of the impotence of all man’s efforts after the knowledge of God rises the sense of the preciousness of every living word that God has Himself revealed, whether through “the Law and the prophets” or through “wise men and scribes.”

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

B. Wisdom about God 30:2-9

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

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Agur treasured the revelation that God had given. "Tested" means "smelted," purified (cf. Psalms 12:6). It was trustworthy. Agur correctly regarded the aim of revelation to be the promotion of trust in God, not just knowledge (Proverbs 30:5 b). Agur warned against adding to God’s revelation because that is a serious offense (Proverbs 30:6; cf. Deuteronomy 4:2; Revelation 22:18).

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Every word of God [is] pure,.... The whole word of God. "All Scripture", given by inspiration of God, to which Agur directs, as giving the best account of God, of his name, nature, and perfections; of his Son, person, offices, and grace; being pure, very pure, "purified" z like silver, purified in a furnace of earth. The whole of Scripture is pure, free from all falsehood and error; coming from the God of truth, who cannot lie, and therefore called "the Scriptures of truth": every promise is pure as well as precious, made without dissimulation, faithfully performed, and all yea and amen in Christ; every doctrine is pure, free from the mixtures and inventions of men; the sincere milk of the word; consistent and all of a piece, not yea and nay; and tending to promote purity of heart and life; wholesome words, and doctrines according to godliness; see

Psalms 12:6;

he [is] a shield unto them that put their trust in him; not the word, but God, whose the word is; and which represents him as a proper object of trust, both with respect to things temporal and spiritual, at all times; and as a shield to protect such, by his power and grace, from all their enemies, sin, Satan, and the world, and also from all errors and false doctrines; see Psalms 3:3.

z צרופה "purgatus", Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Gejerus; "purgatissimus", Junius Tremellius Heb. "conflatus", Piscator, Mercerus, Cocceius, Schultens.

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."