Proverbs 30

The Pulpit Commentary - Proverbs 30:3

I neither learned wisdom. With all my eager longing and striving I did not attain to such wisdom, that I should have the knowledge of the Holy One ; k'doshim , plural of "excellence," like elohim ( Proverbs 9:10 ; Hosea 12:1 (Hebrew); see note on Proverbs 1:20 ; and comp. Ecclesiastes 5:8 ; Ecclesiastes 12:1 ). The knowledge of the all holy God was beyond his grasp ( Job 11:7 , etc.). Theology is a higher science than metaphysics, and cannot be reached by that ladder. The... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Proverbs 30:4

The questions contained in this verse are such as compelled Agur to acknowledge his ignorance and nothingness before the thought of the glory and power of the great Creator. We may compare Job 38:1-41 , etc. Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? Who is he that hath his seat in heaven, and doeth works on earth? Who is he whose universal providence is felt and experienced? Where is this mysterious Being who hides himself from human ken? Christ has said something like this, "No man... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Proverbs 30:5

Every word of God is pure. "Word" is here imrah , which does not occur elsewhere in our book, which is the case also with Eloah , the term used for "God." Every declaration of God in the inspired record, the Torah, is pure, as if refined in the fire ( Psalms 18:30 ). Vulgate, Omnis sermo Dei est ignitus ; Septuagint, "All the words of God are tried in the fire ( πεπυρωμένοι )." God's words are true, sincere, with no mixture of error, certain of accomplishment (comp. ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Proverbs 30:5-6

The following tetrastich is connected with what has preceded in this way: As the light of nature and metaphysical speculation are of no avail in obtaining the perfect knowledge of God which the seeker craves, he must be all the more thankful for the revealed Word of God, which teaches him as much as he is capable of learning. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Proverbs 30:5-6

The purity of God's words I. THE REFUGE FROM VAIN SPECULATION IS PRACTICAL REVELATION . The search for God in thought and nature has ended in weariness. But Agur does not subside into agnosticism, much less does he renounce all higher thinking as "vanity of vanities," and plunge into Sadducean worldliness and Epicurean materialism. On the contrary, though he gives up his ambitious quest with a sigh of disappointment, he learns to take a humbler path, on which he finds that... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Proverbs 30:6

Add thou not unto his words. God's will, as announced in revelation, is to be simply accepted and acted upon, not watered down, not overstrained. This injunction had already been given in the old Law ( Deuteronomy 4:2 ; Deuteronomy 12:32 ); it is repeated in the New Testament with awful emphasis ( Revelation 22:18 , Revelation 22:19 ). No human speculations or traditions may be mingled with God's words; the glosses and explanations and definitions, affixed by rabbinical ingenuity to... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Proverbs 30:7

Two things have I required of thee. The personal pronoun applies to God, who, according to our interpretation, has been invoked in Proverbs 30:1 ; otherwise it stands without reference to anything preceding. Deny me not before I die; i . e . grant me these two things for the rest of my life. Septuagint, "Take not grace ( χάριν ) from me before I die." read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Proverbs 30:7-9

A mashal ode, containing two requests, and a rationale of the latter. The matter of the two prayers connects it with Proverbs 30:6 , whether we consider that the limitation of man's desire follows naturally the limitation of his knowledge (Plumptre). or that the warning against being reproved as a liar is corroborated by the prayer against vanity and lies (but see below, on Proverbs 30:9 ). It is the first of Agur's numerical proverbs. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Proverbs 30:7-9

The golden mean I. THE WAY OF LIFE : TRUTH IS THE MEAN BETWEEN TWO EXTREMES . ( Proverbs 30:8 .) Extremes exist in logic; life shows that extremes meet, and that the path of sense in opinion and of safety in conduct lies intermediate between them. II. GREAT INCHES ARE NOT IN THEMSELVES DESIRABLE . Not by the wise and religious man. They bring perils to the soul. Full of his gifts, it is tempted to deny the Giver. The deepest atheism springs from... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Proverbs 30:7-9

A new year's prayer We have in these most instructive words a wise and good man— I. CALMLY CONFRONTING THE FUTURE . Whether we read "before I die" or "until I die" (Wardlaw), we have a good man deliberately facing the future of his life. He realizes that before him stretches out a tract of time which he has to cross; he knows that he must keep steadily, incessantly, moving forward; that he will meet with difficulties and dangers on his way; that he will want all and more than... read more

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