Proverbs 30:1

IV. THE LAST TWO CHAPTERS

"These final two chapters are remarkably different from the rest of the book."[1] This chapter is composed of six paragraphs which in Proverbs 30:1 seem to be ascribed to Agur, about whom we have no information. The final chapter is ascribed to Lemuel king of Masa; but nothing is known either of Lemuel, or of any country known as Masa. Some Jewish and Christian expositors have identified Agur with Solomon; but to this writer it appears to be impossible that David was ever known as Jakeh (Proverbs 30:1).

Toy subdivided the chapter as follows: "Title (Proverbs 30:1a). the words of Agur (Proverbs 30:1b-4), an exhortation to trust God (Proverbs 30:5-6), a prayer (Proverbs 30:7-9), an isolated maxim (Proverbs 30:10), a series of tetrads (Proverbs 30:11-31), and a sextet on pride and anger (Proverbs 30:32-33)."[2]

THE TITLE

Proverbs 30:1a

"The words of Agur the son of Jakeh; the oracle."

Of either one of the proper names here, nothing is known; and in the LXX, no proper names at all appear here. One man's guess is as good as another's. "Some scholars argue that the words here rendered as proper names are not names at all but an Aramaic phrase."[3] It is true that there are a number of Aramaisms in this chapter; and earlier scholars like Toy dated the chapter in the second century B.C.; but the theory that the presence of Aramaisms signifies a late date has been completely exploded. (See our thorough discussion of this subject in Vol. 1 of our Minor Prophets series of commentaries, in the treatise on Jonah.)

It is not known whether "the words of Agur" may be understood as applicable to the whole chapter, or as limited to this first paragraph.

"The oracle here is the proper translation of the Hebrew; and it emphasizes the authority of what follows. The RSV and others (by an emendation) translate the word as Masa."[4] We are extremely suspicious of most of the emendations that scholars presume to make in the Hebrew text.

Proverbs 30:1-4

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" (Proverbs 30:1) We are just as much in the dark about these two names as we are of those in Proverbs 30:1b. 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."[5] 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)."[6]

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?" (Proverbs 30:4). 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."[7] Delitzsch interprets the passage, "As a reference to the Mediator in creation, revealed at last as God's son."[8] "Greenstone denies that the passage refers to the [@Logos], but offers no positive alternative to explain the passage."[9] "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?"[10]