Proverbs 30:7-9

Agur asked God not to lead him into temptation (Matthew 6:13). He had more concern for his purity before God than about his place among people. Poverty and wealth both bring with them certain temptations that the middle-class citizen does not face, at least as strongly. Abundance tempts us to feel unrealistically self-sufficient (cf. Deuteronomy 8:11-14; John 15:5). Need tempts us to stop trusting God and to resort to acts that harm others.

"Agur’s exemplary prayer in Proverbs 30:7-9, the only prayer in Proverbs, continues his autobiography and functions as a janus [transition] to his numerical sayings." [Note: Waltke, The Book . . . 31, p. 478. R. W. Byargeon, "Echoes of Wisdom in the Lord’s Prayer," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 41:3 (September 1998):353-65, noted similar structure and theology in the Lord’s Prayer.]