The purpose of this commentary is to gather information on this chapter from many sources to save Bible Students time in research by bringing the information to one place.

1. Proverbs 30 Commentary
Written and edited by Glenn Pease
PREFACE
The purpose of this commentary is to gather information on this chapter from many
sources to save Bible Students time in research by bringing the information to one
place. Some I have quoted are not named, and if anyone can identify the person who
made the quote I will give them credit. If anyone who is quoted does not wish their
wisdom to be used in this context, let me know and I will remove it. My e-mail
address is glenn_p86@yahoo.com
I0TRODUCTIO0
1. Dr. Joe Temple, “When we come to chapter 30 of the book of Proverbs, we have
come to the first of two supplements to the book. The book is concluded in chapter
29, and chapter 30 is supplement number one. Chapter 31 is supplement number
two. Supplement number one we might call The Words of Agur, and supplement
number two, The Words of King Lemuel.
The words of Agur consist first of his confession, in verses 2-4. Then the conclusion
to which he came, because of what he learned in relation to what he confessed. Then,
we have a prayer that he prayed. After that, he begins a discussion of a series of
fours. He speaks of four generations in verses 10-14. Actually, the word generations
could be translated as well by the word class, so he is thinking about four classes of
people. Then he speaks of four insatiable things, four wonderful things, four
intolerable things, four little things, and four comely or stately things. He closes his
discussion with a word of admonition.”
Sayings of Agur
MY VERSIO0 OF VERSES 1 THRU 3
Agur was a humble man,
And of ignorance he did boast,
For so much he did not understand,
And confessed he knew less than most.

2. Of wisdom he was lacking,
And his knowledge was quite thin.
0o matter how his mind was wracking
Knowledge of God he could not win.
Of questions he had many,
And of answers he had few,
So he called out, "If there is any
Who know-tell me if you do."
Every word of God is without flaw,
So run to him and hide.
Do not add new words, or rebuke you will draw,
And on the side of truth you will not abide.
Two things of you O God I ask,
Grant them please before I die:
Let not the struggles of poor or rich be my task,
And spare me from the falsehood and lie.
1 The sayings of Agur son of Jakeh—an oracle:
This man declared to Ithiel, to Ithiel and to Ucal:
1. This opening verse has a lot of comments just because nobody really knows who
these people are. There has been much speculation, but no facts, and so w just have
to accept that Agur and his friends are godly men that God used to convey the
wisdom of this chapter to the rest of the world.
1B. Jamison, “the prophecy ― literally, “the burden” (compare Isa_13:1; Zec_9:1),
used for any divine instruction; not necessarily a prediction, which was only a kind
of prophecy (1Ch_15:27, “a song”). Prophets were inspired men, who spoke for God
to man, or for man to God (Gen_20:7; Exo_7:14, Exo_7:15, Exo_7:16). Such, also,
were the 0ew Testament prophets. In a general sense, Gad, 0athan, and others were
such, who were divine teachers, though we do not learn that they ever predicted.
the man spake ― literally, “the saying of the man”; an expression used to denote
any solemn and important announcement (compare 2Sa_23:1; Psa_36:1; Psa_110:1;
Isa_1:24, etc.). Ithiel and Ucal were perhaps pupils.”
2. Clarke, “words of Agur the son of Jakeh - words Agur, Jakeh, Ithiel, and Ucal,
have been considered by some as proper names: by others, as descriptive characters.
With some, Agur is Solomon; and Jakeh, David; and Ithiel and Ural are epithets of
Christ.

3. The Vulgate translates, “The words of the collector, the son of the vomiter: the
vision of the man who has God with him, and who is fortified by God dwelling with
him, saith.”
Coverdale makes the following words a title to the chapter:
The wordes of Agur the sonne of Jake.
The prophecie of a true faithfull man, whom God hath helped; whom God hath
comforted and nourished.”
The whole might be thus translated, keeping near to the letter: -
The words of the epistle of the obedient son.” Or,
“The words of the collector, the son of Jakeh. The parable which הגבר haggeber,
the strong man, the hero, spake unto him who is God with me; to him who is God
with me, even the strong God.”
The visioun that a man spake with whiche is God, and that God with him, wonyng
confortid. - Old MS. Bible.
From this introduction, from the names here used, and from the style of the book, it
appears evident that Solomon was not the author of this chapter; and that it was
designed to be distinguished from his work by this very preface, which specifically
distinguishes it from the preceding work. 0or can the words in Pro_30:2, Pro_30:3,
Pro_30:8, Pro_30:9, be at all applied to Solomon: they suit no part of Solomon’s life,
nor of his circumstances. We must, therefore, consider it an appendix or supplement
to the preceding collection; something in the manner of that part which the men of
Hezekiah, king of Judah, had collected. As to mysteries here, many have been found
by them who sought for nothing else; but they are all, in my view of the subject,
hazarded and precarious. I believe Agur, Jakeh, Ithiel, and Ural, to be the names of
persons who did exist, but of whom we know nothing but what is here mentioned.
Agur seems to have been a public teacher, and Ithiel and Ucal to have been his
scholars; and what he delivers to them was done by prophesy. It was what the
prophets generally term משא massa, an Oracle, something immediately delivered by
the Holy Spirit for the benefit of man.”
3. Gill, “words of Agur the son of Jakeh,.... Here begins, according to Aben Ezra, the
fourth part of this book; though, according to others, it is the fifth; See Gill on
Pro_22:17; Who this Agur was is a matter of doubt; some of the Jewish writers, as
Jarchi and Gersom, and likewise some Christian writers (f), take him to be Solomon
himself, who calls himself Agur, which is said to signify "a gatherer"; and so the
Vulgate Latin version renders it, "the words of the gatherer, the son of the
vomiter"; just as he calls himself Koheleth, or "the caller", or "preacher", Ecc_1:1.
The reason given of this name is, because he gathered wisdom and the law (g); or, as
Jarchi, he gathered wisdom, and vomited it; that is, delivered it out to others; so he
did, he sought after and attained to more wisdom than any before him, for he was
wiser than all men; and it may be added, that he "gathered" silver and gold, and the
treasure of kings, and increased in riches more than any before him, Ecc_1:13. But
then all this does not agree with the person whose words these are; for he speaks of
himself as being very ignorant, and as not having learned wisdom, Pro_30:2; and
desires neither poverty nor riches, Pro_30:8; besides, the word "Agur" signifies not
"a gatherer", but "gathered", as Hillerus (h)renders it; and so Cocceius, who thinks

4. also that Solomon is meant, yet not for the above reasons, but translates the clause
thus, "the words of the recollected son of the obedient"; as if it described Solomon
the son of David, the obedient one, the man after God's own heart, when he was
restored by repentance; but it seems better, with Aben Ezra, to understand this of
some very good, knowing, and worthy man, who lived in those times, either before
the times of Solomon, or in the same, whose pithy sayings and sentences he had a
great regard for, and joined them to his own; or who lived in the times of Hezekiah,
or before, whose proverbs were collected by his men, and added to those of
Solomon's they had copied in the preceding chapters; see Pro_25:1;
even the prophecy; or "burden" (i), as many of the prophecies are called; it designs
something received from the Lord, taken up and carried to others; so Balaam is said
to "take up his parable", 0um_23:7. Here it does not design a prediction of future
events, unless it can be thought that there is in the following words a prophecy of the
Messiah; but an instruction, a declaration of things useful and profitable; so
preaching in the 0ew Testament is called prophesying often, 1Co_14:1. This is a
part of the word of God, of the prophecy which came not by the will of man, but by
the inspiration of God, 2Pe_1:19; which prophecy the man spake, this excellent good
man Agur, who was divinely inspired; see 0um_24:3;
unto Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and Ucal; who were either the children of Agur, whom
he instructed in the knowledge of divine things; or they were, as Aben Ezra, either
his companions with whom he conversed about sacred things, or his disciples who
inquired of him about these things, and learned them of him. Some think (k)these
are titles of God himself, to whom Agur directs his speech, and acknowledges his
ignorance of the divine Being, whom he might justly call Ithiel and Ucal, that is,
"God with me", and "the mighty One"; and certain it is that Agur does direct a
prayer to God, Pro_30:7; And some read these words themselves as a prayer, "let
God be with me, and one shall prevail" (l), that is, over all mine enemies; for, if God
is on the side of his people, who shall be against them? or, "I shall be able" to do all
things through the Lord's strength, Rom_8:31; But I rather think the words should
be read, as Jarchi observes, "concerning Ithiel and Ucal" (m); that is, concerning
the Messiah, to whom these names agree. Ithiel, or "God with me", is very similar to
a phrase used by Christ himself in the days of his flesh, Joh_8:29. God was with him
as the eternal Word, and his only begotten Son, from all eternity, which denotes his
co-existence, nearness of union, equality of nature, and distinction of persons; he
was with him as Mediator before the world began, in the council of peace, which
was between them both; in the covenant of grace made with him, in which all things
were agreed upon respecting the salvation of his people; he was with him in the
beginning of time down to his incarnation; he was with him in the creation of all
things, in the sustentation of them; in the works of providence, and in the
government of the church; he was with him during his state of humiliation; in his
infancy, to protect him from the malice of Herod; he was with him when disputing
with the doctors in the temple, to direct him; he was with him at his baptism,
transfiguration, and other times; he was with him throughout his public ministry,
from the beginning to the end of it; he did good and healed all manner of diseases,

5. and wrought amazing miracles, God being with him, Joh_3:2, Act_10:38; and he
was with him in his sufferings and at his death; and so he is with him in his exalted
state; he raised him from the dead, set him at his own right hand, and ever attends
to his prevalent intercession; and will be with him in raising the dead and judging
the world. "Ucal", which has the signification of being able, strong, mighty, and
powerful, agrees with Christ, who is the mighty God the most mighty, the Almighty;
and which appears by the works he did before his incarnation, as the creation of all
things out of nothing, the preservation of all things, and the several wonderful
events in which he was; concerned, as the confusion of languages, the burning of
Sodom and Gomorrah, the conducting the children of Israel through the wilderness,
with others; also what he did when here on earth, the mighty works and miracles
done by him, and especially the great work of man's redemption, and also the
raising of himself from the dead: moreover, what he now does and will do for his
people show him to be the mighty One; taking the care of all the churches and
providing for them; supplying all the wants of his people, bearing all their burdens,
supporting them under all their temptations, and delivering them out of them;
strengthening them for his service, protecting them from their enemies, keeping
them from falling, raising their dead bodies, and bringing all the sons of God to
glory: or if the word should be rendered, as it may, "eaten" or "consumed" (n), it is
true of Christ, whose zeal ate him up, Psa_69:9; and who is the antitype of the
sacrifice consumed by fire.
4. Henry, “make Agurto 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 (Pro_30:3), “Ihave not learned
wisdommyself, but have been a scribe, or amanuensis, to other wise and learned
men.” 0ote, 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 Ucalare 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.
Ithielsignifies 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.” Ucalsignifies 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, evenconcerning Ithiel(that is the name on which the stress is laid)
with us,Isa_7:14.
Three things the prophet here aims at: -
I. To abase himself. Before he makes confession of his faith he makes confession of

6. 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,Jer_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, “SurelyI 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 understandingof 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 (Pro_30:3) “I neither learned wisdomby any power of my own (the depths of it
cannot be fathomed by my line and plummet) nor know I the knowledge of the
holyones, 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 (Pro_30:4): Who ascended up
into heaven,etc. 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 namewho 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 fistsand bound the waters as in a garment;but what is his
name?It is, I am that I am(Exo_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

7. person distinct from the Father, but his name as yet secret. 0ote, 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 heavenin the Father's
bosom(Joh_1:1, Joh_1:18); thence he descended to take our nature upon him; and
never was there such condescension. In that nature he again ascended (Eph_4:9), to
receive the promised glories of his exalted state; and who besides has done this?
Rom_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 windsand 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,
Pro_30:5, Pro_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(Psa_12:6), without the least dross or alloy.
Thy word is very pure,Psa_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, Psa_46:1, Psa_46:2. 2. It is sufficient, and therefore we must not add to it
(Pro_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: “Hewill reprove thee,will reckon with thee as a

8. traitor against his crown and dignity, and lay thee under the heavy doom of those
that add to his words, or diminish from them,” Deu_4:2; Deu_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.”
5. Keil, “The old synagogue tradition which, on the ground of the general title
Pro_1:1, regarded the whole Book of Proverbs as the work of Solomon, interpreted
the words, “Agur the son of Jakeh,” as an allegorical designation of Solomon, who
appropriated the words of the Tôra to the king, Deu_17:17, and again rejected
them, for he said: God is with me, and I shall not do it (viz., take many wives,
without thereby suffering injury), The translation of Jerome: , is the echo of this
Jewish interpretation. One would suppose that if “Agur” were Solomon's name,
“Jakeh” must be that of David; but another interpretation in Midrash Mishle
renders בן (“son”) as the designation of the bearer of a quality, and sees in “Agur”
one who girded his loins for wisdom; and in “son of Jakeh” one free from sin. In the
Middle Ages this mode of interpretation, which is historically and linguistically
absurd, first began to prevail; for then the view was expressed by several (Aben
Ezra, and Meîri the Spaniard) that Agur ben Jakeh was a wise man of the time of
Solomon. That of Solomon's time, they thence conclude (blind to Pro_25:1) that
Solomon collected together these proverbs of the otherwise unknown wise man. In
truth, the age of the man must remain undecided; and at all events, the time of
Hezekiah is the fixed period from which, where possible, it is to be sought. The
name “Agur” means the gathered (Pro_6:8; Pro_10:5), or, after the predominant
meaning of the Arab. âjar, the bribed, also the collector (cf. fowler); or the word
might mean, perhaps, industrious in collecting.”
6. Dr. Joe Temple, “I want to share with you some suggestions that are made
concerning the identification of this man, Agur. The first thing that we might say to
you is that he could have been and probably was a Gentile like Job, like Balaam,
like Melchizedek. Our Bible is primarily a Jewish book and we are familiar with
Jewish characters such as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and when we run across a
name that is not Jewish, we immediately assume that he is a heathen out of touch
with the truth about God.
You know that Balaam was a prophet of God. You are familiar with Melchizedek
and know that he was a Gentile to whom Abraham paid tithes. It is very possible
that this man, Agur, was like either these two or like Job, who lived long before any
of these others to whom I have made reference, a man who, though he was not a
part of the nation of Israel, still had the knowledge of the true God. It is very
possible that Agur was a teacher of his disciples as is indicated in verse 1, where
Agur's name is given and the disciples to whom he taught the Word.
The names of Agur and his disciples are significant in telling us the kind of man he
was. Agur means ``a gatherer." That tells us immediately that he was a man who

9. had gathered together a number of proverbs---various truthful sayings from many
different sources---in order that he might share them with his followers, one of
whom was Ithiel, which means ``God within me," and the other Ucal, which
translated may mean ``able"---an able man, spiritually speaking.
This man, Agur, was the son of Jakeh, according to our text. Jakeh means ``the
pious one," which would indicate that Agur in all probability was the teacher that
he was of the Word of God because he had adequate home training. Some Bible
scholars, recognizing the difference in vowel punctuation of the Masoretic text,
suggests that verse 1 might read: ``...the words of Agur, son of her who was abade in
Massa." Should that be the rendering of the text, which it could be, that would
indicate that Agur was not really a Gentile as I have already suggested to you. He
was an Ishmaelite and you would find Massa, the grandmother of Agur, being
described in Genesis, chapter 25, verse 14.”
2 "I am the most ignorant of men;
I do not have a man's understanding.
1. I am sure this statement could be challenged by many men in all ages, for a good
many would think Agur above them in intelligence if God would chose them to write
a portion of his Word to the world. God does use inadequate vessels to achieve his
purposes, but to chose the most ignorant man in the world to write about wisdom
does seem to be a stretch even for God. Agur's self-depreciation has to be seen in the
light of how great is the knowledge and wisdom he knows exists that he does not
have. There is so much to know about God that no man can ever begin to grasp it
all, or even a fraction of it. He knows this and so he feels like an ignoramus. He is
fully aware that he has only a thimble full of the vast ocean of knowledge about
God. This is what makes him a wise man, for only those who know they do not know
will be ever learning. The fool thinks he knows all that he needs to know and stops
learning, for why should he bother to press on when he is already there? The fool
and pride are close companions, but the wise shun pride and the pretense that they
are know it all's. What they know for sure is that there is so much they do not know,
and so they can be honest about their ignorance.
2. We do not know if Agur was just another name for Solomon, but it was an
ancient Jewish tradition that the two are the same man. If this is not the case, what
is true is that they both had this same humble spirit about their wisdom and
knowledge. When Solomon was made king in the place of David he had this
supernatural dream in which he expressed his humble attitude and was greatly
blessed by God because of it. We read of it in I Kings 3:7-15 "0ow, O LORD my
God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a

10. little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. 8 Your servant is here
among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or
number. 9 So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to
distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of
yours?" 10 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for this. 11 So God said
to him, "Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself,
nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering
justice, 12 I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart,
so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be. 13
Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both riches and honor—so
that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings. 14 And if you walk in my
ways and obey my statutes and commands as David your father did, I will give you a
long life." 15 Then Solomon awoke—and he realized it had been a dream." God is
pleased when we have the humble spirit of being aware of how much we have to
learn. He is not proud of the proud, but of the humble who can admit they are
ignorant and need his help, and the help of all the resources he has made available.
3.God uses the humble in amazing ways. Look at the number of great men of God
who were truly humble and could admit their ignorance.
Moses in 0um. 12:3 0ow Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone
else on the face of the earth.
David in Ps. 131:1 1 My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do
not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me.
Asaph in Ps. 73:22 22 I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you.
Jeremiah in Jer. 1:6 6 "Ah, Sovereign LORD," I said, "I do not know how to
speak; I am only a child."
Daniel in Dan. 2:30 30 As for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because
I have greater wisdom than other living men, but so that you, O king, may know the
interpretation and that you may understand what went through your mind.
Paul the Apostle in Eph. 3:8 8Although I am less than the least of all God's people,
this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.
4. It is obvious that God is not looking for people who know it all, but for people
who know that he does, and who are willing to be taught and used by him in spite of
their limitations. Here we have a group of men whose resumes would be thrown out
anywhere they applied for a position. They claim to be the most ignorant; as
inadequate as a child; not able to deal with great matters; not above the animal
population, and the least of all. You do not put stuff like this in your resume if you
want any kind of a job above a shoeshine boy. Yet, here are some of the most used
men of God in all of history and they have this kind of language in their own
testimony. Who in the world would hire them for anything? 0obody but God, and
he chose them each one to make a major difference in the world.
5. Clarke, “Surely I am more brutish - 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

11. 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.
5B. Bridges, “The following remarks of a profound divine will illustrate this subject
He that has much grace, apprehends, much more than others, that great height to
which his love ought to ascend : and he sees better than others, how little a way he
has risen towards that height. And therefore, estimating his love by the whole height
of his duty, appears astonishingly low and little in his eyes. True grace is of that
nature, that the more a person has of it, with remaining corruption, the less does his
goodness and holiness appear, in proportion, not only to his past, but his present,
deformity, in the sin, that now appears in his heart, and in the abominable defects of
his highest and best affections. Edwards on Relig. Affections, Part iii. sect. vi.
His language is indeed strong. Stronger could scarcely have been used. He confesses
himself to be not only brutish^ as man is by nature, but, though enlightened by
heavenly teaching, more brutish than any man. Were these the words of truth ? Or
were they the affectation of modesty ? Or was it false humility, dishonorably
denying the work of God ? But he was now speaking from the mouth of God. And
how could he dissemble in his name ? He spake the truth as it really is as
consciousness could not but speak as self-knowledge under Divine teaching dictated.
0ow let a man take " the candle of the Lord" given him to "search all the inward
parts of the belly" and what a mass of vanity will he find there ! Such folly mixed
with his wisdom- such ignorance with his knowledge; that, instead of pluming him
self upon his. elevation above his fellow-men, he can but cry out in shame Surely I
am more brutish than any man ! Who ever knows his own heart, knows that of
himself, that he can hardly conceive of any one so low so degraded as himself.
Add to which it is the child of God comparing himself with his perfect standard.
And in the perception of his own short cominings the most discerning clear-sighted
penitent feels that he can never abase himself as he ought before his God He would
lie lower still infinitely lower in the dust. Holy Paul, comparing himself with the
spirituality of the perfect law exclaims, "I am carnal, sold under sin." Isaiah in the
presence of a holy God cries out " Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man
of unclean lips." Job, in the manifestation of the power of God, sinks into his
absolute nothingness and unworthiness -David in the full view of the wisdom of
God, is made to see the perverseness of his own folly, and take up the very
confession of Agur "So foolish was I, and ignorant; I was as a beast before thee !"
The nearer our contemplation of God -the closer our communion with him the
deeper will be our self-abasement before him like those "before the throne, who

12. with twain cover their faces, and with twain cover their feet." Well, therefore, may
the wisest and holiest of men though " renewed in knowledge, after the image of him
that .created him" take up the humiliating confession Surely I am more brutish
than any man. Genuine humility is the only path of wisdom. Unless he stoops, he can
never enter the door. He must " become a fool, that he may be wise." And when he
is humbled in his shame then let him measure the house of his God in its breadth
and length, enjoying clearer, and panting still for clearer manifestations of the
incomprehensible God.”
6. Gill, “ I am more brutish than anyman,.... "Every man is becomebrutish 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 Jer_10:14. Or I think the words may be
rendered, "a brute amI ratherthan 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, Psa_73:22; or "a brute wasI from the time",
or "ever since I wasa 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

13. "because" (s), as it usually is, "for I am more brutish, than any man",
7. Keil, “who cannot come to any fixed state of consecration, inasmuch as he is
always driven more and more back from the goal he aims at, thereby brings guilt
upon himself as a sinner so great, that every other man stands above him, and he is
deep under them all. So here Agur finds the reason why in divine things he has
failed to attain unto satisfying intelligence, not in the ignorance and inability
common to all men - he appears to himself as not a man at all, but as an irrational
beast, and he misses in himself the understanding which a man properly might have
and ought to have.”
8. Spurgeon, “Sorely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the
understanding: of a man. — A homily for humble folk : — Agur was probably a
man of years and honor, and possibly his two young friends, Ithiel and Ucal, 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.
Did Agur really mean all he said? One mark of a man's true wisdom is his
knowledge of his ignorance. The truth of our text relates to one particular line of
things. This man was a naturalist. 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.
I. A sense OF I0FEBIORITY MUST 0OT KEEP US BACK FROM FAITH I0
GOD, If we have to Say what Agur said, let us also trust as Agur trusted. Some say,
" We cannot hope to be saved, because we cannot reach the heights of other men."
They are discouraged by the piety that some believers have attained. But they see
these good people at their best, and they see in them the results of their faith. Some
are hindered because they cannot feel such convictions of sins, &c., as other men.
But our wisdom is to leave our experience with the Lord, who will appoint us sun or
shade, as best will suit our growth. 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. A sense of inferiority must not KEEP us FROM LEAR0I0G. 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. These things of heavenly learning are revealed to babes. The Holy Ghost is a
great teacher. The sense of ignorance is a very good beginning for a learner. The
doorstep of the palace of Wisdom is a humble sense of ignorance.
III. A sense of inferiority must not KEEP us BACK FROM SERVI0G God. The
Lord loves to use tools that are not rusted with self-conceit. God can use inferior
persons for grand purposes. He has often done so. 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
stone, and such like. His greatest prophets at the first tried to excuse themselves on

14. the ground of unfitness. 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. If you can do but little, make the best of yourself by intensity and by
perseverance. Make up by spiritual force what you lack in natural ability. You that
cannot do very much, take care never to lose an opportunity.
IV. A sense of inferiority must not HI0DER our joy I0 THE LORD. 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. Glorify God by your very weakness.
Glory in your infirmity.”
3 I have not learned wisdom,
nor have I knowledge of the Holy One.
1. Wisdom and knowledge have this is common; they both can be learned. Wisdom
is based a great deal on knowledge, for it is hard to be wise about anything if one
does not have knowledge about that thing. How can you make a wise decision about
where is the best place to invest your money if you know nothing about the options?
How can you make a wise choice as to where the best college is for you to study for
your career goals if you have no knowledge of what they offer? Knowledge and
wisdom are partners, but you can have a lot of knowledge and still not use it to your
benefit because you have not learned wisdom, which is the ability to use knowledge
to the best end. Agur is just admitting that he does not have enough knowledge of
God to be always wise in doing the will of God, and who of us cannot understand
that? It is one of the great challenges of the believer's life to know the will of God in
all circumstances.
1B. Dr. Joe Temple, “Keep in mind the rendering presented by the Living Bible
editors: ``I can not understand man, let alone God." If one word would describe
Agur's attitude of heart, I think we could choose frustration. He wanted to know
God. He wanted to know the answer to the mysteries that faced him, and up to this
point in his confession, he had not discovered the answers.”
2. Clarke, “neither learned wisdom - I have never been a scholar in any of those
schools of the wise men, nor have the knowledge of the holy,of the saints or holy
persons. The Septuagint give this a different turn: “God hath taught me wisdom,
and the knowledge of the saints I have known.”This may refer to the patriarchs,
prophets, or holy men, that lived before the days of Solomon. That is, the translators
might have had these in view.”

15. 3. Gill, “neither learned wisdom,.... 0atural wisdom or philosophy, so as to
understand the nature of things, and reason about them in a philosophical manner;
or political wisdom, so as to know how to govern states, and manage the affairs of
kingdoms; or in a lower sphere to transact the affairs of life to any peculiar
advantage; he had not a polite or liberal education: or spiritual and evangelical
wisdom; that is, not of himself through the mere strength and force of his genius
and natural capacity, or of others; he was not the son of a prophet, nor brought up
in the schools of the prophets; he did not learn it, nor was he taught it by men; for
this is not acquired by human teaching; it is what comes from above, from heaven,
and by the revelation of God;
nor have the knowledge of the holy; or "holies" (s); either of holy persons, such
knowledge as holy men of God had; or of the holy angels, not of their nature,
capacities, influence and operations; nor such as they have: or rather of the holy
Persons in the Trinity, Father, Son and Spirit; their nature modes of subsisting,
perfections, purposes, and the like; at least not a full and comprehensive one: or of
holy things, of the holy Scriptures, and the holy doctrines of them; however, not
what is perfect and complete. It may be rendered, "but I have the knowledge of the
holy" (t), though he had not the advantage of human literature, nor had ever been
under the instructions of men on one account or another, and therefore what he
knew, or was about to discourse of, was from God. Some understand this verse and
Pro_30:2of Ithiel, or Christ (u), as in the esteem of men, 1Co_1:23.
4. Keil, “Pro_30:3now says that he went into no school of wisdom, and for that
reason in his wrestling after knowledge could attain to nothing, because the
necessary conditions to this were wanting to him. But then the question arises: Why
this complaint? He must first go to school in order to obtain, according to the word
“To him who hath is given,” that for which he strove. Thus לָמַדְתִּי refers to learning
in the midst of wrestling; but למד , spiritually understood, signifies the acquiring of a
kennens[knowledge] or könnens[knowledge = ability]: he has not brought it out
from the deep point of his condition of knowledge to make wisdom his own, so that
he cannot adjudge to himself knowledge of the all-holy God (for this knowledge is
the kernel and the star of true wisdom).”
5. Let God Be True, “0ow everyone wants to be wise! They want others to come
knocking for answers to life's problems. But only a select few will pursue wisdom
according to Heaven's rules. Only the select few will obtain it. Wisdom starts by
believing and admitting you know nothing at all. Such a man, to whom God gives
humility, will be a great man (I Cor 3:18-20).
Wisdom is only for a select few - those who admit they know nothing at all. Too
hard to admit, reader? Don't worry! You are with the great majority rushing
through the wide gate to travel down the broad way to destruction. Only a select few
use the grace of God to humble themselves to become truly wise and fulfill the
highest calling in life.

16. If a man holds any self-confidence or lofty thoughts about himself, the blessed God
will bring him down to a blithering idiot, where he was all along, but just didn't
realize it. Humility is the recognition of truth - you are nothing, and the Most High
is everything.
Here are words of one of the wisest men ever - inspired words of greatness! Covet
these words and the heart-felt conviction behind them! Strip your soul of self-confidence
until you believe these words about yourself! Become a fool! The more
ignorant the better!
Humility is the key to open the treasure vaults of Heaven for wisdom. If you do not
abase and humble yourself before God and men, you will never even find crumbs of
wisdom. You will waste your ridiculous life inhaling the fumes of human idiocy,
which will anesthetize you for your descent into the blackness of darkness forever
(26:12).
David said, "LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I
exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me" (Ps 131:1). The man
after God's heart, with glorious achievements and universal acclaim, denounces his
own wisdom. So God gave him true wisdom in abundance (I Sam 18:5,14-15,30; II
Sam 14:20).
4 Who has gone up to heaven and come down?
Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of his
hands?
Who has wrapped up the waters in his cloak?
Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is his name, and the name of his son?
Tell me if you know!
1. Thomas, “..there was no one amongst the sons of men able to penetrate into the
reason of things, to reach and reveal the eternal secrets of nature.” Who can
comprehend the works of God but God Himself.
2. Barnes, “is to be humbled to the dust by the thought of the glory of God as seen in
the visible creation.

17. Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? - The thought is obviously that
of the all-embracing Providence of God, taking in at once the greatest and the least,
the highest and the lowest. The mysteries of the winds and of the waters baffle
men’s researches.
What is his son’s name - The primary thought is that man knows so little of the
divine nature that he cannot tell whether he may transfer to it the human
relationships with which he is familiar, or must rest in the thought of a unity
indivisible and incommunicable. If there is such an Only-begotten of the Father
(compare Pro_8:30), then His nature, until revealed, must be as incomprehensible
by us as that of the Father Himself.”
3. Clarke, “hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? - paraphrases this passage
thus: “Who hath descended, etc. In order to show the truth of what he was about to
say, he observes: I have not the science of the saints; for how could I have acquired
it? Who is he who could attain to that? Who has ascended to heaven to learn that
science, and who has descended in order to publish it? Is the science of salvation one
of those things that can be apprehended only by study? Is it not a pure gift of the
goodness of God? Moses, after having shown to the people the will of God, said to
them: ‘This commandment which I command thee this day is not hidden from thee;
neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for
us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?’ Deu_30:11,
Deu_30:12. The person whose words we are here examining speaks a knowledge
more sublime than that contained in the simple laws of the Lord, common to all the
people of Israel. He speaks of the sublime science of the designs of God, of his ways,
and of his secrets; and in this sense he affirms he has no knowledge.”
Who hath gathered the wind in his fists? - It is as difficult for a mortal man to
acquire this Divine science by his own reason and strength, as to collect the winds in
his fists. And who can command the spirit of prophecy, so that he can have it
whensoever he pleases?
What is his name? - Show me the nature of this Supreme Being. Point out his
eternity, omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence; comprehend and describe him, if
thou canst.
What is his son’s name - Some copies of the Septuagint have η τι ονομα τοις τικνοιο
αυτου; “Or the name of his sons;” meaning, I suppose, the holy angels, called his
saints or holy ones, Pro_30:3.
The Arabic has, What is his name? and what is the name of his father? him who
begat him. But the Chaldee, the Syriac, and the Vulgate, read as the Hebrew.
Many are of opinion that Agur refers here to the first and second persons of the
everblessed Trinity. It may be so; but who would venture to rest the proof of that
most glorious doctrine upon such a text, to say nothing of the obscure author? The
doctrine is true, sublimely true; but many doctrines have suffered in controversy, by
improper texts being urged in their favor. Every lover of God and truth should be
very choice in his selections, when he comes forward in behalf of the more
mysterious doctrines of the Bible. Quote nothing that is not clear: advance nothing
that does not tell. When we are obliged to spend a world of critical labor, in order to
establish the sense of a text which we intend to allege in favor of the doctrine we

18. wish to support, we may rest assured that we are going the wrong way to work.
Those who indiscriminately amass every text of Scripture they think bears upon the
subject they defend, give their adversaries great advantage against them. I see many
a sacred doctrine suffering through the bad judgment of its friends every day. The
Godhead of Christ, salvation by faith, the great atoning sacrifice, and other essential
doctrines of this class, are all suffering in this way. My heart says, with deep
concern,
/on tali auxilio, nec defensoribus istis,
Tempus eget.
When truth is assailed by all kinds of weapons, handled by the most powerful
foes, injudicious defenders may be ranked among its enemies. To such we may
innocently say, “Keep your cabins; you do assist the storm.”
4. Gill, “hath ascended up into heaven, or descended?.... That has been thither to
fetch knowledge of God and divine things, and has returned to communicate it.
Enoch was taken up to heaven before this time: and Elijah, as is very probable,
after; but neither of them returned again, to inform mortals what was to be seen,
known, and enjoyed there: since, the Apostle Paul was caught up into the third
heaven, and came back again; but then the things he heard were such as it was not
lawful for a man to utter: and indeed, since the coming of Christ there is no need of
any further revelation to be made nor of any such expedition, in order to obtain it,
Rom_10:6. And, properly speaking, there never was any besides him, whose names
are Ithiel and Ucal, that ever did this: he lay in the bosom of the Father, and was
privy to his whole mind and will; he descended from heaven to earth not by local
motion, but, by assumption of nature; and when he had made known his Father's
will, and done his work, he ascended far above all heavens, and received gifts for
men; to fill his churches and ministers with them, in order to communicate and
improve spiritual and divine knowledge; and therefore, with great propriety and
pertinence, he applies these words to himself, Joh_3:13;
who hath gathered the wind in his fists? not any mere creature; not any man or set
of men; it is not in the power of any, either men or angels, to restrain or let loose the
winds at pleasure; nor has Satan, though called the prince of the power of the air,
that is, of the devils in the air, any such command of them; none but he that made
them can command them to blow, or be still; even he who brings them out of his
treasures, and his own son, whom the wind and seas obeyed; see Psa_135:7; The
Heathens (w)themselves are so sensible of this, that the power of the winds only
belongs to God, that they have framed a deity they call Aeolus; whom the supreme
Being has made a kind of steward or store keeper of the winds, and given him a
power to still or raise them as he pleases (x);
who hath bound the waters in a garment? either the waters above, which are bound
in the thick clouds as in a garment which hold them from pouring out; or the waters
of the sea, which are as easily managed by the Lord as an infant by its parent, and is
wrapped about with a swaddling band, Job_26:8. But can any creature do this?

19. none but the mighty God; and his almighty Son the Ithiel and Ucal, who clothes the
heavens with blackness, and makes sackcloth their covering: even he who is the
Redeemer of this people, and has the tongue of the learned, to speak a word in
season to them Isa_50:2;
who hath established all the ends of the earth? fixed the boundaries of the several
parts of the world, Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, and the several countries in
them? settled the foundations of the earth, and secured the banks and borders of it
from the raging of the sea? 0one but these next mentioned; see Job_38:4;
what ishis name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell? if thou surest it is a
mere man that does all these things tell his name; or, if he be dead, say what is the
name of his son or of any of his family; so Jarchi and others interpret it: or rather,
since it is the Lord alone and his own proper Son, to whom these things can he
ascribed say what is his name; that is, his nature and perfections which are
incomprehensible and ineffable; otherwise he is known by his name Jehovah and
especially as his name is proclaimed in Christ and manifested by him and in his
Gospel: and seeing he has a son of the same nature with him, and possessed of the
same perfections, co-essential, and co-existent, and every way equal to him, and a
distinct person from him, say what is his nature and perfections also; declare his
generation and the manner of it; his divine filiation, and in what class it is; things
which are out of the reach of human capacity, and not to be expressed by the tongue
of men and angels; see Mat_11:27. Otherwise, though his name for a while was a
secret, and he was only called the seed of the woman and of Abraham, Gen_3:15;
yet he had many names given him under the Old Testament; as Shiloh, Immanuel,
the Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, and Prince of
peace; the Lord our righteousness, and the Man, the Branch: and under the 0ew
Testament, Jesus the Saviour, Christ the Anointed; the Head of the church, the
Judge of the world; the Word of God, and King of kings, and Lord of lords. This
Scripture is a proof of Christ's being the eternal Son of God; of his equality with his
divine Father as such, their name and nature being alike ineffable; of his co-existence
with his Father as such; and of his omnipresence and omnipotence,
expressed by the phrases here used of ascending, &c. and of his distinct personality
from the Father; the same question being distinctly put of him as of the Father.
Some render the last clause, "dost thou know?" (y)thou dost not know God and his
Son, their being and perfections are not to be known by the light of nature, only by
revelation, and but imperfectly.
5. Keil, “question is here formed as it is there, when Jahve brings home to the
consciousness of Job human weakness and ignorance. But there are here two
possible significations of the fourfold question. Either it aims at the answer: 0o
man, but a Being highly exalted above all creatures, so that the question מַה־שְּׁמוֹ
[what his name?] refers to the name of this Being. Or the question is primarily
meant of men: What man has the ability? - if there is one, then name him! In both
cases מי עלה is not meant, after Pro_24:28, in the modal sense, quis ascenderit, but as
the following וַיֵּרַד requires, in the nearest indicative sense, quis ascendit. But the

20. choice between these two possible interpretations is very difficult. The first question
is historical: Who has gone to heaven and (as a consequence, then) come down from
it again? It lies nearest thus to interpret it according to the consecutio temporum. By
this interpretation, and this representation of the going up before the descending
again, the interrogator does not appear to think of God, but in contrast to himself,
to whom the divine is transcendent, of some other man of whom the contrary is true.
Is there at all, he asks, a man who can comprehend and penetrate by his power and
his knowledge the heavens and the earth, the air and the water, i.e., the nature and
the inner condition of the visible and invisible world, the quantity and extent of the
elements, and the like? 0ame to me this man, if thou knowest one, by his name, and
designate him to me exactly by his family - I would turn to him to learn from him
what I have hitherto striven in vain to find. But there is not such an one. Thus: as I
fell myself limited in my knowledge, so there is not at all any man who can claim
limitless könnenand kennenability and knowledge. Thus casually Aben Ezra
explains, and also Rashi, Arama, and others, but without holding fast to this in its
purity; for in the interpretation of the question, “Who hath ascended?” the
reference to Moses is mixed up with it, after the Midrash and Sohar (Parasha, ,ויקהל
to Exo_35:1), to pass by other obscurities and difficulties introduced. Among the
moderns, this explanation, according to which all aims at the answer, “there is no
man to whom this appertains,” has no exponent worth naming. And, indeed, as
favourable as is the quis ascendit in coelos ac rursus descendit, so unfavourable is the
quis constituit omnes terminos terrae, for this question appears not as implying that
it asks after the man who has accomplished this; but the thought, according to all
appearance, underlies it, that such an one must be a being without an equal, after
whose name inquiry is made. One will then have to judge עלה and וירד after
Gen_28:12; the ascending and descending are compared to our German “auf und
neider” up and down, for which we do not use the phrase “nieder und auf,” and is
the expression of free, expanded, unrestrained presence in both regions; perhaps,
since וירד is historical, as Psa_18:10, the speaker has the traditional origin of the
creation in mind, according to which the earth arose into being earlier than the
starry heavens above. Thus the four questions refer (as e.g., also Isa_40:12) to Him
who has done and who does all that, to Him who is not Himself to be comprehended
as His works are, and as He shows Himself in the greatness and wonderfulness of
these, must be exalted above them all, and mysterious. If the inhabitant of the earth
looks up to the blue heavens streaming in the golden sunlight, or sown with the stars
of night; if he considers the interchange of the seasons, and feels the sudden rising of
the wind; if he sees the upper waters clothed in fleecy clouds, and yet held fast
within them floating over him; if he lets his eye sweep the horizon all around him to
the ends of the earth, built up upon nothing in the open world-space (Job_26:7): the
conclusion comes to him that he has before him in the whole the work of an
everywhere present Being, of an all-wise omnipotent Worker - it is the Being whom
he has just named as אֵ ל , the absolute Power, and as the קְדשִׁים , exalted above all
created beings, with their troubles and limitations; but this knowledge gained viâ
causalitatis, viâ eminentiae, and viâ negationis, does not satisfy yet his spirit, and
does not bring him so near to this Being as is to him a personal necessity, so that if
he can in some measure answer the fourfold מי , yet there always presses upon him

21. the question מה־שׁמו , what is his name, i.e., the name which dissolves the secret of
this Being above all beings, and unfolds the mystery of the wonder above all
wonders. That this Being must be a person the fourfold מי presupposes; but the
question, “What is his name?” expresses the longing to know the name of this
supernatural personality, not any kind of name which is given to him by men, but
the name which covers him, which is the appropriate personal immediate expression
of his being. The further question, “And what the name of his son?” denotes,
according to Hitzig, that the inquirer strives after an adequate knowledge, such as
one may have of a human being. But he would not have ventured this question if he
did not suppose that God was not a monas unity who was without manifoldness in
Himself. The lxx translates: ἣ τί ὄνομα τοῖς τέκνοις αὐτοῦ( בָּנָו ), perhaps not without
the influence of the old synagogue reference testified to in the Midrash and Sohar of
בנו to Israel, God's first-born; but this interpretation is opposed to the spirit of this
חידה (intricate speech, enigma). Also in general the interrogator cannot seek to know
what man stands in this relation of a son to the Creator of all things, for that would
be an ethical question which does not accord with this metaphysical one. Geier has
combined this ומה־שׁם־בנו with viii.; and that the interrogator, if he meant the ,חכמה
ought to have used the phrase ומה־שׁם־בִּתּוֹ , says nothing against this, for also in ,אָמוֹ ן
Pro_8:30, whether it means foster-child or artifex, workmaster, the feminine
determination disappears. 0ot Ewald alone finds here the idea of the Logos, as the
first-born Son of God, revealing itself, on which at a later time the Palestinian
doctrine of מֵימְרָא דְיַהְוֶה imprinted itself in Alexandria;
(0ote: Vid., Apologetik(1869), p. 432ff.)
but also J. D. Michaelis felt himself constrained to recognise here the 0.T. doctrine
of the Son of God announcing itself from afar. And why might not this be possible?
The Rig-Veda contains two similar questions, x. 81, 4: “Which was the primeval
forest, or what the tree from which one framed the heavens and the earth? Surely,
ye wise men, ye ought in your souls to make inquiry whereon he stood when he
raised the wind!” And i. 164, 4: “Who has seen the first-born? Where was the life,
the blood, the soul of the world? Who came thither to ask this from any one who
knew it?”
(0ote: Cited by Lyra in Beweis des Glaubens Jahrg. 1869, p. 230. The second of
these passages is thus translated by Wilson (Rig-Veda-Sanhitá, London, 1854,
vol. ii. p. 127): “Who has seen the primeval (being) at the time of his being born?
What is that endowed with substance which the unsubstantial sustains? From
earth are the breath and blood, but where is the soul? Who may repair to the
sage to ask this?”)
Jewish interpreters also interpret בנו of the causa mediaof the creation of the world.
Arama, in his work עקדת יצחק , sect. xvi., suggests that by בנו we are to understand
the primordial element, as the Sankhya-philosophy understands by the first-born
there in the Rig, the Prakṛiti, i.e., the primeval material. R. Levi b. Gerson (Ralbag)
comes nearer to the truth when he explains בנו as meaning the cause caused by the
supreme cause, in other words: the principium principaiatumof the creation of the
world. We say: the inquirer meant the demiurgic might which went forth from God,
and which waited on the Son of God as a servant in the creation of the world; the
same might which in chap. 8 is called Wisdom, and is described as God's beloved

22. Son. But with the name after which inquiry is made, the relation is as with the
“more excellent name than the angels,” Heb_1:4.
(0ote: The Comm. there remarks: It is the heavenly whole name of the highly
exalted One, the שׁם המפורשׁ , nomen explicitum, which here on this side has
entered into no human heart, and can be uttered by no human tongue, the ὄνομα
ὁ οὑδεὶς οῖδεν εἰ μὴ ὁ αὐτός, Rev_19:12.)
It is manifestly not the name בן , since the inquiry is made after the name of the ;בן
but the same is the case also with the name חכמה , or, since this does not harmonize,
according to its grammatical gender, with the form of the question, the name דבר
מֵימַר )); but it is the name which belongs to the first and only-begotten Son of God,
not merely according to creative analogies, but according to His true being. The
inquirer would know God, the creator of the world, and His Son, the mediator in
the creation of the world, according to their natures. If thou knowest, says he,
turning himself to man, his equal, what the essential names of both are, tell them to
me! But who can name them! The nature of the Godhead is hidden, as from the
inquirer, so from every one else. On this side of eternity it is beyond the reach of
human knowledge.
The solemn confession introduced by נאם is now closed. Ewald sees herein the
discourse of a sceptical mocker at religion; and Elster, the discourse of a meditating
doubter; in Pro_30:5, and on, the answer ought then to follow, which is given to one
thus speaking: his withdrawal from the standpoint of faith in the revelation of God,
and the challenge to subordinate his own speculative thinking to the authority of the
word of God. But this interpretation of the statement depends on the symbolical
rendering of the supposed personal names איתיאל and אכל , and, besides, the dialogue
is indicated by nothing; the beginning of the answer ought to have been marked, like
the beginning of that to which it is a reply. The confession, 1b-4, is not that of a man
who does not find himself in the right condition, but such as one who is thirsting
after God must renounce: the thought of a man does not penetrate to the essence of
God (Job_11:7-9); even the ways of God remain inscrutable to man (Sir. 18:3;
Rom_11:33); the Godhead remains, for our thought, in immeasurable height and
depth; and though a relative knowledge of God is possible, yet the dogmatic thesis,
Deum quidem cognoscimus, sed non comprehendimus, i.e., non perfecte cognoscimus
quia est infinitus,
(0ote: Vid., Luthardt's Kimpendium der Dogmatik, §27.)
even over against the positive revelation, remains unchanged. Thus nothing is
wanting to make Pro_30:1-4a complete whole; and what follows does not belong to
that section as an organic part of it.”
6. Let God Be True, “Who can find out wisdom? 0o man has! 0o man can! 0o man
will! Wisdom is a matter of revelation from God. Paul said, "For what man
knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the
things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God" (I Cor 2:11). The knowledge
of God and wisdom is only by inspired revelation!
Proverbs 30 is an appendix to Solomon's proverbs. Agur, a wise man, taught Ithiel

23. and Ucal (30:1). His lessons are an inspired revelation of wisdom, for they are called
"the prophecy" (30:1; 31:1). He introduced his lessons by first confessing his great
natural ignorance (30:2-3), then by proving man's inability to find out God and
wisdom (30:4), and finally by defining the absolute necessity and sufficiency of
Scripture (30:5-6).
The seven rhetorical questions here are to prove that no man can find out God or
wisdom by human effort. The answer to each question is an obvious negative. 0o
man has gone to heaven, or come back, or conquered the elements to learn the ways
and wisdom of God. Agur forced Ithiel and Ucal to admit by force of reason there
was no man. They could not name any man who had done such a thing, and they
could not name his son.
Agur proceeded to teach that every inspired word of God is pure and necessary
(30:5). 0ot a single word was to be deleted or degraded. Putting trust in God and
His words was the surest defense against dangers in this world or the next.
Furthermore, man's words were not to be added, for this would corrupt God's
words, and He would be angry (30:6).
The seven rhetorical questions are a device teaching man's inability to discover the
real truth and wisdom of the universe. Since knowledge and understanding are with
God, what man has ascended up into heaven to learn them, or returned back to
earth to teach them? 0o man! Having confessed his own ignorance (30:2-3), he used
these questions to condemn all men of ignorance as well (30:4). Wisdom is beyond
the reach of mortal men.
Consider three very similar questions. "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom
and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past
finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his
counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him
again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory
for ever. Amen" (Rom 11:33-36).
The seven questions are not simply answered with "God." The first two questions
are in the perfect tense, which precludes them from being a prophecy of Christ.
0either can they refer to God, for He fills heaven and earth (Jer 23:24). He had
neither ascended nor descended, for He is altogether present in both places
simultaneously. And what would His ascent or descent have to do with knowledge,
understanding, and wisdom? 0othing!
The first two questions are also connected by the coordinating conjunction "or,"
which positively indicates a hypothetical alternative. Did God ascend? Or did He
descend? Applying the questions to God creates confusion. The questioning is rather
rhetorical about man. 0o man had gone to heaven to get wisdom, nor had any man
come from heaven with it. Agur taught Ithiel and Ucal man's great dependence on
God for wisdom.

24. He proceeded further to humiliate man in the face of God's glorious creation. Who,
like God, has the wisdom and power to control and harness the wind in his fists? 0o
man! God proved Job's inferior wisdom and power by a consideration of the wind
(Job 37:14-27). And David and Jeremiah taught the same (Ps 135:5-7; Jer 10:13;
51:16).
Who, like God, has the wisdom and power to gather large amounts of water in the
clouds? 0o man! God proved Job's inferior wisdom and power by a consideration of
the water in clouds (Job 36:24-33; 37:11-24; 38:33-37). And David and Jeremiah
taught the same (Ps 135:5-7; 147:7-8; Jer 10:13; 51:16).
Who, like God, has the wisdom and power to establish all the ends of earth, to lay
the foundation and build upon it? 0o man! God proved Job's inferior wisdom and
power by these very considerations (Job 38:4-7). And Solomon reasoned about
wisdom's great value through God's use of it to create the world and settle the
mountains (8:25-26).
Is there any such man? 0o, not one! Agur pressed further. If there is such a man,
what is his son's name? They had to answer in the negative. There is neither man
nor son that knows or understands these things! They are too high and wonderful
for man (Ps 131:1).
The seven questions are not simply answered with "God." The middle three
questions are true of God, but that is not his argument. We have seen above that the
first two questions create a hypothetical alternative. The last two questions create an
unanswerable dilemma. What is learned by supplying "God" and "Jesus"?
0othing! Agur taught there is no man or son that has the wisdom of the blessed
God, Who created all things by understanding.
Man has no knowledge or wisdom of his own, and he cannot find out God's
knowledge or wisdom by himself (Is 8:20). Agur knew it to be true of himself and all
men, so he convinced his students by these rhetorical questions. Wisdom is a matter
of revelation: God must give it by inspiration (Deut 29:29). And Agur will conclude
his introduction by identifying that perfect wisdom in the inspired words of God's
Holy Scriptures (30:5-6)!
The wisdom of God is too high for man to reach (Job 11:5-12). Though he might
look and search in many places, he will not find it by any natural means (Job 28:12-
28). The wisdom of God is revealed supernaturally through inspiration, and then
men have no need for trips to heaven or across the sea for it (Deut 30:11-14; Rom
10:6-8). 0o wonder David considered God's word so very delightful and precious
(Ps 19:7-11).
Those who see an allusion to eternal generation here have only found an illusion.
Their desperate efforts to find support for Origen's hallucination are again found

25. wanting. God did not yet have a son, for the Word had not yet been made flesh
(Luke 1:35; John 1:14). David and Isaiah knew God's Son was future (Ps 89:19-37;
Is 7:14; 9:6). As in the personification of wisdom (8:22-31), many seek mystical
allusions where there are none.
The rhetorical questions are nonsensical, if they are merely answered with "God."
God and His name of Jehovah were well known by all three men (30:5,9). Agur did
not teach Ithiel and Ucal that God had created the wind, clouds, and earth. They
already knew that. He taught them that no man had wisdom even close to that of the
blessed Creator God. It is our privilege and duty to see a dark saying here (1:6), not
childish questioning.
Since only God has the infinite wisdom implied by our proverb, it is our blessing to
value and treasure every single word of His inspired Scriptures (30:5-6; Matt 4:4).
Since every word is pure, we cannot take any away (30:5). And we are told not to
add our words (30:6). Do not take away from them nor add to them (Deut 4:2;
12:32; Rev 22:18-19). Let us hold fast to a Bible that is word perfect and keep every
precept in it (Ps 119:128).
0o mortal man can ascend up to heaven, nor descend from it, to obtain wisdom. But
Jesus Christ descended and then ascended to sit at God's right hand (John 3:13;
Eph 4:9). He made all things by His power; by Him all things consist; and He
upholds all things by the word of His power (John 1:3; Col 1:17; Heb 1:3). In Him
are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and He has been made wisdom
for you (Col 2:3; I Cor 1:30-31).”
7. Bridges, “Can we wonder that Agur should have acknowledged his brutishness
now that he was contemplating the majesty of God so wondrous in his work so
incomprehensible in- his nature? The eye was blinded by the dazzling blaze of the
sun. To behold Jehovah ascending and descending in his own glorious person
afterward in the person of his dear Son (for in his great work was not bis Father s
name in him ?) -to see him holding the loose winds as firmly as a man might hold in
his fists, to see his almighty control of the waters and his establishment of the ends
of the earth* this is a sight that might make the highest and wisest of men sink into
nothingness before him. Who hath done this, none can doubt. The challenge is
thrown out as a demonstration, that it was God alone. Show me the man, that can or
dare arrogate this power to himself.
But when we pass from the works to their great Maker truly it is an overwhelming
view What is his name, if thou canst tell ? " Canst thou by searching find out God ?
Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? He dwelleth in the light, which
no man can approach unto ; whom no man hath seen, nor can see." How can we
express him in words, or conceive of him in thought ? Child of God ! " Be still, and
know that he is God." Restrain thy reason. Humble thy faith. " Lay thine hand
upon thy mouth." Lie in the dust before him. " O the depth !" open only to him,

26. whose " understanding is infinite." But how does the mystery increase ! What is his
name, if thou canst tell * And who can tell " 0o one knoweth the Son, but the
Father." Yet there is a Son in the Eternal God head a Son not begotten in time, but
from eternity his name therefore not as some would have it a component part of his
humiliation but the manifestation of his Godhead co-existent with his father in the
same ineffable nature yet personally distinct. What is his name ? and what is his
Son s name ? Sovereignty Omnipresence Omnipotence is his. He too controls
the winds and waters, and establishes the earth as one, who is the visible " form of
God, and thinketh it not robbery to be equal with God."
What is his name ? The word even of the secret name is easily spelt. But the
mystery is hid. We must not search too curiously ; lest we -intrude into those things
which we have not seen, vainly puffed up by our fleshly mind." Many, however,
think it easy to understand this name. They think far more of their wisdom than
Agur did, and are at no loss at all to explain what in their proud ignorance they
conceive to be the full meaning of the inscrutable subject. But the genuine disciple
acknowledges the nature of the Son to be alike incomprehensible with that of
the Father a mystery to be adored not understood.
Yet what Revelation hath brought up to us from these untraceable depths are pearls
of great price. Let us reverently gather them for the enriching of our souls. So far as
our Divine Teacher leads us by the hand, let us diligently follow him. The whole
some dread of being " wise above that which is written," must not damp the holy
ardor to be wise and wiser continually in that which is written. Curiously to inquire
is rashness ; to believe is piety ; to know indeed is life eternal. 1 Unsearchable as he
is in his greatness ; yet so near is he to us, that we can rest in his bosom. Yours
Christian is the unspeakable privilege to be one with him, who is One with God.
And therefore if you tell his name as you are bound to tell what is revealed is it not
all that is in finitely great, combined with the endearing relations Husband
Brother Savior King ?”
8. Canon Wilberforce, “Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended ? —
God's riddle : — This verse gives God Almighty's great conundrum spoken out of
eternity into time ; it is the riddle propounded by the Supreme Intelligence to the
heart and reason of every man born into the world. The history of humanity is little
else than one long wrestle with God's infinite conundrum. There are noble souls and
able thinkers who never guess the riddle here. There are lesser minds that, light-heartedly,
give the riddle up — those who call themselves agnostics. 0ever be
a giver-up of God's riddles ; work at them till you die. The position of a giver-up
of God's riddle is dreary and paralyzing ; it cauterises imagination, which is man's
creative faculty ; it ignores a thousand self-evident principles ; it freezes the main-springs
of human activity ; and it is not really humble — it implies the possession of
all kinds of knowledge. It is a sweet legend of the Talmud that the indentation of
the upper lip of every man born into the world is a mark of the finger of God
touching the mouth at birth and saying, " Child, thou knowest,but thou shalt not
be able to reveal that which thou knowest till thou hast learned it by the things

27. which thou shalt suffer in the infant school of human life." " What is His name ? "
It is a beautiful name, a name that can save the anxious heart from losing its way
in the tangled speculations that pass muster for religious truth. It is a name that
can irradiate with eternal hope the very darkest problems of life. It is a name
that can encourage men to wait and work trustfully, patiently, hopefully. How
infinitely varied are the processes by which the moral sense of man feels after and
finds, and tries to give a name to the Supreme Intelligence who " holds the winds
in His fists." Darwin says, " There lives and works a soul in all things ; one hand
has surely worked through this universe." Schlermann, the explorer, was puzzled
by some irregular holes upon the crumbling front of an ancient temple resembling
the impression of nails, as if some Greek characters had once been fastened to the
stone. He bethought him of tracing between the nail-marks with a piece of chalk,
and behold there stood out the Greek word Oeoq — God. But this name is rudi-mentary
and inadequate. Boundless intelligence, administering boundless power,
by its very awfulness and vagueness has constantly evolved in human history the
grossest caricatures of the name of God. The Eternal Power has manifested His
moral life, His character, His feeling toward the race, in one human form, one
supernatural and Divine Man, who, as the heart of God incarnate, is " the visible
moral embodiment of the all-pervading omnipotence Himself for ever invisible."
The embodiment soon returned to the Father ; that is. He withdrew from
limitations, and returned to universal life ; but He has made known God's name to
the race. The Divine Man of 0azareth is the sacrament of God ; He is the outward
and visible sign of the heart of universal Fatherhood ; and to know it, with an
intense spiritual conviction that is beyond expression, is to know the answer to
God's riddle about Himself.”
5 "Every word of God is flawless;
he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
1. Clarke, “word of God is pure - , “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 defense of all
them that put their trust in him.”
2. Gill, “word of God ispure,.... The whole word of God. "All Scripture", given by

28. 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 Psa_12:6;
he isa 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 Psa_3:3.
3. Let God Be True, “0ot just most words, but every word of God is flawless. To
have no trust in the Word of God is to be in thick of battle with no shield. He knows
nothing and can know nothing if God did not reveal Himself. Revelation is the key
to knowing God, for man is unable to know apart from God’s Word. W. E.
Hocking said, “Religion is bound up in the difference between the sense of ignorance
and the sense of mystery: The former means, “I know it”; the latter means, “I know
not, but it is known.” We may not know God but He knows us.
A word is the smallest component of language that carries meaning. In God's
inspired Scriptures, every word is specially chosen for value. He has purified His
inspired words very carefully - as silver purified seven times in a refining fire - until
they are perfectly pure (Ps 12:6). And He will bless and protect any person that
trusts Him and His words.
David expressed the sense of this proverb with these words: "As for God, his way is
perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him"
(Ps 18:30). God's way is perfect; He has examined and perfected His word; and He
will protect those that trust Him. How do we trust God? We believe what He has
written to us.
Do not question God's words! He has magnified His word above all His name, and
He will not forgive any tampering with it (Ps 138:2; Rev 22:18-19). Satan's
questioning of God's words ruined our race (Gen 3:1), for which he is the father of
lies (John 8:44). And God mocks and ridicules textual critics and Bible skeptics (I
Cor 1:19-20; I Tim 6:20-21). Do you have a word-perfect Bible? Do you trust each
word? Do you value the statements of Scripture as pure and right, so that you hate
every contrary opinion (Ps 119:128; Is 8:20)? Can you say with David, "Thy word is
very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it" (Ps 119:140)? And, "I hate vain thoughts:
but thy law do I love" (Ps 119:113)?

29. Jesus and Paul had word-perfect Bibles, and they never saw or heard about the
originals! Any person referring to originals is either confused or lying. The originals
were never in a book for anyone to use. They were never appealed to by anyone for
any matter. And the Bible itself never recommended their use. Copies, translations,
copies of translations, and translations of copies have always been used. You just
need to find God's Bible.
Consider how Jesus used copies and translations. He defended the resurrection by
"am" (Matt 22:31-33), and He declared His deity by the same word (John 8:58). He
argued for His divinity from the noun "lord" (Matt 22:41-46). And He rebuked the
Jews by the noun "gods," when He declared that Scripture's words cannot be
broken (John 10:33-36).
What about Paul? He defended salvation by grace and the spiritual promises to
Abraham by the difference between the singular and plural of "seed" (Gal 3:16).
Paul knew God's Scriptures used the singular "seed" in all promises to Abraham, as
Genesis 12:7; 13:15-16; 15:5,13,18; 17:8-10,19; 21:12; 22:17-18; 24:7. To their
shame and condemnation, modern versions corrupt God's "seed," flagrantly and
profanely destroying Paul's lesson.
Did Paul truly trust every word of God? He sure did. He based his argument for the
end of the old covenant on the integrity and meaning of the word "new" (Heb 8:13)
and the three words "yet once more" (Heb 12:26-27). And He exalted God's role in
our salvation by changing from the active to passive voice of the verb "know" (Gal
4:9).”
4. Bridges, “But if every word of God is pure, take care that no word is slighted.
How few range over the whole Revelation of God ! To take a whole view of the
universe, we should embrace not only its fruitful gardens, bnt its barren deserts,
coming equally from the hand of God, and none of them made for nought. To take a
similarly comprehensive view of the sacred field, we must study the apparently
barren, as well as the more manifestly fruitful portions. Food will be gathered from
the detailed code of laws, from the historical annals of the kings, and from the "
wars and fightings - the prolific results of " the lusts of men." The whole
Scripture is Scripture, and " all Scripture is profitable."
Favoritism, however, is a besetting snare in the sacred study. Part is too often taken
instead of the whole, or as if it were the whole. One is absorbed in the doctrinal, a
second in the practical, a third in the prophetical, a fourth in the experimental,
Scriptures ; each seeming to forget, that every word of God is pure. This
want of completeness -will show itself in a corresponding defect in the Christian
profession. The doctrinist becomes loose in practice; the practical professor self-righteous
in principle. The prophetic disciple, absorbed in his imaginative
atmosphere, neglects present obligations. The experimental religionist mistakes a
religion of feeling, excitement, or fancy, for the sobriety and substantial fruit-

30. fulness of the gospel. All remind us of our Lord s rebuke "Ye do err, not knowing
the Scriptures."
The great exercise therefore is to bring out the whole mass of solid truth in all its
bearings and glory. So wisely has God linked together the several parts of his
system, that we can receive no portion soundly, except in connection with the whole.
The accuracy of any view is more than suspicious, that serves to put a forced
construction upon Scripture, to dislocate its connection, or to throw important
truths into the shade. Apparently contradictory statements are in fact only
balancing truths ; each correcting its opposite, and, like the antagonal muscles,
contributing to the strength and completeness of the frame. Every heresy probably
stands upon some insulated text, or some exaggerated truth, pressed beyond
"the proportion of faith." But none can stand upon the combined view and
testimony of Scripture. 0or let it be sufficient, that our system includes no positive
error, if some great truths be lacking. Let it be carefully grounded upon the
acknowledgment every word of God is pure. Some of us may err in presumptuous
familiarity with Scripture ; others in unworthy reserve. But if the heart be right,
self-knowledge will develop the error, and self-discipline will correct it.
Christian simplicity will teach us to receive every Divine Truth upon this formal
ground that it is the word of God. Though it is not all of equal importance, it will be
regarded with equal reverence. We acknowledge implicitly God as the Author of
every particle of Scripture, and that every word of God is pure. To reject therefore
one jot or tittle is a sufficient demonstration, as Dr. Owen admirably observes that
no one jot or tittle of it is received as it ought. Upon whatsoever this title and
inscription is The Word cf Jehovah there must we stoop, and bow down our souls
before it, and captivate our understandings unto the obedience of faith.”
6 Do not add to his words,
or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.
1. Barnes, “Men are not to mingle revealed truth with their own imaginations and
traditions. In speculating on the unseen, the risk of error is indefinitely great, and
that error God reproves by manifesting its falsehoods.”
2. Clarke, “Add not thou unto his words - You can no more increase their value by
any addition, than you can that of gold by adding any other metal to it. Take care
that you do not any thing that this word forbids, nor leave undone any thing that it
commands: for this is adding and diminishing in Scripture phrase.
Lest he reprove thee - Lest he try thy word by fire, as his has been tried; and it
appear that, far from abiding the test, the fire shows thine to be reprobate silver;

31. and so thou be found a falsifier of God’s word, and a liar.
How amply has this been fulfilled in the case of the Romish Church! It has added
all the gross stuff in the Apocrypha, besides innumerable legends and traditions, to
the word of God! They have been tried by the refiner’s fire. And this Church has
been reproved, and found to be a liar, in attempting to filiate on the most holy God
spurious writings discreditable to his nature.
3. Gill, “Add thou not unto his words,.... To the words of God; as the Jews did, by
joining their oral law, or the traditions of the elders, to the written word, and
preferring them before it; and as the Papists, by making their unwritten traditions,
and the sense and determinations of their church, equal to the Scriptures; and as all
enthusiasts do, who set up their pretended dreams, visions, revelations, and
prophecies, upon a foot with the word of God, or as superior to it; whereas that is,
and that only, the rule and standard of faith and practice, and is a sufficient and
perfect one; see Deu_4:2;
lest he reprove thee; that is, God; either by words or by blows, by threatenings and
denunciations of his wrath and displeasure; or by chastisements and corrections for
such daring pride, blasphemy, and wickedness; those who add to his words, he
threatens to add plagues unto them, Rev_22:18;
and thou be found a liar; a forger, speaker, and spreader of doctrinal lies, such
doctrines as are contrary to the word of truth; not being built on that, but upon
human inventions, and additions to it.
4. Let God Be True, “The Bible is totally sufficient for all righteousness, wisdom,
and truth (II Tim 3:16-17; II Pet 1:19-21). There is no need for further revelation,
human rationalization, or religious tradition (I Tim 6:3-5,20-21). Adding your
thoughts to His inspired words is sheer arrogance and folly (Deut 4:2; 12:32; Matt
28:20). Since He has magnified His word above all His name, He will not take your
profane additions lightly (Ps 138:2). He will judge you severely for adding your
lying thoughts to His pure words (30:5; Rev 22:18).
Wise Agur had just taught his two pupils, Ithiel and Ucal, that every word of God is
pure (30:1,5). Though he confessed his own brutish ignorance, he exalted the glory
and wisdom of God Himself (30:2-4). He knew that God had revealed His wisdom to
the sons of men in the Holy Scriptures, the Bible (Deut 29:29; Ps 19:7-11).
Therefore, he was adamant that Ithiel and Ucal not think outside Scripture, but
rather submit in reverent fear to the Author of the Bible, the Creator God of heaven
and earth (Is 66:2,5).
There are no better ideas! Reject the thought! All the thoughts of man are vain (I
Cor 1:19-20; 3:19-20)! All of them! And the thoughts of modern man are even more
foolish and profitless. God has spoken, and that settles every issue, controversy, and
question (Ps 119:128; Is 30:8). Let God be true, but every man a liar (Rom 3:4)!
Progress in medicine and other fields of learning is the prosperity of fools (1:32;

32. Deut 32:15; Ps 69:22; 92:7). It is God's blinding judgment on men as they sink
deeper and deeper into a moral cesspool of ignorance and depravity. The world is
not a better place to live, if you can smell folly!
But Bible corrupters have been around for a long time (II Cor 2:17). They have
added to and taken away from the Scriptures from the beginning, when Satan
began his conquest of the human family by altering the words of God (Gen 3:1-6).
And they are worse today than ever, as Paul warned Timothy (I Tim 4:1-3; II Tim
3:13). Through extended education and the information explosion, human learning
is expanding geometrically, but without any truth (II Tim 3:6-7)! Men are blinder
today than they were 500 years ago.
The proverb teaches wisdom. God has revealed knowledge and understanding in
His word, and He offers it to those that will read it for themselves or hear it from
one of His preachers. What will you do with it? Or do you prefer your own
thoughts? Have you joined a church that adds to God's words? You have been
warned. He will reprove and expose you as a liar for adding to His words. Humble
yourself before His words today!”
7 "Two things I ask of you, O LORD;
do not refuse me before I die:
1. This could very well be the shortest prayer list on record, for to need only two
things before one dies is to be living a life that is nearly as good as it gets. Most of us
wish that we only needed two things before we get to lunch, let alone the cemetery.
2. Clarke, “things have I required of thee - two petitions are mentioned in the next
verse; and he wishes to have them answered before he should die. That is, he wishes
the answer now, that he may live the rest of his life in the state he describes.
3. Gill, “thingshave I required of thee,.... Or, "have asked of thee (a), O God"; as
may be supplied, for the words are addressed to him. The following is a prayer
made unto him, which contains the two requests here referred to; his requests are
not many, his words are few; he did not make long prayers, or expect to be heard
for much speaking;
deny me themnot before I die; not that he thought he was near his end; nor is it his
sense that he desired some time or other, at least before he died, that he might have
these two requests granted him after mentioned; for what are poverty and riches, or
convenient food, to a man just dying? but his meaning is, that he might be thus
favoured as long as he lived; that all the while he was in the world, he might be kept
from sin, and be free from anxious worldly thoughts and cares, having a moderate