Radix Fidem Blog

This chapter has provoked a lot of debate because of serious variations between different manuscripts, though mostly in the introductory portion. While our translation here (Green’s Modern King James) adheres to common traditions, it’s not hard to find other translations that take a different approach. And frankly, an ancient Hebrew scholar would consider most of that debate downright silly. Where Solomon got this material is not important, nor even if it was added by later editors. It would seem obvious that it represents non-Hebrew thinking, perhaps more Arabic in the sense of Abraham’s other sons. Even if the thoughts are from outright pagan sources, as other material in this book surely does, it shouldn’t be too difficult to see how the wisdom reflects Solomon’s habit of finding God’s truth everywhere because he operated above the mere intellectual legalistic nit-picking more common of the Post-Hellenist rabbis of Jesus’ day.

We note that the author of this material is fond of Ancient Near Eastern (ANE) structures not common in Hebrew literature. There is heavy use of the three and then four, which is meant to portray completeness in moral terms.

1-3. The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, the prophecy: The man spoke to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal, saying, Surely I am more like an animal than any man, and do not have the understanding of a man. I have not learned wisdom, nor the knowledge of the holy. These names are meaningless to us as presented, and may well be something else badly garbled in transmission. Whoever he is, the man confesses that he is brutish, using a term for someone’s calloused foot or cow’s hoof. It’s the simple wisdom of humility.

4-6. Who has gone up to Heaven and has come down? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has bound the waters in His garments? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son’s name? Surely you know. Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Do not add to His words, lest He reprove you and you be found a liar. By implication our speaker asserts that true wisdom is only from God, by asking who it is capable of crossing the boundaries between earth and the Spirit Realm, capable of handling Creation like a toy. Rather as a joke he suggests that it shouldn’t be hard to discover the fame of any man who did such a thing, if only because any family or tribe that descended from him would still be telling his legends. Of course, we are talking about God Himself, whose revelation is pure in the sense of gold refined by fire. That is, it has been tested and found reliable. Don’t put words in His mouth, as it were, because that is blasphemy. Our reasoning is hardly on His level. We have all we can do just obeying things He did say.

7-9. I have asked two things from You; do not deny them before I die; remove far from me vanity and a lying word; give me neither poverty or riches; tear for me my portion of bread, lest I be full and deceive, and say, “Who is the LORD?” Or lest I be poor, and steal, and violate the name of my God. Agur says he has been consistent in two simple requests, and implies that he has yet to see them carried out — Don’t wait until I die to do these two things. Each item is a pair in itself. First he wants people to stop trying to deceive him. He uses two terms that don’t easily translate into English. The word for “vanity” is the concept of good things destroyed and made useless; “lie” is from two words meaning a thing expressed or spoken but meant to deceive. It’s a common ANE literary device to ask one thing that everyone desires and knows you’ll never get, and the asking for something just possible. The second request is more doable: a reasonable level of prosperity. This is more precisely asking a fair share of the family’s resources. He uses the image of the flat bread eaten in that part of the world, similar to pita. Don’t give him the whole thing, but tear it in half. By the same token, don’t deprive him a fair share from the common resources, lest he feel compelled to steal just to survive.

10-14. Do not accuse a servant to his master, lest he curse you, and you be found guilty. There is a generation that curses their father, and does not bless their mother. There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their own filth. There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! And their eyelids are lifted up. There is a generation whose teeth are like swords, and their jaw teeth like knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men. It’s easy to get lost in the images here and miss the whole point. He begins with the portrayal of slandering someone like a busybody with nothing better to do than stir up trouble. The word translated “curse” offers the image of dehumanizing someone. He completes the picture by pointing to arrogance and how it eventually results in physical violence. The whole point is that if you start off acting like your desire for entertainment is more important than social stability (the symbol of ultimate moral good), it’s not too many steps from there to murder.

15-17. The leech has two daughters, crying, “Give, give!” Three things are never satisfied, yea, four things never say, “Enough!” The grave; and the barren womb, the earth not filled with water, and the fire, have not said, “Enough.” The eye that mocks at his father and despises to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it. You can almost see Agur gesturing dramatically, turning to face each fist, “Gimme, gimme!” Then he goes on to portray certain mental images that symbolize what we call a bottomless pit, each unpleasant in some way. Death will consume every living thing and never be filled. A barren womb will absorb every thing many men could give without producing offspring. In a semiarid land, you cannot imagine the soil being so saturated that it runs off without eventually being absorbed somewhere else. And of course, fire only dies when everything is burned up. Each in its own way compares favorably with something a little obscure in our culture today — contempt for your own family. We have built a society that buries the consequences, so we can’t imagine how it holds such a high moral concern. Agur says that it matters not what provokes such arrogance or what hides it; the destructive nature of it is beyond measure.

18-20. Three things are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I do not know: the way of an eagle in the air; the way of a snake on a rock; the way of a ship in the middle of the sea; and the way of a man with a maiden. Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eats, and wipes her mouth, and says, “I have done no evil.” Don’t we marvel at things we cannot do ourselves? The word “way” is repeated here as the image of something typical or natural for the thing depicted. We struggle to understand how eagles can travel their invisible roads in the sky, how a snake propels himself across a rock without feet, how a ship stays afloat on the sea, and how a pretty young lass who is still a virgin can lead a man to do her will. A man can experience it himself and still have no idea why he does what she wants. There is a subtle connection here. It’s not human sexuality in itself, but the way we move so easily from one thing to another. Have you ever noticed how an adulterous woman can just wipe away the obvious evidence of her immorality and say with a straight face that she’s done nothing harmful? Yet, how easily we tend to believe her story, even when the consequences come back on everyone. Do we not marvel at how easily we destroy our social stability?

21-23. Under three things the earth quakes, and under four it is not able to bear up: for a servant when he reigns; and a fool when he is filled with food; for a hateful woman when she is married; and a servant girl that is heir to her mistress. To avoid a lengthy explanation: A “servant” is either an enemy captive or someone without the protection of normal extended family resources. Either way, you don’t expect them to be sympathetic to the society that enslaves them. Thus, a slave who suddenly gains power will be oppressive ogre, as would be any fool who gets what he wants. A harridan usually gets married only because her family deceives the poor groom’s family or because it’s a political arrangement, but this is not the image of your good wife who sees herself on the same team as her husband. Finally, it takes some serious manipulation and perhaps even murder for a slave girl to legally inherit the position of her mistress. In each case, Agur portrays these things as violating the nature of reality itself.

24-28. Four things are little on the earth, but they are exceedingly wise: the ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their food in the summer; the rock-badgers are not a mighty people, yet they make their houses in the rock; the locusts have no king, yet they go forth by bands, all of them; you can take the lizard with the hands, yet it is in king’s palaces. Wisdom is portrayed as making the most of God’s provision for life; it goes without saying that wisdom precludes excessive self-interest. You can crush ants under your feet without notice, but they manage to eat year round and survive most attacks. A rock-badger is more like a rabbit, easily startled and the prey of many other creatures, yet they have no trouble making a home among the most inaccessible places. Locusts independently manage to act in concert and records indicate they have utterly destroyed whole kingdoms economically. And common lizards aren’t very big but nothing you do can keep them from infesting a king’s palace. In each case, human efforts at eradication are wasted. Finding your place in God’s Creation is the most empowering thing you can do.

29-31. There are three things which go well in a march, yea, four that go well in walking: a lion is mighty among beasts and does not turn away for any; one girded in the loins; and a he-goat; and a king when his army is with him. The figure of speech here indicates things splendid to see as they walk confidently on their way. The lion acts like he’s in charge over every other creature. The second is a little ambiguous, probably indicating something or someone trim and fleet of foot, the very opposite of lumbering and corpulent. The third is an alpha ram in the herd. The last is a figure of speech unknown in Hebrew literature and translations vary widely. However, a king who is genuinely confident in his moral position, possessed by a sense of divine calling for his mission, is the definition of regal.

32. If you have done foolishly in lifting yourself up, or if you have thought evil, lay your hand on your mouth. This is probably a subtle contrast to the previous proverb. The point here is: If you are going to do something morally unfitting, at least be wise enough not to boast. Given that all of nature will be against you, it’s best if you proceed with serious caution and get what you can out of it without rubbing it in.

33. Surely the churning of milk brings forth butter, and the wringing of the nose brings forth blood; so the forcing of wrath brings forth fighting. In this triplet, the primary verbs are all the same root word meaning “to press” — churning, wringing and forcing. It’s okay to do that to curdled milk, but it doesn’t work too well using the same action on people.