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Expositor's Bible Commentary Proverbs 30:1 The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, even the prophecy: the man spake unto Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and Ucal, CHAPTER 31 THE WORDS OF AGUR THE rendering of the first verse of this chapter is very uncertain. Without attempting to discuss the many conjectural emendations, we must briefly indicate the view which is here taken. A slight alteration in the pointing; instead of the Masoretic reading changes the proper name Ithiel into a significant verb; and another slight change gives us another verb in the place of Ucal. To remove the difficulty of the word "oracle," a difficulty which arises from the fact that the chapter which follows is not a prophetic utterance of the kind to which that word might be applied, it is necessary, with Gratz, to make a more serious change. And to explain the word which occurs in a similar connection in Numbers 24:3 ; Numbers 24:15 , and 2 Samuel 23:1-39 . I we must suppose that some relative clause defining the nature of "the man" has been dropped. The great uncertainty of the text is witnessed by the LXX, who place this passage after Proverbs 24:23 , and give a rendering which has very little resemblance to our present Hebrew text. It is highly probable, both from the subject matter and from the numerical arrangements, which are thoroughly Rabbinical, that this chapter and chapter 31 are of late origin, and represent the last phase of the proverbial literature of Israel in the days after the return from the Exile. If this be so, the obscurity and uncertainty are characteristic of an artificial period of literature, and of a decay in literary taste. Adopting, then, the alterations which have been mentioned, we obtain the following result:- "The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, the proverb-writer": "The utterance of the man [who has questioned and thought]: I have wearied after God, I have wearied after God, and am faint, for I am too stupid for a man, and am without reason, and I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the All Holy," etc. This chapter is full of curious interest. It is a collection of sayings which are apparently connected only by the circumstance that they were attributed to one person, Agur, the son of Jakeh. Whoever Agur was, he had a certain marked individuality; he combined meditation on lofty questions of theology with a sound theory of practical life. He was able to give valuable admonitions about conduct. But his characteristic delight was to group together in quatrains visible illustrations of selected qualities or ideas. It may be well for us to glance at these picturesque groups, and then to return to the more philosophical and religious sentiments with which the chapter opens. "Slander not a servant to his master," says Agur, "lest the servant curse thee, and thou be held guilty." Even underlings have their rights; the Lord makes their cause His own, and a curse from them falls with as much weight on a slanderer as the words of more influential people. It is one of the surest tests of a man’s character to see how he treats servants; if he is uniformly courteous, considerate, just, and generous in his treatment of them, we may safely infer that he is a noble character; if he is haughty, domineering, revengeful, and malicious to them, we need not attach much importance to his pleasing manners and plausible services to those whom he considers his equals. Now follow two of these singular quatrains. There are four kinds of men pointed out, and held up, not to our abhorrence, that is unnecessary, but simply to our observation: the unfilial, the self-righteous, the haughty, and the rapacious who devour the poor and the needy. It is not necessary to say anything about these persons. Their doom is stamped on their brows; to name them is to condemn them; to describe them is to write out their sentence. Again, there are four things which like the blood-sucking horse-leech are always insatiable. The vampire has her daughters in the earth; it is, as Professor Cheyne says, "a quasi-mythical expression." These daughters are two, nay, they are three, nay, they are four; and they are, as it were, the representatives of all creation: Sheol, the invisible world, which draws into itself the countless generations of the dead; the generative principle, which never wearies of producing new generations of the living; the earth, which is forever absorbing the cadent waters of heaven; and the fire, which will consume all the fuel that is given to it. Now follows a further comment upon unfilial conduct: the eye is regarded as the instrument by which a son shows his feelings to his parents; he has not perhaps gone the length of uttering a curse against them, still less of raising his hand to ill-treat them, but his eye flashes derision upon his father, and by its haughty obstinacy declares that it will not obey his mother. The offending member shall be picked out by the clamorous ravens, and eaten by the young of the soaring eagle. Next we have four more quatrains. First, there are the four wonders which baffle Agur’s understanding; wonders which are comprehensible only to God, as the Vedic hymn says, - "The path of ships across the sea, The soaring eagle’s flight he knows." The wonder seems to be in the reality and power of impalpable things. How little of all that passes in the universe is open to observation, or leaves a track behind. The eagle mounts through the air as if he marched on a solid beaten road; the serpent, without limbs, glides over the smooth rock where feet would slip, and leaves no trace behind; the ship ploughs the deep, and over trackless waters follows her track which is invisible; a man and a maid meet, swift glances pass, hearts blend, and that is done which can never be undone; or on the evil side, the bad woman follows her illicit and bidden courses, while to all appearance she is a faithful wife and mother. Secondly, there are four human conditions which are intolerable to society, viz., an essentially servile spirit put into the place of authority; a fool who, instead of being corrected, is confirmed in his folly by prosperity; a marriage where the wife is hated; and a slave girl in the position which Hagar occupied with relation to Sarah her mistress. Thirdly, there are four kinds of animals which illustrate that size is not necessarily greatness, and that it is possible to be insignificant and yet wise. The tiny ants are a model of intelligent mutual co-operation and prudent thrift. The little jerboas seem helpless enough, but they are sensible in the choice of their homes, for they dwell securely in rocky fastnesses. The locusts seem as weak and inoffensive as insects can be, yet they form a mighty army, ordered in battle array; "they run like mighty men; they climb the wall like men of war; and they march everyone in his ways, and they break not their ranks." { Joel 2:7 } The lizard seems but a plebeian creature; you can seize it with your hands; it is defenseless and devoid of natural capabilities; and yet with its swift crawlings and tireless dartings it will find its way into kings’ palaces, where greater and stronger creatures cannot enter. Lastly, there are four things which impress one with their stateliness of motion; the lion, the creature that is girt in the loins, whether a war-horse or a greyhound, the he-goat, and-surely with a little touch of satire-the king when his army is with him. Then the collection of Agur’s sayings ends with a wise and picturesque word of counsel to exercise a strong restraint over our rising passions. But now we may turn back to the passage with which the chapter opens. Here is the cry of one who has sought to find out God. It is an old and a mournful cry. Many have emitted it from the beginning; many utter it now. But few have spoken with more pathetic humility, few have made us feel with so much force the solemnity and the difficulty of the question as this unknown Agur. We see a brow wrinkled with thought, eyes dimmed with long and close observation; it is not the boor or the sot that makes this humiliating confession; it is the earnest thinker, the eager enquirer. He has meditated on the wonderful facts of the physical world; he has watched the great trees sway under the touch of the invisible wind, and the waves rise up in their might, lashing the shores, but vainly essaying to pass their appointed boundaries; he has considered the vast expanse of the earth, and enquired, on what foundations does it rest, and where are its limits? He cannot question the "eternal power and divinity" which can alone account for this ordered universe. He has not, like many thinkers ancient and modern, "dropped a plummet down the broad deep universe, and cried, No God." He knows that there is a God; there must be an Intelligence able to conceive, coupled with a power able to realize, this mighty mechanism. But who is it? What is His name or His Son’s name? Here are the footsteps of the Creator, but where is the Creator Himself? Here are the signs of His working on every hand. There is an invisible power that ascends and descends on the earth by stair-cases unseen. Who is He? These careering winds, before which we are powerless, obey some control: sometimes they are "up-gathered like sleeping flowers" who is it that holds them then? These great waters sway to and fro, or they pour in ceaseless currents from their fountains, or they gather in the quiet hollows of the hills; but who is it that appoints the ocean, and the river, and the lake? Who feeds them all, and restrains them all? Whose is the garment which holds them as a woman carries a pitcher lashed to her back in the fold of her dress? The earth is no phantom, no mirage, it is solid and established; but who gave to matter its reality, and in the ceaseless flux of the atoms fixed the abiding forms, and ordered the appropriate relations? Ah! what is His name? Has He a son? Is man, for instance, His son? Or does the idea of the Eternal and Invisible God imply also an Eternal Son, a Being one with Him, yet separable, the object of His love, the instrument of His working, the beginning of His creation? Who is He? That He is holy seems an inevitable conclusion from the fact that we know what holiness is, and recognize its sovereignty. For how, in thinking of the mighty Being who made all things, dare I give Him a lower attribute than that which I can give to my fellow-men? How dare I withhold from Him that which I know of the Highest and the Best? But though I know that He is holy, the All Holy One I do not know. My weak and sinful nature has glimpses of Him, but no steady visions. I lose Him in the confused welter of things. I catch the gleam of His face in the hues of the rainbow and in the glow of the eternal hills; but I lose it when I strive to follow among the angry gatherings of the storm clouds, in the threatening crash of the thunder, the roar of the avalanche, and the rent ruins of the earthquake. And the man, considering all things, questioning, seeking, exclaims, "I am weary and faint." The splendors of God haunt his imagination, the sanctities of God fill his conscience with awe, the thoughts of God lie as presuppositions behind all his thinking. But he has not understanding; baffled and foiled and helpless, he says that he is too brutish to be a man. Surely a man would know God; surely he must be but one of the soulless creatures, dust of the dust, for he has not the knowledge of the Holy One. To this impetuous hail of questions an answer comes. For indeed in the fact that the questions are put already the answer lies. In the humble cry that he is too stupid to be a man is already the clearest proof that he is raised incalculably above the brute. But who is it that offers the answer in Proverbs 30:5-9 ? It would seem as if Agur himself has suggested the question-a question borrowed probably from some noble heathen thinker; and now he proceeds to meet the wild and despairing outcry with the results of his own reflection. He does not attempt the answer on the lines of natural religion. His answer in effect is this: You cannot know God, you cannot by searching find Him unless he reveals Himself; His revelation must come as an articulate and intelligible word. As the Psalm says-for it seems to be a quotation from Psalm 18:30 -"Every word of God is tried: He is a shield unto them that trust in Him." Agur appeals to a written revelation, a revelation which is complete and rounded, and to which no further addition may be made ( Proverbs 30:6 ). It was probably the time when Ezra the scribe had gathered together the Law and the Psalms and the Prophets, and had formed the first scriptural canon. Since then a great deal has been added to the canon, these words of Agur among the rest, but the assertion remains essentially true. Our knowledge of God depends on His self-revelation, and the method of that revelation is to speak, through the lips of God-possessed men, words which are tried by experience and proved by the living faith of those who trust in God. "I am that I am" has spoken to men, and to Him, the Eternally-existent, have they ascribed the visible universe. "The God of Israel" has spoken to men, and they have learnt therefore to trace His hand in history and in the development of human affairs. The Holy One has in prophets and poets spoken to men, and they have become aware that all goodness comes from Him, and all evil is hateful to Him. And lastly, His Son has spoken to men, and has declared Him in a way that never could have been dreamed, has shown them the Father, has revealed that new unutterable Name. The answer to the great cry of the human heart, the wearied, fainting human heart, is given only in revelation, in the tried word of God, and completely only in the Word of God that was made flesh. The proof of that revelation is furnished to all those who trust in the God so revealed, for He becomes a shield to them; they abide under the shadow of His realized presence. It is not possible to add unto the words of God; our speculations lead us farther, but they only lead us into error; and by them we incur His reproof, and our fictions become disastrously exposed. The answer to philosophy is in revelation, and they who do not accept the revealed answer are left asking eternally the same weary and hopeless question, "What is his name, and what is his son’s name?" And now, with a quaint and practical homeliness which is very suggestive, Agur notices two conditions, which he has evidently observed to be necessary if we are to find the answer which revelation gives to the enquiry of the human heart after God. First of all we must be rid of vanity and lies. How true this is! We may hold the Bible in our hands, but while our hearts are void of seriousness and sincerity we can find nothing in it, certainly no word of God. A vain person and an untruthful person can receive no genuine revelation; they may believe, or think that they believe, the current religious dogmas, and they may be able to give a verbal answer to the question which we have been considering, but they cannot have the knowledge of the Holy One. More than half the godlessness of men is due simply to want of earnestness; they are triflers on the earth, they are painted bubbles, which burst if any solid thing touches them; they are drifting vapors and exhalations, which pass away and leave not a wrack behind. But there are many men who are serious enough in their search for knowledge, and yet are vitiated through and through by a radical want of truthfulness. They are prepared for facts, but only facts of a certain sort. They want to know God, but only on condition that He shall not be supernatural. They want to study the truths of the spiritual world, but only on condition that the spiritual shall be material. O remove far from me vanities and lies! Then there is a second condition desirable for the due appreciation of religious truth, a social and economical condition. Agur might have known our modern world with its terrible extremes of wealth and poverty. He perceived how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven; and, on the other hand, how probable it is that hungry men will be seduced into stealing and betrayed into blasphemy. That there is much truth in this view we may easily satisfy ourselves by considering the wealthy classes in England, whose question, urged through all their pomp and ceremonial of heartless worship, is practically, "Who is the Lord?" and by then looking at the eight hundred thousand paupers of England, amongst whom religion is practically unknown except as a device for securing food. And when we have duly weighed this saying of Agur’s, we may come to see that among all the pressing religious and spiritual problems of our day, this also must be entertained and solved, How to secure a more equable distribution of wealth, so that the extremes of wealth and poverty should disappear, and all should be fed with the food that is needful for them. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

The words of Agur the son of Jakeh. Proverbs 30:1-9 Agur the philosopher D. Thomas, D.D. — Who Agur was is not known. I. A DEVOUT PHILOSOPHER. 1. He was conscious of his ignorance. The first lesson for every man who would get knowledge to learn is that he knows nothing. 2. He was conscious of universal mystery. Compare Job 7:9, 12 . He must be God Himself who could wholly comprehend the works of God. II. AN INTELLIGENT BIBLEIST. He was more than a naturalist; he was a Bibleist. 1. He regarded the Word of God as pure. Pure in its essence and in its influence. It commends itself to universal conscience. 2. He regarded it as trustworthy. God's Word is Himself — Himself revealed; he who trusts it is in safe keeping. 3. He regarded it as sufficient. It is like a vital germ — you can neither attempt to add anything to it nor take anything from it without injuring it. III. AN ENLIGHTENED SUPPLICANT. He asks — 1. Deliverance from moral evil. 2. A moderate amount of worldly goods. The man was fully alive to the power of circumstances upon character, and devoutly desired that his external circumstances should be such as to conduce to spiritual excellence. ( D. Thomas, D.D. ) Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man. Proverbs 30:2 A homily for humble folk Agur was probably a man of years and honour, and possibly his two young friends, Ithiel and Ucal, looked up to him more than was meet, and therefore his principal endeavour 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 INFERIORITY MUST NOT KEEP US BACK FROM FAITH IN 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, etc., 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 LEARNING. 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 SERVING 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 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 HINDER OUR JOY IN 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. ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? Proverbs 30:4 God's riddle Canon Wilberforce. 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, lightheartedly, give the riddle up — those who call themselves agnostics. Never 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 paralysing; it cauterises imagination, which is man's creative faculty; it ignores a thousand self-evident principles; it freezes the mainsprings 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 learnt it by the things 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 ???? — God. But this name is rudimentary 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 Nazareth 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. ( Canon Wilberforce. ) Two things have I required of Thee; deny me them not before I die. Proverbs 30:7 Agur's request John Jortin, D.D. Agur seems to allude to the ancient custom of feeding slaves in great families. They had a certain measure of food daily allowed them. He may also have had in view the manner in which God fed the people of Israel in the wilderness with manna, of which they were commanded to gather daily a certain measure, but none for the morrow. That God would thus supply his wants from day to day was his modest petition. We should interpret the prayer of this wise man in a favourable and candid manner, as put up by one who was religious and humble, and disposed to submit his own will to the will of God. It is a prayer of choice, or a comparative prayer. Riches, poverty, and a competency — these are things which cannot be accurately fixed without reference to the state and condition of men. Food convenient for a man is such a competency as will maintain him in that order, degree, or calling in which God hath placed him. The moderation of Agur's prayer is highly commendable if we consider that he lived at a time when temporal blessings were more expressly promised, and spiritual blessings less clearly propounded, than under the gospel. A competency, or a middle state between want and superfluity, deserves to be preferred as the best and happiest condition. The wiser Gentiles were of this opinion, but their reasons are reasons of convenience; but Agur gives for his choice a religious and pious reason. If we carefully examine the political laws of Moses, we shall find that the Divine providence intended the Jewish people for that very situation between poverty and riches which was the object of Agur's wish. The means of accumulating great wealth by an extensive commerce, by circulating large sums of money upon large interests, by extending their dominions, and by planting colonies abroad, were withholden from them; and their lands, industriously cultivated, would, by the blessing of God, furnish them with the necessaries, though not the superfluities, of life. Vows of poverty are made on the basis of our Lord's counsel to the young ruler. But that was, clearly, an extraordinary case. The practice of the first Christians, who sold their lands and possessions, is alleged in favour of voluntary poverty. But there is nothing commendable in superstitious and affected poverty. Agur represents poverty as a state which exposes to the temptations of dishonesty and perjury, and prays that he may not be exposed to it, and to the temptations which accompany it. No doubt he added endeavours to his petitions. It is not unlawful to possess riches. They are of their own nature indifferent. Many good men mentioned in sacred history were rich; but none of them are said to have been desirous of riches. Agur was apprehensive lest wealth should make him irreligious. Great wealth and power and honours bring with them a variety of business, draw after them a multitude of flatterers, nourish pride and conceit, and afford continual means and opportunities of pursuing all sorts of pleasures; so that what with the cares, and what with the diversions of life, no time is left for God and religion. There is, then, a plain and good reason why God for the most part withholds a great abundance of outward things from those whom He most loves, namely, lest by enriching the man He should lose the servant. It is very imprudent, therefore, in men earnestly to pursue that which so much endangers their welfare. They to whom wealth hath presented itself, either unsought, or honestly obtained, ought to be very cautious and considerate. Their state is exposed to danger, and yet it is possible to be wise and happy and safe in it, if proper means be used. ( John Jortin, D.D. ) Remove far from me vanity and lies. Proverbs 30:8 On the purity of the heart J. Witherspoon, D.D. The first request is, "Remove far from me vanity and lies." "Vanity" signifies lightness, or emptiness. "Lies" signify falsehood. Sometimes the word vanity is used of idolatrous worship; sometimes to denote the folly and unprofitableness of any vice. 1. The prayer implies a desire that we may be preserved from setting our affections on such objects as are but vain and unsatisfying, and will, in the end, disappoint our expectation. When we place our supreme happiness upon the world, instead of making it a means of leading us to God, then its inherent vanity appears. There is something more in this request than being preserved from practices directly vicious. 2. The prayer implies that God would graciously preserve us from deceiving ourselves, and thinking our character better and our state safer than it really is. We ought to pray for preservation from self-deceit, as to particular branches of our character and conduct, as well as our general state. 3. The request implies a desire to be preserved from pride and self-conceit upon any subject. Everything may be the fuel of pride — our persons, our performances, our relations, our possessions. 4. This request implies a desire to be delivered from fraud and dissimulation of every kind. There is no end which a good man ought to aim at which may not be more certainly, safely, and speedily obtained by the strictest and most inviolable sincerity than by any acts of dissimulation whatever. (1) Learn the duty of prayer. (2) Learn the importance of habitual watchfulness. (3) Learn the importance of strict adherence to truth. ( J. Witherspoon, D.D. ) On the happiness of a mind open to the impression of truth and attached to duty W. L. Brown, D.D. In this comprehensive prayer everything conducive to the perfection of the soul, to the support of the body, to our comfortable subsistence in this world, and to our preparation for a state of eternal felicity; everything that should excite the desires, and employ the activity of a wise and good man, is contained. Take the sentence, "Remove far from me vanity and lies." 1. Vanity is that passion which is founded on an exorbitant opinion of one's own situation and accomplishments, and is constantly engaged in the pursuit of admiration and applause. This passion is accompanied by great delusion with respect to ourselves, to others, and to human nature in general. The term may, however, include whatever obscures the understanding with prejudice, whatever dazzles the fancy with delusive appearances of pleasure, whatever captivates the heart with the representation of fictitious or exaggerated delight; whatever misleads the judgment or misplaces the affections. 2. Under the term "lies" is comprehended that corruption of heart which is the cause of wilful and fraudulent deception. The power of self-deception is astonishing. That the greatest evils to which we are at present exposed proceed from the folly and corruption of mankind will be acknowledged by every person of discernment. Two grand objects occupy the attention and activity of all mankind-the acquirement of good and the removal of evil. ( W. L. Brown, D.D. ) Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me Seeking a competency in the wisdom of Providence John Witherspoon, D.D. Few things are of more moment than to have our desires of temporal blessings limited and directed in a proper manner. I. WHAT WE MAY LEARN IN GENERAL FROM THIS PRAYER. 1. That it is lawful to pray for temporal blessings. 2. That God is the real and proper giver of every temporal, as well as of every spiritual, blessing. II. THE PARTICULAR OBJECT OF THE PROPHET'S DESIRE. He does not refuse submission to the will of God by thus making choice of a particular state of life. Poverty and riches are mentioned as the two extremes. Where is the middle between the two? 1. God is the best judge of what is most fit and convenient for us. 2. Resignation to God is a most acceptable expression, both of our worship and obedience. Resignation is the very habit of obedience. 3. Such a temper of mind will greatly contribute to our own inward peace. It will preserve us from perplexing anxiety and many uneasy fears for futurity. ( John Witherspoon, D.D. ) The danger of prosperity John Witherspoon, D.D. 1. An easy and affluent fortune affords the means not only of pampering our bodies, but of gratifying all our lusts and appetites. 2. Indulgence leads men to place their happiness in such enjoyments. 3. When the better part is neglected, every vice will spring up in the soul. See the great malignity and deceitfulness of sin. Make a wise improvement of the advantages you enjoy over one another. Let all persons in health, quiet and peaceful circumstances, learn what it is they ought to guard against — pride, security, forgetfulness of God, etc. ( John Witherspoon, D.D. ) The danger of adversity John Witherspoon, D.D. It is a matter of experience that great poverty makes many take unjust and unwarrantable methods of procuring relief. 1. Ignorance is one reason why poverty becomes a temptation to fraud. 2. To this fraud the poor are introduced insensibly, and led on by degrees. 3. In time it destroys the sense of shame. Let me put you in mind —(1) What reason many have to be thankful to the God of life, who has given them their daily provision, in fulness and sufficiency. A humble, thankful disposition is their duty.(2) If poverty is a temptation, it ought to be an argument to all to avoid it, or seek deliverance from it by lawful means.(3) If you are poor, pray God to preserve you from fraud and disingenuity of every kind. You should not only study to preserve yourselves from sin, but from all such circumstances of temptation as are dangerous to human constancy. How necessary it is that you should look for the Divine assistance and direction, to avoid the temptations of every state of life. What an inseparable connection there is between true religion and your employments and state in this present world. Whether you be rich or poor, remember an approaching eternity. ( John Witherspoon, D.D. ) On the temptations and dangers of opulence and exalted station W. L. Brown, D.D. That virtue and happiness are generally found between opposite extremes will be universally acknowledged. If we review the economy and course of nature we shall find that extremes are unknown in its constitution, and that every temporary excess is counterpoised by another till the proper balance be restored. Extremes are the result solely of human folly and corruption. The golden rule of mediocrity is peculiarly applicable in estimating the different conditions of human life. I. THE DANGERS, TEMPTATIONS, AND GENERAL INCONVENIENCES OF A WEALTHY AND EXALTED STATION. Many shapes of vice and misery stand behind the blaze of opulence. 1. Pride. Which deprives men of all true knowledge of themselves, and exposes them to the ill-will and enmity of others. Opulence and splendour tend to enfeeble, if not to eradicate a just notion of mutual dependence and obligation, and to introduce in its stead the absurd opinion of inherent and immutable independence and superiority. 2. Want of feeling for distress. Riches tend to shut the breast against emotions of compassion. 3. Effeminacy, indolence, and incapacity of exertion are natural attendants on riches and splendid station. But no real enjoyment can be obtained by man without some exertion. Exertion sweetens the enjoyment itself, and qualifies for increasing and multiplying it. The eye dazzled with the lustre of riches loses its aptitude for the research of truth. The rich are not often the learned. 4. Ambition. This passion agitates and engrosses the mind more than any other, to the dominion of which man is subject. Prosperous and exalted circumstances have a powerful tendency to excite and foster this outrageous passion. 5. Irreligion and profaneness. The most powerful incitements to religious affections are often perverted into causes of impiety. II. THE TEMPTATIONS AND DANGERS OF POVERTY. Evil. 1. Either an entire want of the necessaries of life, or the purchase of them by unremitting toil and fatigue. 2. The want of a proper education. 3. Contempt. The poor are sometimes regarded as beings of another species — as beasts of burden to those who are more favoured by fortune. Consequently the indigent are frequently tempted to repine and murmur at the dispensations of Providence. 4. Temptations to dishonesty, fraud, and theft. III. THE ADVANTAGES OF A MIDDLE STATION IN LIFE. This is the soil best adapted to the culture and perfection of every quality, intellectual or moral. The natural affections are not suppressed in the middle sphere, or diverted from their proper course, and operate their salutary effects on domestic and more general intercourse. Accordingly, the greatest portion of the knowledge, ability, and virtue which exist in the world will be found in this station of life Everything said above strongly inculcates contentment and gratitude if it has pleased God to bestow on us that worldly portion which is most subservient to our happiness. Take care to judge, with candour and gentleness, of the conduct of persons placed in the higher stations of society. Take care to show great indulgence and compassion towards the poor. ( W. L. Brown, D.D. ) The prayer of Agur G. Carr, B.A. I. THE MEANING AND IMPORT OF THIS PETITION. A middle state of life cannot be a proper subject for all men's petitions to heaven, for human life requires a distinction of station. In society there must be subordination. This petition cannot propose one fixed standard or measure of fortune as the proper object of every man's desires. It means a competency suited to our respective stations. Riches, poverty, or competence are relative terms, and cannot be accurately fixed, without reference to our condition or situation in the world. II. THE MORAL DISADVANTAGES WHICH ATTEND THE TWO EXTREMES OF AFFLUENCE AND INDIGENCE. 1. Such as attend affluence. Various vices flourish. Many lose their integrity. Many abandon themselves to the indulgence of irregular passions, merely because they had the means of indulgence in their power. Riches specially tempts to forgetfulness of our Maker. A sense and feeling of want is a constant monitor, ever reminding us of our dependence. This dependence creates in us an unwillingness to offend, and an inclination to serve and please God. Opulence tempts us to be as forgetful of our neighbour as of our God. Of course all do not yield to the temptations of riches. There are many exceptions. 2. Poverty has many disadvantages and dangers. The temptations in a state of indigence are urgent, and too often prevail. It requires a peculiarly right frame and happy disposition of mind to submit with patient fortitude to humiliation, and to reject every gainful temptation that offers to corrupt. If any convenient though fraudful expedient should offer to relieve his necessities, human weakness will be strongly urged to provide a dishonest subsistence at the expense of his integrity. The text reminds us that as we are the creatures of God, we are the dependents also on His providence. He is never inattentive to the wants of His faithful servants. These sentiments will lead us to an uncomplaining submission to His appointments, and an equal resignation in all conditions. Whatever may be our allotment in the world, let us be piously grateful to Heaven for the blessings we enjoy; let us endeavour to deserve those we want; and let it be the chief object of our attention by a wise and virtuous use of the temporary treasures or possessions entrusted to us in this life to secure the eternal possessions of the next. ( G. Carr, B.A. ) A definition of money Money is the god of the material world, and there its power stops. A London newspaper offered a prize for the best definition of money, and it was awarded to a young man whose definition was: "An article which may be used as a universal passport to everywhere except heaven, and as a universal provider of everything except happiness." The purgatory of possessing much wealth Christian Age. John Hopkins, the founder of the university in Baltimore bearing his name, accumulated nine millions of dollars. One day he said to his gardener: "Next to the hell of being utterly bereft of money is the purgatory of possessing a vast amount of it. I have a mission, and under its shadow I have accumulated wealth, but not happiness." ( Christian Age. ) Little better than much Saturday Magazine. "Better a little fire that warms than mickle that burns." "One may be very uneasy with a plentiful fortune, and as happy in an humble condition, for it is the mind that makes us either the one or the other." "Far from Jupiter, far from the thunder." Agur's prayer is a continual lecture to him that covets more than enough. , passing through the markets, cried, "How much is here I do not want!" "That suit is best that fits me best," says an English adage. ( Saturday Magazine. ) Easy circumstances A. Gibson, M.A. 1. This prayer is deservedly admired on account of the motive by which it was dictated, viz., a concern for his own virtue on the part of him who composed it. Agur's wish for the middle state grew out of a persuasion that it was the most favourable to virtue. This is a prayer not to be led into temptation. 2. It is marked by humility and self-knowledge. 3. Notice the attainableness of the thing prayed for. Much can be done by the co-operation of man's will with the operation of God's providence and Holy Spirit. What is true of our bodily health and spiritual state is true of our worldly circumstances. These also depend very much upon ourselves. "What shall I do to be happy in this world? " This is a question of importance in itself, even if it must be regarded as a minor question. The Scriptures abound with instruction respecting it. The Church puts up many prayers for blessings merely temporal, and for deliverance from evils that can only affect us here. If any say, "This middle state, presented as so desirable, what state is, it? what amount of income goes to constitute it?" I answer that it is not the same to all. What is wealth to one man would be poverty to another; what is a middle state for one would be a low state for another, and a high one for a third. He is poor whose expenses are greater than his means; and he is not so who lives within his means, and spends less than he earns or owns. By "poor" we too often designate all who live by labour, but this is a loose and improper way of speaking. He only is poor who cannot maintain the scale of living and the kind of appearance he has assumed. The way to the true happy mean between riches and poverty is the old-fashioned way of industry and frugality. Of industry the effects are better understood than those of saving. The objects and occasions that make it a duty to save are some of them distant ones, and others are not sure to arise. And the sums we can spare from our immediate wants are so small that they seem scarcely worth laying by. But the result of small savings is considerable at last. ( A. Gibson, M.A. ) Agur's prayer Christian Recorder. I. THE PERSON HERE SPEAKING WAS A PERSON OF TRUE PIETY. This person was truly a good man, for he was humble (vers. 2, 3). He had sublime views of God (ver. 4). In his character we perceive a deep reverence for the Word of God, and great delight in its purity (ver. 5). In this character we contemplate, in relation to prayer, earnestness and judiciousness (vers. 7, 8). From God he expected all his mercies, whether spiritual or temporal, and he expected them as an undeserved favour. He did not prescribe to God, but by His Spirit he was taught to pray as in the words before us. II. AGUR WAS A PERSON WHOSE WILL WAS ABSORBED OR LOST IN THE DIVINE WILL. This was an evidence of his piety. To submit to the will of God is His command, and is the bounden duty of all creatures. By nature the will is rebellious; it is as an iron sinew, and as a brow of brass. The first effect of the grace of God is to reconcile the mind to the plan of salvation by Jesus Christ. They wish no alteration in the doctrines of the Cross on their account; of the whole covenant, in its conditions and its Head, its promises and discipline, they say, "It is all my salvation and all my desire." They delight in the law of the Lord after the inward man, and they allow God the entire management of their providential lot. They know that the disposing of their lot is from the Lord; whether they are rich or poor, their wishes are not the rule, but the appointment of God. III. AGUR'S DESIRE AFTER EARTHLY THINGS WERE VERY MODERATE. "Give me neither poverty, nor riches, but feed me," etc. The heart of man since the Fall, having lost God as a portion, and its interest in spiritual things, has become ravenous in its desires after the things of sense and of time. It seeks pleasure after pleasure, honour after honour, riches after riches, field after field; and yet, like the ocean, though all the rivers run into it, the heart of man is never satisfied. But the saints having returned to God in Christ, as the rest and portion of their souls, and finding themselves happy in God, are very moderate in their desires after earthly things. They desire nothing of God as to the present life which He is not willing to give, and which does not contribute to their advantage. They do not wish more than they really want, and they would not lay up treasures on earth. IV. AGUR WAS A WISE MAN, WHO CONSIDERED THE TEMPTATIONS INCIDENT TO THE LOT OF OTHER MEN. " Lest I be full, and deny Thee." To be full is to be very rich, to fare, like the rich man in the Gospel, sumptuously every day, to have more than their hearts can wish. "Lest I be full, and deny Thee to be the Author of my mercies — deny my dependence on Thee for Thy blessing which maketh rich — deny Thee the glory due to Thy name, and take it to myself or ascribe it to others — deny Thee before men, by being ashamed of mingling with Thy poor people in Thy worship. Lest my forgetfulness of God strengthen into aversion, and my aversion become atheism, and I say, Who is the Lord?" When every gale blows perfume, and every post brings joyful intelligence, it is not possible for the spirit of a wicked man to avoid the swellings of pride, and the elevation of self-confidence. The other temptation which this good man wished to avoid, by the grace of God, was poverty: "Lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain." He doth not say, "Lest I steal and be condemned by men for it, be imprisoned for it," but "Lest I steal, and take the name of my God in vain"; that is, "Lest I dishonour God by breaking the eighth precept of His law, lest by so doing I dishonour my profession as a holy man, or lest, if charged with the crime, I should deny or conceal it, and so, by endeavouring to hide one sin, should commit another — by denying the sin of theft, commit the sin of lying." The motives against sin which animated Agur were noble motives, and such as they were should animate us. His religion was all of a piece, his prayers were the fruit of his piety, and his life corresponded to his prayers. ( Christian Recorder. ) Agur's prayer James Somerville, D.D. This prayer may justly be considered as ejaculatory. It consists of two petitions, the one relating to spiritual blessings, the other to temporal blessings. I. "REMOVE FROM ME VANITY AND LIES." The words show Agur's concern to be delivered from everything like ostentation or self-confidence, and from the desire to utter as true things which he might not fully comprehend, with the view of being admired and applauded for his wisdom and penetration. The prayer reaches to the removal of the natural atheism and impiety of the human heart of every false notion of God, and of every imaginary ground of hope on which the unrenewed mind is apt to depend. II. "GIVE ME NEITHER POVERTY NOR RICHES." There is not a wise man acquainted with the frailties of human nature, or with the temptations incident to a condition either of peculiar difficulty or prosperity, who, if he were to express any wish concerning it at all, would not cordially join with Agur. To perceive this to be the case, consider — 1. The evils incident to a state of poverty. The incapacity of discharging necessary obligations is almost enough to mar the flight of the boldest faith, and deaden the efforts of the strongest devotion. And how often do the devices of injustice start up in the minds of the poor! In all their transactions they are ever in hazard of grasping at what is not their own, of practising falsehood, dissimulation, and even perjury. 2. The evils incident to a state of affluence. By riches we understand that surplus of wealth or property which any one enjoys above what is absolutely necessary to procure those conveniences and comforts which are suited to the condition wherein he is placed. Such riches may be a blessing, and give power to do good; but alas! they almost uniformly tend to corrupt the heart, to undermine those sentiments of dependence on God which are

30:1-6 Agur speaks of himself as wanting a righteousness, and having done very foolishly. And it becomes us all to have low thoughts of ourselves. He speaks of himself as wanting revelation to guide him in the ways of truth and wisdom. The more enlightened people are, the more they lament their ignorance; the more they pray for clearer, still clearer discoveries of God, and his rich grace in Christ Jesus. In ver. 30:4, there is a prophetic notice of Him who came down from heaven to be our Instructor and Saviour, and then ascended into heaven to be our Advocate. The Messiah is here spoken of as a Person distinct from the Father, but his name as yet secret. The great Redeemer, in the glories of his providence and grace, cannot be found out to perfection. Had it not been for Christ, the foundations of the earth had sunk under the load of the curse upon the ground, for man's sin. Who, and what is the mighty One that doeth all this? There is not the least ground to suspect anything wanting in the word of God; adding to his words opens the way to errors and corruptions. 30:7-9 Agur wisely prayed for a middle state, that he might be kept at a distance from temptations; he asked daily bread suited to his station, his family, and his real good. There is a remarkable similarity between this prayer and several clauses of the Lord's prayer. If we are removed from vanity and lies; if we are interested in the pardoning love of Christ, and have him for our portion; if we walk with God, then we shall have all we can ask or think, as to spiritual things. When we consider how those who have abundance are prone to abuse the gift, and what it is to suffer want, Agur's prayer will ever be found a wise one, though seldom offered. Food convenient; what is so for one, may not be so for another; but we may be sure that our heavenly Father will supply all our need, and not suffer us to want anything good for us; and why should we wish for more? 30:10 Slander not a servant to his master, accuse him not in small matters, to make mischief. 11-14. In every age there are monsters of ingratitude who ill-treat their parents. Many persuade themselves they are holy persons, whose hearts are full of sin, and who practise secret wickedness. There are others whose lofty pride is manifest. There have also been cruel monsters in every age. 15-17. Cruelty and covetousness are two daughters of the horseleech, that still cry, Give, give, and they are continually uneasy to themselves. Four things never are satisfied, to which these devourers are compared. Those are never rich that are always coveting. And many who have come to a bad end, have owned that their wicked courses began by despising their parents' authority. 18-20. Four things cannot be fully known. The kingdom of nature is full of marvels. The fourth is a mystery of iniquity; the cursed arts by which a vile seducer gains the affections of a female; and the arts which a vile woman uses to conceal her wickedness. 21-23 Four sorts of persons are very troublesome. Men of low origin and base spirit, who, getting authority, become tyrants. Foolish and violent men indulging in excesses. A woman of a contentious spirit and vicious habits. A servant who has obtained undue influence. Let those whom Providence has advanced from low beginnings, carefully watch against that sin which most easily besets them. 30:24-28. Four things that are little, are yet to be admired. There are those who are poor in the world, and of small account, yet wise for their souls and another world. 29-33. We may learn from animals to go well; also to keep our temper under all provocations. We must keep the evil thought in our minds from breaking out into evil speeches. We must not stir up the passions of others. Let nothing be said or done with violence, but every thing with softness and calmness. Alas, how often have we done foolishly in rising up against the Lord our King! Let us humble ourselves before him. And having found peace with Him, let us follow peace with all men.