The words of Agur the son of Jakeh; the prophecy uttered by the man unto Ithiel, [even] unto Ithiel and Ucal
The last two chapters of Proverbs step outside Solomon's own collection. This opening line hands the book to a man nobody can identify. Who was he? What does his heading mean? And why does a book of wisdom make room for a man who says he has none?
One survey of Scripture marks the boundary:
Solomon spoke all of these proverbs, except those in the last two chapters… We know nothing of Agur (Prov. 30:1), nor of King Lemuel (Prov. 31:1); only their names have come down to us.
Because the man is unknown, some have read the name as a title for Solomon himself. That view has old support and old objections:
Some hold that Agur is another name for Solomon. The Talmud holds this view too… But no one can prove it, and we do not know who Agur the son of Jakeh was… "Agur" means "assembler," and Jakeh means "pious." So some think Agur was an unknown godly man who gathered these sayings. We leave the name as it stands: Agur, the son of Jakeh, is the author of this chapter… The Revised Version puts a different reading in the margin in place of the two names Ithiel and Ucal: "I have wearied myself, O God. I have wearied myself, O God, and am consumed." We do not adopt this.
A reference work gives the plain reason for doubting it:
Many of the early writers thought this was a symbolic name for Solomon. But that is very unlikely. This verse gives his father's name, and the same book describes Solomon as son of David.
The word behind "prophecy" here is the same one that heads several prophetic announcements elsewhere in Scripture:
Besides the common use of this word, it occurs at the start of several prophecies, such as "The burden of Babylon," "the burden of Moab" (Isa. 13:1; Isa. 15:1). Scholars do not agree about the force of massa in such places. Its natural meaning would be "a judgement that lies heavy on the people." But some take it to mean "an oracle or sentence pronounced against them"… Translators render the same word "prophecy" in Prov. 30:1; Prov. 31:1.
One writer traces the sweep of the chapter and the confession that opens it:
The words of Agur are a prophecy, the utterance of an oracle. There is little doubt that it gives a broad survey of the generations of mankind. It traces how good and evil develop on the earth, and the coming of the Ruler who will subdue all to God. But before the writer unfolds his theme, he confesses in humility that what he writes owes nothing to human learning.
The ESV reads the rest of the verse as words of weariness; older translations read two names, Ithiel and Ucal. Read with Agur's own name, they carry a message:
Whoever Agur may be, he refers to himself only as "the man," and his description of himself is humbling. Yet his name means "gathered." He is the son of Jakeh, which means "he shall be cleared." If the chapter is the very exposure of man in his vanity, do these names not imply that God's grace can clear the guilty and gather those whose disorder has scattered them? He also speaks this prophecy to Ithiel, which means "With me is God," and to Ucal, meaning "I shall be enabled." So where man is shown in his helplessness, the promise of blessing is present, in the living God.
Another writer renders the two names differently, and hears settled certainty behind the words:
Ithiel means "God is"; Ucal means "God must prevail."… This prophecy was an utterance. That utterance means there had been a discourse in his own heart. He had the sense of confirmation in his own spirit that what he said would be established.
Placing this chapter after twenty-nine chapters of wisdom is deliberate:
It is amazing that this one chapter stands in a book written by the wisest of men, a book of highest wisdom. Another man wrote it, a man unknown, who confesses himself more stupid and ignorant than any man! … The honest confession of man's ignorance of God is the only ground on which he can expect God to give him the wisdom he lacks. So this very confession of ignorance is wisdom.
Another writer marks the value of the paragraph this verse opens:
Proverbs 30:1-6 is a most important passage, humbling us to profit, and yet opening to faith what man cannot enter into.
- Unknown — Agur and Lemuel are names and nothing more. Reading Agur as a title for Solomon fails, because the verse names his father Jakeh.
- Weighty — the same word heads oracles like "the burden of Babylon." This heading announces a pronouncement with weight behind it.
- Named — where the ESV reads weariness, older translations read names: Agur "gathered," Jakeh "he shall be cleared," Ithiel "With me is God," Ucal "I shall be enabled." Grace clears and gathers the very man this chapter exposes.
- Humbling — the book of wisdom makes room for a man who confesses he has none. That confession is itself wisdom.
- Opening — what humbles us also opens to faith what human searching cannot reach.
Truly *I* am more stupid than any one; and I have not a man's intelligence.
Near the end of Proverbs comes a chapter from a man nobody can identify. His first words call himself less than human in understanding. Why does a book of wisdom give a chapter to someone who says he has no wisdom?
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Nothing here is performance. The words come from a man who has looked at what is above him and measured himself against it.
This is not put-on humility. There is no doubt the man means what he says.
after When he thinks about things that are holy, things that are high, and beyond what people can observe, his own ignorance strikes him hard. He feels that his understanding does not even reach the normal human level. We must not suppose Agur was stupid by the standards of ordinary society. But in spiritual things he came to say the same as Asaph in Psalm 73:22...
after Sadly this is the true condition of people in general, but few realize it. The man who does realize it feels it so sharply about himself that he seems, in his own eyes, more ignorant than anyone else.
after It is a similar principle when Paul speaks of himself as the chief of sinners. This is the real evidence that the Spirit of God is at work in a man's soul, showing him how dark his state has been.
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Asaph's words in Psalm 73:22 read, "I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you." A man who sees this sees it about himself first, not about other people.
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The placement is deliberate. A book of the wisest sayings ever gathered gives a chapter to a man who admits he is ignorant.
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It is amazing that this one chapter sits in a book written by the wisest of men, a book of the highest wisdom. Another man wrote it, a man nobody knows, and he confesses himself more brutish and ignorant than anyone!
after After the clearest statement of the principles of moral wisdom, is this not meant to teach us that man cannot find in himself the ability to follow that wisdom?
after Even Solomon himself badly failed in keeping his own advice. And the honest confession of man's ignorance of God is the only basis upon which he can expect God to give him the wisdom he lacks. So this very confession of ignorance is wisdom, and in this chapter Agur shows more wisdom than Solomon in some respects.
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He rules out both of the usual routes to knowledge.
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He speaks of not having learned wisdom. So human education had not given him wisdom in divine things. Nor did he have the knowledge of the holy: that was not a matter of human intuition either. Yet the wisdom of the words that follow is remarkable. But it is higher than human. It is a revelation from God, who uses this instrument to declare things of the greatest value for the blessing of souls. And in every case, these are the instruments He can use best.
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Agur's problem is not personal. It belongs to the human mind itself.
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Men of intelligence in ancient times saw clearly that the human mind cannot discover and know God by its own effort...
after And Agur the son of Jakeh appealed to Ithiel (whose name meant, There is a God) for help when he confessed his ignorance of God.
The names in the opening line carry an answer to the confession that follows. Commentators differ on the exact sense of the name Ithiel.
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Whoever Agur may be, he refers to himself only as "the man," and his description of himself is humbling. Yet his name means "gathered," and he is the son of Jakeh, which means "he shall be cleared." Even though the chapter exposes man in his vanity, do these names not imply that God's grace can clear the guilty, and gather those whose disorder has scattered them? Agur also addresses the prophecy to Ithiel, which means "With me is God," and to Ucal, which means "I shall be enabled." So where man stands exposed in his helplessness, the promise of blessing is there, in the living God.
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The whole passage works in two directions at once.
Proverbs 30:1-6 is a most important passage, humbling us to profit, and yet opening to faith what man cannot enter into — a very important passage.
What follows this self-emptying is not silence but some of the most far-reaching questions in the Old Testament.
In perfect harmony with it, is that one of the most remarkable prophecies is uttered by one who prefaces it with, "Truly I am more stupid than anyone; and I have not a man's intelligence. I have neither learned wisdom, nor have I the knowledge of the Holy."
- Confession. The words are honest self-judgment, not a pose. A man who sees his real state feels it about himself first.
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- Ignorance owned is wisdom. Honest confession of ignorance is the only ground on which a man can expect God to give the wisdom he lacks.
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- Neither school nor instinct. Education could not give him divine wisdom. Instinct could not give him the knowledge of the holy. Only revelation could.
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- The empty vessel. These are the instruments God uses best, and the names around the confession promise clearing, gathering, God with him, and strength given.
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- The result. From the lowest seat come words higher than human — humbling the reader, and opening to faith what man could never reach alone.
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I have neither learned wisdom, nor have I the knowledge of the Holy.
Agur — the unknown man whose words fill this one chapter of Solomon's book — names two things he does not have. No one taught him wisdom, and he has no knowledge of the Holy One. That is a strange thing to say in the book of wisdom, and stranger still from a man whose next words are so remarkable.
The verse denies two different routes to knowing God. One is training; the other is instinct. Both are ruled out.
He speaks of not having learned wisdom. So human education had not given him wisdom in divine things. Nor did he have the knowledge of the Holy One: this was not a matter of human intuition either. Yet, in what follows, the wisdom of Agur's words is most remarkable. But it is higher than human: it is a revelation from God, who uses this instrument to declare things most valuable for the blessing of souls. Indeed, in all cases, such instruments are the ones He can use most effectively.
The confession only counts if the man means it. Set beside what is holy, he sees his own ignorance.
We must not in any way think of this as put-on humility. There can be no doubt the man means it when he speaks this way. When he considers things that are holy, things that are high and beyond what people can observe, his own ignorance strikes him deeply. He feels strongly that his intelligence is not that of a normal man. We must not suppose that Agur was in any way slow-witted by the standards of ordinary society. But in spiritual understanding he was brought to say the same thing as Asaph in Psalm 73:22: "I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you." Sad to say, this is the real condition of mankind in general, but few realise it. The one who does realise it feels it so deeply and personally that he appears in his own eyes more ignorant than everyone else. It is a similar principle when Paul speaks of himself as the chief of sinners.
Twenty-nine chapters of moral counsel come first. Then an unknown man breaks in to confess his own ignorance.
But it is amazing that this one chapter sits inside a book written by the wisest of men, a book of the highest wisdom. Another man wrote it, a man no one knows, and he confesses himself more brutish and ignorant than anyone! Proverbs states the principles of moral wisdom as clearly as possible. Is this chapter not meant to teach us that man cannot find in himself the ability to follow that wisdom? Even Solomon himself badly failed to keep his own advice. And the honest confession of man's ignorance of God is the only basis on which he can expect God to give him the wisdom he lacks. So this very confession of ignorance is wisdom, and Agur in some respects shows more wisdom than Solomon in this chapter.
The confession is not the end of the story.
In the prologue he takes the low place, and in his confession he shows the deepest humility, with no trace of pride, illustrating the true humility urged in the proverbs of Solomon. Because he confessed that he had no understanding and no knowledge of the Holy One, the Lord gave him everything he lacked.
That order — emptiness first, then revelation — is treated as God's usual way of working, and this passage is offered as the proof.
All this is necessarily a principle of God's ways with us, as given throughout Scripture. In perfect harmony with it, one of the most remarkable prophecies is spoken by a man who introduces it with, "Truly I am more stupid than anyone; and I have not a man's intelligence. I have neither learned wisdom, nor have I the knowledge of the Holy" (Proverbs 30:1-4).
This chapter works on the reader, in two directions at once.
Proverbs 30:1-6 is a most important passage, humbling us for our profit, and yet opening to faith what man cannot enter into — a very important passage.
Elsewhere Scripture calls the very thing Agur lacked the root of understanding, which makes his admission far more serious than a gap in his education.
All true education and culture depend on the Scriptures. Why? Because all knowledge apart from God leads into darkness. We see this in the science of the day. Think of learned men spreading out before us a vast field of facts about the heavens above and the earth beneath our feet. How sad and solemn it is that they are ignorant and blind to what a child in Christ delights in — that Christ created everything, and created it for Himself! "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom," and "the knowledge of the Holy One is insight."
- Empty. Agur rules out both roads man trusts: he was never taught wisdom, and he had no inborn knowledge of the Holy One.
- Honest. The confession is real, not staged. Asaph said the same: "I was brutish and ignorant." So did Paul, calling himself the chief of sinners.
- Wise. Owning your ignorance of God is the only ground for expecting Him to supply the wisdom you lack. So the confession is itself wisdom.
- Filled. Because he confessed he had no understanding and no knowledge of the Holy One, the Lord gave him everything he lacked. What he says next is revelation, not human insight.
- Chosen. Empty hands are the instruments God uses best. The passage humbles the reader for profit, and opens to faith what no one could reach alone.
Who hath ascended up into the heavens, and descended? Who hath gathered the wind in his fists? Who hath bound the waters in a mantle? Who hath established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou knowest?
Proverbs 30 turns from Solomon to a man who begins by saying he has no wisdom at all. He then asks a string of questions no one can answer, and the last of them asks for a name — and for a Son's name.
Who is asking matters. Agur has just called himself more stupid than any man, and one writer sees his chapter's place inside Solomon's book as deliberate.
It is amazing to think about. Here is a book written by the wisest of men, a book of the highest wisdom — and into it comes this one chapter, written by another man, a man nobody knows, who admits he is more stupid and ignorant than anyone! Is this not meant to teach us something? The principles of moral wisdom could not be stated more clearly here. Yet following them is beyond anything man can find in himself. … And the honest confession of man's ignorance of God is the only basis upon which he can expect God to give him the wisdom he lacks. So this very confession of ignorance is wisdom.
The first question asks who has gone up to heaven and come back. It measures how far human knowledge can travel.
Is this verse not meant to show how completely ignorant man is unless God reveals things to him? No one doubts that the heavens are there, above us, and they have drawn man's interest since the earliest times. But who has gone up there to understand their mysteries? Or who has come down to reveal them? Man's trip to the moon shows his thirst for this knowledge. Yet he knows he has barely touched the edges of space, and going up to heaven is a very different matter! There is a whole realm of things far beyond him, and he knows it.
The next three questions come down from the sky to the world we live in.
But coming lower than space, who controls the invisible wind in fists of awesome strength? Man certainly does not. Or who holds the water within bounds? By its very nature water is loose and unstable, and the seas are the very symbol of lawlessness that nothing can restrain. Or who has given the solid earth its stability? These three cover everything we can observe around us: air, liquid and solid. What real control does man have over these? Yet who can deny they are controlled? Let atheism, or science, or philosophy tell us the name of this great Controller, and His Son's Name. But no human research can reach here. Intellect, intuition and education must all admit they are hopelessly unable to give an answer.
One writer draws a further point from the picture of fists:
Agur, the son of Jakeh, knew better when he asked the question, "Who has gathered the wind in His fists?" (Prov. 30:4). He knew that behind the wind was a Person.
The closing question assumes something it never argues for — that the Creator has a Son. One writer presses the tense of the question.
But let us remember that this is Scripture, and so it is God who asks us these questions. He sets the great glory of the Creator before us, and then He asks, "What is His name, and what is His Son's name? Surely you know!" He does not ask, "What will be the name of the one who becomes God's Son in the future?" He asks what His name is, and what His Son's name is.
Some reply that the whole passage is only a prediction. One writer tests that by looking at the word translated "prophecy" at the start of the chapter:
People dodge this in the usual way: they say it is prophecy. Is that not what we are told? But at the very least, it is no prophecy that the Creator would have a Son. That is taken for granted. Any prophecy here would only be about that Son's name. There is nothing really prophetic in the passage. In fact, this word appears seventy times in the Old Testament, and only one other place translates it "prophecy"… Its root meaning is really "a burden," or something weighty.
So who can answer Agur? One writer says the challenge is met by One who is God and yet became man.
He is the One Who met, and more than met, the challenge of Agur… It is God, not man, Who can take up this challenge — but it is God become man, yes, the Son of man. How fitting He is, and how able, to open up all things: heavenly, earthly, human and divine! He is indeed the Truth.
- Confession — Agur admits he knows nothing. That honest confession is the very ground on which God gives wisdom.
- Question — The questions run from heaven down to wind, sea and land. Intellect, education and philosophy cannot answer one of them.
- Person — Wind held in fists points to a Person, not a force, behind what we cannot control.
- Name — The verse asks what the Son's name is, not what it will be. It takes the Son for granted and asks only His name.
- Answer — Only God become man, the Son of man, can take up Agur's challenge. The answer is a Person.
Every word of +God is pure he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.
Agur opens chapter 30 by admitting he has no wisdom of his own. He then asks questions no human can answer: who has gone up to heaven, who holds the wind, what is God's name? Verse 5 answers from outside man altogether. Older translations read "Every word of God is pure," and the writers below comment on that older wording. It raises two questions: what makes God's word pure, and how does a word become a shield?
Agur's questions leave human learning with nothing to say. One writer takes verse 5 as the answer at that dead end, and traces the shield back to trust.
Revelation is the only answer. The Creator must reveal Himself if we are to know Him. Simple, honest reasoning should lead anyone to this conclusion. His Word is this revelation, and it is of course absolutely pure in every part of it. It is not a mixture, but kept completely free from adulteration. Only those who trust it are shielded from falsehood. So faith, not intellect, is the principle that receives this revelation. And the God who reveals Himself is the Shield of all who put their trust in Him. How simple, and how wonderful.
The verse does not say most of God's words are pure, but every one. One writer traces that back to who is speaking, and to how Scripture pictures refined silver.
The Bible must be perfect. They are God's words, so they could not be otherwise. All His works, in creation and in redemption, bear the stamp of being perfect. We also read, "The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times" (Psalm 12:6)… The Bible must be perfect because, as we hope we have proved, it comes from God.
Purity here is not an abstract quality to admire. It is what makes the word useful in a world where nothing else is clean.
Without question the Word of God is able to meet every problem — physical, moral or spiritual. In Proverbs 30:5 we read that every word is exceedingly pure. What a resource in this world of impurity and evil! … This same word "sanctifies" us — it sets us apart from all that is inconsistent with the truth (John 17:17).
A shield matters most when something is coming. One writer ties the promise to the hour when God's judgment falls.
Closely tied to His way is "the word of the Lord," proven through all the ages as stable, solid, and dependable in every way. When His judgment is about to fall, how wonderful is the comfort of His word: "He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him." So His judgment is not against believers, but on behalf of believers.
Purity settles where authority comes from. Scripture is the one place that shows a person what salvation requires.
I do not see how we can doubt that Holy Scripture contains the certain revelation of everything necessary to our salvation. We only know that we need these things because Scripture reveals them. None can be the author of truth but God. So there can be no truth except what comes from Him, and all that He says must be true. As it is written: "Every word of God proves true; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him."
The very next verse forbids adding to what God has said. A pure word is also a complete word.
No one may add to it, for the simplest of all reasons: nothing is lacking. No one may take away from it, because nothing is unnecessary. Everything we need is there, and we cannot do without anything that is there. "Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you and you be found a liar." To think anyone can add to God's word is, on the face of it, to deny that it is God's word.
- Ignorance first. Agur's questions show that man cannot reach God by searching. The pure word comes down as revelation, not up as discovery.
- Pure means unmixed. The word comes from God, so it carries His own perfection. It is not a blend of truth and error, but pure in every part.
- Pure means usable. Purity is not just something to admire. The word meets every problem and sets the believer apart from what is false.
- Trust turns purity into a shield. Faith, not intellect, receives the revelation. The God who gives it shields everyone who trusts Him, so His judgment falls for them, not on them.
- Guard what is pure. Nothing is missing and nothing is spare. To add to His words is to deny they are His, and it invites His rebuke.
Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.
This proverb forbids adding anything to God's words. It raises a question every Bible reader has to answer: who decides what God has said, and what happens to the person who improves on it?
The ban on adding rests on a simple fact about the book it protects:
These words involve two great facts about the word of God. We must not add to it, for the simplest of all reasons — because there is nothing lacking. We must not take from it, because there is nothing unnecessary. Everything we need is there, and we cannot do without anything that is there... Drop a single clause from its place, and there would be a gap in the book that no human hand could fill. We have all we want, so we must not add. We want it all, so we must not take away.
The Bible is God's own revelation of Himself. Mix in one thought of man, and it stops being that:
Any revelation of God, since it is a revelation, must be exactly and absolutely accurate as He gives it. No thought of man may intrude in the slightest degree, or it could not be a revelation of God. If man tries this, as many have dared to do, he is exposing himself to the solemn rebuke of God, and God will expose him as a liar.
The verse forbids adding anything at all. One writer explains why even a tiny addition is not a small fault:
By setting up another authority, I displace and render void the whole word of God, which claims all authority. If someone else can give the orders, then I am not the sole master, and the man is not my servant... Anyone who adds one tiny stroke sets aside God's authority and His revealed will entirely. Even if it is only about washing my hands, someone else can interfere and claim obedience. The word of God is then no longer the only authoritative rule.
The oldest example is Eve in the garden, answering the serpent:
She adds to the prohibition, and takes from the penalty. The Lord had not said a word about touching the forbidden fruit, but had threatened death in the most certain terms for the day they ate it. Exaggerating the truth is no more the truth than cutting it down; both weaken it, and both are Satan's work.
The verse threatens more than rebuke. One writer shows what guessing about God risks:
It is a serious thing to attribute to God what God does not say, and to run the risk of making the God of truth appear a liar. And that is what happens when men guess instead of waiting to learn. We must always wait to learn, and I believe that where we have the faith to wait, God will give us to learn.
Most additions fill in what Scripture leaves unsaid. One writer draws a rule from this verse, using an argument about losing salvation:
Where the Word of God is silent, men should hold back from speaking. Years ago some people who liked to reason challenged a faithful servant of the Lord. They argued from a promise: the Word of God says of certain people that He would not blot out their names from the "book of life." So, they said, there are others who would lose their salvation, and God would blot out their names. The faithful man replied, "Never put a positive statement where God puts a negative one." If God speaks, we can speak with assurance. When He is silent, we should be silent too.
Additions often come as one small clause added to a promise:
Sheep of Christ, rejoice! Your faithful Shepherd has pledged His word that you will never perish, with no "if" and no "but." Opponents of this precious truth may add, "if they continue." Scripture warns all such people, "Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you and you be found a liar" (Prov. 30:6). There are warnings and conditions, but not here.
- Exact — a revelation must reach us exactly as God gives it; one thought of man mixed in, and it is no longer His.
- Complete — nothing is missing, so there is nothing to supply; nothing is spare, so there is nothing to drop.
- Whole — one added stroke does more than damage a corner. It sets up a rival authority and voids the claim of the whole word.
- Exposed — God traces the addition back to its author. Put your words in God's mouth, and you are the one found a liar.
- Silent — where God is silent, be silent. Never put a positive statement where He puts a negative one. Never hang an "if" on a promise He gave without one.