Proverbs 30:1-4 Complete Jewish Bible
30 The words of Agur the son of Yakeh, the prophecy. The man says to Iti’el, to Iti’el and Ukhal:
2 I am more boorish than anyone,
I lack human discernment;
3 I have not learned enough wisdom
to know the Holy One.
4 Who has gone up to heaven and come down?
Who has cupped the wind in the palms of his hands?
Who has wrapped up the waters in his cloak?
Who established all the ends of the earth?
What is his name, and what is his son’s name?
Surely you know!
5 Every word of God’s is pure;
he shields those taking refuge in him.
6 Don’t add anything to his words;
or he will rebuke you, and you be found a liar.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
A young pastor once told s of purchasing his first pickup truck. And he also said that he had bought a book on gasoline engines because he was so afraid of being ripped off at the service station.
He wrote:
“The first time I took the truck in to the mechanic for repairs, I smugly wrote down what the problem was and what needed to be fixed, put it on the seat.”
That night when he returned for the truck, he found this short note attached to the windshield:
“I fixed the problem in your truck, but in order for me to fix the problem you described, you’ll have to bring in your 30 year old lawnmower. I suggest you go back to the front of the book for when it was written. My grandfather had the very same book and gave his to me on the very first day I opened this garage.”
While making me laugh hysterically, that story greatly puzzled me.
This young pastor buys a book in a gas station that he doesn’t understand.
Further, he does not take the time, or exercise enough wisdom to open the book to the first few pages to determine when it was written-how up to date it is and just what exactly it was written for and what engine was written about to repair.
He writes down his concerns to the mechanic about his V8 truck engine from the guide book written for repair of an array of small 2 cylinder gas engines.
And he takes his note and his truck to a mechanic he’s not sure he can trust.
Excuse me – if I do not think I can trust a mechanic I’m not going to take my vehicle to him. I take my car to MY mechanic because I trust him… and because I know I am not smart enough to fix the problem on my note but maybe he can?
In Proverbs – chap 30– Agur, a gentile, is warning us to be careful NOT to treat God or His Word the same or similar way that pastor had treated his mechanic.
Agur starts out by trying to get us to understand that we are not intelligent enough, nor wise enough to first know all about God, and ergo, correct God.
He says of himself: “I’m not smart enough!” “I am not discerning enough!” “I am more boorish than anyone alive!” I’ve not learned enough wisdom either!”
“I am the most ignorant of men; I do not have a man’s understanding. I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the Holy One.” Proverbs 30:2
In other words… I’m not smart enough to say “I am too stupid to know it all!”
But then Agur implies he has observed people who thought they were “smart enough”. He had seen people who misused Scripture because they thought they were smarter, wiser than God, thought they knew more than the “Mechanic”.
“Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of his hands? Who has wrapped up the waters in his cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and the name of his son? Tell me if you know!” Proverbs 30:3-4
Then, lastly, Agur compared the wisdom of Scripture to the supposed wisdom of man.
He wrote: “Every word of God is flawless (but man’s words aren’t flawless); he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Do not add to his words, or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.” Proverbs 30:5-6
Essentially, Agur is saying that you cannot begin to improve on God’s Word. And he tells us not to even presume to think that we are wiser than God can know Him perfectly and completely and utterly to add anything to His Words… because God kind of takes offense at that, takes that very deeply, personally.
But that has never stopped people from presuming they possess the capability and the level of “smarts” from doing it anyway.
Jesus condemned the Pharisees for “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” Matthew 15:9
Paul told the church in Galatia “… some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.” Galatians 1:7
And Paul warned the Elders at Ephesus to be wary because “Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to DRAW AWAY DISCIPLES AFTER THEM.” Acts 20:30
Now there’s the key to the problem.
People freely distort the Scriptures, they add to God’s Word because they want people to pay attention to them. They want people to follow THEIR teachings.
And that’s an easy temptation to give in to.
Better churches than ours has fallen prey to it.
Better pastors and preachers than I have been enticed by it.
And in my earliest days of preaching and teaching I not so innocently, definitely fell deep into the prey-predator relationship, was “consumed,” grounded for it.
That’s why I personally try to protect myself from placing my own opinions above and beyond that of Scripture.
If, during a sermon, I want to introduce a thought I have about something I don’t think I can comfortably or sufficiently substantiate from Scripture I try to over emphasize that it is MY opinion, My interpretation which the congregation should feel free to fully test and examine afterwards from the Holy Scriptures.
My opinions can be wrong, but Scripture never can. I strive to do this because I am attempting to protect myself from even accidentally distorting God’s truth.
If the congregation examines and tests my sermon and finds discrepancies or has questions about what I presented, to feel free to come to me and to ask.
And that’s why I have developed a couple of mottos I pray will keep us focused.
One is:
“Where The Bible Speaks… We Speak, Where The Bible Is Silent… We’re Silent.”
In other words, we don’t want to add or take away from anything from what the Bible says because we aren’t even close to being smarter, wiser than the Author.
Another is “Bible Words For Bible Things”.
That is: if the Bible uses a word in a certain way… that’s the way we try to use it.
https://www.blueletterbible.org/
https://www.biblestudytools.com/concordances/strongs-exhaustive-concordance/
https://www.eliyah.com/lexicon.html
In Proverbs 30, we see that the weakness of humility is God’s greatest strength.
Jesus’ crucifixion is humble and weak, and His resurrection is so stunning, but they are infinitely more powerful than all man’s high philosophies and power.
1 Corinthians 1:18-25 Easy-to-Read Version
God’s Power and Wisdom in Christ Jesus
18 The teaching about the cross seems foolish to those who are lost. But to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 As the Scriptures say,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise.
I will confuse the understanding of the intelligent.”
20 So what does this say about the philosopher, the law expert, or anyone in this world who is skilled in making clever arguments? God has made the wisdom of the world look foolish. 21 This is what God in his wisdom decided: Since the world did not find him through its own wisdom, he used the message that sounds foolish to save those who believe it.
22 The Jews ask for miraculous signs, and the Greeks want wisdom. 23 But this is the message we tell everyone: Christ was killed on a cross. This message is a problem for Jews, and to other people it is nonsense. 24 But Christ is God’s power and wisdom to the people God has chosen, both Jews and Greeks. 25 Even the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom. Even the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.
Proverbs 30 and 31 are the only chapters of Proverbs written by non-Jews.
They’re evidence that God’s wisdom is not confined to a particular people.
God’s wisdom belongs to anyone who fears the Lord.
Agur, our first Gentile philosopher, wants you to walk away from his chapter understanding the inevitable consequences of misplaced malignant pride and the ironic success of the truly humble and meek.
Agur begins by humbly listing what he doesn’t know in a series of rhetorical questions (Proverbs 30:2-4) before admitting that God’s words are the only words that will prove true.
Any prideful attempt to add to God’s wisdom will be shown for foolishness (Proverbs 30:6).
So Agur, in the only prayer in Proverbs, asks God to make him content with a humble life—a life of neither poverty nor riches. Agur knows that either too much or too little will bend his heart away from God, so he asks God to spare him from either temptation (Proverbs 30:7-9).
Proverbs 30:7-9 Complete Jewish Bible
7 [God,] I have asked two things of you;
don’t deny them to me as long as I live —
8 keep falsehood and futility far from me,
and give me neither poverty nor wealth.
Yes, provide just the food I need today;
9 for if I have too much, I might deny you
and say, “Who is Adonai?”
And if I am poor, I might steal
and thus profane the name of my God.
Are You Wise Enough: “Where is the Gospel?”
Agur agrees with the apostle Paul who said that “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” (1 Corinthians 1:27).
Our world does not come close to believing this. Our world values strength, power, and competence (or, at the very least, the appearance of those things).
But God has determined to destroy the wisdom of the world (1 Corinthians 1:19).
He’s chosen to use things like badgers and ants and crucified men “to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.” (1 Corinthians 1:28-29).
Agur’s wisdom is that, as ironic as it seems, there are rewards waiting for those who humble themselves.
In Jesus and his cross, we see God himself completely humiliated.
The world will look at that and say it’s foolishness.
But while the “message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God… For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength” (1 Corinthians 1:18, 25).
For anyone willing to accept Jesus’ foolishness as being infinitely greater their cleverness and their cunning and slyness and strength “as a wolf” and abandon their ‘strength’ of pride, the mysteries, powers of humility will become theirs.
While an ant’s storehouse, a locust’s organization, and a lizard’s stealth are impressive, they are nothing when compared to the resurrection power of Jesus Christ in the life of those who are humble and meek. Matthew 5:5
Matthew 5:5 Amplified Bible
5 “Blessed [inwardly peaceful, spiritually secure, worthy of respect] are the [a] gentle [the kind-hearted, the sweet-spirited, the self-controlled], for they will inherit the earth.
While we might feel unimpressive, the Gospel of Jesus’ humble death makes us into a mystery that angels stand on tiptoe to see (1 Peter 1:12).
1 Peter 1:10-13 Amplified Bible
10 Regarding this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace [of God] that was intended for you, searched carefully and inquired [about this future way of salvation], 11 seeking to find out what person or what time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He foretold the sufferings of Christ and the glories [destined] to follow. 12 It was revealed to them that their services [their prophecies regarding grace] were not [meant] for themselves and their time, but for you, in these things [the death, resurrection, and glorification of Jesus Christ] which have now been told to you by those who preached the gospel to you by the [power of the] Holy Spirit [who was] sent from heaven. Into these things even the angels long to look.
13 So prepare your minds for action, be completely sober [in spirit—steadfast, self-disciplined, spiritually and morally alert], fix your hope completely on the grace [of God] that is coming to you when Jesus Christ is revealed.
The realization of God’s greatness drove Agur to adoration.
In the only prayer in Proverbs, Agur asks God to give him a meaningful life and to provide what he needs to get by every day.
This was a dramatically different attitude than the society he lived in. When Agur looked around, he didn’t see people who were awestruck with God.
Instead, he saw a generation that looks a lot like ours: disrespectful, self-righteous, prideful, arrogant, and fiercely oppressive (Proverbs 30:11-14).
The same happens to us when we get a glimpse of how truly amazing God is.
Our lives are forever changed by the realization that God is perfect and we are not. Because it’s only when we acknowledge our stupidity, acknowledge God’s majesty, that we will humble ourselves and meekly begin to learn from Him.
Reflect:
- How did God first reveal Himself to you? If you can’t remember a time when you put God first in your life, read, study and pray – His Spirit will reveal it!
- What are a few qualities about God that leave you awestruck? Tell Him today.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 8 Complete Jewish Bible
8 (0) For the leader. On the gittit. A psalm of David:
2 (1) Adonai! Our Lord! How glorious
is your name throughout the earth!
The fame of your majesty
spreads even above the heavens!
3 (2) From the mouths of babies and infants at the breast
you established strength because of your foes,
in order that you might silence
the enemy and the avenger.
4 (3) When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and stars that you set in place —
5 (4) what are mere mortals, that you concern yourself with them;
humans, that you watch over them with such care?
6 (5) You made him but little lower than the angels,
you crowned him with glory and honor,
7 (6) you had him rule what your hands made,
you put everything under his feet —
8 (7) sheep and oxen, all of them,
also the animals in the wilds,
9 (8) the birds in the air, the fish in the sea,
whatever passes through the paths of the seas.
10 (9) Adonai! Our Lord! How glorious
is your name throughout the earth!
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 