To those who look out upon society from the standpoint of trust in God, the greatest magnates of the world will appear only as grasshoppers. . . . He who can say, “Surely my judgment is with the Lord,” will stand before his race with undaunted heroism, and before his God with devotion. Conscious dependence on the Almighty is the spirit of independence towards men.—Dr. David Thomas.
The fear of man leads you into a snare, and will the fear of God make you safe? No; if the character of the affection remains the same, you will gain nothing by a change of object. If you simply turn round and fear God as you feared men you have not thereby escaped. The fear of the greater Being is the greater fear. The weight presses in the same direction, and it is heavier by all the difference between the finite and the infinite. . . . It is not a transference of fear from man to God that can make the sinner safe. The kind of affection must be changed, as well as its object. Safety lies not in terror, but in trust. Hope leads to holiness. He who is made nigh to God by the death of His Son stands high above the wretched snares that entangled his feet when he feared men. The sovereign’s son is safe from the temptation to commit petty theft. . . . When you know in whom you have believed, and feel that any step in life’s journey hereafter may be the step into heaven, the fear of this man and the favour of that will exert no sensible influence in leading you to the right hand or to the left.—Arnot.
Albeit faith, when it is in the heart, quelleth and killeth distrustful fear, and is therefore fitly opposed to it in this sacred sentence; yet in the very best sense it fights sore against faith when it is upon its own dunghill. I mean in a sensible danger. Nature’s retraction of itself from a visible fear, may cause the pulse of a Christian that beats truly and strongly in the main point—the state of the soul—to intermit and falter at such a time, as we see in the examples of Abraham, Isaac, David, Peter, and others. . . . The chameleon is said to be the most fearful of all creatures, and doth therefore turn himself into so many colours to avoid danger, which yet will not be. God equally hateth the timorous and the treacherous. “Fearful” men are the first in that black roll (Rev. xxi. 8).—Trapp.
There is a higher step to be taken before we can well step so high; there is the favour of God to be procured before the favour of the ruler can well be obtained. For kings are but God’s kingdoms; as they reign over their people, so He reigneth over them; as they sit on the throne of their kingdom, so He sitteth on the throne of their hearts, and by a distributive justice dispenseth the judgment of his and their favours according as it seemeth good to His eternal wisdom. The favour therefore of thy ruler is worth thy seeking for; but first seek and get God’s favour, if thou wilt get and enjoy the other to thy happiness. And when thou hast gotten it, remember that it was God’s hand which directed the king’s hand to reach it forth unto thee. For it is too commonly seen, as one speaketh, “Then doth God especially slip out of the minds of men, when they enjoy His benefits and favours.”—Jermin.
For Homiletics on verse 27, see on chap. [xxviii. 4].
CHAPTER XXX.
Critical Notes.—1. Agur. There have been many conjectures about this person. Many consider that it is a figurative name, and some have adopted the old Jewish tradition that it is an allegorical designation of Solomon. “The name,” says Delitzsch, “means ‘the gathered’ ” (see chap. vi. 3, x. 5), also “the collector,” or the word might mean, perhaps “industrious in collecting.” The son of Jakeh, etc. Stuart and Zöckler adopt here the reading of Hitzig and others, and read “The son of her who was obeyed in Massa (or the princess of Massa): I have toiled for, or carried myself about, God, and have ceased.” For their reasons the student is referred to their commentaries, where the subject is discussed at great length. Ithiel and Ucal signify respectively “God with me,” and “the son of the mighty,” and the common opinion is that they were Agur’s disciples. From the great differences between the language and style of the last two chapters of the book, and those which have preceded them, most scholars believe that they were written outside the land of Palestine. Zöckler thinks that “Agur and Lemuel might very properly be regarded as Arabian-Israelitish shepherd-princes or kings of a colony of Israelites of the tribe of Simeon that had emigrated to northern Arabia.” (See 1 Chron. lv. 38–43; Micah i. 15, ii. 8, 10.) Delitzsch suggests that they were “Ishmaelites who had raised themselves above the religion of Abraham, and recognised the religion of Israel as its completion.” 2. Brutish, i.e., without reason. 10. Stuart and Zöckler here read “Cause not a servant to slander his master.” Delitzsch agrees with the English version. 15. Horseleach, or “vampire, an imaginary spectre or ghost, supposed to suck the blood of children.” (Stuart.) 15 and 16. On these verses, Dr. Aiken, the American translator of the Proverbs for Lange’s Commentary, remarks, “As compared with the numerical proverbs which follow, the complexity and the more artificial character of the one before us at once arrests attention. They all have this in common, that whatever moral lesson they have to convey is less obvious, being hinted rather than stated. . . . In the one now under consideration, insatiable desire and the importance of its regulation seem to be the remote object. In the development, instead of the ‘three things’ and ‘four things’ which repeatedly appear afterwards, we have the ‘leech,’ its two daughters, the three and the four. Some have regarded the two daughters as representing physical characteristics of the bloodsucker, others as expressing by an Orientalism a doubly intense craving. Parallelism suggests making the first two of the four the two daughters; other allusions of the Scripture to the greediness of the world of the dead justify the first, while the second alone belong to human nature.” 23. Odious, or unloved. 26. Conies. A gregarious animal of the class Pachydermata, which is found in Palestine living in the caves or clefts of the rocks. Its scientific name is Hyrax Syriacus. . . . It is like the Alpine marmot, scarcely the size of a domestic cat, having long hair, a very short tail, and round ears (Smith’s Biblical Dictionary). 28. Spider. Most commentators translate “lizard.” Delitzsch reads, “The lizard thou canst catch with the hands, and yet it is in the king’s palaces.” 29. Go well, rather, “are of stately walk.” 31. Delitzsch renders the last clause of this verse:—“A king with whom is calling out of the host.”
Note.—The following is Miller’s unique translation of the first four verses of this chapter with his reasons for the same, and the teaching which he sees in the passage. “It struck us that we would take the simple Hebrew and inquire its meaning. We would accept nothing as a proper name till we found it destitute of sense; and, following no intricate conceits, we would fail of a directer meaning before we went into anything more difficult. It is astonishing how facile the result. We believe that all was the work of Solomon. We believe there was no such man as Agur, except that great man Jesus Christ. We believe there was no such king as Lemuel. We believe everything is the work of Solomon as much as any other proverb. If it appear Arabic or extra-Hebraic no matter. Solomon gathered his materials over a wide surface. We believe it is distinctly what it says, The prophecy. We count it as all finished in the four first verses, and Jakeh and Ithiel, and Ucal and Muel in the next chapter (verse i. 4). We would be quite willing to read it that way, if, like Lo-ammi in the prophet, or Lo-ruhamah, words confessedly significant (Hosea i. 8, 9), it were thought euphonious or wise to give them without a translation. But what the Hebrews saw why not our people see? Certain it is that the words to a Hebrew were about as follow:—
“1. Words of I-fear, Son of the Godly: The prophecy:—
The Strong Man speaks to God-with-me, to God-with-me and to I-am-able.
2. Forasmuch as I am more brutish as to myself, than a man of the better sort,
and have not the intelligence of a common man.
3. and have not been taught wisdom and yet know the knowledge of holy things.
4. who has gone up to heaven and come down?
who has gathered the winds in his fists?
who has bound the waters in a garment?
who has set firm all the extremities of the earth?
what is his name, and what is his son’s name? Because, Thou knowest.