Bible Study - Proverbs 30:1-6

Proverbs 30:1-6 is a very interesting part of the Book of Proverbs. Many of the proverbs were written by Solomon and others. We do not know who Agur, son of Jakeh, is. Scholars have tried to tie him in with others referred to in the Old Testament, but there is no agreement about this. Here is what Agur writes, quoting from the ESV translation: “The man declares, I am weary, O God; I am weary, O God, and worn out. Surely I am too stupid to be a man. I have not the understanding of a man. I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the Holy One. Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is His Son’s name? Surely you know! Every Word of God proves true; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His Words, lest He rebuke you and you be found a liar.”

Based on other Scriptures, Agur is referring, in verses 3-4, to our Lord God, the Creator and Preserver of our universe. He is the One who alone has power over the wind and the waves of the sea and all that He has made. The Lord reminded Job of that in last week’s Old Testament lesson, Job 38:1-11, so that Job had to repent of his pride and his questioning of God, in Job 42:3,6, saying, “I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know… therefore I despise myself, and I repent in dust and ashes.”

Agur is admitting, in this proverb in Proverbs 30, that he, too, cannot understand the greatness of God and His ways. He does not have the wisdom or knowledge of the Holy One as he should. He is weary of trying to figure things out in his own human power. He finally just asks for the Name of God - and for the Name of God’s Son. The Lutheran Study Bible notes, p.1044-1045, quote from a great Lutheran scholar, Chemnitz, who says that this is “the clearest passage where He (God the Son) is called the Son of God without reference to His human nature.” Agur even uses the very same words that God used in questioning Job (Job 38:5 and Proverbs 30:4), “Surely you know!”

Agur then goes on to refer to trusting Scripture and says, “Every Word of God proves true; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him. Do not add to His Words” (Proverbs 30:5). There are many other references to God the Son in the Old Testament and prophecies of His coming as our Savior. (See Psalm 2:7 and other quotations mentioned in Hebrews 1:1-13 in the New Testament, for example.) But Chemnitz points us to this passage and says, “These mysteries are known from the Word and we must believe nothing else about God than what he has revealed.”

The words of Agur about “ascending to heaven and coming down” are picked up in the New Testament in reference to Jesus in John 3:12-17. Only God the Son has been in heaven and then descended to earth and became true man and then did His saving work and then ascended to heaven again - all for our salvation. Note especially John 3:13. Look also at Romans 10:6-11, where Paul quotes from Deuteronomy 30:11-14, with regard to the Word of God. We don’t have to ascend to heaven to find and hear it. It is in our mouths and hearts.

And Paul ties that in with the coming of His Son, Christ Jesus, “the Word of God made flesh,” for us and our salvation (John 1:14-18). As Agur predicts, and the New Testament reveals, God the Son came down from heaven and ascended again to heaven, after His death and resurrection, and one day He will say, as He did in stilling the storm in last week’s Gospel, “Peace! Be still!” and He will take us also to eternal life in heaven. (See all this, too, in the context of last week’s sermon on Mark 4:35-41. Like Agur and the disciples of Jesus, we do not understand many things, but Jesus grows our faith and trust in Him through His Word.)