Pro 30:2-3 | KingComments | STEP | When Agur begins his teaching, he does not speak from on high, from the position of someone who believes he knows everything and has an answer for everything. He begins by saying of himself that he is more stupid than anyone else ( ). He also acknowledges that he lacks understanding. In we see that he comes to this conclusion because he looks up and around and thinks of God. In the light of Who God is and the ways He goes, his reason and understanding do not amount to anything at all. In that light, he assumes that others have more understanding than he does. This is evidence of true reason and understanding. One who recognizes his own inability regarding Who God is and what He accomplishes has the right mind and attitude to teach others. It does not mean that Agur lacked intellectual ability, but that he recognizes that with regard to the spiritual understanding of life and the questions of life, he is completely ignorant. Only God is perfect in His knowledge and understanding of life, and He alone can communicate of this to people. The psalmist Asaph comes to the same conclusion as Agur by a different route: “Then I was senseless and ignorant; I was [like] a beast before You” ( ). This is the condition in which all humanity finds itself. Yet there are only a few who realize this. It is only those who are connected to God by faith and live from a living connection with Him, as we see with Agur and Asaph. He who shares in their realization feels it so intensely personal that in his own eyes he seems more stupid than any man. In continuation of , in he speaks of “wisdom” which he has not learned and of “the knowledge of the Holy One” which he does not have. Here he says that human education he has received has not given him wisdom in Divine things and in God Himself. By “the Holy One” God is meant. Agur, like Solomon in Proverbs 9, speaks, literally, of God in plural ( ). God is not fully revealed as the triune God until the New Testament. Agur and Solomon did not know it either. Yet they may have already sensed something of it through the Spirit [see the words “We” and “Us” in ]. We also see this as far as Agur is concerned in the question he asks at the end of about “His Name” and “His son’s name”. What he says proves the working of the Spirit of God in his heart. As a result, he realizes who he is in himself and what he knows from himself. He belonged to the darkness in which man’s mind is darkened. The understanding of what life is, is for man with a darkened mind nothing but groping around in darkness. Consequently, it was also not possible to learn wisdom or gain anything from the knowledge of the highly holy God. What he is saying is that God’s wisdom is so immense that in comparison to it he learned nothing of wisdom. The deeper a person penetrates into the mystery of wisdom, that is into Who God and Christ are, the more he becomes aware of how little he knows. It is wisdom to know the limits of reason and wisdom. As believers, we may know the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ’s love, while at the same time there is the deep realization that this love “surpasses knowledge” ( ).

‏ Proverbs 30:2-3

The Confession of Agur

When Agur begins his teaching, he does not speak from on high, from the position of someone who believes he knows everything and has an answer for everything. He begins by saying of himself that he is more stupid than anyone else (Pro 30:2). He also acknowledges that he lacks understanding. In Pro 30:4 we see that he comes to this conclusion because he looks up and around and thinks of God. In the light of Who God is and the ways He goes, his reason and understanding do not amount to anything at all. In that light, he assumes that others have more understanding than he does. This is evidence of true reason and understanding.

One who recognizes his own inability regarding Who God is and what He accomplishes has the right mind and attitude to teach others. It does not mean that Agur lacked intellectual ability, but that he recognizes that with regard to the spiritual understanding of life and the questions of life, he is completely ignorant. Only God is perfect in His knowledge and understanding of life, and He alone can communicate of this to people.

The psalmist Asaph comes to the same conclusion as Agur by a different route: “Then I was senseless and ignorant; I was [like] a beast before You” (Psa 73:22). This is the condition in which all humanity finds itself. Yet there are only a few who realize this. It is only those who are connected to God by faith and live from a living connection with Him, as we see with Agur and Asaph. He who shares in their realization feels it so intensely personal that in his own eyes he seems more stupid than any man.

In continuation of Pro 30:2, in Pro 30:3 he speaks of “wisdom” which he has not learned and of “the knowledge of the Holy One” which he does not have. Here he says that human education he has received has not given him wisdom in Divine things and in God Himself. By “the Holy One” God is meant. Agur, like Solomon in Proverbs 9, speaks, literally, of God in plural (Pro 9:10).

God is not fully revealed as the triune God until the New Testament. Agur and Solomon did not know it either. Yet they may have already sensed something of it through the Spirit [see the words “We” and “Us” in Gen 1:26]. We also see this as far as Agur is concerned in the question he asks at the end of Pro 30:4 about “His Name” and “His son’s name”.

What he says proves the working of the Spirit of God in his heart. As a result, he realizes who he is in himself and what he knows from himself. He belonged to the darkness in which man’s mind is darkened. The understanding of what life is, is for man with a darkened mind nothing but groping around in darkness. Consequently, it was also not possible to learn wisdom or gain anything from the knowledge of the highly holy God.

What he is saying is that God’s wisdom is so immense that in comparison to it he learned nothing of wisdom. The deeper a person penetrates into the mystery of wisdom, that is into Who God and Christ are, the more he becomes aware of how little he knows. It is wisdom to know the limits of reason and wisdom. As believers, we may know the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ’s love, while at the same time there is the deep realization that this love “surpasses knowledge” (Eph 3:18-19).