Pro 30:19 | KingComments | STEP | Agur now looks at nature, in which many things are wonderful and at the same time “too wonderful” or incomprehensible ( ). Four times it is about “the way of” as an illustration of the ways God goes in creation and with people ( ). Agur cites some examples as an anthology. We know that God includes in His Word only what is important to us. Therefore, we may expect to learn lessons from these examples. Not that those lessons are always immediately clear to us, but that is peculiar to the book of Proverbs. We have to think about things, even things of which we have to say they “are too wonderful for me” and of which we have to acknowledge “I cannot understand”. It is not easy to discover what the four things have in common ( ). They are linked by the use of the word “way” and also by a sense of mystery and inscrutability. All four go a way that cannot be traced. Once they have shown themselves, they disappear again without leaving a trace. Of the areas where they go their way, three are geographic (sky, land and sea) and one is social (marital relationship). The first three serve as illustrations of the fourth. The fourth is also the greatest wonder. When we observe “the way of an eagle in the sky”, we are impressed by it. Which way he goes, we cannot know in advance. And when he has gone that way, we see no trace of it. The same is true of “the way of a serpent on a rock”. We can watch the quick and purposeful movement of a reptile without feet, but we cannot predict the path he takes over the rock. If he crawls away into a crevice, he has left no trace of the way he went. “The way of a ship in the middle of the sea” is equally unpredictable. There is no defined path by which it is predictable which way the ship goes. When it has sailed by and the water behind it has settled down again, there is no trace of the path it has taken. The movements of these three are beautiful to behold. They focus our attention on the majestic and mysterious movements in the sky, on the land and on the sea. After covering the areas of sky, land and sea, our attention is drawn to “the way of a man with a maid”. Herein is indicated the wonder of attraction between a man and a woman and unification in the sexual intercourse. In what way a man conceives love for a girl is a wonder that cannot be described beforehand. When the time comes for him to seek contact with the girl, it is impossible to predict how it will go. Perhaps “the way of a man with a maid” is about the most intimate part of the marriage relationship in particular. That is completely closed off from any perception. It is the secret between two people that no one else knows about. We can make another spiritual application of the four “ways” described here. We can connect the way of an eagle in the sky to the coming of the Son of God from heaven to declare God on earth. It also refers to His way back to heaven. This cannot be grasped by the natural man ( ). The way of a serpent on the rock cannot be understood either. What is the way the serpent, the devil ( ), chose to enter the creation created by the righteous God, Who is a Rock and free from guile ( )? And what is the way the serpent continually goes and on which he moves in God’s creation? How is it that the evil one can continually come into God’s presence to denounce the brethren ( ; cf. )? We also see the way of a serpent on the rock in satan’s attempts to tempt the Lord Jesus, the Rock ( ; ). He left no trace in Christ, for he found nothing in Him ( ). In a ship in the middle of the sea, we can see the church in the middle of the nations of the world. The church has now sailed through the sea of nations ( ) for 2,000 years. All these years the evil one has tried to destroy the church, to cause her to be shipwrecked. But she has been preserved right through all attempts in a way that is inimitable to us ( ), for God is leading her. God’s way with His church is in the sea (cf. ). The way of a man with a maid brings us to the way of the Lord Jesus with His church. The way He went about to possess her is inimitable. How did He take our heart, how did we receive the new life? We cannot verify that ( ), we can only conclude it. His love for us brought Him into the greatest suffering, into the anguish of Gethsemane and the horrors of the cross, above all into the three hours of darkness, when He was made sin and His God had to forsake Him. We can only worship Him for that. Nor can we verify the wisdom of His constant work with and for His church. We know that He does so through His Word ( ), but not in a way that is discernible to us. Perhaps He will tell us and show us when we are with Him. Then we will know as we too are known ( ). In , one more way is described. This way is in stark contrast to the way of love of the previous verse. It is “the way of an adulterous woman”. Of her unfaithfulness she also leaves no trace. Here again we find the contrast that runs through the whole book of Proverbs, the contrast between Wisdom and foolishness, between the faithful woman and the unfaithful woman. We also find this contrast in Revelation, between the Lamb’s wife, the church, and Babylon the great, the great harlot, the mother of harlots ( ). This latter points out that we can also apply this verse spiritually. The verse portrays that the love Christ has revealed for the church is answered by the church with unfaithfulness. We see that professing Christianity is becoming increasingly blatantly unfaithful to Him Whom she professes as her Lord. She connects with the world in the most intimate way by bringing in all kinds of worldly methods and adapting God’s Word to the vision of modern man. That this verse is placed immediately after gives support to the idea that the previous verse is focused on sexual intimacy in marriage. The pictures of her eating and wiping her mouth are a veiled indication of sexual activity (cf. ). What she does in her unfaithfulness is no more than a meal for her. She removes all traces of the sin she has committed and goes back to her daily activities as if nothing had happened. It is mind-boggling that people can sin and then very easily shake off a sense of guilt or responsibility. This is only possible because there is a callous indifference to the Lord’s will regarding sexuality.

‏ Proverbs 30:19

Four Incomprehensible Things

Agur now looks at nature, in which many things are wonderful and at the same time “too wonderful” or incomprehensible (Pro 30:18). Four times it is about “the way of” as an illustration of the ways God goes in creation and with people (Rom 11:33b). Agur cites some examples as an anthology. We know that God includes in His Word only what is important to us. Therefore, we may expect to learn lessons from these examples. Not that those lessons are always immediately clear to us, but that is peculiar to the book of Proverbs. We have to think about things, even things of which we have to say they “are too wonderful for me” and of which we have to acknowledge “I cannot understand”.

It is not easy to discover what the four things have in common (Pro 30:19). They are linked by the use of the word “way” and also by a sense of mystery and inscrutability. All four go a way that cannot be traced. Once they have shown themselves, they disappear again without leaving a trace. Of the areas where they go their way, three are geographic (sky, land and sea) and one is social (marital relationship). The first three serve as illustrations of the fourth. The fourth is also the greatest wonder.

When we observe “the way of an eagle in the sky”, we are impressed by it. Which way he goes, we cannot know in advance. And when he has gone that way, we see no trace of it. The same is true of “the way of a serpent on a rock”. We can watch the quick and purposeful movement of a reptile without feet, but we cannot predict the path he takes over the rock. If he crawls away into a crevice, he has left no trace of the way he went.

“The way of a ship in the middle of the sea” is equally unpredictable. There is no defined path by which it is predictable which way the ship goes. When it has sailed by and the water behind it has settled down again, there is no trace of the path it has taken. The movements of these three are beautiful to behold. They focus our attention on the majestic and mysterious movements in the sky, on the land and on the sea.

After covering the areas of sky, land and sea, our attention is drawn to “the way of a man with a maid”. Herein is indicated the wonder of attraction between a man and a woman and unification in the sexual intercourse. In what way a man conceives love for a girl is a wonder that cannot be described beforehand. When the time comes for him to seek contact with the girl, it is impossible to predict how it will go. Perhaps “the way of a man with a maid” is about the most intimate part of the marriage relationship in particular. That is completely closed off from any perception. It is the secret between two people that no one else knows about.

We can make another spiritual application of the four “ways” described here. We can connect the way of an eagle in the sky to the coming of the Son of God from heaven to declare God on earth. It also refers to His way back to heaven. This cannot be grasped by the natural man (Jn 6:60-63).

The way of a serpent on the rock cannot be understood either. What is the way the serpent, the devil (Rev 12:9), chose to enter the creation created by the righteous God, Who is a Rock and free from guile (Deu 32:4)? And what is the way the serpent continually goes and on which he moves in God’s creation? How is it that the evil one can continually come into God’s presence to denounce the brethren (Rev 12:10; cf. Job 1:6-12 ; Job 2:1-6)? We also see the way of a serpent on the rock in satan’s attempts to tempt the Lord Jesus, the Rock (Mt 4:1-11; 1Cor 10:4). He left no trace in Christ, for he found nothing in Him (Jn 14:30).

In a ship in the middle of the sea, we can see the church in the middle of the nations of the world. The church has now sailed through the sea of nations (Isa 17:12-13) for 2,000 years. All these years the evil one has tried to destroy the church, to cause her to be shipwrecked. But she has been preserved right through all attempts in a way that is inimitable to us (Mt 16:18), for God is leading her. God’s way with His church is in the sea (cf. Psa 77:19-20).

The way of a man with a maid brings us to the way of the Lord Jesus with His church. The way He went about to possess her is inimitable. How did He take our heart, how did we receive the new life? We cannot verify that (Jn 3:8), we can only conclude it. His love for us brought Him into the greatest suffering, into the anguish of Gethsemane and the horrors of the cross, above all into the three hours of darkness, when He was made sin and His God had to forsake Him. We can only worship Him for that.

Nor can we verify the wisdom of His constant work with and for His church. We know that He does so through His Word (Eph 5:25-27), but not in a way that is discernible to us. Perhaps He will tell us and show us when we are with Him. Then we will know as we too are known (1Cor 13:12).

In Pro 30:20, one more way is described. This way is in stark contrast to the way of love of the previous verse. It is “the way of an adulterous woman”. Of her unfaithfulness she also leaves no trace. Here again we find the contrast that runs through the whole book of Proverbs, the contrast between Wisdom and foolishness, between the faithful woman and the unfaithful woman. We also find this contrast in Revelation, between the Lamb’s wife, the church, and Babylon the great, the great harlot, the mother of harlots (Rev 17:1-6 ; Rev 19:1-8).

This latter points out that we can also apply this verse spiritually. The verse portrays that the love Christ has revealed for the church is answered by the church with unfaithfulness. We see that professing Christianity is becoming increasingly blatantly unfaithful to Him Whom she professes as her Lord. She connects with the world in the most intimate way by bringing in all kinds of worldly methods and adapting God’s Word to the vision of modern man.

That this verse is placed immediately after Pro 30:19 gives support to the idea that the previous verse is focused on sexual intimacy in marriage. The pictures of her eating and wiping her mouth are a veiled indication of sexual activity (cf. Pro 9:17). What she does in her unfaithfulness is no more than a meal for her. She removes all traces of the sin she has committed and goes back to her daily activities as if nothing had happened.

It is mind-boggling that people can sin and then very easily shake off a sense of guilt or responsibility. This is only possible because there is a callous indifference to the Lord’s will regarding sexuality.