Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Proverbs 30: The Prayer Of Goldilocks

Proverbs 30 is ascribed to Agur, son of Jakeh.  Who was Agur?  After researching it, I discovered that there are many theories, from Agur being a nomadic wise man who lived between Israel and Babylon to the name merely being a code word for Solomon.  Basically, however, nobody has any real evidence so it all remains speculation!  Whoever he is, however, Agur does have some very interesting insights to share!

The chapter does read differently from what we've heard before, so I wouldn't be surprised if this is another teacher added to Solomon.  We find more of a poetic expression, especially when the author uses figures of speech to convey his teaching.

Several times we hear the formulation, "three do this, four do that" which is a way to introduce a list of commonalities.  Sometimes there are surprises concerning what is included.  For instance, "Three things are too wonderful for me; for I do not understand" (vs. 18).  These are the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a girl (!) (vs. 19).

Perhaps my favorite part of this chapter is the humility and honesty expressed in verses 7-9: "Two things I ask of you; do not deny them to me before I die:  Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that I need, or I shall be full, and deny you, and say, "Who is the Lord?" or I shall be poor, and steal, and profane the name of my God."

This is a quest for holiness.  Agur asks the Lord to prevent any outer circumstance from interfering with his inner spiritual life.  The dangers are many - falsehoods and lying that may creep into our lives.  He wants nothing to do with them!  And he recognizes the twin dangers of abundance and scarcity.  Affluence might satiate him and lead to pride and self-importance, thus triggering the scornful question "Who is the Lord?"  Meanwhile, want might compel him to resort to the sins of covetousness and stealing.  Instead, Agur simply asks for his needs to be met, perhaps in anticipation of  Jesus' model prayer for us to be given our daily bread.

In other words, this Goldilocks of the Bible prays for neither too much nor too little, but for providence to be just right!

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