Proverbs 30:8

Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die: Two prayers, followed by single sentences, (Proverbs 30:10, etc.) One prayer concerns the soul, the other the body. DENY ME THEM NOT BEFORE I DIE - when I shall exchange prayer for praise. Fervent desire is implied. Verse 8. REMOVE FAR FROM ME VANITY AND LIES - a boon for the soul. "Vanity" - all self-deceit. "Lies" - all deceiving of others, including all sin. Vanity is all that is not what it appears; the world's vain show, gain, pleasure, idols, heresies (Psalms 119:37, note). GIVE ME NEITHER POVERTY NOR RICHES - a boon for the body. FEED ME WITH FOOD CONVENIENT FOR ME - Hebrew, with food of...

Verse Proverbs 30:8. _REMOVE FAR FROM ME VANITY AND LIES._] 1. שוא shav, all _false shows_, all _false appearances_ of happiness, every _vain_ _expectation_. Let me not set my heart on any thing that is not _solid, true, durable_, and _eternal_. 2. _Lies_, דבר כזב debar _cazab_, all _words of deception, empty pretensions, false promises,_ _uncertain dependences_, and _words that FAIL; promises_ which, when they become _due_, are like _bad bills_; they are _dishonoured_ because they are found to be _forged_, or the _drawer insolvent_. From the import of the original, I am satisfied that _Agur_ prays against _idolatry, false religion_, and _false worship_ of every kind. שוא _shau_ is used for an _idol_, a _false god_....

The order of the two requests is significant. The wise man’s prayer is first and chiefly, “truth in the inward parts,” the removal of all forms of falsehood, hollowness, hypocrisy. NEITHER POVERTY ... - The evil of the opposite extremes of social life is that in different ways they lead men to a false standard of duty, and so to that forgetfulness of God which passes into an absolute denial. FOOD CONVENIENT FOR ME - literally, “give me for food the bread of my appointed portion.” The prayer foreshadows that which we have been taught by the Divine Wisdom: “Give us, day by day, our daily bread.”...

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 30:1 PART VII. FIRST APPENDIX TO THE SECOND COLLECTION, containing "the words of Agur." A short introduction, teaching that the Word of God is the source of wisdom (Proverbs 30:1), is followed by apothegms on different subjects (Proverbs 30:7). Cornelius a Lapide offers the following opinion concerning this appendix, which no one can hesitate to say is well founded, if he attempts to give it a spiritual interpretation, and to discern mysteries under the literal meaning: "Quarta haec pars elegantissima est et pulcherrima, aeque ac diffic

REMOVE FAR FROM ME VANITY AND LIES,.... This is the "first" request, to be preserved from sin, in general; which is a vain, lying, and deceitful thing; promising pleasure, profit, liberty, and impunity, which it does not give. Agur desires to have vain thoughts removed out of his mind, vain words from his mouth, and vain actions from his life and conversation; to have his eyes turned from beholding vanity, and his feet from walking in it; and his affections taken off from the vain things of the world, the lusts, pleasures, profits, and honours of it; as well as to be kept from all errors and false doctrines, which are lies in hypocrisy; with which men that lie in wait to deceive would, if it were possible, deceive the very elect: Agur conscious of his own weakness, and proneness to evil, desires the Lord would not lead him into temptation, but deliver him from all evil, doctrinal and pra...

VI. THE WORDS OF AGUR THE SON OF JAKEH CHAPTER 30 Some hold that Agur is another name for Solomon. This opinion is also upheld by the Talmud, which speaks of six names which belonged to the King: Solomon, Jedidiah, Koheleth, Son of Jakeh, Agur and Lemuel. But this opinion cannot be verified, nor do we know who Agur the son of Jakeh was. The Septuagint and the Vulgate have translated the Hebrew words and formed a sentence out of them. “Agur” means “assembler” and Jakeh has the meaning of “pious,” so that some think that Agur means an unknown godly man who gathered these sayings and they were embodied in this book. We leave the name as it is, and believe that Agur, the son of Jakeh, is the name of the author of this chapter. “Whoever Agur was, he had a certain marked individuality; he combines meditation on lofty questions of theology with a sound theory of practical life. He was able to...

PROVERBS 30. THE SAYINGS OF AGUR. It is uncertain whether the title embraces the whole chapter or Proverbs 30:1, or Proverbs 30:1 only. Proverbs 30:1. The title is extremely obscure, and has been much discussed. The VSS show a wide divergence in their interpretation. It is perhaps simplest to accept the title as referring to some sage of repute among the Wisdom circles in the Greek period. Proverbs 30:1 b has been interpreted in many ways, the proper names being taken as significant words. The most interesting is that which represents the sage as saying (_cf. mg.),_ I have wearied myself, O God, I ha

LIES. word of falsehood. POVERTY. need. Hebrew. _rush._ See note on Proverbs 6:11. FEED ME. Cause me to be fed. FOOD CONVENIENT. allowance of food. Compare Job 23:12....

_food convenient for me_ Heb. THE BREAD OF MY PORTION, i.e. that is needful for me. The Heb. word is used of an appointed portion of labour, or a task, Proverbs 31:15; Exodus 5:14. Comp. "Give us this day our daily bread....

DISCOURSE: 824 AGUR’S WISH Proverbs 30:7. _Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die: Remove far from me vanity and lies; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain_. IT is the privilege of man to make known his requests to God in prayer, and to solicit from him whatever may conduce to his real good. Even temporal things may be asked, provided it be in subserviency to our spiritual interests, and with entire submission to the Divine will. Who Agur was, we cannot certainly determine; but he was evidently an inspired person [Note: His words are called “prophecies.” ver. 1.]; and his prayer in reference to his condition in this world is an excellent pattern for our imitation. He entreated the Lord