8 Put far from me all false and foolish things: do not give me great wealth or let me be in need, but give me only enough food:
But true faith, with peace of mind, is of great profit: For we came into the world with nothing, and we are not able to take anything out; But if we have food and a roof over us, let that be enough.
Take from me every false way; and in mercy give me your law.
Truly men of low birth are nothing, and men of high position are not what they seem; if they are put in the scales together they are less than a breath. Have no faith in the rewards of evil-doing, or in profits wrongly made: if your wealth is increased, do not put your hopes on it.
Good people, why are you doing these things? We are men with the same feelings as you, and we give you the good news so that you may be turned away from these foolish things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all things in them:
Then he said to them, Now take some, and give it to the master of the feast. So they took it to him.
And for his food, the king gave him a regular amount every day till the day of his death, for the rest of his life.
Then by the order of Zedekiah the king, Jeremiah was put into the place of the armed watchmen, and they gave him every day a cake of bread from the street of the bread-makers, till all the bread in the town was used up. So Jeremiah was kept in the place of the armed watchmen.
All is to no purpose, said the Preacher, all the ways of man are to no purpose.
By planting the seed of evil a man will get in the grain of sorrow, and the rod of his wrath will be broken.
Let my eyes be turned away from what is false; give me life in your ways.
I have never gone against the orders of his lips; the words of his mouth have been stored up in my heart.
And the children of Israel had manna for their food for forty years, till they came to a land with people in it, till they came to the edge of the land of Canaan.
See, because the Lord has given you the Sabbath, he gives you on the sixth day bread enough for two days; let every man keep where he is; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.
And when it was measured, he who had taken up much had nothing over, and he who had little had enough; every man had taken what he was able to make use of.
And when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, What is it? for they had no idea what it was. And Moses said to them, It is the bread which the Lord has given you for your food.
And he gave Joseph a blessing, saying, May the God to whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, gave worship, the God who has taken care of me all my life till this day, The angel who has been my saviour from all evil, send his blessing on these children: and let my name and the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, be given to them; and let them become a great nation in the earth.
Then Jacob took an oath, and said, If God will be with me, and keep me safe on my journey, and give me food and clothing to put on,
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Proverbs 30
Commentary on Proverbs 30 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 30
This and the following chapter are an appendix to Solomon's proverbs; but they are both expressly called prophecies in the first verses of both, by which it appears that the penmen of them, whoever they were, were divinely inspired. This chapter was penned by one that bears the name of "Agur Ben Jakeh.' What tribe he was of, or when he lived, we are not told; what he wrote, being indited by the Holy Ghost, is here kept upon record. We have here,
Pro 30:1-6
Some make Agur to be not the name of this author, but his character; he was a collector (so it signifies), a gatherer, one that did not compose things himself, but collected the wise sayings and observations of others, made abstracts of the writings of others, which some think is the reason why he says (v. 3), "I have not learned wisdom myself, but have been a scribe, or amanuensis, to other wise and learned men.' Note, We must not bury our talent, though it be but one, but, as we have received the gift, so minister the same, if it be but to collect what others have written. But we rather suppose it to be his name, which, no doubt, was well known then, though not mentioned elsewhere in scripture. Ithiel and Ucal are mentioned, either,
Three things the prophet here aims at:-
Pro 30:7-9
After Agur's confession and creed, here follows his litany, where we may observe,
Pro 30:10-14
Here is,
Pro 30:15-17
He had spoken before of those that devoured the poor (v. 14), and had spoken of them last, as the worst of all the four generations there mentioned; now here he speaks of their insatiableness in doing this. The temper that puts them upon it is made up of cruelty and covetousness. Now those are two daughters of the horse-leech, its genuine offspring, that still cry, "Give, give, give more blood, give more money;' for the bloody are still blood-thirsty; being drunk with blood, they add thirst to their drunkenness, and will seek it yet again. Those also that love silver shall never be satisfied with silver. Thus, while from these two principles they are devouring the poor, they are continually uneasy to themselves, as David's enemies, Ps. 59:14, 15. Now, for the further illustration of this,
Pro 30:18-23
Here is,
Pro 30:24-28
Pro 30:29-33
Here is,