A STUDY OF WISDOM FROM THE BOOK OF PROVERBS
Wisdoms Impact on Success and Leadership
Proverbs 30:21-33 SCC 1/31/16
Wisdom contributes to regularity in life
based on the knowledge and understanding of how things usually work. That
regularity allows for success in many endeavors in life. Wisdom contributes to
wise leadership in many arenas. The combination of wise leadership increases
and encourages the possibility of success in these arenas of life.
HUMILITY IS A VIRTUE ESSENTIAL TO
TRUE SUCCESS IN ONES ENDEAVORS
Verse
1-6: Agur
identifies himself as the son of an oracle. The word for oracle is often
used of one who speaks orally but usually with the idea of giving divine
revelation. More likely Agur was a student of Solomon’s who taught Solomon’s proverbs
to other students and continued to write some of his own or some unknown sage
in Solomon’s day. Ithiel and Ucal are probably students or disciples he
taught.
In
v 2-3 he confesses that he is ignorant of God’s ways. He claims ignorance
lacking understanding, wisdom, and knowledge of God. He laments that he is not
one who professes to understand the Holy One. In v 4 are 4 ?’s that focus on
divine acts showing absurdity for mortals thinking they can explain God and His
work. In v 5 he affirms Gods word is flawless, trustworthy, and nothing
deceitful in it. In v 6 is a warning not to add to Gods Word since this is our
tendency.
NB:
Agur sees the #1 qualification for wisdom
as humility. There is no way for a man to obtain wisdom by himself without
the revelation of God. There is no wisdom and no knowledge of the Holy One apart
from divine revelation. We have both general revelation in nature (Romans 1 and
2) and special revelation in Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16), but we can only know
about God and understand life from what He has revealed. God rebukes those who
think they can know more of God than what He has revealed about Himself. In
fact they are often so far off base that God calls them liars.
CONTENTMENT PROTECTS ONE FROM
SUCCEEDING DISHONARABLY
Verses
7-10: Here
there are two things he asks for in his life before death. The first is about honesty. He finds deception intolerable, as we
should. But the main point of this section is about riches. Agur makes a
significant, and unusual, point about wealth. Give me neither poverty nor
riches. Most want riches but not poverty. A few, like monks in cloistered
monasteries, want poverty not riches. But Agur wants neither. The reason is,
either one will be a temptation to sin. In v 10 he adds that slander is a
dishonorable way of getting ahead and succeeding. The slave to his master
is an illustration. Slander is, by definition, a lie, and this lie will likely
be discovered when the slandered one defends himself.
NB:
The danger of forgetting God when we prosper is a common theme in Scripture
(Deuteronomy 8:12; 31:20; Hosea 13:6). Agur adds that poverty is also a
temptation to sin. When we are in want, we tend to steal. We may steal from
friends, strangers, employers, or the government. When we are poor, we tend to
take what another has earned and feel justified in doing so. The real problem
is, when I feel justified in stealing, I profane the name of my God. Neither
wealth nor poverty is sinful, but both are a temptation to be sinful. (3rd world perpetual poverty and
thievery)
IT IS POSSIBLE TO SUCCEED WHEN
ONE EXPLOITS OTHERS FOR AN ADVANTAGE
Society exploits for an advantage
Verse
11-14: The
opening word for each of these proverbs means period of time or generation. The
point is that certain periods of time or generations have certain sinful
tendencies. Of course, most sin is common to all generations, but some are
emphasized at certain periods in history. These sins will be especially
dangerous because it will seem normal and socially acceptable to commit them.
NB:
At certain times in history it seemed right to build idols, use temple
prostitutes, go on crusades, exploit women, trade slaves, or use internet
pornography because everybody else is
doing it. The specific sins Agur mentions are: not respecting parents,
self-righteousness, arrogance, and taking advantage of the afflicted. These
sins are always there, yet certain generations are less sensitive to certain
sins.
The family can be exploited for
an advantage
Verse
15-17: Here
is a child who is disrespectful to his parents; holding parents in contempt. Agur
sees little hope for a son or daughter who mocks his parents (this is an older
child between puberty and marriage). This child is like a leech that sucks blood
from an animal. This leech of a child says to his parents “Give”, “Give”.
The one who mocks a father and scorns a mother, both despise and
secondary means of laughter, which in the Bible is always a mocking
laughter, rather than humor laughter illustrated with an older son who is lazy,
or has an addiction.
NB:
He mocks his parents in that he refuses their discipline, but he keeps getting
in trouble financially, or with the law. If his parents keep bailing him out,
as many do, the son will eventually drain them of all their assets and leave
them with nothing. The punishment is talionic—the eye that mocks will be pecked
out by the birds. Stern punishment can be expected.
ITS NECESSARY TO ACKNOWLEDGE GODS
WAY TO PREVENT FAILURE AND SIN
Verses
18-19: Many things
in nature are amazing but incomprehensible. This proverb
is all about the last phrase the way of a man with a maid. Agur’s point
is that we cannot completely understand any of these things or trace their step
with any understanding. The course of romance is as untraceable as the way
of an eagle in the sky. A young man will do things for his girlfriend,
which makes no reasonable sense in any other situation. Encountering intimate
love is mysterious and incomprehensible. No one can explain the way of a man
with a maid. All of it part of
God’s marvelous plan for his creation.
Verse
20: Incomprehensible, too, is how
human nature distorts and ruins intimate love. Here
it is not the man’s way with a woman but an immoral woman’s way with men. The point is the adulterous woman has warped
her conscience to the extent that she no longer feels guilt for adultery. It is
as common to her as eating. She justifies it by ignoring the commandments of
God.
NB:
So she, as with most perpetual sinners, is not defining good as obedience to
God but as what she determines for herself to be in her own best interest. When
we decide for ourselves what is good and evil, instead of defining good and
evil as obedience or disobedience to God, we will end up perverting our
conscience into justifying sin.
SUCCESS IN LIFE IS NOT MEASURED
BY STATUS OR STRENGTH OR PRIDE
Status is no guarantee of success
Verses 21-23:
Certain people who are suddenly elevated in their status in life can be
unbearable creating a social earthquake. The reason is this is not the normal result
of cause and effect. This violates the law of sowing and reaping in the area of
social preparation. For whatever reason a slave has become a slave, he is not
prepared to be a king. The fool sows seeds, which lead to hunger not being
satisfied with food. The unloved woman who is married—God never wants to see a
wife unloved. The maiden who is in competition with a mistress but finally
supplants her. These tensions cause upheavals in the proper order of things
making life intolerable.
NB:
When unprepared people are, for some odd reason, thrust into a role they are
not equipped for, then things happen which disrupt the normal social order. And
when order reverts to chaos, then wisdom is lost. Many people who win a large
lottery are fools because it’s primarily fools who play the lottery. Before
long, most of them are bankrupt, in debt, or in some other desperate financial
condition. The advantage of capitalism is
most financial positions are earned. Even a democracy can elect one
unprepared to hold a high political office.
Strength to succeed is more than
physical
Verses
24-28: Agur
notices four small but wise creatures: the ants, the rock badgers, the
locusts, and the lizards. The point is
size and outward strength do not necessarily result in wisdom. Wisdom comes
to those who are hardworking like ants, shrewd like rock badgers, persistent
like locusts, and clever like lizards.
NB:
Wisdom includes forethought and organization, provision and ingenuity. Two
ideas emerge from these illustrations; First, physical limitations may be
compensated for in other ways and second, since God protects and provides for
even the humblest and lowest of His creatures.
Pride can hinder and not help one
succeed
Verses
29-31: The
three creatures and the king represent those who lead wisely. The real point is
the last phrase that the wise king will make sure his army is with him. Agur is
telling us that a wise leader does not just go strutting about insensitive to
those around him (as a lion rooster or goat might do). A wise king will make
sure his soldiers are taking ownership of their cause in such a way that they
want to follow the king. In God’s order some creatures are small and in humble
positions while others are more prominent in some ways.
DON’T TRY TO SUCCEED BY PROVOKING
PEOPLE TO COMPLY
Verses
32-33: Anything
we do to provoke anger in others will end as strife for ourselves. So, Agur
says, put your hand on your mouth. Shut up about it. Stop exalting
yourself. Stop defending yourself. Because what you are doing when you are
defending yourself is exalting yourself. You can’t win an argument. The reason
you can never win is that you are always guilty of something.
NB:
Jesus said: Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are
with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge,
and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Truly I say to
you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent (Matthew
5:25-26). So, never go to court if you can help it because you aren’t perfect,
and neither is the court system. In addition to that, you will be in a position
of pride, defending yourself in a matter, which will only result in the
churning of anger, which produces strife. Strive for peace and
harmony through humility and righteousness.