Proverbs 30:1 Commentary and Bible Study

The name Agur is derived from the Hebrew verb ‘to gather’, and is a passive participle, meaning ‘the one gathered’. Jakeh comes from the verb to obey, and means the obedient or the blameless one. Although many take this to be a further author, Agur, of an additional collection of proverbs at the end of the book, others treat the names as symbolic. They understand Solomon to refer to himself and his father, David, in a way that indicates that he wrote after his fall into sin and his recovery from that terrible period, so that what we have here is his testimony of all that God had done for him in his repentance. If so, then the words give evidence in addition to that found in Ecclesiastes that he was finally restored to obedience and that God does not forsake any who are truly his own. The book does not tell us of any author other than Solomon (1:1; 10:1), and the collection of proverbs added in Hezekiah’s day (25:1) are also attributes to Solomon, coming presumably from his larger collection. It is consistent with the nature of the Book of Proverbs, which makes extensive use of picture and parables, that symbolic names should be used even as names of people. It is also very similar to the references which Solomon makes to himself in Ecclesiastes where he does not refer to himself by name but calls himself ‘the Preacher’ or ‘the gatherer’, or, as others translate it, ‘the gathered one’. Those who treat Agur as a real name regard Ithiel and Ucal as either his sons or his pupils, but if Agur is a symbolic name, then the other two names in the verse are also symbolic, Ithiel meaning ‘God with me’, and Ucal ‘I will prevail’. Some take these words as names of God, ‘God with me’ and ‘the mighty God’, and see them as a reference to the prayer of Agur, and certainly he does pray in verses 7–9. Solomon’s fall was great and full of shame. It would not be surprising that if, contrary to all expectation and by amazing grace, he was restored to the Lord at the end of his life, then because of his great unworthiness he would no longer refer to himself by name, but would use a pseudonym, even though all knew who this was. We will then treat this section as Solomon’s testimony at the end of his life following his recovery from the sin recorded in 1 Kings 11:1-4.