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| What's up with Proverbs 30? |
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| Written by David Gaddy | |
| Friday, 30 October 2009 12:46 | |
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Today I want to look at the first 3 verses of Proverbs 30. Why? Because Biblical scholars have been debating the meaning of these verses for years so that makes it fun ground to dig in. :)
"The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, even the prophecy: the man spake unto Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and Ucal, Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man. I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy." So the world of confusion begins with: who are these people? Agur, Jakeh, Ithiel, and Ucal. How does Agur get airtime in Solomon's book on wisdom if he claims that he hasn't got any? I don't pretend to have the answers, but I did find some interesting theories on this that I'd like to share. The Hebrew in these verses is difficult to translate and it is speculated that most of the misunderstanding is due to translators not really understanding it. Where they could not catch the meaning they transliterated Hebrew words as proper names. But this theory of translation originally came from a Judaic Scholar and friend of Chuck Missler from khouse.org: Verse 1: The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, even the prophecy: the man spake unto Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and Ucal, Here, Agur is a word meaning "the collector". Rabbis consider it a reference to Solomon the collector of wise sayings. Next, Jakeh which means "obedient" would specifically be David the father of Solomon. Next is a very tricky Hebrew phrase that was translated "even the prophecy the man spake". An Interlinear Hebrew Bible reads "the burden (or prophecy) oracle the mighty". Perhaps better worded: "the mighty oracle prophesied". Then we have Ithiel, which is synonymous with Emmanuel or "God with us". Ucal is probably not a name at all, but it means "to be consumed". So if we put this all together, verse 1 becomes: "The words of the collector, the son of the obedient, the mighty oracle prophesied that God with us will be consumed." Verse 2: "Surely I am more brutish [means carnal or fleshly] than any man [Hebrew word Ish], and have not the understanding of a man [Hebrew word adam]." So verse 2 can be retranslated: "Surely I am more carnal than any man, yet have not the understanding of Adam." The "understanding of Adam" is most likely a reference to the fall or sin specifically. So, we have a man who is as fleshly as any of us who has not known sin. Verse 3: "I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy." The negative "nor" is not in the Hebrew. The verse should read: "I was not taught wisdom, yet have the knowledge of the holy." So the entire passage could be retranslated into a prophecy of Christ saying: "The words of the collector, the son of the obedient, the mighty oracle prophesied that God with us will be consumed. Surely I am more carnal than any man, yet have not the understanding of Adam. I was not taught wisdom, yet have the knowledge of the holy." This makes sense in reference to verse 4 which is clearly a prophecy of Christ.
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