agur's wish.
Prov. XXX. 7 — 9. Two things have I required of thee ; deny me them not before I die: Remove far from vie vanity and lies; give me 7ieither poverty nor riches ; feed me ivith food convenient for me : lest I he full, and deity thee, and say. Who is the Lord? or lest I he poar, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.
IT is the privilege of man to make known his re- quests to God in prayer, and to solicit from him what- ever 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 cer- tainly determine ; but he was evidently an inspired person^; and his prayer in reference to his condition in this world is an excellent pattern for our imitation. He entreated the Lord with very great earnestness ; yet he considered his condition in this world as altogether subordinate to his eternal welfare ; and therefore in what he asked for his body, he consulted only the good of his soul. We propose to consider, I. His request —
Some interpret the former of his petitions as ex- pressing a wish to be kept from error and delusion in spiritual matters ; but we apprehend that the things which he requested were,
1. A removal from the temptations of an exalted state —
[He justly characterizes the pomp and splendour of the world as " vanity and lies ;" " vanity," because they are empty and unsatisfying ; and " lies," because they promise liappiness to their possessors, but invariably disappoint them. In this light they are frequently represented in Scripture^; and they who have been most competent to judge respecting them, have been most forward to declare them mere vanity and vexation of spirits
^ His words are called "prophecies," ver. 1. ^ Ps. cxix. 37. and Ixii. 9. « EccI, ii. 11.