The Pulpit Commentary — Proverbs — Section 542

et perdifficiles, tum ex phrasi quro involuta ch:uncter and elevation of subject, whioh est et renignmtica, tum ex sensu et materia, one expects in the enunciations of an in~ qure sublimis est et profunda." spired prophet. This view does not mili- tl\te against their cle.im to be reg1nded as Ver. 1.-The words of Agur the son of Holy Scripture; their place in ihe oanon J'a.keh, even the prophecy. This seems to is secured by other considerations, and is be the correct rendering of the passage, not affected by our suspicion of the inappro, though it has been made to bear very pria.teness of the term applied to them· and different interpretations. It is pla.iuly the indeed, it may be that the very huma~ title of the treatise which follows. Who element in these utterances is meant to be Agur and Jakeh were is utterly unknown. unsatisfying, and to lead one to look for The Jewish interpreters considered that the deep spiritual truths which underlie " Agur son of J a.keh" was an allegorical the secular surroundings. A"'ur is some designation of Solomon-Agur meaning poet or more.list, well known i~ Solomon's "Gatherer,"or"Convener"(see Eccles. i. l; time, probably one of the wise men referred xii. 11); Jakeh, "Obedient," or "Pious," to in eh. xxiv. 23 (see below). The rest of which thus would indicate David. St. the paragraph is of greater obscurity than Jerome somewhat countenances the alle- the former portion. The man spake unto gorical interpretation by translating, Verba Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and Uoal. Accord• Congregantis, filii Vomentis, "The words of ing to this rendering, the me.n is A"'ur, who the Collector, son of the Utterer." But is introduced as uttering what f;i,lows in 'l>hat follows could not apply to Solomon; ver. 2, etc., to Ithiel and Uco.l, two of his he could not say, "I have not learned wis- sons, pupils, or companions. The name dom" (ver. 3), or ask blindly after the Uce.l occurs nowhere else in the Old Testa- Creator (ver. 4). Many have endeavoured ment; Ithiel is found once, in Neh. xi. 7, to find Agur's nationality in the word that as the name of a Benje.mite. Wordsworth follows, translated "the prophecy" (NtJ:?D, regards the names as symbolical of the moral character of those whom the author I! hamassa). Massa, "burden," is usually designs to address, explaining the former as Y applied to a solemn prophetical speech or I oracle, a Divine utterance (Isa. xiii. 1; xv. equivalent to "God with me," and the latter 1, etc.), o.nd as this designation was deemed as denoting "consumed" with zeal, or inappropriate to the character of this ap- "strong," "perfect." It is as if the writer pendix, it bas been thought that allusion said," You must have God with you; yea, is here made to o. land of Mo.sea, eo called you must have God with you, if you are to after a son of Ishmael (Gen. :x:.xv. 14), who be strong. You must be Ithiels, if you are dwelt in the country of Edom or Scir, and to be Ucals." He refers to 1 Cor, xv. 10; whose inhabitants were among those children 2 Cor. iii. 5; Phil. iv. 13. The.t the Me.- of the East whose wisdom had become pro- sorites regarded these words as proper names verbial (1 Kings iv. 30). Others find J.lfassa is evident: ~:;i~, indeed, can have no other in the Hauran, or on the north of the Per- application. The Syriac takes this view of sian Gu.If. The Venetian Version gives, the words; to the same opinion lean, more AO')'o, , A-yoVpou v1/u,s. ,Ja,clr.,s "TDV MaO'dou. or less, the Jewish translators Aquila and But we have no satisfactory account of o. Theodotion, Aben Ezra, Vatablus, Po.gninus, country thus called, and its existence is and others, and it is the simplest and easiest quite problematical ; therefore the inge- solution of the difficulties which have been nious explanations founded on the reality of seen in the clause. But many, modern this terra ignota need not be specified (see commentators have declared against it; Introduction, pp. xxi., etc.). Gratz has sug- e.g. Hitzig, Zockler, Delitzsch, Bottcher, gested that in place of hamassa should be N owe.ck. The repetition of Ithiel seems read hammoRhel, " the proverb-writer; " but unmeaning; one sees no reason why it this is a mere conjecture, unsupported by any should be repeated more than Ucal. The ancient authority. If, as seems necessary, second verse begins with •~, which, as He- we are compelled to resign the rendering, bro.ists agree, co.nno t stand abruptly at the "of Massa," or "the Massan," we must fall commencement of a discourse, but rather back on tho Authorized Version, and con- establishes something that has preceded. sider the term "oracle" as applied loosely But if we take the words in dispute o.s and abnormally to these utt.erances of wis- proper no.mes, no sto.tement to be confirmed dom which follow. That they are not of has been made. We are, then, constrained the nature of Divine communications can to take them in another sense. St. Jerome be seen at once by consideration of their translates them, writing, Visio quam looutu, contents, which 111'8 me.inly of human, and est vir, cum 900 est Deus, et qui Deo ,~um not of tile highest type, and, though capable morante confortatus. 'l'he LXX. (which in• of spiritual interpretation, do not possess troduces vers. 1-14 of this chapter after oh. that uniqueness of purpose, that religious xxiv. 23) gives," 'l'heso tl.lings so.ith themau orr. XXX, 1-33.] THE PROVERBS. li71