Proverbs 30:18-33 - Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

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Lessons from Common Things

Proverbs 30:18-33

We have four more quatrains.

1. There are the four wonders that baffle Agur's understanding. How superficial is our knowledge! How does the eagle mount the air, or the serpent find a hold on the slippery rock, or a ship plow her way across the deep, or a man and woman fall in love by a secret interchange of heart which no one else perceives? And further how can a sinner continue to sin without experiencing remorse?

2. There are four intolerable conditions: a slave in authority, a pampered fool, an ill-assorted marriage, and a slave-girl, like Hagar, preferred to her mistress.

3. There are four kinds of animals which prove that it is possible to be insignificant and yet be wise: the ant, the cony, the locust, and the lizard, r.v.

4. There are four things which give the idea of stateliness in motion: a lion, a greyhound, a he-goat, and a king “against whom there is no rising up.” This remarkable collection ends with an exhortation to the repression of anger. Sometimes to refuse to express one's passion is the surest way of killing it. Treat it like a room on fire. Shut door and window, that it may die for want of air. Ask God's holy sunlight to replace the unholy heat of your soul.

Related Commentaries of Proverbs 30:18

Proverbs 30:18-33

18 There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not:

19 The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midsth of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid.

20 Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.

21 For three things the earth is disquieted, and for four which it cannot bear:

22 For a servant when he reigneth; and a fool when he is filled with meat;

23 For an odious woman when she is married; and an handmaid that is heir to her mistress.

24 There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceedingi wise:

25 The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer;

26 The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks;

27 The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands;

28 The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces.

29 There be three things which go well, yea, four are comely in going:

30 A lion which is strongest among beasts, and turneth not away for any;

31 A greyhound;j an he goat also; and a king, against whom there is no rising up.

32 If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or if thou hast thought evil, lay thine hand upon thy mouth.

33 Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife.