Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. Today is Day 711 of our trek, and it is Wisdom Wednesday. Every Wednesday along life’s trails we dig for the nuggets of wisdom that are found within the book of Proverbs. Today we will explore Proverbs 30 from The Voice Translation, which will give us a fresh perspective on this book of timeless wisdom.
We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. I tend to relate to practical everyday advice and wisdom and strive to share that same practical wisdom with each listener of Wisdom-Trek. The practical advice and wisdom in today’s passage is that same type of wisdom. Wisdom can be shared in many different ways and in Proverbs 30 we read the…
Chapters 30 and 31 are the final parts of this ancient book of biblical wisdom. Interestingly, each chapter contains poems attributed to non-Israelite authors named Agur and Lemuel. Agur is a commoner, while Lemuel is a king. According to the superscriptions, both are referred to as sons — a fitting conclusion to a book devoted to sons acquiring wisdom.
In Chapter 30 we hear from the first wise son, Agur. There’s a mini-autobiography in verses 1-9, followed by a collection of fascinating riddles (verses 10-33). Most of these riddles explore things in life that you should avoid: slander, cursing, hate, deception, mockery, adultery, pride, and evil. As bad as these things sound, Agur’s sayings reveal that those who do such things often consider themselves innocent.
Some of these riddles are not about virtue or morality, but are simply observations about nature or relationships. Their structure consists of three observations. The first two are observations about how the world works. The third shows how the first two relate to how wisdom works.
“For as churning cream produces butter” (observation 1), and “as twisting the nose produces blood” (observation 2), “so stirring up anger produces strife” (observation 3).
The riddles, along...
