---
title: "Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah"
author: "Adam Clarke"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Commentaries"
section: 746 of 914
url: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/746/
cite: "Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah, section 746. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/746/"
---

# Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah

*Adam Clarke*

Clarke's learned notes on the Hebrew and Greek, verse by verse, from Genesis to Revelation: volume 1 of 2.

## 746. Proverbs · 41 of 46

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/746/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/746/#p-N

### Verse 11

[¶1] A fool uttereth all his mind - A man should be careful to keep his own secret, and never tell his whole mind upon any subject, while there are other opinions yet to be delivered; else, if he speak again, he must go over his old ground; and as he brings out nothing new, he injures his former argument.

### Verse 12

[¶3] If a ruler hearken to lies - Wherever the system of espionage is permitted to prevail, there the system of falsity is established; for he who is capable of being a spy and informer, is not only capable of telling and swearing lies, but also of cutting his king's or even his father's throat. I have seen cases, where the same spy received pay from both parties, and deceived both.

### Verse 13

[¶5] The poor and the deceitful man - It is difficult to fix the meaning of תככים techachim, which we here render the deceitful man. The Targum has, "The poor and the man of Little Wealth." The Septuagint, "The usurer and the Debtor." The Vulgate, "The poor and Creditor." Coverdale, "The poor and the Lender." Others, "The poor and the Rich;" "The poor and the Oppressors." I suppose the meaning may be the same as in [Pro 22:2] (note): "The rich and the poor meet together; the Lord is the Maker of them all." Where see the note.

### Verse 16

[¶7] When the wicked are multiplied - That, in the multiplication of the wicked transgression is increased, requires no proof; but an important doctrine attaches to this. On this account wicked nations and wicked families are cut off and rooted out. Were it not so righteousness would in process of time be banished from the earth. This will account for many of the numerous instances in which whole families fail.

### Verse 18

[¶9] Where there is no vision - My old MS. Bible, following the Vulgate, translates: Whan prophecye schal failen, the peple schal ben to scatered. Where Divine revelation, and the faithful preaching of the sacred testimonies, are neither reverenced nor attended, the ruin of that land is at no great distance.

[¶10] But he that keepeth the law, happy is he - Go how it may with others, he shall be safe. So our Lord: "Blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it."

### Verse 21

[¶12] He that delicately bringeth up his servant - Such persons are generally forgetful of their obligations, assume the rights and privileges of children, and are seldom good for any thing.

### Verse 22

[¶14] An angry man stirreth up strife - His spirit begets its like wherever he goes.

[¶15] And a furious man aboundeth in transgression - His furious spirit is always carrying him into extremes, and each of these is a transgression.

### Verse 23

[¶17] A man's pride shall bring him low - A proud man is universally despised, and such are often exposed to great mortifications.

### Verse 24

[¶19] Hateth his own soul - נפשו naphsho, his life, as the outraged law may at any time seize on and put him to death.

[¶20] He heareth cursing - אלה alah, the execration or adjuration, (for all culprits were charged, as before God, to tell the truth), ולא יגד velo yagpid, but He will not tell It. He has no fear of God, nor reverence for an oath, because his heart is hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

### Verse 25

[¶22] The fear of man bringeth a snare - How often has this led weak men, though sincere in their general character, to deny their God, and abjure his people! See the case of Peter; and learn from this, O reader, that where the mighty have been slain, thou wilt fall, unless thou call on the Strong for strength, and for courage to use it. Be not ashamed of Jesus nor of his people, nor of his cross. Glory in this, that thou knowest him, art joined to them, and art counted worthy to bear it.

### Verse 26

[¶24] Many seek the ruler's favor - To be screened from the punishment determined by the law; but should he grant the favor sought, and pardon the criminal, this takes not away his guilt in the sight of God, from whom all just judgment proceeds.

### Verse 27

[¶26] And he that is upright in the way - "But as for those that be in the right waye, the wicked hate them." - Coverdale.

[¶27] To this verse the Vulgate adds the following: Verbum custodiens filius extra perditionem erit; "The son that keeps the word shall not fall into perdition." This is not in all copies of the Vulgate: but it was in that from which my old MS. Bible was made, where it is thus translated: The sone keping the worde schal ben out of perdicyon. I believe verbum here is intended for the Divine word; the revelation from God.

### Introduction

[¶29] Agur's confession of faith, [Pro 30:1-6]. His prayer, [Pro 30:7-9]. Of wicked generations, [Pro 30:10-14]. Things that are never satisfied, [Pro 30:15], [Pro 30:16]. Of him who despises his parents, [Pro 30:17]. Three wonderful things, [Pro 30:18-20]. Three things that disquiet the land, [Pro 30:21-23]. Four little but very intelligent animals, [Pro 30:24-28]. Four things that go well, [Pro 30:29-31]. A man should cease from doing foolishly, and from strife, [Pro 30:32], [Pro 30:33].

### Verse 1

[¶31] The words of Agur the son of Jakeh - The words Agur, Jakeh, Ithiel, and Ucal, have been considered by some as proper names: by others, as descriptive characters. With some, Agur is Solomon; and Jakeh, David; and Ithiel and Ural are epithets of Christ.

[¶32] The Vulgate translates, Verba congregantis filii vomentis: visio, quam locutus est sir, cum quo est Deus, et qui Deo secum morante confortatus, ait. "The words of the collector, the son of the vomiter: the vision of the man who has God with him, and who is fortified by God dwelling with him, saith."

[¶33] Coverdale makes the following words a title to the chapter: "The wordes of Agur the sonne of Jake. "The prophecie of a true faithfull man, whom God hath helped; whom God hath comforted and nourished."

[¶34] The whole might be thus translated, keeping near to the letter: - "The words of the epistle of the obedient son." Or, "The words of the collector, the son of Jakeh. The parable which הגבר haggeber, the strong man, the hero, spake unto him who is God with me; to him who is God with me, even the strong God."

[¶35] The visioun that a man spake with whiche is God, and that God with him, wonyng confortid. - Old MS. Bible.

[¶36] From this introduction, from the names here used, and from the style of the book, it appears evident that Solomon was not the author of this chapter; and that it was designed to be distinguished from his work by this very preface, which specifically distinguishes it from the preceding work. Nor can the words in [Pro 30:2], [Pro 30:3], [Pro 30:8], [Pro 30:9], be at all applied to Solomon: they suit no part of Solomon's life, nor of his circumstances. We must, therefore, consider it an appendix or supplement to the preceding collection; something in the manner of that part which the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, had collected. As to mysteries here, many have been found by them who sought for nothing else; but they are all, in my view of the subject, hazarded and precarious. I believe Agur, Jakeh, Ithiel, and Ural, to be the names of persons who did exist, but of whom we know nothing but what is here mentioned. Agur seems to have been a public teacher, and Ithiel and Ucal to have been his scholars; and what he delivers to them was done by prophesy. It was what the prophets generally term משא massa, an Oracle, something immediately delivered by the Holy Spirit for the benefit of man.

### Verse 2

[¶38] Surely I am more brutish - These words can in no sense, nor by any mode of speech, be true of Solomon: for while he was the wisest of men, he could not have said that he was more brutish than any man, and had not the understanding of a man. It is saying nothing to the purpose, to say he was so independently of the Divine teaching. Had he put this in, even by innuendo, it might be legitimate: but he does not; nor is it by fair implication to be understood. Solomon is not supposed to have written the Proverbs after he fell from God. Then indeed he might have said he had been more brutish than any man. But Agur might have used these words with strict propriety, for aught we know; for it is very probable that he was a rustic, without education, and without any human help, as was the prophet Amos; and that all that he knew now was by the inspiration of the Almighty, independently of which he was rustic and uneducated.

### Verse 3

[¶40] I neither learned wisdom - I have never been a scholar in any of those schools of the wise men, nor have the knowledge of the holy, קדשים kedoshim, of the saints or holy persons.

[¶41] The Septuagint give this a different turn: yeov dedidace me sofian, kai gnwsin agiwn egnwka; "God hath taught me wisdom, and the knowledge of the saints I have known."

[¶42] This may refer to the patriarchs, prophets, or holy men, that lived before the days of Solomon. That is, the translators might have had these in view.

### Verse 4

[¶44] Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? - Calmet paraphrases this passage thus: "Who hath descended, etc. In order to show the truth of what he was about to say, he observes: I have not the science of the saints; for how could I have acquired it? Who is he who could attain to that? Who has ascended to heaven to learn that science, and who has descended in order to publish it? Is the science of salvation one of those things that can be apprehended only by study? Is it not a pure gift of the goodness of God? Moses, after having shown to the people the will of God, said to them: 'This commandment which I command thee this day is not hidden from thee; neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it?' [Deu 30:11], [Deu 30:12]. The person whose words we are here examining speaks a knowledge more sublime than that contained in the simple laws of the Lord, common to all the people of Israel. He speaks of the sublime science of the designs of God, of his ways, and of his secrets; and in this sense he affirms he has no knowledge."