Day 173 (Proverbs 30-31) - Year 7
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Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap. Today we finished our 15th book of the Bible. Congratulations! And even though there are 66 books, we're actually almost to the halfway point in our first trip through the Bible together. Let's see what the wise men had to say to us today in Proverbs.

Chapter 30 is written by a man named Agur, and it's the only place in Scripture where his name occurs. Some people think this may have been one of Solomon's pseudonyms, but no one knows for sure. What we do know is that he has a different approach to wisdom literature than most other wisdom authors. They typically start out by saying something like, Listen up, I'm about to drop all my wisdom on you. But he opens with something closer to, Hey, nice to meet you. I'm an idiot.

He's not just being self-deprecating here. He's driving home a point. He's saying that his wisdom in comparison to God's wisdom is absolutely zero. He uses a lot of imagery that's reminiscent of when God spoke to Job, and he points out that God is so much more powerful and wise than any of us. In verse 4, he also ends with a question that could be prophetic.

He's talking about God and His power, and he says, "'Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name and His Son's name? Surely you know.'" I do. I know Him. Verse 6 is a reminder of why this trip we're taking through the Bible is so important. It says, "'Do not add to His words, lest He rebuke you and you be found a liar.'" If we don't know what God says, how will we know if we're misquoting Him or adding to His words?

I've seen many ideas presented as God's words or promises. I've seen mantras posted on Instagram images or wall art that are being presented as God's words, but they're far from it. And sometimes they're even the opposite of what His Word communicates. The more we read His Word, the more we'll be able to spot the counterfeits. That's how some bank tellers learn to identify false currency, by studying the real thing. They learn what a real dollar looks like, then they can spot the counterfeit a mile away.

If you aren't already, expect that you'll start seeing things soon that bother you because of how they misrepresent God and His Word. The hard part is staying humble when we encounter those things and not acting like we're smarter than the person who posted it. All that to say, I'm really glad I don't run into a lot of Renaissance artists at the grocery store. Agur goes on to ask God for two things—to keep Him honest and to keep Him from sin—

He knows the human heart well enough to know that blessings and prosperity can often lead to disregarding God and forgetting our need for Him, while poverty can lead to despair and sin. It's easy to view the latter as being a worse kind of sin, to become a thief or a criminal. The shinier option is to be so wealthy that you forget God. But that's still sin nonetheless, and Agur wants to be kept from both extremes.

He calls the arrogant and self-righteous to account and points out that often the guilty feel no sense of guilt. Their hearts are calloused. He closes by encouraging repentance for those who have puffed themselves up or who plan their sins. Planning sin is a sure sign of a calloused heart. In chapter 31, we have another guest author, King Lemuel. And most people believe this is a pen name for King Solomon. There's no record of a King Lemuel in Scripture,

And a lot of other details apparently line up with this being a pseudonym. This is wisdom passed down to King Lemuel by his mother, and Scripture gives us other evidence that Solomon was close with his mother Bathsheba, so it's possible that these are her words of wisdom from all she endured in her life. And if, in fact, these were Bathsheba's words, then you can see how verses 2 through 3 would fit Solomon's situation.

They say, In verses 4-9, she encourages her son towards selflessness.

She basically says, you're in a position of power. Don't waste it. Don't open your mouth to fill it with wine. Open your mouth to work justice for the oppressed and the needy. Then she goes into the part of this proverb that most women are familiar with. Interestingly, it was written for a man as his mother's advice on what kind of woman he should be on the lookout for.

If this was, in fact, Solomon, then I think his way of following her advice was just to choose a bunch of women who each possessed maybe one of these characteristics and hope it would all add up. Not the best choice.

This passage on the Proverbs 31 woman often makes women feel inadequate because we can't really live up to this ideal. But be encouraged that this person is almost certainly imaginary. His mom is just putting together a prototype for him. And as we imagine what this woman's life must look like, we may wonder if she's a robot. Does she ever sleep? When does she have time to shower? The good news is that this list of things might have spanned her entire life, not a 24-hour period.

She may not have been an entrepreneur while she was raising children. Who knows? She may not have been feeding her family at the same time she was feeding the poor. If you're a woman, hopefully it will set you free to remember that this is wisdom literature, not law. The point of this chapter isn't that we should compare our lives to hers, but that we should take note of the wisdom in her heart and the things she values, which determine how she spends her time.

She's a woman of substance. She's not entitled. She has a great work ethic. She's supportive. And most importantly, she trusts God. Verse 25 says, Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. To live in fear of the Lord means we don't live in fear of tomorrow. And as verse 30 says, A woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

And that ties right into my God shot. If a woman fears the Lord, meaning she delights in God, trusts God, stands in awe of God and His ways, then ultimately she's relying on God for everything that makes her the strong, dignified, praiseworthy woman we've seen described here. If we drill down on it, that means that God is also and ultimately to be praised for who she is.

It's kind of like, if I bring you dinner, but it was just leftovers from when my mom cooked, then sure, you can thank me for it, but really, she's the one who did the doing. It just passed through my hands on its way from her to you.

So back to my point. Everything praiseworthy about this woman is rooted in who God is to her, which means God is to be praised too. This woman is not the hero. This woman points to the hero. This woman finds her strength in the hero. She's granted her wisdom and dignity by the hero. Men, if you find a wife like this, that's awesome. And women, if you are a woman like this, I want you to mentor me.

This woman is great for sure, but she's not the pinnacle. She points us to someone else far greater, and he's where the joy is.

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