James Jordan has a great little commentary on Proverbs 30, the words of Agur (“sojourner”). Some believe the author of this chapter is Jacob. Jordan runs with this possibility and makes some wonderful observations.

The true son of God – or daughter of God – is a sojourner. That was true of Christ Jesus, and it is also true of us. For this reason, the proverbs of Agur the Sojourner are most relevant to us. These Sojourning Proverbs have a common theme, and that theme, announced in the opening paragraph, is humility. These are the proverbs of a man who learned wisdom by practicing humility…

The words of the Sojourner (Jacob?) the son of Yahweh,
blessed is He, the burden:
The man declares, “I have wearied myself, O God!
I have wearied myself, O God, and I have come to an end!
For I am more stupid than any man,
And I do not have the understanding of a man.”

Compare this with what Jacob said to Pharaoh: “The days of the years of my sojourning are 130; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, nor have they reached the days of the years of the life of my fathers during the days of their sojourning” (Gen. 47:9).

I’m going to assume in these studies that these proverbs were written by Jacob. They were written at the end of his life, when he had “come to an end.” It is possible that there is a better solution to the puzzle of the opening verses of Proverbs 30, and if that is indeed the case, it will not change very much of what we shall find in the rest of the chapter. Whether Jacob wrote this chapter or not, it is certainly the case that Jacob’s life illustrates what we find here. The applications to us today will be the same in any event.

Notice Jacob’s [or Agur's] remarkable humility at the end of his life. Age and experience have not made him arrogant and proud. Rather, as Jacob considers things, he says that he is stupider than anyone he knows. He does not have the understanding that we can expect of any ordinary person. He has not learned wisdom (v. 3).

Have you ever felt this way? I believe that “the more you know, the more you don’t know.” The word “sophomore” means “wise fool,” or “sophisticated moron.” It is used of young people who think they have learned wisdom, but who obviously have not. In fact, the wiser we become, the more aware we are of how little we know. The more we learn about God, the greater is our awareness of the tremendous depth of His infinity. The older we grow in Christ, the more child-like we become-not childish in the sense of irresponsibility, but child-like in the sense of wonder and humility. Remember, the book of Proverbs is addressed to children (Prov. 1: 8).

But Jacob the Sojourner knows one thing that changes everything: “But I have knowledge of the Holy One” (v. 3; compare the old man’s knowledge in 1 John). Jacob may be worn out with living. He may feel defeated in his attempts to “exercise dominion.” He may be overwhelmed by his lack of personal wisdom; but there is one thing he does know: He knows God. And he knows that knowing God is the beginning of true wisdom (Prov. 1:7).

Knowing God makes for humility. Job 38-42 expand on what we find in verse 4 here. The questions Agur asks, such as “Who has gathered the wind in His fist?” are just like the questions God asks Job. As God humbled Job by revealing Himself, so Agur expresses humility before the knowledge of the God who created and reigns in heaven and earth.

What Job realized and what Agur realized, and what we must realize, is that we don’t need to understand everything. We don’t need to understand everything because we have God as our Father and He understands everything. Moreover, we don’t have to do everything. If we are tired, and can’t go any farther, it’s all right, because God is our Father, and He can do everything. The tired Sojourner can rest in the comfort of God’s Omnipotence.

James B. Jordan, Advice From a Sojourner, Humility and Dominion in Proverbs 30. Available from www.biblicalhorizons.com

Here’s the last installment of my answers to Brian Simmon’s 50 objections to a first century “coming in judgment” of Christ. You can find a link under Featured Articles that will list them all for you.

46. Abraham still hasn’t inherited the land God promised him (Gen. 13: 15; Acts 7: 5).

Joshua 21:43 “So the LORD gave to Israel all the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it and dwelt in it.”

I don’t see the relevance of Acts 7:5. The Land was promised to his descendants.

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Matthew 1-10 follows the Dominion pattern. After Jesus’ testing in the wilderness, in 4:18-8:13 Jesus called His disciples and began mustering a new holy army – the “next generation”.[1] It was reported to Him that the last Old Covenant Nazirite (holy warrior) was dead. It was time for new warriors. Jesus healed the uncleanness of many, creating a new priesthood. His success in the wilderness as a new Head made possible this new body. Peter Leithart writes:

By my count, there are twelve disfigurements listed in Leviticus 21:18-20 that disqualify a priest from serving at the altar and in the tabernacle: blind, lame, slit, deformed, broken foot, broken hand, hunchback, dwarf, defect of eye, eczema, scabs, crushed testicles. The listed disfigurements point to a disfigured Israel, twelve disfigurements for twelve tribes. And this adds some depth to the fact that Jesus heals many of these disfigurements as He creates a new Israel. [2]

There was not one factor that could possibly make a child of Adam unfit to serve in this new Tabernacle. Everyone could be made an acceptable sacrifice in this new High Priest. Yet, not everyone was chosen.

After this Trumpets section, 8:14 to 9:8 concerns Atonement, so Matthew quotes Isaiah to support his presentation of Christ as High Priest, carrying the sins of Israel:

This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”

After Jesus making the storm tossed sea into a sea of glass (the Laver, the veil), the Atonement symbols continue with demoniacs living among tombs (the Most Holy Place). Jesus symbolically took their nakedness. The demons, as the second goat, were expelled into a herd of unclean beasts (pigs) which attempted to cross the sea but were drowned. These two pictures present Christ as a boat, the ark of Noah that brings resurrection to Greater Eve but condemns the legions of the unclean. [3] He crossed the sea twice perhaps because the High Priest approached the Most Holy twice: once for the priesthood and once for the people.

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[1]   The sermon on the mount within this structure of chapters 1-10 is “Deuteronomic.” Jesus “received” the Law from the Father as He ascended from the waters of baptism, and now repeated it to a new Israel to prepare them for conquest.
[2]  Disfigured Israel 
[3] Cobbled together from bits of Totus Christus chapter 26. Read the intro and chapter 1 here (PDF).

For those who wonder why God doesn’t fix all the wrong in the world right now, C. S. Lewis wrote that when the Author walks onto the stage, the play is over. That is true, but narrow…

God is patient and longsuffering, and does not want anyone to perish. But this disregards the major theme of the Bible, which is the pattern of growth from childhood to maturity. Salvation is certainly central to us, but it is a means to an end, and that end is our development from red earth to glorious metal, from craven sinners to wise judges who not only reflect the Solomon-glory of Christ, but are useful to God. Passover is just the beginning.

The world is a place of Adam-mediators, those who stand in the gap between God and others and demonstrate both His goodness and severity. This requires time, and allows for failure.

80% of the world’s hungry children today are in countries with food surplusses… Why does God not step in and oust these corrupt or inept governments?

That mother and her children, beaten almost daily by an alcoholic husband… Why does God not step in and deal with him?

That minister who intimidates, or fleeces, or even molests people in his congregation… Why does God not step in and incinerate his corrupt priesthood?

That woman who leaves her infant children alone in the car while she spends her grocery money at the casino… Why does God not step in and deal with her?

The answer is, all those in power are mediators. Every one of us has a God-given dominion, and God gives us time to make it flourish–or not. Then, He does step in to evaluate us eventually, in His perfect timing. This is the pattern of Covenants in the Bible. All government, all marriage, all parenting, all employment, all ministry is by nature a covenantal privilege.

Of course, as we also see in the Bible, when God doesn’t step in (such as in Habakkuk), He is accused of being unjust. And then when He does step in (such as in Ezekiel), He is also accused of being unjust. By faith, we know that God is just when He speaks and blameless when He judges (Ps. 51:4) because He has shown us our own condition.

We have a Great Mediator in heaven Who is all wise and all powerful. He knew exactly what He was doing with the domain given to Him at His ascension to the throne of David and it resulted in purification and ascension for the saints, and destruction for His enemies, as He threatened. It brought about the end of the Old Covenant.

Now ruling the world in a similar fashion, we can be confident that He not only knows what He is doing and will bring it to a similarly glorious end for the saints, but that as mediators–Temple bowls–we can approach Him for all the wisdom and strength we need to feed and correct in our given domains, as part of bringing about that glorious end–the victorious end of the New Covenant.

It is certainly the duty of a Christian man to ascend higher than merely to seek and secure the salvation of his own soul . . . If we wish to belong to Christ, let no man be anything for himself. But let us all be whatever we are for each other.

- John Calvin