Proverbs 30:1

The words of Agur. The interpretation of this verse has occasioned much discussion. Nowhere else in the Bible do we read of Agur or Jakeh or Ucal. The name Ithiel is found in Neh. 11:7 as belonging to a descendant of Benjamin. Some Jewish interpreters believe that “Agur” was an allegorical name for Solomon. They render the opening phrase, “The words of the gatherer the son of the Pious [or Obedient],” referring the designation “Pious” to David. The Vulgate follows a similar idea, rendering the phrase, “The words of the Collector, son of the Utterer.”

Those who do not consider Solomon the author of this section reason that it has a somewhat lower tone than the preceding portions of the book. They also point to vs. 2 and 3 as an unlikely utterance of Solomon.

One Greek version and a number of expositors find in the word for “prophecy” the designation of a place called Massa, probably the one referred to in Gen. 25:14; 1 Chron. 1:30. But even with this designation no light is thrown on the identity of Agur. The reference in 4T 455, 456 is similarly inconclusive. However, it is not necessary that we know through whom these inspired words were given.