Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Exceeding wise – Some prefer the reading of the Septuagint and Vulgate: wiser than the wise. The thought, in either case, turns upon the marvels of instinct, which, in their own province, transcend the more elaborate results of human wisdom.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 24. There be four things] Of which it is said, they are very little but very wise. 1. The ants. 2. The rabbits. 3. The locusts. 4. The spider.

1. The ants show their wisdom by preparing their meat in the summer; seeking for it and storing it when it may be had; not for winter consumption, for they sleep all that time; but for autumn and spring. See Clarke on Pr 6:6. The ants are a people; they have their houses, towns, cities, public roads, c. I have seen several of these, both of the brown and large black ant.

2. The rabbits act curiously enough in the construction of their burrows but the word shaphan probably does not here mean the animal we call coney or rabbit. It is most likely that this is what Dr. Shaw calls the Daman-Israel; a creature very like a rabbit, but never burrowing in the ground, but dwelling in clefts and holes of rocks.

3. The locusts. These surprising animals we have already met with and described. Though they have no leader, yet they go forth by troops, some miles in circumference, when they take wing.

4. The spider. This is a singularly curious animal, both in the manner of constructing her house, her nets, and taking her prey. But the habits, &c., of these and such like must be sought in works on natural history.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Comparatively to other brute creatures. They act very wisely and providently, not from any reason which they have, but by the direction of Divine Providence, which secretly guides them to do those things for their own preservation which are most agreeable to the rules of wisdom. The design of this observation is either,

1. To commend wisdom to us, and to teach us to imitate the providence of these creatures, as we are provoked to imitate their diligence, Pro 6:6. Or,

2. To keep us from being proudly conceited of our own wisdom, because we are either equalled or exceeded therein by the unreasonable creatures in the wise conduct of their affairs. Or,

3. To direct us to whom to resort for wisdom when we want and desire it, even to that God who is able to inspire wisdom even into the brute creatures.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

24-31. These verses provide twoclasses of apt illustrations of various aspects of the moral world,which the reader is left to apply. By the first (Pr30:25-28), diligence and providence are commended; the success ofthese insignificant animals being due to their instinctive sagacityand activity, rather than strength. The other class (Pro 30:30;Pro 30:31) provides similes forwhatever is majestic or comely, uniting efficiency with gracefulness.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

There be four [things which are] little upon the earth,…. Small in bulk, that have little bodies, are the lesser sort of animals;

but they [are] exceeding wise; show a great deal of art and wisdom in what they do; or “but they are wise, made wise” e by the instinct of nature, by the direction of Providence, by which they do things that are surprising. Some versions, that have no regard to the points, read the words, “but their are wiser than the wise” f; than even wise men; wise men may learn much from the least of creatures; see Job 12:7.

e “sapientia, sapientia imbuta”; Heb. “sapientificata”, Piscator, Gejerus. f “Sapientiora sapientibus”, so Sept. V. L. Arabic and Syriac versions; “sapientia superant, vel prudentissimos”, Tigurine version.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Another proverb with the cipher 4, its first line terminating in :

24 Four are the little things of the earth,

And yet they are quick of wit – wise:

25 The ants – a people not strong,

And yet they prepare in summer their food;

26 Conies – a people not mighty,

And yet set their dwelling on the rocks;

27 No king have the locusts,

And yet they go forth in rank and file, all of them together;

28 The lizard thou canst catch with the hands,

And yet it is in the king’s palaces.

By the disjunctive accent, , in spite of the following word toned on the beginning, retains its ultima -toning, 18a; but here, by the conjunctive accent, the tone retrogrades to the penult., which does not elsewhere occur with this word. The connection is not superlat. (for it is impossible that the author could reckon the , conies, among the smallest of beasts), but, as in the expression , the honoured of the earth, Isa 23:8. In 24b, the lxx, Syr., Jerome, and Luther see in the comparative: ( ), but in this connection of words it could only be partitive (wise, reckoning among the wise); the part. Pual (Theodotion, the Venet. ) was in use after Psa 88:6, and signified, like , Exo 12:9, boiled well; thus , taught wit, wise, cunning, prudent (cf. Psa 64:7, a planned plan = a cunningly wrought out plan; Isa 28:16, and Vitringa thereto: grounded = firm, grounding), Ewald, 313c. The reckoning moves in the contrasts of littleness to power, and of greatness to prudence. The unfolding of the [four] begins with the [the ants] and [conies], subject conceptions with apposit. joined; 26a, at least in the indetermination of the subject, cannot be a declaration. Regarding the fut. consec. as the expression, not of a causal, but of a contrasted connection, vid., Ewald, 342, 1a. The ants are called , and they deserve this name, for they truly form communities with well-ordered economy; but, besides, the ancients took delight in speaking of the various classes of animals as peoples and states.

(Note: Vid., Walter von der Vogelweide, edited by Lachmann, p. 8f.)

That which is said, 25b, as also Pro 6:8, is not to be understood of stores laid up for the winter. For the ants are torpid for the most part in winter; but certainly the summer is their time for labour, when the labourers gather together food, and feed in a truly motherly way the helpless. , translated arbitrarily in the Venet. by , in the lxx by , by the Syr. and Targ. here and at Ps 104 by , and by Jerome by lepusculus (cf. ), both of which names, here to be understood after a prevailing Jewish opinion, denote the Caninichen

(Note: The kaninchen as well as the klippdachs [cliff-badgers] may be meant, Lev 11:5 (Deu 14:7); neither of these belong to the bisulca , nor yet, it is true, to the ruminants, though to the ancients (as was the case also with hares) they seemed to do. The klippdach is still, in Egypt and Syria, regarded as unclean.)

(Luther), Latin cuniculus ( ), is not the kaninchen [rabbit], nor the marmot, (C. B. Michaelis, Ziegler, and others); this is called in Arab. yarbuw’ ; but is the wabr , which in South Arab. is called thufun , or rather thafan , viz., the klippdachs ( hyrax syriacus ), like the marmot, which lives in societies and dwells in the clefts of the mountains, e.g., at the Kedron, the Dead Sea, and at Sinai ( vid., Knobel on Lev 11:5; cf. Brehm’s Thierleben, ii. p. 721ff., the Illustrirte Zeitung, 1868, Nr. 1290). The klippdachs are a weak little people, and yet with their weakness they unite the wisdom that they establish themselves among the rocks. The ants show their wisdom in the organization of labour, here in the arranging of inaccessible dwellings.

Pro 30:27

Thirdly, the locusts belong to the class of the wise little folk: these have no king, but notwithstanding that, there is not wanting to them guidance; by the power and foresight of one sovereign will they march out as a body, , dividing, viz., themselves, not the booty (Schultens); thus: dividing themselves into companies, ordine dispositae , from , to divide, to fall into two (cogn. , e.g., Gen 32:7) or more parts; Mhlau, p. 59-64, has thoroughly investigated this whole wide range of roots. What this denotes is described in Joe 2:7: “Like mighty men they hunt; like men of war they climb the walls; they march forward every one on his appointed way, and change not their paths.” Jerome narrates from his own observation: tanto ordine ex dispositione jubentis (lxx at this passage before us: ) volitant, ut instar tesserularum, quae in pavimentis artificis figuntur manu, suum locum teneant et ne puncto quidem et ut ita dicam ungue transverso declinent ad alterum . Aben Ezra and others find in the idea of gathering together in a body, and in troops, according to which also the Syr., Targ., Jerome, and Luther translate; Kimchi and Meri gloss by and , and understand it of the cutting off, i.e., the eating up, of plants and trees, which the Venet. renders by .

Pro 30:28

In this verse the expression wavers in a way that is with difficulty determinable between and . The Edd. of Opitz Jablonski and Van der Hooght have ‘ , but the most, from the Venetian 1521 to Nissel, have ‘ ( vid., Mhlau, p. 69). The Codd. also differ as to the reading of the word; thus the Codd. Erfurt 2 and 3 have ‘ , but Cod. 1294 has ‘ . Isaak Tschelebi and Moses Algazi, in their writings regarding words with and (Constant. 1723 and 1799), prefer ‘ , and so also do Mordecai Nathan in his Concordance (1563-4), David de Pomis (1587), and Norzi. An important evidence is the writing , Schabbath 77b, but it is as little decisive as [coat of mail], used by Jer 44:4, is decisive against the older expression . But what kind of a beast is meant here is a question. The swallow is at once to be set aside, as the Venet. translates ( ) after Kimchi, who explains after Abulwald, but not without including himself, that the Heb. word for (Arab.) khuttaf (which is still the name given to the swallow from its quickness of motion), according to Haja’s testimony, is much rather , a name for the swallow; which also the Arab. (Freytag, ii. p. 368) and the modern Syriac confirm; besides, in old Heb. it has the name of or (from Arab. shash , to fly confusedly hither and thither). In like manner the ape (Aben Ezra, Meri, Immanuel) is to be set aside, for this is called (Indian kapi , kap , kamp , to move inconstantly and quickly up and down),

(Note: Vid., A Weber’s Indische Studien, i. pp. 217, 343.)

and appears here admissible only on the ground that from they read that the beast had a resemblance to man. There remains now only the lizard (lxx, Jerome) and the spider (Luther) to be considered. The Talmud, Schabbath 77b, reckons five instances in which fear of the weaker pursues the stronger: one of these instances is , another . The swallow, thus Rashi explains, creeps under the wings of the eagle and hinders it from spreading them out in its flight; and the spider ( araigne ) creeps into the ear of the scorpion; or also: a bruised spider applied heals the scorpion’s sting. A second time the word occurs, Sanhedrin 103b, where it is said of King Amon that he burnt the Tora , and that over the altar came a (here with ), which Rashi explains of the spider (a spider’s web). But Aruch testifies that in these two places of the Talmud the explanation is divided between ragnatelo (spider) and (Ital.) lucrta (lizard). For the latter, he refers to Lev 11:30, where (also explained by Rashi by lzard) in the Jerus. Targ. is rendered

(Note: The Samaritan has, Lev 11:30, for , and the Syr. translates the latter word by , which is used in the passage before us (cf. Geiger’s Urschrift, p. 68f.) for ; omakto (Targ. akmetha ) appears there to mean, not a spider, but a lizard.)

by (the writing here also varies between and or ). Accordingly, and after the lxx and Jerome, it may be regarded as a confirmed tradition that means not the spider, for which the name is coined, but the lizard, and particularly the stellion (spotted lizard). Thus the later language used it as a word still living (plur. , Sifre, under Deu 33:19). The Arab. also confirms this name as applicable to the lizard.

(Note: Perhaps also the modern Greek, ( , ), which Grotius compares.)

“To this day in Syria and in the Desert it is called samawiyyat , probably not from poison, but from samawah = , the wilderness, because the beast is found only in the stony heaps of the Kharab ” (Mhlau after Wetzstein). If this derivation is correct, then is to be regarded as an original Heb. expression; but the lizard’s name, samm , which, without doubt, designates the animal as poisonous (cf. , samam , samm , vapour, poisonous breath, poison), favours Schultens’ view: = (Arab.) samamyyat , afflatu interficiens , or generally venenosa . In the expression , Schultens, Gesenius, Ewald, Hitzig, Geier, and others, understand of the two fore-feet of the lizard: “the lizard feels (or: seizes) with its two hands;” but granting that is used of the fifteen feet of the stellio, or of the climbing feet of any other animal (lxx = ), yet it is opposed by this explanation, that in line first of this fourth distich an expression regarding the smallness of the weakness of the beast is to be expected, as at 25a, 26a, and 27a. And since, besides, with or always means “to catch” or “seize” (Eze 21:16; Eze 29:7; Jer 38:23), so the sense according to that explanation is: the lizard thou canst catch with the hand, and yet it is in kings’ palaces, i.e., it is a little beast, which one can grasp with his hand, and yet it knows how to gain an entrance into palaces, by which in its nimbleness and cunning this is to be thought of, that it can scale the walls even to the summit (Aristoph. Nubes 170). To read with Mhlau, after Bttcher, recommends itself by this, that in one misses the suff. pointing back ( ); also why the intensive of is used, is not rightly comprehended. Besides, the address makes the expression more animated; cf. Isa 7:25, . In the lxx as it lies before us, the two explanations spoken of are mingled together: (= ) … This (Symmachus, ) hits the sense of 28a. In , is not the genit. of possession, as at Psa 45:9, but of description (Hitzig), as at Amo 7:13.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

      24 There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise:   25 The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer;   26 The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks;   27 The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands;   28 The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings’ palaces.

      I. Agur, having specified four things that seem great and yet are really contemptible, here specifies four things that are little and yet are very admirable, great in miniature, in which, as bishop Patrick observes, he teaches us several good lessons; as, 1. Not to admire bodily bulk, or beauty, or strength, nor to value persons or think the better of them for such advantages, but to judge of men by their wisdom and conduct, their industry and application to business, which are characters that deserve respect. 2. To admire the wisdom and power of the Creator in the smallest and most despicable animals, in an ant as much as in an elephant. 3. To blame ourselves who do not act so much for our own true interest as the meanest creatures do for theirs. 4. Not to despise the weak things of the world; there are those that are little upon the earth, poor in the world and of small account, and yet are exceedingly wise, wise for their souls and another world, and those are exceedingly wise, wiser than their neighbours. Margin, They are wise, made wise by the special instinct of nature. All that are wise to salvation are made wise by the grace of God.

      II. Those he specifies are, 1. The ants, minute animals and very weak, and yet they are very industrious in gathering proper food, and have a strange sagacity to do it in the summer, the proper time. This is so great a piece of wisdom that we may learn of them to be wise for futurity, ch. vi. 6. When the ravening lions lack, and suffer hunger, the laborious ants have plenty, and know no want. 2. The conies, or, as some rather understand it, the Arabian mice, field mice, weak creatures, and very timorous, yet they have so much wisdom as to make their houses in the rocks, where they are well guarded, and their feebleness makes them take shelter in those natural fastnesses and fortifications. Sense of our own indigence and weakness should drive us to him that is a rock higher than we for shelter and support; there let us make our habitation. 3. The locusts; they are little also, and have no king, as the bees have, but they go forth all of them by bands, like an army in battle-array; and, observing such good order among themselves, it is not any inconvenience to them that they have no king. They are called God’s great army (Joel ii. 25); for, when he pleases, he musters, he marshals them, and wages war by them, as he did upon Egypt. They go forth all of them gathered together (so the margin); sense of weakness should engage us to keep together, that we may strengthen the hands of one another. 4. The spider, an insect, but as great an instance of industry in our houses as the ants are in the field. Spiders are very ingenious in weaving their webs with a fineness and exactness such as no art can pretend to come near: They take hold with their hands, and spin a fine thread out of their own bowels, with a great deal of art; and they are not only in poor men’s cottages, but in kings’ palaces, notwithstanding all the care that is there taken to destroy them. Providence wonderfully keeps up those kinds of creatures, not only which men provide not for, but which every man’s hand is against and seeks the destruction of. Those that will mind their business, and take hold of it with their hands, shall be in kings’ palaces; sooner or later, they will get preferment, and may go on with it, notwithstanding the difficulties and discouragements they meet with. If one well-spun web be swept away, it is but making another.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

Four Things Little But Wise

Verses 24-28 cite four things little but exceeding wise from which Agur learned valuable lessons also profitable for man today:

1) From the ant (Vs. 25) he noted the wisdom of preparing for the future during the time of opportunity. This is good judgment not only in matters physical, but wise for man’s more important spiritual need. Pro 27:1 warns against counting on a tomorrow, likewise Gen 6:3. Jeremiah lamented that the harvest was past and the people were not saved, Jer 8:20. Jesus wept over a Jerusalem unprepared for impending judgment, Luk 19:41-42.

2) From the conies (tiny rock badgers) (Vs. 26) Agur realized the wisdom of seeking a safe refuge as he observed these creatures lake refuge from the hawks and predators in the crevices of the rocks. It is not accidental that the “ROCK” is often a symbol of the refuge God has provided for man, see Psa 104:18; Deu 32:15; 2Sa 22:3; Psa 31:3-5; Num 20:8; Num 20:11; 1Co 10:4.

3) From the locusts (Vs. 27) Agur witnessed the wisdom of many successfully cooperating together to accomplish a single purpose. Such is the LORD’S plan for His church, 1Co 12:20-26.

4) From the spider (or small lizard) (Vs. 28) Agur noted the wisdom of patient labor to achieve progress as this small creature found its way even into king’s palaces. So also would the LORD have His people, press on in growth and advancement to the highest levels, Dan 12:3; Mat 13:43; 2Ti 4:8; Joh 15:16.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

CRITICAL NOTES.

Pro. 30:26. Conies. A gregarious animal of the class Pachydermata, which is found in Palestine living in the caves or clefts of the rocks. Its scientific name is Hyrax Syriacus. It is like the Alpine marmot, scarcely the size of a domestic cat, having long hair, a very short tail, and round ears (Smiths Biblical Dictionary).

Pro. 30:28. Spider. Most commentators translate lizard. Delitzsch reads, The lizard thou canst catch with the hands, and yet it is in the kings palaces.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Pro. 30:24-28

LOWLY TEACHERS

I. Man can learn from creatures far beneath him. Herein he gives evidence both of his greatness and of his imperfection. He is often so faulty in many respects that some of the most insignificant creatures around him read him lessons of wisdom, and yet his capability of receiving instruction from them shows how superior he is to them. For creatures below man, although their actions are often marked by something that seems very nearly akin to reason, are not capable of receiving moral instruction, either from those above or beneath them, and so give proof that they lack a capacity which man possesses.

II. The lessons taught him by each of these creatures.

1. From the ant industry and forethought. On this subject see on chap. Pro. 6:6, page 79.

2. From the coney (see Critical Notes) a prudent acknowledgment of weakness. It is one of the marks of a wise man that he knows his weakness as well as his strength, and this seems to be the lesson conveyed by the feeble folk who, conscious of their feebleness, make their abodes in the rocks. Foolhardiness may ruin a man as surely as cowardice, and it is quite a different thing from courage, though it is sometimes mistaken for it.

3. From the locust the need of unity and co-operation. The locust is in itself a small and weak insect, yet it is well known what mighty and terrible work can be accomplished by them when they unite. They stand as an example of the wonderful effect of perfect combination and unanimity in action. (See Joe. 2:2-11.) They seem animated by a single purpose, and the myriads of individuals seem to become one great and irresistible monster, and thus show us what great things can be accomplished in any community when men are of one heart and mind on any subject, and are willing to lay aside personal preferences and individual interests in order to achieve a common purpose.

4. From the lizard (see Critical Notes) the results of perseverance. This little creature is constantly found in Eastern houses, and doubtless in the palace as well as in more lowly dwellings. Although hardly so good an example of perseverance as the spider, yet it owes its presence in the house to its own energy in overcoming obstacles, and its pertinacity in seeking out some means of entrance, and may therefore be regarded as worthy of mans imitation when some task is set before him which calls for continuous and watchful effort.

OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS

It has been remarked by some, that the four emblems express all that is requisite for the conservation and well-being of a STATE or KINGDOM. There is supply of food;commodious and secure dwelling places;subordination, concord, and united exertion;and the prevalence and encouragement of the ingenious and useful arts. These are things that governors and kings should look to. And we may apply the emblematic lessons to domestic life. Before a man can prudently marry, and have a family, he should have some suitable provision made, and something like a fair prospect of being able to support them. Next is to be found a suitable dwelling, adapted to his circumstances and convenience, Then, when settled, there must be harmony, union, co-operation, in all departments of the household. And lastly, there must be the diligent, constant, persevering application of his skill and labour to his worldly calling.Wardlaw.

The ants prepare their meat in the summer, that they may not starve in the rigours of the winter months. How despicable, compared with these insects, are the rational creatures, who suffer the thoughts of an endless duration to be pushed out of their minds by threescore and ten years? The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats, and the rocks for the conies; and has God provided no refuge for our souls? God himself is our refuge and our strength, and those that make him their habitation shall be secured from the fear of evil.Lawson.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

24-28. Four things little Here is the enigma of the four small and contemptible things, that are yet esteemed for their wisdom and other qualities.

The ants See Pro 6:6; and notes there.

The conies Rabbits. But the coney of Scripture the hyrax Syriacus, also called the daman is a different animal from our rabbit. “It is small, gregarious, timid, easily tamed, and lives in the mouth of caves, or clefts of the rocks.”- Baird. Compare Lev 11:5; Psa 104:18.

The spider , ( semamith;) rather, the house lizard, which is tolerated even in palaces, because it helps to cleanse them of vermin. “Its principal food is flies, and these it springs upon and grasps with both its prehensiles, as if they were hands.” Stuart. There have been various conjectures about the semamith. A writer in Calmet contends for the common house fly.

The locusts Compare Joe 2:7-8. “The most striking fact about the flight of locust swarm’s is their apparent order and discipline, sweeping over the land like a great invading army.” Speaker’s Commentary. Our Western “grasshoppers” are supposed to be a variety of the same insect.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Little But Wise

Pro 30:24-28

These words distinctly teach that wisdom is not measurable by physical magnitude. The large man may be a little man. The little body may shelter a great soul. The elephantine and prodigious body may hardly have a soul at all. These things are perfectly well known, yet we require to be reminded of them with some frequency, because so many appeals are addressed to our senses. We are not called upon to admire mere bigness, bulk, surface, and weight. The same terms do not always mean the same thing. Sometimes little is not merely little. Sometimes greatness is greatness minus. Some pounds have sixteen ounces in them, others have only twelve. Butchers and silversmiths do not reckon by the same arithmetical tables. In a prosperous condition of society, a single diamond may be worth more money than all the beasts in a cattle market; but in times of famine one lamb will be more precious than all the diamonds in kings’ houses. Value varies according to circumstances. He is the wise man who knows the one thing, whose value never changes, which overbalances and reduces to insignificance the pomp of unintelligent creation. It we lay hold of these things and estimate values correctly, it will help in the adjustment of social relations and in the appreciation of those virtues which ought ever to be uppermost in a true condition of society. We are called upon to remember that wisdom, and wisdom alone, is the true standard of measurement; that the humblest life is greater than the sublimest art, and that one spark of intellect is infinitely more precious than the most crushing animal strength.

It is possible to be little and yet to be exceeding wise. Let us gather round these little wise creatures and learn what we may from them. “Ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee.” He makes a wise use of nature who regards it as a book of divine instruction. Everything has its lesson. Everywhere we find the signature, the autograph of God, and he will never deny his own handwriting. God hath set his tabernacle in the dewdrop as surely as in the sun. Man can no more create the meanest polyp than he could create the greatest world. We are surrounded by instructors; we are in a great schoolhouse; it is full of letters, lessons, illustrations, and appeals. If, then, we be found fools after all, how bitter, how terrible must be our condemnation! Blame not the savage in the lonely forest for his ignorance of letters; but the man who has had every opportunity of attaining scholarship, and after all remains in ignorance, rightly deserves concentrated bitterness of human contempt. Let us beware of setting up precedents and inaugurating analogies and instituting seats of judgment; because God will gather them all together one day, and his great white throne will be the more terrible for the precedents we ourselves have perpetrated.

“The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer.” This is forecast. Some people seem to have no forecast; they are never quite sure how many two and two will make. They seem to have no power of turning the past into the prophet of the future. They bury the past, and act upon this advice, “Let the dead past bury its dead.” But there is a past that is not dead, and we must not impose upon that living, instructive, interpretative prophetic past the duty of burying itself. Yesterday is the key which opens to-morrow, so far as great principles and fundamental conditions of life and service are concerned. The ants gather their meat in the summer; that is, they know the time of their opportunity, and they make the best of it. We ourselves have a little proverb which may match the text: “Make hay while the sun shines.” And there is another like unto it: “Strike the iron while it is hot.” What if you geniuses in hay, and philosophers in iron, be found at last to be fools in the soul, and madmen about your standing with God!

“If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!”

Every man has a summer. It is quite true, indeed, that some summers are very short; but every man has a summer: only one summer. Man has but one boyhood, as the day has but one dawn. Life has but one summer, as hath the rolling year. Yet, to some men, an hour has more than sixty minutes in it, and to other men all the clocks in Christendom could never teach the value of time. There are men who never have time to do anything, they are always going to think about how this thing or that might be approached and come round upon and looked at; and whilst they are engaged in this serene and philosophical exercise, the whole thing passes beyond their reach, beyond their influence. There is one thing for which men ought to find time, and that is to prepare for the future. Do you say you have not opportunity? How then are you spending your time? In business, in strife after position, trying to get daily bread honestly? All this up to a given point is perfectly right, perfectly defensible. But see! You had better set fire to your shop; you had better go without bread, than lose the opportunity of knowing God, laying hold upon him, and following hard after him. The life is more than meat. If anything is to be saved out of the fire, it is not the decoration, the luxury, the toy, it is the child! The life first, and then if you can get anything afterwards by all means get it; but do, in the name of common sense, be as reasonable and as sensible in spiritual things as you are in things that are temporal. Summer is quickly going with some of us, but if one moment remains a great deal may be done in it. It is marvellous how the very greatest things we read of have been done, as it were, instantaneously. It is wonderful what creative force there is in one word, what determining might there is in one resolution, how in one moment a man may change the current of his life and the point of his destiny. “Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” It is a point of time; it is one effort of the heart; it is one gasp of the soul, and then what? Eternity! Heaven! There may have been long processes, but the climacteric deed is often expressed by a word. Some of you have had time enough to get to the height of your aspirations, to get through your processes of thinking and considering and calculating; but if you have had this time and have abused it, from this moment your life is not an ascension, it is an anti-climax.

“The conies are but a feeble folk, yet they make their houses in the rocks.” The tenant is weak, the habitation is strong. Here is a puny, a very feeble folk, going up towards the great rock-house. There is something very pathetic, very beautiful in that, in weakness seeking the granite, in feebleness hiding itself in some pavilion of rock. There is a law of compensation. In the universe there is a law of what we may term complement, a law which makes up to men, somehow, the thing that is wanting. Man must always look out of himself for this complemental quantity. God provides the rock for the conies, and God provides a rock for all weakness. What if the conies should attempt to say, “We are a feeble folk, but we are just as God has made us; so we shall stop out here in summer and in winter. We shall take things just as they fall out; we did not make ourselves, and therefore we have no reason to look after anything?” “Why,” you would say, “the conies are a very feeble folk indeed, feeble in their intellect, feeble in their common sense, as well as feeble in their physical faculties.” A man may say, “I am not equal to this or that; I am insufficient; there are points when I feel myself utterly unequal to the task that is before me. I cannot reach my ideals; my prayers outstrip me; I cannot follow after them, except at immense distances. Life is too much for me; I must succumb.” Is there any provision made for this state of things by the great Creator, the merciful Redeemer, and the gentle Father of mankind? There is a Rock provided for all weakness. The Rock of Ages is the only rock in which all man’s weaknesses can be hidden. That is the only power by which a man’s feebleness can be defended. It is indeed a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence. But we are distinctly told that it is laid in Sion by God himself, and that it is elect, tried, precious, and sure. There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved, but the name of Jesus Christ. Those who have known this a long while will make a joyful noise unto the rock of their salvation. They will lay, “The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my sure abiding place.” Does any man indulge in a spirit of complaint? Then I have to teach that man that every one of us has a compensation. If we have not one thing we have another. You have no money; but you have good health. Your circumstances are very gloomy; but you have a most hopeful disposition. You are sleepless by reason of adversity; but you have the hearing ear which hears the song of the nightingale. You have no estates; but you have the poetic eye, which gives you proprietorship in all the sunny landscape. You have no acquaintances; but you find fellowship in a thousand noble thoughts. You are blind; but there is sunshine in your soul. So, you never met a man anywhere who was in a grumbling, censorious, reproachful temper, but that you could find in that man some compensation, and could point out in him some little bright spot that he had overlooked. Everywhere we find the seal of God’s goodness, the stamp of his tender and enduring mercy. Let everything that hath breath say, His mercy endureth for ever.

“The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by bands,” a very beautiful and practical republic. They have no king, but every one of them has a little bit of kingliness in himself. You cannot have a grand republic without kingliness, and you cannot have a great state if you only have a king in it. Here we find combination, not lonely wandering, solitary flying, every one studying to do a little for himself; we find co-operation, going together, moving in bands. We have seen a chain as it lay upon the grass, and found it was tethering an animal some yards off. Which of the links holds that cow? Not the first link, nor the second, nor the third, nor the fiftieth. Not one of the links, but all the links on the chain are doing so. And what is the chain? Only a series of links; and so links and chain, chain and links, are all doing the work. That is how it must be in business, in families, in churches, in governments, in all great confederacies of life.

We witness a copious and gracious shower for the refreshing of the parched earth: the flowers drink in the blessing, and the earth looks young again. What did it? Catch one of the drops, and say, Are you doing this? No. Which drop did it? No drop did it the shower did it! So it must be in our great Christian agencies. There is no one man can do all. God hath not appointed men so to do. He hath called us to unity, to co-operation, to banding ourselves together, to finding in each other the complement of ourselves. Every man has a sphere. Though we may have a republic, it will not mean that one is as good as another. One man is not as good as another, and one man is not as much of a man as another: he may require a larger coat, but a very small accommodation will do for his soul. It may be so, or it may not be so; and if we were all equal this moment, before the clock went round once we should all be sixes and sevens, and mainly, it is to be feared, sixes.

“The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings’ palaces.” Does this mean skill: this skill will have its reward. Does it mean patience in working out elaborate and beautiful results: then here is progress getting into kings’ houses, into high places, into palatial position. Every man is set upon an ascending line of human life. We never find God calling a man downwards, diminishing the volume of his manhood, checking his good aspirations, putting him low in the scale of his being. All the divine movement is an upward movement. We are not always to be children, we are to be men. We are not to be content with the point of conversion, we are to grow in grace. We are not to be satisfied with being branches in the vine, we are to bring forth much fruit. We are not to see how little we can do, we are to be always abounding in the work of the Lord.

Here then is a test of growth and the standard of manhood. Here is a reward of industry and skill and patience. In all labour there is profit. You do not see all the results of your work, your patience, your attention to culture, to duty, to service. You do not know the rewards of your tranquil trust, your uncomplaining pain and suffering. There is profit in the thing itself; there is not always a marketable profit, something that can be set up and ticketed at a fair price. But there is in the soul, in the man himself, such growth and strength, such refinement, such tenderness, such majesty as nothing else could have wrought in him.

The whole study becomes an argument. If God has given such wisdom to insects, how much more will he give to men? They cannot ask for any more: we are urged to speak to him to give us further supplies. “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not.” Then if we are not wise, whose blame is it? It is not God’s blame. He waits to communicate, he loves to give. An ungiving God! That would be a monstrosity of paganism, a degradation of mythology itself. We are called to asking, to prayer, to pleading, that the volume of our being may be increased, that our spiritual graces may be multiplied, and that all that is divine in us may be enhanced and confirmed. No man can be wise without this union with God. He may have devoured whole libraries, but he is not wise. If God so commends the right use of instinct, how will he complain of the abuse of reason! Men are sent to the ants to learn diligence. They are sent to the conies to learn that there is a way which terminates in a great rock. They are sent to the locusts to learn how littles, when combined, may become mighty, sufficient for all the duty and obligation of the day. What if it be found at the last that all the lower orders and ranks of creation have been obedient, dutiful, loyal, and that man only has wounded the great heart? “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.” God has had no trouble with his great constellations, they never mutinied against him; he has had no trouble with his forests, no rebel host ever banded themselves there. Where has his sorrow lain? His own child, his beloved one, in whom he has written in fairest lines the perfectness of his own beauty, that child has lifted his puny fist and smitten him, not in the face only, but on his heart of love, which only can be forgiven by the shedding of sacrificial blood. We are all verily guilty in this matter; God be merciful unto us sinners!

Prayer

Almighty God, we will not think of our own days, which are a handful, but of the years of the right hand of the Most High. We are in time, but we do not belong to it; it is too short, too small, too tantalising, to cover all our need and satisfy all our desire. We are the children of eternity, we are pilgrims walking towards heaven, we are heirs of immortality through Jesus Christ our Saviour, our elder Brother, our true and eternal Adam. Prevent us from setting our affections upon the things that are slipping away, and fix the thought of our hearts upon the days that abide, the sunshine that never fades, the summer that never yields to encroaching winter. We bless thee for thoughts higher than time, wider than space, nobler than sense; we thank thee for yearnings towards eternity, for longings and desires and upliftings of soul that indicate that we are redeemed, not with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of the Son of God. For every elevating thought we thank thee, as for one of the best of thy blessings. Accept our thanksgivings for our bread and our water, the couch on which we find sleep, and the roof that shelters us from the storm; but these are things of nought compared with the holy desires, the lofty aspirations, the yearnings full of pain but full of joy with which thou dost enrich the soul. May we live in the higher realities; may the world always be under our feet; when we use it, may we use it as a master, and not submit to it as a slave; and in all things may we show that we abide in God. Feed our souls upon the Bread of Life; put away from us everything that would degrade the soul, and contract the scope and outlook of our being. May the soul be master, may the mind be on the throne, may the heart rule the hand, and tell it like one in authority what to do and what to let alone. Thus would we be our best selves, our true selves; men as thou didst see us in eternity. Wherein we have done wrong in the past, thy mercy is greater than our sin; the blood of Jesus Christ is the answer of God to our iniquity and wickedness and helplessness, the Cross is God’s reply to human stupor and human wonder. O sweet Cross of Jesus, glory of the universe, talk to us, and tell us thy great gospel. Let the days and the years come and go; they make no impression upon eternity; eternity did not begin, eternity cannot end: we are moving towards that infinite sanctuary where we shall have opportunity to study thy word more deeply, to love thee without distraction of desire or thought. Grant unto us that independence of all things earthly which comes from the indwelling sovereignty and sanctified power of the Holy Ghost; then our poverty shall be wealth, our wealth shall be but a means of usefulness, and all our life shall be an ascending sacrifice, which is our reasonable service. Help us to bear the remainder of thy discipline with nobleness of soul, with hopefulness of spirit; turn our tears into jewels, and lift up our souls when they are bowed down. Do thou carry the load when it is too heavy for us; shelter us from the wind when its coldness is cruel, and bring us to our desired haven over life’s rough sea: there shall we praise thee in eternal song. God’s will be done; God’s name be glorified; may Christ be formed in our hearts the hope of glory. Amen,

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

Pro 30:24 There be four [things which are] little upon the earth, but they [are] exceeding wise:

Ver. 24. There be four things. ] Made up thus in quaternions (as the 119th Psalm is in octonaries, and those in an alphabetical order), for help of memory.

Which are little upon the earth, but exceeding wise. ] God is maximus in minimis, very much seen in the smallest creatures. In formicis maior anima quam in elephantis, in nanis quam in gigantibus, The soul is more active in ants than elephants, in dwarfs than in giants. “Who hath despised the day of small things?” Zec 4:10

“A cane non magno saepe tenetur aper.” – Ovid.

The creatures, next to the Scriptures, are the best layman’s books, whereby we may learn to know God and ourselves savingly. “Ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee, and the fowls of the heaven, and they shall tell thee.” Job 12:7

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

little upon the earth = earth’s little ones.

exceeding wise. Hebrew “wise, made wise”. Figure of speech Polyptoton. App-6. The Septuagint and Vulg, render “wiser than the wise”.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Pro 30:24-28

Pro 30:24-28

“There are four things which are little upon the earth,

But they are exceeding wise:

The ants are a people not strong,

Yet they provide their food in the summer;

The conies are but a feeble folk,

Yet make they their houses in the rocks;

The locusts have no king,

Yet go they forth all of them by bands;

The lizard taketh hold with her hands,

Yet is she in king’s palaces.”

Other translations give us “badgers” for `conies’ in Pro 30:26, or “rock-rabbits,” “mormats,” or “the rabbit.” Why don’t we just stay with the rendition, “conies,” as in the NIV?

On Pro 30:28, the KJV has: “The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in king’s palaces. Nearly all the recent renditions give us ‘lizard’ here instead of spider; but, there is no doubt that this first line bears the translation, “taketh hold with her hands”; and that fits ‘spider’ a hundred times better than it fits `lizard.’ Add to that the fact that `holding a lizard in one’s hand’ is rather ridiculous, even for men, and absolutely impossible as far as women are concerned! All in all, we overwhelmingly prefer the KJV in this verse.

We should not overlook the lesson here. Although the creatures mentioned here are very small and weak, God has endowed them with instinctive wisdom that perpetuates them. In contrast with that, man himself, who is also week and small, has been endowed with reason and intelligence; and if he would be guided by true wisdom `from God’ as faithfully as these exceedingly small creatures are guided by what God gave them, the happiness and continuity of man would be prolonged.

Pro 30:24. With this verse Agur begins another series of things, this time four things that are little but exceedingly wise. Pulpit Commentary: In contrast with the intolerable pretensions of the last group.

Pro 30:25-28. What four? (1) Ants. An ant may not be strong, but an ant is wise enough to prepare his food in the summertime for the winter when it would be hard to find. Ever notice how busy ants are as they work? In countries where ants do not hibernate, they do make granaries for themselves in the summer, and use these supplies as food in the winter months (Pulpit Commentary). (2) Conies-the rock-badger (Hart in Animals of the Bible). Geike: The coney abounds in the gorge of the Kedrom and along the foot of the mountains west of the Dead Sea. Because they are small (about the size of a rabbit) they live in the rocks. (The rocks are a refuge for the conies-(Psa 104:18). Their wisdom is displayed in their other protective measures: It is very hard to capture one…They have sentries regularly placed on the lookout while the rest are feeding; a squeak from the watchman sufficing to send the flock scudding to their holes (Pulpit Commentary). (3) The locusts. They have no leader, yet they all seem to know what to do. Joe 2:7-8 says of them, They run like mighty men; they climb the wall like men of war; and they march every one on his ways, and they break not their ranks. Neither doth one thrust another; they march every one in his path; and they burst through their weapons, and break not off their course. (4) The lizard-the small kind with special suction-cup toes that enable it to run up walls and cling to ceilings. This would be the taketh hold with her hands. Small as it is, and easy to catch and crush, it is agile and clever enough to make its way into the very palace of the king, and to dwell there (Pulpit Commentary). The unstated conclusion of this list would be that we should be wise, and we will succeed in spite of various limitations.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

little: Job 12:7

exceeding wise: Heb. wise, made wise

Reciprocal: Pro 6:16 – six Pro 30:15 – There

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Pro 30:24-28. There be four things little, &c., but exceeding wise Comparatively to other brute creatures, they act very wisely and providently, through the direction of Divine Providence, which secretly influences them to do those things for their own preservation which are most agreeable to the rules of wisdom. The design of this observation Isaiah , 1 st, To commend wisdom to us, and to teach us to imitate the providence of these creatures, as we are excited, Pro 6:6, to imitate their diligence; 2d, To keep us from being proud of our own wisdom, because we are either equalled or exceeded therein by brute creatures, in the wise conduct of their affairs; and, 3d, To direct us to whom to apply for wisdom when we want and desire it, even to that God who inspires such wisdom even into irrational animals. The ants are a people Which title is often given to insects, and other inferior creatures, both in the Scriptures, (see Joe 1:6; Joe 2:2,) and in Homer, and Virgil, and divers other authors; yet they prepare their meat in the summer Of which see on Pro 6:6-8. The conies are but a feeble folk Rather, the rock-rats, or mountain-mice: see on Lev 11:5. Yet make their houses in the rocks In the holes of rocks, where they secure themselves against their too potent enemies. The locusts have no king To rule and order them; yet they go forth all of them by bands In great numbers, in several companies, and in exact order, as is observed in Scripture, and in other authors. The spider taketh hold Of the threads which she spins out of her own bowels; with her hands With her legs, which he calls hands, because they serve her for the same use to do her work, to weave her web, and to catch gnats or flies. And is in kings palaces Is not only in poor cottages, but many times in palaces also.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

30:24 There are four [things which are] little upon the earth, but they [are] very {n} wise:

(n) They contain great doctrine and wisdom.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

In contrast to the arrogant, here are four examples of humble creatures functioning as God created them to, each remarkably effective and successful. Animals (Pro 30:24-28) are sometimes wiser than humans (Pro 30:21-23). The small are often more effective than the large. The basic contrast, however, is between humility and arrogance.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)