Proverbs 30 Bible study: Every word of God is flawless

The chapter opens with a heading of its own: "The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, the revelation: the man says to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal" (30:1). The book says no more about these men than that. The first thing the speaker says is what he lacks: "Surely I am the most ignorant man, and don’t have a man’s understanding" (30:2) (tap ignorant), and "I have not learned wisdom, neither do I have the knowledge of the Holy One" (30:3) (tap Holy One). The knowledge of the Holy One is the same two Hebrew words as in "The knowledge of the Holy One is understanding" (Proverbs 9:10). Then come questions, four beginning Who: "Who has ascended up into heaven, and descended? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has bound the waters in his garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son’s name, if you know?" (30:4). The next words are about God's words: "Every word of God is flawless. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him" (30:5) (tap flawless), and "Don’t you add to his words, lest he reprove you, and you be found a liar" (30:6) (tap add). The speaker who says he has no knowledge of the Holy One (30:3) goes on to speak of the words of God (30:5-6). The honest question on Deuteronomy 4 sets Proverbs 30:6 beside Moses' command not to add (Deuteronomy 4:2) and the end of Revelation (Revelation 22:18-19).

צָרַףtsarafsay tsa-RAF

Brown-Driver-Briggs: "smelt, refine, test". Strong's: "to fuse (metal), i.e. refine". It is the metalworker's word. "Every word of God is flawless" (30:5): flawless is this verb. Proverbs has it twice in Hebrew; the other is "material comes out for the refiner" (Proverbs 25:4), where the refiner is this word. The notes on Psalm 12 look at the six verses in the Hebrew Bible that set this verb beside word, and the catch below looks at the line 30:5 shares with 2 Samuel 22 and Psalm 18.