Proverbs 30:8

Remove far from me vanity and lies,.... This is the "first" request, to be preserved from sin, in general; which is a vain, lying, and deceitful thing; promising pleasure, profit, liberty, and impunity, which it does not give.

Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die: Two prayers, followed by single sentences, (Proverbs 30:10, etc.) One prayer concerns the soul, the other the body.

Remove far from me; from my heart, and from the course of my life. This is the first of Agur’ s petitions. Vanity; either, 1. All vain and false opinions concerning God, or the things of God; all unbelief, idolatry, or misbelief. Or, 2. All vanity of heart and life; a vain conversation, an affectation of the vain things of this world, as riches, pleasures, or honours, the bewitching power and sad effects whereof he had observed in others, and feared in himself, as the following request implies. Lies; all falsehood and deceit in my words and carriage towards God or men. Give me neither poverty nor riches: this is his second request, which may seem to have some reference to the former, poverty being commonly the occasion and temptation to the sin of lying, and riches being the great occasions and enticements to vanity. Thus, as his first petition was against the sins themselves, so this latter is against the occasions of them. Food convenient for me; moderate, and suitable both to my natural necessities, and to that estate and condition of life in which thou hast put me, and to that work and service which thou hast for me to do. And this mediocrity of estate is so amiable, that it hath been oft desired by wise heathens, as more eligible than a state of the greatest plenty and glory.

Proverbs 30:8 Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:Ver. 8. Remove far from me vanity and lies,] i.e., All sorts of sins, those lying vanities that promise much happiness to those that pursue them, but perform little enough; "shame" at the best, but usually "death." Free me both from the damning and from the domineering power of sin; both from the sting and stain of it; from the guilt and filth; from the crime and curse; from the power and punishment. Let my person be justified, and my lusts mortified. "Forgive me my trespasses, and deliver me from evil." Give me neither poverty nor riches.] So that God must give to be poor as well as to be rich. He makes holes in the money bag, and he stops the secret issues and drains of expense at which men’ s estates run out, they know not how nor when. Agur would have neither poverty, for the many inconveniences and discomforts that attend it, nor yet riches, for the many cares, cumbers, and other evils not a few that follow them; but a mediocrity, a competence, a sufficiency without superfluity. A state too big, he knew, is troublesome, as well as a shoe too big for the foot. They say it is not the great cage that makes the bird sing; sure we are it is not the great estate that brings always the inward joy, the cordial contentment. Glass keeps out wind and rain, but lets in the light, and is therefore useful in building. A moderate estate is neither so mean as to expose a man to the injuries, nor so great as to exclude a man from the influence of heaven. A staff may help a traveller, but a bundle of staves may be a burden to him; so may too great an estate to a godly man. Feed me with food convenient for me.] Heb., With food of mine allowance, or which thou seest fit to allow me: so much as my demensum comes to; the piece that thou hast cut for me; the portion that belongs unto me; the bread of the day for the day; give me daily bread that I may in diem vivere, live on today, as Quintilian saith the birds do, the little birds, that have their meal brought in every day by their dams without defeatment. And hereunto the original here seems to allude. Pomponius Atticus thus defineth riches, Divitiae sunt, ad legem naturae composita paupertas, Riches are such a poverty or mediocrity as hath enough for nature’ s uses. If I may have but offam et aquam, a morsel of meat, a mouthful of water, and convenient clothing, I shall not envy the richest Croesus or Crassus upon earth.

(8) Vanity.—Falsehood either towards God or man. Food convenient for me.—Literally, bread of my portion, such as is apportioned to me as suitable by the care of the heavenly Father. Comp. “daily bread” (Matthew 6:11) in the sense of “proper for our sustenance.”

Verse 8. Remove far from me vanity and lies.] 1. שוא shav, all false shows, all false appearances of happiness, every vain expectation. Let me not set my heart on any thing that is not solid, true, durable, and eternal. 2. Lies, דבר כזב debar cazab, all words of deception, empty pretensions, false promises, uncertain dependences, and words that FAIL; promises which, when they become due, are like bad bills; they are dishonoured because they are found to be forged, or the drawer insolvent. From the import of the original, I am satisfied that Agur prays against idolatry, false religion, and false worship of every kind. שוא shau is used for an idol, a false god. Jeremiah 18:15: "My people have forsaken me; they have burnt incense to VANITY;" לשוא lashshav, "to an IDOL." Psalms 31:6: "I have hated them that regard lying VANITIES;" הבלי שוא habley shave, "vain IDOLS." See also Hosea 12:11; Jonah 2:8. And כזב cazab, a thing that fails or deceives, may well apply to the vain pretensions, false promises, and deceptive religious rites of idolatry. So Jeremiah 15:18: "Wilt thou be unto me as a liar," כמו אכזב kemo achzob, like the false, failing promises of the false gods; "and as waters that fail;" לא נאמנו lo neemanu, that are not faithful; not like the true God, whose promises never fail. According to this view of the subject, Agur prays, 1. That he may be preserved from idolatry. 2. That he may put no confidence in any words but those pure words of God that never fail them that trust in him. Give me neither poverty nor riches] Here are three requests: 1. Give me not poverty. The reason is added: Lest, being poor, I shall get into a covetous spirit, and, impelled by want, distrust my Maker, and take my neighbour's property; and, in order to excuse, hide, or vindicate my conduct, I take the name of my God in vain; תפשתי taphasti, "I catch at the name of God." Or, by swearing falsely, endeavour to make myself pass for innocent. Forswere the name of my God. - Old MS. Bible. Coverdale, "deny or apostatize from him." 2. Give me not riches. For which petition he gives a reason also: Lest I be full, and addict myself to luxurious living, pamper the flesh and starve the soul, and so deny thee, the Fountain of goodness; and, if called on to resort to first principles, I say, Who is Jehovah! Why should I acknowledge, why should I serve him? And thus cast aside all religion, and all moral obligation. 3. The third request is, Feed me with food convenient for me, הטריפני לחם חקי hatripheni lechem chukki; the meaning of which is, "give me as prey my statute allowance of bread," i.e., my daily bread, a sufficient portion for each day.

8. food convenient for me] Heb. the bread of my portion, i.e. that is needful for me. The Heb. word is used of an appointed portion of labour, or a task, Proverbs 31:15; Exodus 5:14. Comp. “Give us this day our daily bread.”

The order of the two requests is significant. The wise man’s prayer is first and chiefly, “truth in the inward parts,” the removal of all forms of falsehood, hollowness, hypocrisy.

7, 8. These verses contain a direct address to God, although he is not named till towards the close of the prayer.