The Sceptics of the Old Testament: Job - Koheleth - Agur Part 35

SECOND SAYING

_On Four Insatiable Things_

There be three things which are never satisfied, Yea, four exclaim: "It is not enough!"

The Ghoul hath two daughters: "Give, give!"--the grave and the womb.[313]

The earth is not filled with water, And the fire sayeth not, "It is enough!"

THIRD SAYING OF AGUR

_On Four Inscrutable Things_

There be three things too wonderful for me, Yea, four which I fathom not: The way of the eagle in the air, The way of the serpent upon a rock, The way of a s.h.i.+p amidst the ocean, And the way of a man with a maid.[314]

FOURTH SAYING

_Four Insupportable Things_

Under three things the earth quakes, And under four it cannot stand.

Under a slave when he seeks to reign, And under a fool when he is filled with meat; Under an odious woman when she gets a husband, And under a handmaid who is heir to her mistress.[315]

FIFTH SAYING

_Four who stride majestically_

There be three things which go well, Yea, four are comely in going: A lion--the hero among beasts, Who turneth not aside for any one; A greyhound and a bell-goat, And a king who riseth up for his people's sake.

SIXTH SENTENCE

_Exhortation to denounce ambition_

Whether thou hast acted foolishly in exalting thyself, Or whether thou hast done wisely, lay thy hand upon thy lips![316]

For pressure of milk produces b.u.t.ter, And pressure of vanity produces anger; Pressure of the nose[317] produces blood, And pressure of wrath produces strife.

Footnotes:

[312] To this and the following Sayings, Agur's orthodox opponent replies thus:

Every word of G.o.d is purified: He is a s.h.i.+eld to them that put their trust in him.

Add thou not unto his words, Lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.

Two things have I demanded of thee, O Jahveh, Deny me them not before I die:

Frivolity and blasphemous words And negation remove far from me.

Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with food suitable for me.

Lest I be sated and deny thee, And say, Who is the Lord?

Or lest I be poor and yield to seduction And offend against the name of my G.o.d.

Accuse not a servant to his master,[312a]

Lest he curse thee and thou be found guilty.

There is a bad generation that curses its father And doth not bless its mother,[312b]

A bad generation which is pure in its own eyes, And yet is not washed from its filthiness.

A bad generation, how lofty are its eyes!

And how uplifted its eyelids!

A bad generation whose teeth are as swords, And whose jaw-teeth are as knives

To devour the poor from off the earth, And the needy from among men.[312c]

[312a] As if Agur were an aristocrat from blind unreasoning sympathy for the heathen aristocracy. Allusion to Agur's 4th Saying.

[312b] Against Agur's 2nd and 3rd Sayings.

[312c] Against Agur's 4th Saying.

[313] _I.e_., birth and death. (_Cf. Agur, the Agnostic_, pp.

139, 140.) The champion of orthodoxy evidently took the pa.s.sage literally and consequently condemned Agur as guilty of a lack of filial respect for his mother, venting his feelings in the following lines:

"The eye that scoffeth at the grey hair of the father And that despiseth the old age of the mother,

The ravens of the valley shall pick it out And the young eagles shall devour it."

[314] Verse 20 A.V. is an addition inserted by a later writer who having misunderstood the last line of the fourth sentence, deemed it his duty to give it a moral turn.

[315] The Sentence following (vv. 24-24 A.V.) dealing with Four Cunning Ones is probably not from Agur's pen; for not only has it five distichs, but it lacks the point which characterises his Sayings, besides which it does not begin, as his "numerical" Sentences do, with _three_ before proceeding to _four_.

[316] Keep silence.

[317] In Hebrew the same word signifies "nose" and "strife."