Proverbs 30:31

The sayings of Agur son of Jakeh begin at Proverbs 30:1, and they show a man who watched the world closely and drew wisdom from what he saw. Here he names four things that move with a dignity that catches the eye. “Go well” joins two Hebrew words. The first, tsaʻad, is a pace or step, the regular stride of something that walks steadily and with purpose. The second, yâṭab, is a verb meaning to be good or to do well. Put together, they describe things that are good in their stepping.

“Comely” is ṭôwb, a word meaning to be good, right or pleasing. The second line of the verse says again what the first line said, in slightly different words, as Hebrew poetry often does, and the repetition strengthens the point. The word for “going” in that line is from halakh, the common verb for walking. Scripture often speaks of a person’s whole way of life as a walk, as when the blessed man of Psalm 1:1 “walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly”, so a saying about creatures that walk well carries a lesson for people too.

The lion comes first, and it sets the tone for the rest. The Hebrew word here, layish, is traced to a root meaning to crush, and it describes a mature and formidable lion. It is called the “strongest” among beasts, gibbôwr, a word often used of a warrior, a champion or a mighty man. Agur describes the lion the way Israel described its heroes. The phrase “strongest among beasts” is the strong language of poetry, and it gives the lion its place at the head of the animals.

“Turneth not away” uses shûwb, which means to turn back or return. With the negative it pictures a lion that holds its ground and gives way to no creature that meets it. That steady courage is what makes it comely in going.

Lions were real to the people who first heard this saying. They lived in the land, and shepherds, travellers and villagers knew the danger of meeting one. Kings in Israel and among the surrounding nations took the lion as an emblem of their might, and lion figures decorated palaces and thrones. The lion’s strength is God’s gift, and God himself provides its food, as he reminds Job when he asks whether Job can hunt the prey for the lion (Job 38:39–41).

Elsewhere Scripture uses the lion as a picture of opposite things. Peter warns that “your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8), and in the next verse he tells believers to resist him “stedfast in the faith” (1 Peter 5:9). Paul likewise calls God’s people to take up his armour so that, “having done all”, they may “stand” (Ephesians 6:13). The lion’s courage belongs to its nature as God made it. The believer’s steadfastness comes from being in Christ and from the Holy Spirit who lives within us, and it holds firm under pressure for the same reason.

The fourth and last is a king, melek, a monarch or ruler. Among the nations of that day a king stood at the height of human authority, often held to be appointed by heaven and sometimes regarded as divine. To rise up against him was treason, and it was usually put down swiftly and harshly. The list moves here from the animals to human society, and the king is its climax.

“No rising up” is ʼalqûwm, probably formed from ʼal, a word of negation, and qûwm, to rise. It means something like “a non-rising” or resistlessness. The word is found only here, so its exact sense is uncertain, and the king of this list is also described as a king with his army about him. On any reading, the picture is of a ruler whose authority goes unchallenged as he moves among his people.

The lion and the king of this saying both find their fullest meaning in Jesus Christ. He is “the Lion of the tribe of Judah”, and when John turns to look at him he sees a Lamb that had been slain (Revelation 5:5–6). His strength is the strength of God, and he never turned away from the work his Father gave him. “He stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51), as the Servant in Isaiah says, “I set my face like a flint” (Isaiah 50:7). He bore the shame of the cross, rose from the grave, and triumphed over principalities and powers (Colossians 2:15).

He is also the King against whom there is no rising up. Isaiah foretold the child whose government and peace would have no end (Isaiah 9:6–7). He rode into Jerusalem as a meek and lowly King (Matthew 21:5), and after his resurrection he said, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18). Daniel saw the Son of Man given a dominion that “shall not pass away” (Daniel 7:14). No power on earth or in the spiritual realm can stand against him.

His whole life was comely in going. He “went about doing good” (Acts 10:38), every step of his ministry marked by grace and resolve and obedience to his Father. He leads his sheep, who hear his voice and follow him, and he gives them eternal life (John 10:27–28).

Agur’s four creatures belong to a long line of Scripture that sees God’s handiwork in what he has made. “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1–4), and the invisible things of God “are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made” (Romans 1:20). Job says that the beasts and the birds can teach us that the hand of the LORD has done this (Job 12:7–9), and Proverbs sends the sluggard to learn from the ant (Proverbs 6:6). God’s design is useful, and it is also beautiful and orderly, down to the stride of a goat and the bearing of a lion.

The proverb also gives us a picture of a life lived well. Those who belong to Christ have been raised with him to “walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4), and Paul asks us to “walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called” (Ephesians 4:1). “The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day” (Proverbs 4:18). A believer’s walk grows steady and dignified the way these creatures move, from the strength God gives. Above all, the saying leaves us with the King whose rule no one can overturn, and under his reign his people walk secure.