Proverbs 30:3

I neither learned wisdom,.... Natural wisdom or philosophy, so as to understand the nature of things, and reason about them in a philosophical manner; or political wisdom, so as to know how to govern

I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy. I nether learned wisdom, nor have (know) the knowledge of the holy - naturally.

I neither learned wisdom; I have not been taught in the schools of wisdom, as the sons of prophets were, but must own myself to be an unlearned man, as the prophet Amos was, ,15. Or, I have not learned it, neither by my own understanding and study, nor by the help of other men. Of the holy; either, 1. Of the holy angels, who are called holy by way of eminency, as ,17,23 8:13. But it was vain to deny that angelical knowledge to be in him, which no man imagined to be in him, and which was not in Adam fix the state of innocency. Or, 2. Of the holy prophets. So the sense is, I have not such Divine inspirations as prophets strictly so called have received, whereby I should be enabled to know or explain those great mysteries wherein you desire information from me. Or, 3. Of holy things, of the mind and will of God concerning man’ s salvation, and the way which leads to it; not that he denieth that he had any knowledge of these things, but only a full, and comprehensive, and perfect knowledge, which they falsely supposed to be in him.

Proverbs 30:3 I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy.Ver. 3. I neither learned wisdom.] As he had it not by nature, so neither had he attained unto it by any pains or skill of his own. "There is a spirit indeed in man" - a reasonable soul and a faculty of reasoning - "but the inspiration of the Almighty giveth understanding." Not that Agur neglected the means of knowledge, or put off the study of it (as Solomon’ s fool, Proverbs 24:7), from a conceit of the impossibility of reaching to it. Neither yet was he of their mind of whom Augustine makes mention that they cast off the care of knowledge, because knowledge puffeth up; and so would be ignorant that they might be humble, and want knowledge that they might want pride. This was to do as the philosopher that plucked out his eyes to avoid the danger of uncleanness. Sed nihil aliud egit quam quod fatuitatem suam urbi manifestam fecit, saith Tertullian, wherein he proclaimed his own folly to all the country. But holy Agur here assures us that flesh and blood never revealed these high things that follow unto him, but as Paul was an apostle, so was he a prophet "not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father," even "the Father of lights." In nature’ s school nothing is to be learned concerning Ithiel and Ucal. St Augustine, though much taken with Cicero’ s "Hortensius," yet because he found not the name of Christ in it he could not so heartily affect it. The philosophers much magnify the mind of man as full of divine light and perspicacy, when the truth tells us that it is “ Mens oblita Dei, vitiorumque oblita caeno. ” There is nothing great in the earth but man, nothing in man but his mind. Si eousque scandis, coelum transcendis, said Favorinus the philosopher; If you get up thither you ascend beyond heaven. But Agur "had not so learned Christ." He talks of natural blindness and other evils born with him. Erras si tecum vitia nasci putes; supervenere, ingesta sunt. You are out, Agur, saith Seneca, if you talk on that manner; blindness is not natural to you, but adventitious. Agur bewails his loss in Adam; this nature’ s eye never saw, and therefore heart never rued. Those that were born in hell knew none other heaven, as the proverb is. Agur tells us here that he never learned true wisdom from any man, but must thank God for that measure thereof that he had attained to. On the contrary Cicero tells us that, inasmuch as every man acquires to himself that virtue that he hath, no wise man ever yet gave God thanks for it. And Seneca saith, It is of the gods that we live, but of ourselves that we live well and honestly. How different are the saints in Scripture from the world’ s wizards!

(3) The knowledge of the holy—i.e., the Holy One, God. (Comp. Proverbs 9:10.)

Verse 3. I neither learned wisdom] I have never been a scholar in any of those schools of the wise men, nor have the knowledge of the holy, קדשים kedoshim, of the saints or holy persons. The Septuagint give this a different turn: θεοςδεδιδαχεμεσοφιανκαιγνωσιναγιωνεγνωκα; "God hath taught me wisdom, and the knowledge of the saints I have known." This may refer to the patriarchs, prophets, or holy men, that lived before the days of Solomon. That is, the translators might have had these in view.

3. the holy] Rather, the Holy One. See Proverbs 9:10 note.

He found, when he looked within, that all his learning was as nothing. He had heard of God only “by the hearing of the ear” Job 42:5, and now he discovered how little that availed. The holy - The Holy One. Compare Proverbs 9:10.

3. Knowledge of the holy — ÷ãùׁ ?éí, (kedhoshim,) plural, holy ones, which is understood by some as meaning holy persons; saints or persons divinely illuminated, that is, inspired.