What does Proverbs 30:23 Mean?

Context Summary

We have four more quatrains.

1. There are the four wonders that baffle Agur's understanding. How superficial is our knowledge! How does the eagle mount the air, or the serpent find a hold on the slippery rock, or a ship plow her way across the deep, or a man and woman fall in love by a secret interchange of heart which no one else perceives? And further how can a sinner continue to sin without experiencing remorse?

2. There are four intolerable conditions: a slave in authority, a pampered fool, an ill-assorted marriage, and a slave-girl, like Hagar, preferred to her mistress.

3. There are four kinds of animals which prove that it is possible to be insignificant and yet be wise: the ant, the cony, the locust, and the lizard, r.v.

4. There are four things which give the idea of stateliness in motion: a lion, a greyhound, a he-goat, and a king "against whom there is no rising up." This remarkable collection ends with an exhortation to the repression of anger. Sometimes to refuse to express one's passion is the surest way of killing it. Treat it like a room on fire. Shut door and window, that it may die for want of air. Ask God's holy sunlight to replace the unholy heat of your soul. [source]

Chapter Summary: Proverbs 30

¹  Agur's confession of his faith
⁷  The two points of his prayer
¹⁰  The meanest are not to be wronged
¹¹  Four wicked generations
¹⁵  Four things insatiable
²⁴  four things exceeding wise
²⁹  Four things stately
³²  Wrath is to be prevented