Life on Life Discipleship - An Activity of the Truly Wise . . . Proverbs 30:1

The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, the oracle. The man declares to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal: Proverbs 30:1

Here we have an interesting verse in Proverbs.  It is generally accepted that this person named Agur was an actual man - and that his students, Ithiel and Ucal were also real as well.  Thus this is probably part of the collection of wisdom that Solomon had.  He was probably greatly impressed by this collection of wise sayings and incorporated it into his own collection as well. 

What do we know of these three men.  Well, beyond the meaning of their names and this particular collection of sayings - nothing.  Yet God used them to offer to us an entire chapter of Agur's wise sayings.  In fact, Agur is called, "the oracle," which means that Solomon considered him a prophet - or at least a man inspired by God to put these sayings from Him into a list of sorts.  Let's take a closer look at their names and what they mean. 

Agur means collector or gatherer.  This name probably designates that he was a collector of wise sayings - but the "son of Jakeh" refers to his father.  Jakeh means to be on one's guard - and this particularly before God Himself.  Thus the idea here is that of piety - guarding ourselves before God - and guarding others so that they walk in godliness.  Thus, when we grasp Agur's full name - he would be considered to be the gatherer, the son of the man who guarded piety - who desired to walk in holiness and purity before God.  If a name meant anything - and in Hebrew culture it did - then this was quite a man God used to collect these sayings from God and then declare them as an oracle from God Himself.

Not only did this man offer these wise sayings as much needed wisdom - he took the time to state them to others.  Ithiel and Ucal were Agur's students.  Ithiel means, "with me is God" while Ucal means "to eat or to devour."  These are quite the names of his students.  Evidently his students wanted the presence of God in their lives - and also had a hunger for the things of God.  At least this is what their parents hoped and desired for them when they named their children. 

We come back to this verse - apart from trying to gain information from the names themselves and see a very important principle of discipleship here.  At face value, we have a situation where a godly man - even a prophet or oracle of God is taking two others under his wing for the purpose of declaring to them the things God has made known to him.  This is the heart of true discipleship.  Life on life ministry is so important.  It is not enough to just try to read the Bible - we so desperately need for godly men to pour their lives into younger men and pass wisdom to them.  Jesus did it with 12 - Paul did it with Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Epaphroditus and others.  If we are wise, we will do it too.