Day 796: Pause and ponder - Proverbs 30 vs 18 - 20
18-19 Three things are too wonderful for me; four I do not understand: the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a virgin. 20 This is the way of an adulteress: she eats and wipes her mouth and says, “I have done no wrong.” Proverbs 30:18-20 English Standard Version
The writer gives us the second of his observations of things in the world that caused him to pause and ponder. The first of these reflections was in the last study where he commented on ‘things that are never satisfied’, things such as the grave, the barren womb, land that's always thirsting for water, and fire that never says, 'Enough.' It's a good policy to take time to reflect on the marvels and mysteries of the world as there are many lessons we can learn. What do you think it was in the examples of vs 18-19 that filled him with a sense of wonder?
My thoughts are just thoughts and don't mean I'm correct. The flight of an eagle is fascinating. The heights it can soar to and the speed with which it can descend to catch its prey are commented on in other parts of the Bible. The Old Testament book of Job adds a further feature when God challenged Job and said: “Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high? On the rock he dwells and makes his home, on the rocky crag and stronghold.” (Job 39:27) There's also a wonderful promise eagles should remind us of. Isaiah 40:30-31 says: “Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
A serpent on a rock might seem an odd cause of amazement. One online statement I found was that snakes like to crawl in or behind stones to help keep their cold-blooded bodies warm. Another article said that snakes propel themselves by using muscles to move their bodies in a wave. As the waves travel backwards the snake's scales catch the ground causing a frictional force that moves it forwards. That was from the New Scientist journal. Like Agur in Proverbs, modern scientists are fascinated by how serpents move on a rock.
Regarding the ship on the high seas, keep in mind this was some 3,000 years before the giant metal boats of our generation with their high tech navigational systems that use satelites. I suspect he was struck by the fact that men even ventured into the the mighty ocean in such flimsy wooden sailing vessels, sailed through storms, and reached destinations hundreds of miles away. Perhaps he was what sailors call ' a landlubber', someone unfamiliar with the sea or sailing. So it was a cause for astonishment for him.
The way of man with a virgin surely refers to that mystery we call 'being smitten', or 'falling in love'. Yes, that is something to ponder. We easily understand the physical attributes that may attract one person to another, but the love that binds and keeps them together even through difficult times and old age is beyond human explanation. What do you make then of verse 20 that suddenly pops up among all these things?
Once again it's just my thoughts and you may have a better solution. I think vs 20 is written as a sharp contrast to the things that so filled him with a sense of wonder. People who choose to go through life indulging their sins never pause to ponder the wonder of God's creation. And by the way, he speaks of the adulteress, but what he says is just as true of the man who sinned with her. Adultery is often used in the Bible to picture all wrongdoing against our Creator. May the words of Psalm 77:11-13 inspire us. The writer says: “I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds. Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God?” The parables Jesus told, which also took illutsrations from everyday things, are a good place to start.