Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die:
The words are those of Agur, son of Jakeh, whose identity is unknown. They introduce two urgent requests to be granted and not denied before death. The two requests, specified in what follows, are to keep vanity and lies far away and to give neither poverty nor riches, but only what is needed and suitable and sufficient.
The two requests belong together because either extreme can lead away from God. Abundance can lead to self-sufficiency and to forgetting and denying God, while poverty can lead to stealing and dishonoring God's name. The prayer therefore teaches moderation and dependence on God, especially in eating and drinking. It is a prayer for integrity free from deceit and for the measure of temporal success and provision that God knows is best.
The prayer for neither poverty nor riches applies to food as choosing neither stimulating meat nor food that brings stupidity and heaviness, but favoring bread, butter, and summer fruits. In its context it stands with the warning that God's words are pure and that anyone who adds to them will be reproved and exposed as a liar. That includes not only altering the text but enforcing teachings absent from the Bible that conflict with or nullify its doctrines and lead people to break God's commandments.
The words are those of Agur, son of Jakeh, whose identity is unknown. They introduce two urgent requests to be granted and not denied before death. The two requests, specified in what follows, are to keep vanity and lies far away and to give neither poverty nor riches, but only what is needed and suitable and sufficient.
The two requests belong together because either extreme can lead away from God. Abundance can lead to self-sufficiency and to forgetting and denying God, while poverty can lead to stealing and dishonoring God's name. The prayer therefore teaches moderation and dependence on God, especially in eating and drinking. It is a prayer for integrity free from deceit and for the measure of temporal success and provision that God knows is best.
The prayer for neither poverty nor riches applies to food as choosing neither stimulating meat nor food that brings stupidity and heaviness, but favoring bread, butter, and summer fruits. In its context it stands with the warning that God's words are pure and that anyone who adds to them will be reproved and exposed as a liar. That includes not only altering the text but enforcing teachings absent from the Bible that conflict with or nullify its doctrines and lead people to break God's commandments.