Proverbs 30:24 - Meaning and Application

Agur had just named four things that seem impressive, yet are really contemptible. Now he names four things that are small, yet admirable, like “great things in miniature.” As Bishop Patrick observes, they teach us several useful lessons.

First, we should not admire body size, beauty, or strength, or value people because of those things. We should judge people by their wisdom, their conduct, and their hard work, because those are the qualities that deserve respect. We should also admire the wisdom and power of the Creator in the smallest and most ordinary creatures, such as an ant as much as in an elephant. And we should blame ourselves if we do not act for our true good as faithfully as the humblest creatures act for theirs.

We should also not despise the weak things of the world. Some people are small in the world, poor, and of little account, and yet they are very wise. They are wise for their souls and for the life to come. They are wiser than their neighbors. Those who are wise in this way are made wise, not by nature alone, but by the grace of God.

The creatures Agur names are the ants, the conies or perhaps the Arabian field mice, the locusts, and the spider. The ants are tiny and weak, yet they gather food with great industry and show special wisdom by doing so in summer, the right season. We can learn from them to prepare for the future (Proverbs 6:6). When roaring lions go hungry, the hardworking ants have plenty and do not lack.

The conies, or perhaps the Arabian mice, are weak and timid creatures. Yet they show wisdom by making their homes in the rocks, where they are protected. Their weakness drives them to those natural strong places for shelter. In the same way, our sense of need and weakness should drive us to God, who is a rock higher than we are, for shelter and support. There we should make our home.

The locusts are also small, and they have no king as bees do. Yet they move together in bands, like an army in battle order. Their good order makes it no disadvantage that they have no king. Scripture calls them God’s great army (Joel 2:25), because when he chooses, he gathers them and uses them to carry out his judgments, as he did in Egypt. They all go out together, and their example teaches us that awareness of our weakness should lead us to stay united, so we can strengthen one another.

The spider is another example of industry, as the ants are in the field, so the spider is in our houses. Spiders are remarkably skillful at weaving webs with great fineness and exactness, far beyond what human skill can easily match. They use their hands, and they spin a fine thread from their own bodies with great skill. They are found not only in poor people’s cottages, but even in kings’ palaces, despite every effort to get rid of them. God’s providence wonderfully preserves creatures like these, not only those for whom people make no provision, but even those that everyone tries to destroy.

Those who are diligent and take hold of their work with their hands will, sooner or later, find a place in kings’ palaces. They may rise in rank, and they can continue in their work despite the difficulties and discouragements they face. If one well-made web is swept away, they can simply make another.