Proverbs 30:4 refers to someone who had ascended up to Heaven, was it Jesus that was being referred? Find out in this question and answer post.
Is Jesus the son that is referred to in Proverbs 30:4?
Answer: In an attempt to prove the divine origin of Jesus, Christian theologians have pointed to this proverb as a prooftext for their claim. However, an examination of what the text actually says will dispel any attempt at such a forced interpretation.
After informing us that he does not have all the wisdom and understanding that he should possess, Agur, the son of Jakeh, poses a series of rhetorical Questions, the Answers to which he realizes all men who seek knowledge should possess:
Who has ascended up into heaven, and descended? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has bound the waters in his garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son's name, if you know? (Proverbs 30:4)
Knowing the Answers to these Questions is to know the fundamentals of all knowledge.
The Answer to the Question "What is his name?" is given in the Scriptures, where we are informed that only God, the creator of heaven and earth, is in complete control of the forces of nature. Following this Question a second Question is asked: "What is his son's name?" As the first Question is readily Answered through a reading of the Scriptures, the source of all true knowledge, so, too, the second Question is to be Answered by studying the same source. We thus obtain the Answer by studying such verses as Exodus 4:22: "Israel is My son, my firstborn"; Deuteronomy 14:1: "You are the children of the Lord your God"; and Hosea 2:1: "It will be said to them: 'You are the children of the living God.'" Consequently, it is Israel that is the name of His son, His firstborn. True, we find elsewhere in the Bible that David and Solomon stand in a filial relationship with God (Psalms 89:27-28, 1 Chronicles 22:10, 28:6). Indeed, this will also be true of the future Messiah. But the right to this title is due, in the final analysis, to the fact that they are the representatives or personifications of Israel as a whole. Hence, it is Israel that is the sole bearer of the august title of the "son" or "firstborn" of God.
Christian theology may argue that any reference to Israel's relationship with God only points to an allegedly greater relationship between God and Jesus, but this argument remains unproved, having no bases in the Jewish Scriptures. It is an argument based on misguided motives, trying to prove the preconceived by forced interpretation. Only in a figurative sense will the future Messiah, when he comes, enter into the "sonship" of God, a position he will share with all of God's chosen servants.
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