For three things the earth is disquieted, and for four which it cannot bear;
for a servant when he reigns; and a fool when he is filled with meat;
for an odious woman when she is married; and an handmaid that is heir to her mistress.
Now Agur produces four things which disrupt good order in the world. God is a God of order (1 Cor. 14:34), and to willfully create disorder is to sin. While nobody can produce perfect peace besides God, we are still called to minimize disorder by taking wise actions and making wise decisions. Some homes are more stable and more peaceful than others. Some churches and communities are more stable than others. This is the consequence of wise decisions on the part of those who rule.
However, a servant who is put in a position of authority will create disorder. This is because not every person is equipped and called to leadership. The premature ordination of an elder into a church can be disastrous. Indeed, any organization can be ruined by a man who lacks good character. Given enough time, a fickle-minded and capricious leader will systematically dismantle an organization and leave it in ruins. When a man is easily swayed from one direction to another by opinion polls and widely varying perspectives, he is unfit for leadership. Moreover, leadership requires the ability to motivate and encourage. Of course, the leader must be self-motivated, hard-working, visionary, and mentally equipped for the job. Generally speaking, a man with a slave mentality does not bear these characteristics.
How does this comport with Jesus’ requirement that servant-minded men be appointed to do the work in the church of Christ? Is it possible to be servant-minded in some sense while serving as a visionary leader in another sense? Certainly, we can see all of these characteristics in our Lord Jesus Christ. He warned His disciples against “lording it over the flock” and encouraged a willingness to serve by performing the most menial tasks. All of this is appropriate for a godly manager, president, elder, or father. One may be humble, serving, self-motivated, and visionary at the same time!
The second and fourth disruptions to the good order of things are related to the first. The rich fool (filled with food) is a man who is incapable of wisely managing his wealth. He will waste his resources. Like the man who inherited $50,000 in tools from his father’s automotive repair business and buried them in the back yard, these men waste an inheritance that took a great deal of work to accumulate. There is also this handmaid who receives an inheritance from her mistress. The same problem exists here, for this woman does not have the character to wisely manage the inheritance she receives.
Finally, Agur makes mention of the “odious woman when she is married.” The word “odious” might be better translated “loathsome.” There are some qualities in this woman that are unattractive, to say the least. She repels others because she is malicious, spiteful, bitter, and overbearing. She is persistently irritable and cranky; a spirit of discontentment governs her soul. In an honest moment, even her husband might admit to a counselor that she is a constant burden to him. He may tolerate the woman and provide for her needs, but he finds nothing attractive about her on the inside or on the outside.
All of these four scenarios create social instability. Unqualified leaders in government, business, and family economies will bring their organizations down. Because a wife and a mother are key to family relationships, there is something to be said for the aphorism, “When mamma ain’t happy, there ain’t nobody happy!” Thus, family relationships suffer tremendous strain and disorder when a wife is discontent, overbearing, or embittered against her husband. But as a wife lovingly and humbly submits to her husband, order and peace return to social systems at all levels of society.
1. What are the four disruptions to the social order?
2. Why might a servant have a hard time taking on a position of leadership? How do we balance the idea of competence and wisdom with humility and servanthood for a leader in the church and family?
3. Describe the odious woman. How might a young lady fall into the sins of an “odious woman?”