잠언 30:1의 미드라쉬

Another interpretation (of Eccl. 7:7): FOR OPPRESSION (rt.: 'SQ) MAKES <A WISE ONE> FOOLISH,… <In regard to> everyday affairs (rt.: 'SQ), when Solomon was engaged (rt.: 'SQ) in matters in which he did not have to <engage>, they led him astray, as stated (in I Kings 11:4): FOR IT CAME TO PASS IN SOLOMON'S OLD AGE [THAT HIS WIVES LED HIS HEART ASTRAY AFTER OTHER GODS]. R. Hiyya bar Abba said: <It would have been> better for him if he had cleaned sewers, so that this verse would not be written about him. And what were the words? (Prov. 30:1:) THE WORDS OF AGUR BEN JAKEH OF MASSA: [THUS SAYS THE MAN TO ITHIEL, TO ITHIEL AND UCAL (ukhal).] Why is his name called AGUR (rt.: 'GR)? Because he gathered ('GR) the Torah. <Why> BEN (BYN)? Because he understood (rt.: BYN) it. <Why> JAKEH (YQ')? Because he regurgitated (rt.: YQ') it up. What is the meaning of TO ITHIEL (itti'el)?¹⁰The name means: “God is with me.” Cf. Tanh., Exod. 2:5, which adds here: “Thus he said: God is with me (itti’el), and I shall overcome (ukhal) <temptation>.” What the Holy One wrote in his Torah (in Deut. 17:17): HE SHALL NOT MULTIPLY WIVES FOR HIMSELF, <was written there> so that {HE WOULD NOT GO ASTRAY WITH HIS HEART} [HIS HEART WOULD NOT GO ASTRAY].¹¹ySanh. 2:6 (20c); Eccl. R. 2:2:3. Solomon said: I will multiply them and not be afraid. Thus his heart went astray. R. Joshua ben Levi said: A yod (the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet, equivalent to Y or J in English) went up and fell down before the Holy One.¹²Exod. R. 6:1; Lev. R. 19:2; Cant. R. 5:11:3. It said to him: Sovereign of the World, have you had a single letter written in your Torah for nothing? R. Simeon ben Johay said: The book of Mishneh Torah (i.e., Deuteronomy) went up before the Holy One. He said to him: Sovereign of the World, here is Solomon wanting to pluck out a yod which you have written in me. <It is written> (in Deut. 17:16–17): {HE SHALL NOT MULTIPLY WIVES FOR HIMSELF.} HE SHALL NOT MULTIPLY (YRBH) HORSES FOR HIMSELF <….> [HE SHALL NOT MULTIPLY (YRBH) WIVES FOR HIMSELF] <…;> NOR SHALL HE GREATLY MULTIPLY (YRBH) SILVER AND GOLD FOR HIMSELF. He did multiply (RBH)¹³The negative, third-person imperative here adds the prefix yod (= Y). When the verb becomes a simple past tense telling what Solomon actually did, the yod is dropped. Thus by breaking each commandment about multiplying for himself, the king plucked out a yod from the Deuteronomic commandment. horses for himself.¹⁴Below, Tanh. (Buber), Lev. 6:2, and the note there. Where is it shown? Where it is stated (in I Kings 5:6): NOW SOLOMON HAD FORTY THOUSAND STALLS OF HORSES. He did multiply wives (RBH) for himself. Where is it shown? Where it is stated (in I Kings 11:3): SO HE HAD SEVEN HUNDRED ROYAL WIVES <AND THREE HUNDRED CONCUBINES; AND HIS WIVES LED HIS HEART ASTRAY >. He did multiply silver and gold for himself. It is so stated (in I Kings 10:27): AND THE KING MADE SILVER <IN JERUSALEM AS PLENTIFUL AS STONES >. The Holy One said to him: By your life, Solomon and a hundred like him have passed away, but not one letter <of my book> has passed away.¹⁵See Matthew 5:17–18. And what caused Solomon to come to this point? Being busy (rt.: 'SQ), for he was engaged (rt.: 'SQ) in matters in which he did not have to <engage>. Ergo (in Eccl. 7:7): FOR OPPRESSION (rt.: 'SQ) MAKES <A WISE ONE> FOOLISH. Now you should mention, not only Solomon, but even Moses at the time that he went to Pharaoh. What is written (in Exod. 5:1)? AFTERWARDS, MOSES AND AARON CAME <AND SAID UNTO PHARAOH >….¹⁶According to the last verses of Exod. 4, Moses was engaged in assembling the elders of Israel before he went to Pharaoh. R. Hiyya b. R. Abba said: It was ambassador¹⁷Gk.: presbeutes. day for Pharaoh,¹⁸Exod. R. 5:14. and all the kings were coming to crown him because he was the cosmocrator¹⁹A Latin adaption of the Gk.: kosmokrator, a title of the Roman emperor. of the world {i.e., powerful one}. Now Moses and Aaron were standing at the palace²⁰Lat.: Palatium. gate. They came in to Pharaoh. They said to him: Two elders are standing at your palace gate. He said to them: Are there crowns in their hands? They told him: No. He said to them: Let them enter last. They came in to Pharaoh. He said to them: What do you want? They said to him (in Exod. 7:16, cf. 5:3): THE LORD GOD OF THE HEBREWS SENT US UNTO YOU; and he said to us, as stated (ibid., cont.): LET MY PEOPLE GO THAT THEY MAY {CELEBRATE A FESTIVAL TO ME} [WORSHIP ME] IN THE DESERT. He said to them (in Exod. 5:2): WHO IS THE LORD THAT I SHOULD HEED HIS VOICE, when he did not know <enough> to send me a crown of his. Rather he comes unto me with <mere> words. So (in Exod. 5:2) WHO IS THE LORD THAT I SHOULD HEED HIS VOICE?

R. Hiyya the son of Abba declared: It would have been far better for Solomon to have been a cleaner of fish ponds, for then that verse could not have been written concerning him. What made him devote himself to so many things for which he had no need, and what were these things? The things of Agur the son of Jakeh; the burden. The man saith unto Ithiel, unto Ithiel and Ucal (Prov. 30:1): Why was he called Agur? He was called Agur because he stored up (anigur) knowledge of the Torah and wisdom, and the son of Jakeh because he rejected (hekiah) them. The man saith unto Ithiel is written because he would say: “God is with me” (iti-el), and I will be able (ukhal) to withstand temptation.” The Holy One, blessed be He, wrote in the Torah: Neither shall he multiply wives unto himself, that his heart turn not away; neither silver and gold … only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return (Deut. 17:17, 16).

"agur": "gathered together," as in (Proverbs 30:1) "the words of "agur bin yakeh" (Solomon) the gatherer of wisdom." And (Psalms 55:16) "Let Him incite death against them; let them go down alive into Sheol. For evils are stored up ('b'meguram') in their midst."