Hi Steve,
I was just enjoying your topical lecture on the Trinity. If I heard you right, you were saying you've never found a reference to Jesus being called the Son of God in the OT. Someone recently brought up Proverbs 30:4
Who has ascended into heaven and descended?
Who has gathered the wind in His fists?
Who has wrapped the waters in His garment?
Who has established all the ends of the earth?
What is His name or His son's name?
Surely you know!
Don’t know if that qualifies or not.
Brian
Hi Brian,
Proverbs 30:4 has often been seen by Christians as a reference to Christ, but the author is actually asking a series of rhetorical questions illustrating the limits of human competence (the repeated capitalization of "His" reflects the translator's bias). He asks the following questions about mankind:
—Who [i.e., among men] has ascended into heaven and descended?
—Who has gathered the wind in His fists?
—Who has wrapped the waters in His garment?
—Who has established all the ends of the earth?
The implied answer to each of these rhetorical questions is "nobody" (that is, no human being has done such great things).
The statement, "What is His name or His son's name? Surely you know!" means (with a touch of sarcasm), "If you know someone like this, I would love to be introduced to him! Heck, I'd be satisfied even just to meet his son!"
We know that God "has gathered the wind in His fists" and "has wrapped the waters in His garment" and "has established all the ends of the earth," but that is not what Agur is saying. The fact that he is not talking about God is seen in his reference to one "ascending into heaven" and "descending." We can look backward at Christ's descent and ascension (though in the wrong order vis-a-vis this statement) and think of this referring to Him. But that is not, in my opinion, what is being discussed in this passage.