dedicated to God, a king whom his mother instructed ( Proverbs 31:1-9 ). Nothing is certainly known concerning him. The rabbis identified him with Solomon.
God with them
(dedicated to God ), the name of an unknown king to whom his mother addressed the prudential maxims contained in ( Proverbs 31:1-9 ) The rabbinical commentators identified Lemuel with Solomon. Others regard him as king or chief of an Arab tribe dwelling on the borders of Palestine, and elder brother of Agur, whose name stands at the head of ( Proverbs 30:1 )
LEMUEL
lem'-u-el (lemu'el, or lemo'-el):
A king whose words, an "oracle (taught him by his mother)," are given in Proverbs 31:1-9; and possibly the succeeding acrostic poem (31:10-31) is from the same source. Instead of translating the word after this name as "oracle" some propose to leave it as a proper name, translating "king of Massa," and referring for his kingdom to Massa (Genesis 25:14), one of the sons of Ishmael, supposedly head of a tribe or sheikh of a country. It is to be noted, however, that the words of Agur in the previous chapter are similarly called massa', "oracle" with not so clear a reason for referring it to a country. See for a suggested reason for retaining the meaning "oracle" in both places, PROVERBS, THE BOOK OF, II, 6.
John Franklin Genung
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