I’m sure you noticed that these two chapters were not written by Solomon. We don’t really know any more about either Agur, mentioned as the source of the words in chapter 30, or Lemuel from chapter 31, than what is said in the text.

Chapter 30 talked about fools and evil people, chapter 31 described a woman of virtue.

I like verse 5 of chapter 30. “Every word of God has been proven true. He is a safe-covering to those who trust in Him.“

When atheists and skeptics read this and similar verses, they often cite verses that contradict what we think we know about scientific facts. But there are a couple of things you have to remember. The Bible is not a science book, and does not claim to be. But in areas where it talks about scientific matters, it has never been proven wrong. The next thing to keep in mind is that the Bible often speaks in poetic or metaphorical language.

Let me give you a couple examples illustrating these two points.

First scientific supposed mistake. Some say that the Bible says that plant life was created before the sun existed, which obviously can’t be true because plants need photosynthesis.

The fact is that the Bible shows that stars, of which the sun is one, was created before plants. The sun’s light was on the earth during the first day of creation. It was not identified as a distinct body in the heavens until later, when the atmosphere around the earth cleared, but it was there.

And the second scientific supposed problem is that some say that the Bible teaches that the earth is flat. This is where poetic or metaphoric language comes in with phrases like “the ends of the earth” or the “four corners of the earth”. These are just figures of speech, that are even still in use today. They simply mean “the entire earth”.

Of course, this could be an hours long discussion. If it interests you, I encourage you to do a more in depth study on your own.