Not too long ago, I received a Bible riddle from an online friend. The riddle was, “What does the Bible say will never be satisfied and say ‘It is enough?'” So I got to looking through the concordance, looking for some of these key words and I came across Proverbs 30:15, 16 “The horseleach hath two daughters, crying, Give, give. There are three things that are never satisfied, yea, four things say not, It is enough: The grave; and the barren womb; the earth that is not filled with water; and the fire that saith not, It is enough.” I had to look up the term “horseleach” and it is simply what we call today a “leech,” in other words, something that is always feeding and never satisfied with enough. The writer goes on to tell us that there are four things that are never satisfied and that never say, “It is enough.” They are: the grave, the barren womb, the dry earth, and fire.
The Grave
It doesn’t take long to realize that the grave is never satisfied. With each new life that comes into this world, a grave will eventually be dug, and as long as babies are born, and the Lord doesn’t return, there will be death. In Hebrews we read, “�it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).
The Barren Womb
The womb which does not conceive a child is another things that says, “It is not enough.” In the Old Testament it was considered a reproach not to be able to bear children. And so the barren woman would never be satisfied until she conceived and her reproach was taken away (Genesis 30:23).
The Dry Earth
Many west Texas farmers can tell you how dry the ground can get. I’ve heard tell that it’s been so dry out there that the cows are giving evaporated milk. Now that’s dry! In all seriousness, when the earth is dry and cracked, you can pour water on it all day long and it will never stop soaking it up.
Fire
Fire is never satisfied, is it? The more logs you add, the bigger it will grow and the more fuel it will consume until there is nothing left but ashes. As long as you feed fire, it will continue to burn.
What is the point of all of this? Is Agur simply writing these things to be witty? Or is there a lesson in it all? Unlike these things, we should learn to say, “It is enough.” In the grave goes death; in the barren womb is emptiness; in the dry earth is that which is unquenched; and in the fire is consumption. The person who has such characteristics is never satisfied with what God gives, but is always looking for more. Covetousness is a temptation for such a one, as well as unrest and malcontentment. The children of Israel had a problem with this attitude in the wilderness. Paul tells us that they were murmurers, lusters, idolaters, and fornicators (1 Corinthians 10:6-10)–all because they were malcontent with their situation. What is our attitude today? Are we content with such things as we have (Hebrews 13:16)? Or are we like the leech? Always sucking more out of someone else?