Lemuel

Lemuel is named only in the closing chapter of Proverbs, where he is identified as a king and the recipient of an oracle taught to him by his mother. The two verses that name him stand at the head of the maternal instruction and at the first specific charge of its content.

The Words of King Lemuel

The chapter opens with a superscription identifying both the speaker and the source of the speech: "The words of King Lemuel; the oracle which his mother taught him" (Pr 31:1). The text designates the material as an "oracle" and traces it back to Lemuel's mother as teacher. The intervening verses address him by maternal endearments — "What, my son? And what, O son of my womb? And what, O son of my vows?" (Pr 31:2) — and warn him against giving his strength "to women" or his ways to "those women who destroy kings" (Pr 31:3).

The Charge Against Wine

The first oracle that names Lemuel directly is the prohibition of royal drunkenness: "It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; Nor for princes to desire strong drink" (Pr 31:4). The verse repeats the prohibition for emphasis ("it is not for kings... it is not for kings") and extends it from kings to princes, with the named recipient — Lemuel — set in the middle of the doubled phrase as its addressee.