Most Hebrew proverbs take the form of stand-alone couplets. The second line amplifies, compares, contrasts with or restates the first line in order to provide additional insight. Then it’s on to the next subject. Some chapters of Proverbs must cover fifteen or twenty different areas of life in thirty verses or fewer.
Then there are proverbs that sit side by side for good reason.
Here’s a pair of them:
“The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe.”
“A rich man’s wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his imagination.”
It’s pretty obvious the second proverb is intended to contrast the refuge of the rich man with the refuge of the righteous man, isn’t it? It certainly seems that way to me. I can’t picture one verse without the other. The “city” of verse 11 equates to the “tower” of verse 10. Both stand for safety and security. Both have walls.
Security Contrasted
I have a dear friend of almost thirty years now who is extremely wealthy by the standards of the 99%. I don’t begrudge her a cent of what she’s accumulated; she worked both hard and smart to get it. She grew up dirt poor, and the humiliation of her mother sending her to beg food from the neighbors as a small child still drives her today. But the protection her wealth affords her is entirely in her own head. It’s imaginary.
I understand what makes her tick, but it saddens me that she has put her trust in something so ephemeral. Here on earth “moth and rust destroy” and “thieves break in and steal”. “When your eyes light on [your wealth], it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings, flying like an eagle toward heaven.” Solomon and the Lord Jesus lived centuries before the Dow Jones or the vagaries of the housing market, but looking to either for security is profoundly unwise. Play that game long enough and you are guaranteed disappointment.
The walls of the rich man’s city are nowhere near as sturdy as he thinks.
A Distinction without a Difference
The contrast drawn in the two proverbs is interesting. We all know the Lord himself is a strong tower. He is our safety and security. But verse 10 is not about the person of the Lord but rather the name of the Lord. The righteous man takes shelter in his name.
That may be a distinction without a difference. Many names we give children today are meaningless, trendy or even downright embarrassing. My own real name is more ironic than descriptive. Biblical names are frequently meaningful and rarely ironic, and the name of the Lord is by far the most significant of all. The name of the Lord is a proxy for — or perhaps an executive summary of — all he is.
When the Lord proclaimed his own name to Moses atop Sinai in a cloud, he spoke of his mercy, grace, patience, steadfast love, faithfulness, forgiveness and judgment, summing up his own character in seven qualities. (Of course he did.) So then, the name of the Lord is not just a tag by which we identify him, but biblical shorthand for every characteristic that makes him who he is.
The Name of the Lord
That said, there is a sense in which calling on the name of the Lord is a strong tower in this life, one which only the righteous person dare take on his lips. Scripture warns us sternly about taking that name in vain, a subject discussed here. The name of the Lord is precious as well as secure.
Security is important, but I’m more concerned about moral security than physical. You should be too. As the Lord Jesus taught, they can only kill you once. “Fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” That’s the priority.
Consider the young Christian man or woman off to university: first time living away from home, with all the challenges to faith that represents. My dad experienced the same sort of crisis in the British navy, and it brought him into a meaningful relationship with the God of his father that would set the course for the rest of his life.
Running Up the Flag
Dad would always encourage us in every new situation to “run up the flag”, by which he meant we ought to quickly and clearly publicly identify ourselves with Jesus Christ. When you declare yourself a Christian, you save yourself from all kinds of temptations. That name is a strong tower whose walls the world, the flesh and the devil can never breach. I have found this to be true. When I ran up the flag, all kinds of good things happened. When I didn’t, the experience quickly went south.
When you run up the flag, the flesh has real trouble finding your handles. It will not catch you in bed in the dorm, hung over at 10:30 on a Sunday morning. You already identified yourself with Jesus Christ, so you don’t have to explain where you’re going or why you’re not making a late night of it on Saturday. You found yourself a local church and are off to worship with others of your kind. Safety.
When you run up the flag, you can’t easily get off-mission. A man or woman identified with Christ had better be a top performer, whether that’s in studying hard or displaying honesty, loyalty and diligence on the job. That vastly reduces the chances you’ll drizzle away your investment in your education. Safety.
When you run up the flag, it’s highly unlikely you will later find yourself trapped in an unequal yoke, wondering “How did that happen?” and ruining the rest of your life. Every potential partner you encounter knows exactly where you’re coming from. The flag attracts the good ones and drives away the bad ones. In college, it protected me from a very attractive but unsaved girl whose marriage shortly after graduation lasted about a month. Safety.
Best of All
When you run up the flag, you tell everyone in your life there’s a place they can be safe too. That alone makes it well worth it. The name of the Lord is a strong tower. Run there, and shout to the world from the walls.
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