CRITICAL NOTES.—
Proverbs 18:10. Safe, or, lifted high.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF Proverbs 18:10-11
TWO CITADELS
I. The citadel of him who trusts in the Lord. “The name of the Lord.” God has revealed Himself to men by many names, each one of which is intended to set forth some attribute of His perfect nature. The name “I AM,” by which He revealed Himself to Israel (Exodus 3:14) set forth His eternal self-existence, but He has also revealed Himself by names which are used to express human relations, such as king, judge, husband, father. These names are often borne by men who are destitute of the qualifications and feelings proper to the relationships which they express, but when any one of them is applied to God it is applied to one who combines within Himself all those attributes of character in perfection which ought to be possessed in some degree by men who are called by these names. The righteous man’s refuge, then, is a Living Personality—a Self-existent and Eternal King and Father, infinite in power, in wisdom, and in tenderness. It is therefore 1 An ever-present refuge. “God is not far from every one of us” (Acts 17:27), and being ever near, is always accessible.
2. An impregnable refuge. Before an enemy can attack those who have taken refuge in a fortress, they must carry the citadel itself. So before any enemy can harm a righteous man, he must overcome the Almighty God; he must circumvent His plans, and overthrow his purposes.
“When His wisdom can mistake,
His might decay, His love forsake,”
then, but not till then, will those be exposed to danger who have put their trust in Him.
3. An eternal refuge. The “arms” of strength that defend the children of God are “everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:7). Many of the ancient fortresses that are scattered over our land were once deemed impregnable refuges. But although they bade defiance to many an assault of men in battle-array, they have had to yield to a more subtle enemy. Time has crumbled their once mighty walls, and made them unfit for purposes of defence. But the righteous man can say to Him who is his “strong tower,” “Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations.… Even from everlasting to everlasting Thou art God” (Psalms 90:1-2).
II. The stronghold of the man who trusts in riches.
1. Riches are no defence against a man’s most powerful enemies. While a man has wealth he is defended from many bodily ills and from many vexations of spirit. A man of narrow means has often to fight a hard battle to supply his bodily necessities, and is a stranger to those luxuries which make life, in this respect, so comfortable to a rich man. And a poor man has also to bend his will to the will of his richer neighbour—to endure often “th’ oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely.” Wealth is a defence against all these enemies to a man’s comfort. But there are troubles far heavier than any of these, from which riches afford no protection. Disease and death cannot be turned aside with money—a troubled soul cannot be comforted with gold. A bed of down cannot do much for a man whose body is racked with pain—it can do nothing for him whose soul is bowed down by sorrow, or smitten with a fear of death. In any of these straits a soul can find no “strong city” of refuge in the possession of untold millions; these enemies laugh at such a wall of defence. The man who trusts in material wealth as his chief good, has either made too low an estimate of his own needs, or too high an estimate of the power of wealth.
2. Wealth is a fortress with a most uncertain foundation. Granted that it is a defence against some very real ills, who can insure to himself a continuance of his present possessions? The uncertainty of riches has been a subject upon which the sages and moralists of all ages have dwelt—the millionaire of to-day may be a beggar to-morrow, and he who was last year surrounded by this “high wall,” which shut in so much that was agreeable to his senses and shut ont so many discomforts from his temporal life, may be standing to-day a forlorn, unsheltered creature, with only the ruins of his once imposing fortress around him. On this subject see also Homiletics on chap. Proverbs 11:28.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
This strong refuge is not only safe, but “set aloft,” so the word signifies, out of the gunshot. None can pull out of His hands. Run therefore to God by praying, not fainting. This is the best policy for security. That which is said of wily persons that are full of fetches, of windings, and of turnings in the world, that such will never break, is much more true of a righteous, praying Christian. He hath but one grand policy to secure him against all dangers, and that is, to run to God.—Trapp.
To this tower the wicked are sometimes driven in distress, then seeking help here, when it is nowhere else to be found. But the righteous in any distress runneth presently unto it. Thither their eyes look, thither their hands are stretched, thither their hearts carry them. Yea, they are not only carried unto it but into it, by placing their confidence in it, and making it their safety. They are well acquainted with the way, and therefore can make speed; they have cast off the clogs of worldly impediments and so are fit for running; they think it much longer until they come to God, than impatient hearts do until they come to help.—Jermin.
To “the righteous” God is good, and he nestles and shelters himself in that; “runs into” the nurture and shelter of God’s love, and, in the comfort of this strong tower, “is lifted high.” But there is a profounder sense. The very “name” that is cavilled at by the lost is the foundation of the Christian’s safety. “What the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh,” God did by His “name.” He gave it to Christ’s humanity. More specifically speaking, He used it in the “name” of His own righteousness, to balance our guilt and to give weight and value to the price of His redemption. We are repeatedly said to be saved by the “name” of God (Psalms 54:1; John 17:11-12). And this is the meaning. The perfect holiness of God, which the lost man would upbraid, is what is vital in the cross of Christ. It is not only “a strong tower,” but our only defence. And the act of faith is a renouncing of self and a snatching at “the name,” that is, the righteousness or substituted standing of our Great Deliverer. Miller.
Take the sinner in his first awakening conviction. He trembles at the thought of eternal condemnation. He looks forward—all is terror; backward—nothing but remorse; inward—all is darkness. Till now he had no idea of his need of salvation. His enemy now suggests that it is beyond his reach; that he has sinned too long and too much, against too much light and knowledge; how can he be saved? But the name of the Lord meets his eye. He spells out every letter, and putting it together, cries—“Who is a God like unto thee?” (Micah 7:18.) He runs to it, as to a strong tower. His burden of conscience is relieved. His soul is set free, and he enjoys his safety. Take—again—the child of God—feeble, distressed, assaulted. “What, if I should return to the world, look back, give up my profession, yield to my own deceitful heart, and perish at last with aggraved condemnation?” You are walking outside the gates of your tower; no wonder that your imprudence exposes you to “the fiery darts of the wicked.” Read again the name of the Lord! Go back within the walls—See upon the tower the name—“I am the Lord; I change not” (Malachi 3:6). Read the direction to trust in it—“Who is there among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant: that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God” (Isaiah 1:10). Mark the warrant of experience in this trust—“They that know thy name shall put their trust in Thee; for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek Thee” (Psalms 9:10). Thus sense of danger, knowledge of the way, confidence in the strength of the tower—all gives a spring of life and earnestness to run into it. Here the righteous—the man justified by the grace, and sanctified by the Spirit, of God—runneth every day, every hour; realizing at once his fearful danger, and his perfect security.—Bridges.
For Homiletics on Proverbs 18:12, see on chap. Proverbs 11:2 and Proverbs 16:18.