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Proverbs 18 Bible study: A strong tower
"The LORD’s name is a strong tower" (18:10), and the very next saying calls a rich man's wealth "his strong city, like an unscalable wall in his own imagination" (18:11). In Hebrew both have strong, and are safe and unscalable are one verb: two high places side by side, and the second is high "in his own imagination".
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“The LORD’s name is a strong tower: the righteous run to him, and are safe.”
Try it · Did you catch it?
“In Proverbs 18, the saying right after "The LORD’s name is a strong tower" calls the rich man's wealth his strong city.”
Is that in Proverbs 18, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
Two strong places
Two sayings stand side by side. "The LORD’s name is a strong tower: the righteous run to him, and are safe" (18:10) (tap tower, safe). "The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, like an unscalable wall in his own imagination" (18:11). Here is what almost everyone misses: the two sayings share their key Hebrew words. Strong is oz in both (tap strong). And are safe in 18:10 and unscalable in 18:11 are one verb, sagav, which Brown-Driver-Briggs gives as "be (inaccessibly) high". One saying speaks of the LORD's name, and the righteous who run to him. The other speaks of a rich man's wealth, and a wall that is high "in his own imagination" (18:11). The first half of 18:11 has come before, word for word: "The rich man’s wealth is his strong city" (10:15). Proverbs has sagav once more: "whoever puts his trust in the LORD is kept safe" (29:25). And run in 18:10 is the verb of "for their feet run to evil" (1:16) and "feet that are swift in running to mischief" (6:18). The saying doesn't say what the righteous are kept safe from, and these notes don't make it a promise about any one trouble, or apply 18:11 to anyone's money.
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The Hebrew word behind it
שָׂגַבsagavsay sa-GAV
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "be (inaccessibly) high", and among the senses of the form used in both verses here, "be (safely) set on high". Strong's: "to be (causatively, make) lofty, especially inaccessible; by implication, safe, strong". "The LORD’s name is a strong tower: the righteous run to him, and are safe" (18:10). The very next verse has it again, where the WEB gives it as unscalable: "The rich man’s wealth is his strong city, like an unscalable wall in his own imagination" (18:11). Proverbs has it three times in Hebrew, and the third is "whoever puts his trust in the LORD is kept safe" (29:25). The notes on Psalm 20 set Proverbs 18:10 beside "May the name of the God of Jacob set you up on high" (Psalm 20:1).
For your group
Proverbs 18 Bible study questions
- 1"The LORD’s name is a strong tower: the righteous run to him, and are safe" (18:10). The next saying speaks of a wall that is high "in his own imagination" (18:11). What do people tend to run to for safety, and what helps you run to the LORD?
- 2"He who answers before he hears, that is folly and shame to him" (18:13). What helps you listen all the way to the end before you answer?
- 3"there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother" (18:24). What makes a friend like that, and how could you be one this week?
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home