Proverbs 18:11 Commentary and Bible Study

The first half of this proverb is found in Proverbs 10:15. There Solomon uses the rich man’s wealth and the poor man’s poverty as pictures of the presence or absence of spiritual resources to which the believer can turn. Here he focuses on the attitude of the rich to their wealth and the foolish confidence they place in it, so that the two proverbs use the picture in completely different ways.In contrast to the one in the previous verse who makes the Lord his protection, this man trusts in something that he has obtained for himself. The rich man’s strong city is his wealth and he trusts only in what he can see, in help that comes from the arm of flesh. He disregards the help of the invisible God or counts it as an insignificant thing. Like Saul, he is too impatient for God to work in his own time, and so he takes matters into his own hands. If you speak to him about prayer and waiting on the Lord for an answer, he regards that as a very insubstantial and even derisory form of help. Much pride goes with this attitude for he looks on his wealth as something which he has obtained by his own skill and hard work, and credits the Lord with nothing. He does not recognise that his strength, his health, and his opportunities come from the Father of lights who allows him to live another day as a rebel on the earth. Therefore he is outside of the Lord’s protection. The final word of the verse means literally a sculpture or an image, but is here used metaphorically to describe his attitude to his riches and the prominent place they occupy in his thoughts. He turns often to them for comfort, and regards them as his security. They are like a wall all around him that fortifies him from adversity, for the only kind of adversities he thinks seriously about come from visible threats. He shuts out of his mind any consideration of his eternal needs, of his alienation from God, of his unpreparedness for death, and of the dreadful debt of sin which threatens to weigh him down in hell.What is the remedy for this? It is to take to heart what Scripture says about the transient nature of earthly riches and their inability to help us in the day of death. What would we think of an officer in charge of a fort who only ever defended it against attacks that came from one direction, when in fact the enemy was much more likely to come from the other side? Or what would we think of a captain who armed his soldiers with staves when the enemy was about to come at them with machine guns? There is a spiritual war and the stakes are as high as they could be. Earthly wealth cannot purchase the redemption of a single soul – God will laugh at those who think it can. If we have earthly wealth we must strive not to let our minds constantly turn to it for comfort. We must remember we can take nothing with us. We must use it for the Lord’s work and for the relief of the poor, lending when we cannot expect to be repaid. We must turn to our God for true help and security and know that he alone is able to redeem the soul and he will accept none of our riches to pay for that redemption.