Proverbs 21:22 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Proverbs 21:22

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This verse tells us that sanctification is an intelligent process. It is not an automatic process; we are not saved and then we just fumble along and as we do so, we are sanctified. No, it is an intelligent process; it must be directed. If the man in the proverb were not so wise, he would amass his troops, if he had them, and his siege engines and his armour, and make a direct assault on the gates or the walls, and he would throw everything he could at those walls to try to batter them down. It does not leave much to the imagination what the result would be: he would be strongly resisted, and things would be thrown over the walls, and the archers would shoot down, and the siege would be made as difficult as possible. We think of sieges as being successful things, but the expert historians tell us that in the ancient world it is probably true that the overwhelming majority of sieges failed. It was a very difficult thing to besiege a strongly fortified city. But if somebody uses cunning rather than brute force, it may be that they will find a way into that city. Well, this happened even in the history of the Israelites in the taking of Jerusalem. But it may be that somebody who is an extremely nimble climber can find a fissure to clamber in and then others can get up by a rope which is let down, and they do it secretly, not openly, and silently and at night. They have thought about the layout of that city and they have taken whatever information was available to them. They have made their way, when all seemed peaceful, to the commander of the city, and they have overwhelmed the limited guard, and they have taken the city, so that when everyone wakes up in the morning, the loss of the city seems to be almost complete. All the morale goes out of everyone. It is done by cunning not by force. That is the illustration.

Application

And sanctification is an intelligent process. These proverbs are to make us think, not just take the surface and obvious sense. Make a plan. Identify your needs. What are the things that are troubling me? What are the sins which I am currently falling into? Identify them. I have to avoid these two or three faults and sins today. I have to be watchful. Do not just blunder into the day. Make special prayer for those danger areas. These are ancient rules that preachers have uttered for centuries. Do not put yourself in the way of sin. If something captures you too easily, seizes your attention to earthly, carnal things, brings you into wrong or covetous thoughts, leave those things well alone. Leave those catalogues well alone or those publications or whatever it might be. Do not put yourself at risk of falling into sin. Think about the consequences, and what harm it does to me – the Spirit of the living God leaves me, and I cannot be used by him while I am giving hospitality to this sin. Learn to detest it, it is your enemy, hate it. Mortify it, in the apostle Paul’s words, at the very first sign of it. Consider the cost on Calvary. If I say these things, or do these things, Christ has to bear them on Calvary’s cross. He died long ago, I know, but I am adding to his burden and to his trial and to his pain and to the cost of my salvation. If it is something covetous that keeps coming into your head, switch your mind to certain better things that you have got to plan and do. The fight against sin is a campaign. You cannot just go and knock on the door of the city. You have got to take it with some craft and some thinking and some strategy. That is the meaning of this. We need to be thoughtful people.

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Proverbs 21:22 Commentary and Bible Study