Proverbs 21:22 Commentary and Bible Study

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.