Proverbs 25:28 Commentary and Bible Study

The intriguing feature of this proverb is that the illustration turns the matter round and looks at it from a thoroughly unexpected point of view. What we would expect is that a suitable picture of lack of restraint would describe someone who fails to be contained by some barrier that is supposed to prevent him breaking out – a man without restraint is like cattle that break out of an enclosure because the fence is weak – but instead Solomon gives us a picture of outside forces that are trying to break in. This is more interesting because it is so unexpected, and it is highly instructive. Lack of self-restraint, self-control, is so dangerous because it makes us vulnerable to attack. We usually think of self-restraint as a control that prevents us going where we should not go, but Solomon turns it round and sees it in terms of what we let in, or are unable to stop coming in. Self-restraint is so vital because we are under attack from an enemy that cannot get in and do us harm without our permission. Satan is not allowed to force his way into our hearts or to force us to do evil against our wills; he must gain our consent from outside. Self-control is like a wall around the city in which we live and effectively keeps out all that would do us harm, but if that walls falls down or is removed, we are unprotected. The loss of self-control means that temptations can now flood into our hearts and will not be kept at a distance, so that they will do us great harm. When we go where we should not go, eat what we should not eat, watch what we should not watch, say what we should not say, we have certainly gone over a boundary, but another way of looking at it is that we have let something in which we should have kept out. That temptation has been allowed into our hearts before we have acted.