Proverbs 18:11

The rich man's wealth is his strong city, and as an high wall in his own conceit. THE RICH MAN'S WEALTH (IS) HIS STRONG CITY ( ), AND AS AN HIGH WALL IN HIS OWN CONCEIT - in contrast to the righteous man's "strong tower," "the name of the Lord," in which he is "set on high" in safety (). It is infinitely better to "trust in the living God" than "in uncertain riches" ()....

Verse Proverbs 18:11. _THE RICH MAN'S WEALTH_] See Proverbs 10:15....

What the name of the Lord is to the righteous Proverbs 18:10, that wealth is to the rich. He flees to it for refuge as to a strong city; but it is so only “in his own conceit” or imagination. HIGH - In the Hebrew the same word as “safe” Proverbs 18:10, and manifestly used in reference to it....

EXPOSITION PROVERBS 18:1 This is a difficult verse, and has obtained various interpretations. The Authorized Version gives, THROUGH DESIRE A MAN, HAVING SEPARATED HIMSELF, SEEKETH AND INTERMEDDLETH WITH ALL WISDOM; _i.e. _a man who has an earnest desire for self-improvement will hold himself aloof from worldly entanglements, and, occupying himself wholly in this pursuit, will become conversant with all wisdom. This gives good sense, and offers a contrast to the fool in Proverbs 18:2, who "hath no delight in understanding." But the Hebrew does not rightly bear this interpretation. Its conciseness occasions ambiguity. Literally, _For his desire a man who separates himself seeks_;_ in _(or _against_) all wisdom he mingles

THE RICH MAN'S WEALTH [IS] HIS STRONG CITY,.... In which he dwells, over which he presides; in which he places his trust and confidence, and thinks himself safe from every enemy and from all trouble: as one s observes, "the abundance of a rich man's wealth he conceives to be as it were the abundance of people in a "city"; the telling of his money he imagines to be the walking of people up and down the streets; his bags standing thick together to be so many houses standing close one to the other; his iron barred chests to be so mary bulwarks; his bonds and bills to be his cannons and demi-cannons, his great ordinance; and in the midst of these he thinketh himself environed with a "great wall", which no trouble is able to leap over, which no misery is able to break through.'' As it follows; AND AS A HIGH WALL IN HIS OWN CONCEIT: which not only separates and distinguishes him from others...

CHAPTER 18 PROVERBS OF PERSONAL INSTRUCTION There is first a warning against separation produced by desire, that is for gratification and pleasure, and not for a righteous purpose. Such a one becomes an enemy of true wisdom and one who intermeddleth with all wisdom. This proverb finds a New Testament illustration in Alexander the coppersmith, as well as Hymenaeus and Philetus, and Diotrephes of whom John writes in his epistle. A fool foams out his own folly. This proverb in Proverbs 18:2 is illustrated by many of the critics of the Bible. They have no delight in true understanding but their own hearts are laid bare by their mad oppositions to God's Holy Word. The fool's mouth, his lips, the talebearer (whisperer), and the slothful are the themes of the proverbs in Proverbs 18:6. Then we read

PROVERBS 18:1. MT yields no satisfactory sense. The LXX reads The man who wishes to separate from his friends seeks pretexts, but is always liable to reproach. Frankenberg renders the alienated friend seeks an occasion (emending the word for - desire-'), seeks by all means to stir up strife. Proverbs 18:4. RV translates correctly, but the sense is strange. Read, perhaps, The words of the wise are deep waters, a flowing brook, a fountain of life, but this is conjecture rather than emendation. Proverbs 18:5. _cf._ Proverbs 17:26, which may have originally followed this verse....

AS. [it is]as. CONCEIT. imagination. See note on Proverbs 25:11....

_his strong city_ There is a sense in which it is really so (Proverbs 10:15); but a sense also in which, in designed contrast to the "strong tower" of the preceding verse, it is only so in his own opinion. _conceit_ i.e., IMAGINATION, as R.V....

CHAPTER 18 TEXT Proverbs 18:1-12 1. He that separateth himself seeketh his own desire, And rageth against all sound wisdom. 2. A fool hath no delight in understanding, But only that his heart may reveal itself. 3. When the wicked cometh, there cometh also contempt, And with ignominy cometh reproach. 4. The words of a man's mouth are as deep waters; The wellspring of wisdom is as a flowing brook. 5. To respect the person of the wicked is not good, Not to turn aside the righteous in judgment. 6. A fool's lips enter into contention, And his lips are the snare of his soul. 7. A fool's mouth is his destruction, And his lips are the snare of his soul. 8. The words of a whisperer are as dainty morsels, And they go down into the innermost parts.