What follows is based on a blog post I published exactly 13 years ago today, long before I even planned to write Solomon Says. This was part of my reason for arguing that the proverbs are riddles (Proverbs 1:6; 25:2), but I never used this material in the book.
Consider Proverbs 10:15:
A rich man’s wealth is his strong city;
the poverty of the poor is their ruin.
Seems pretty straightforward, doesn’t it?
But the proverb is semi-repeated in 18:11:
A rich man’s wealth is his strong city,
and like a high wall in his imagination.
Not quite as positive a statement, is it? But what if this couplet is not meant to stand alone? Then the negativity is even stronger:
The name of the LORD is a strong tower;
Proverbs 18.10-12
the righteous man runs into it and is safe.
A rich man’s wealth is his strong city,
and like a high wall in his imagination.
Before destruction a man’s heart is haughty,
but humility comes before honor.
Jesus’ parable of the rich fool (fool!) virtually writes itself from Proverbs 18.10-12.
So go back to 10.15:
The wise lay up knowledge,
Proverbs 10:14-16
but the mouth of a fool brings ruin near.
A rich man’s wealth is his strong city;
the poverty of the poor is their ruin.
The wage of the righteous leads to life,
the gain of the wicked to sin.
Is the statement in the middle meant to be taken at face value, or are we intended to question it in light of the true wealth that is knowledge (that you save, like money) or the true wage that is life?
And are we intended to go back and rethink 10:15 in light of 18:11?
It is the glory of God to conceal things,
Proverbs 25:2
but the glory of kings is to search things out.