The Walls We Build and the Pits We Dig Text: Proverbs 10:15
Introduction: Reality's Sharp Edges
The book of Proverbs is not a collection of inspirational quotes for coffee mugs. It is a book of applied theology, a divine field manual for navigating the world as it actually is. It has sharp edges. It does not engage in the kind of sentimental flattery that our modern therapeutic age mistakes for kindness. The Holy Spirit, through Solomon, is far more interested in our holiness than our feelings, and so He tells us the truth about the structure of reality. And one of the foundational realities of a fallen world is that resources matter. Piety is no substitute for prudence.
Our age is deeply confused about money. On the one hand, we are crass materialists, chasing after wealth as the ultimate good, believing it will solve all our problems. On the other hand, we have a strain of romantic pietism, often found in the church, that pretends money is somehow dirty or unspiritual. We spiritualize our laziness and call it trusting the Lord. We want to have our cake and eat it too; we want the security that wealth provides without doing the diligent work required to obtain it, and we want to feel righteous in our poverty even when that poverty is a direct result of our own foolishness.
Proverbs cuts through all this nonsense with a dose of sanctified realism. This proverb is a classic example of Hebrew parallelism, where the second line mirrors and intensifies the first. It presents us with a stark contrast, a description of how the world generally works. It is not, in the first instance, a command, but an observation. And like a good physician, the Bible describes the disease before it prescribes the cure. It tells us how things are, so that we might learn how things ought to be, both in our own lives and in our ultimate hope.
This verse is about security. Everyone is building a city, a place of defense. Everyone is seeking refuge. The question is not whether you will build, but what you will build with, and on what foundation you will build. This proverb shows us the two paths most commonly taken by man: the path of worldly fortification and the path of worldly ruin. Both, if left to themselves, end in destruction. But one provides a picture of what we are tempted to trust in, and the other a picture of the consequences of having nothing to trust in at all.
The Text
The rich man’s wealth is his strong city,
The ruin of the poor is their poverty.
(Proverbs 10:15)
The Rich Man's Fortress (v. 15a)
We begin with the first clause:
"The rich man’s wealth is his strong city..." (Proverbs 10:15a)
This is a statement of fact. In a world full of dangers, uncertainties, and predators, wealth functions as a wall of defense. A "strong city" in the ancient world was a place of fortification. It had high walls, gates, and watchmen. It was where you retreated when the marauding bands came through. It was a buffer against chaos. Solomon is telling us that, in a similar way, wealth provides a buffer. If your ox dies, you can buy another one. If your roof leaks, you can repair it. If a famine comes, you can afford the inflated price of grain. If you are sued unjustly, you can hire a defense. In this sense, wealth provides options, stability, and a measure of protection from the ordinary calamities of life. Money is a defense (Eccl. 7:12).
The Bible is not communistic. It does not condemn wealth in itself. In fact, it often presents wealth as a blessing from the Lord, a result of diligence and wisdom (Prov. 10:4, 22). Abraham, Job, and David were all exceedingly wealthy men. The Lord wants His people to be productive, to build, to create wealth, and to use it for the advancement of His kingdom. So the observation here is not a condemnation. It is simply true that having resources is better than not having them.
But there is a profound danger lurking in this observation, a danger that Proverbs addresses elsewhere. The temptation for the rich man is to believe that his strong city is an ultimate city. He is tempted to trust in the wall, rather than in the God who enabled him to build the wall. Proverbs 18:11 gives us the crucial commentary on this verse: "A rich man's wealth is his strong city, and like a high wall in his own imagination." There's the rub. The security it offers is real, but it is limited. And the man who has it is tempted to imagine that its protection is absolute.
The rich fool in the gospel made this very mistake. He had a great harvest, so he decided to build bigger barns and said to his soul, "Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry" (Luke 12:19). He thought his wealth was a truly strong city. But God said to him, "Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?" His walls were high, but they could not keep out death. Your wealth cannot protect you from a terminal diagnosis, a rebellious child, or the judgment of God. To trust in wealth is to build your fortress on a flood plain. It is to make a god out of the gift, forgetting the Giver. And that is the very definition of idolatry.
The Poor Man's Pit (v. 15b)
The second clause presents the grim alternative:
"The ruin of the poor is their poverty." (Proverbs 10:15b)
This is a brutal but honest assessment. Just as wealth can create a virtuous cycle of opportunity and security, poverty can create a vicious cycle of destruction. The word for "ruin" here means terror, consternation, or destruction. Poverty is not romantic. It is a pit. When you are poor, you have no buffer. A flat tire is not an inconvenience; it is a crisis. A minor illness can mean lost wages, which means you cannot pay the rent. The poor man has no walls, no strong city. He is exposed to the elements, to predators, to every trouble that comes along.
Now, we must be careful here. The Bible does not teach that poverty is always the result of personal sin, just as wealth is not always the result of personal righteousness. The righteous Job was reduced to utter poverty. The prophets were often poor. Jesus Himself had nowhere to lay His head. Sometimes poverty is the result of injustice, oppression, or calamity (Prov. 22:16). And in those cases, God identifies Himself as the defender of the poor and warns the rich not to oppress them.
However, the book of Proverbs, taken as a whole, makes it abundantly clear that poverty is very often the result of foolishness. It is the result of laziness ("Lazy hands make for poverty," Prov. 10:4), a refusal to heed discipline (Prov. 13:18), and a love of pleasure over work (Prov. 21:17). The point of this verse is that the condition itself is ruinous. Poverty creates a cascade of problems. It is a hole that is very difficult to climb out of, because the lack of resources itself becomes the primary obstacle to obtaining resources. You cannot save or invest when you are living hand-to-mouth. You cannot take risks. Your options are severely limited. Poverty itself becomes the instrument of your ruin.
This is why the Scriptures command us to work diligently, to be wise stewards, and to avoid the foolish behaviors that lead to the pit of poverty. God's ordinary way of providing for His people is through their faithful, diligent, and creative labor. To neglect this is to tempt God and to invite ruin upon ourselves.
The True Strong City
So what are we to do with this stark observation? Solomon lays out the two worldly options. You can build a city of wealth, which is a fine thing as far as it goes, but which will ultimately fail you if it is your ultimate trust. Or you can fall into the pit of poverty, which is a ruinous and terrible thing. Neither of these is a desirable final destination. This proverb, like all proverbs, is meant to drive us beyond the proverb itself. It describes the horizontal reality in order to make us look for the vertical solution.
The Bible presents us with a third option, a true Strong City. "The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe" (Proverbs 18:10). Our ultimate security is not found in a bank account, but in God Himself. He is our fortress, our refuge, our high tower. The security that wealth mimics is found perfectly and eternally in Him.
This changes everything. For the rich man, it means his wealth is not his god. It is a tool. It is a gift to be stewarded for the glory of God and the good of his neighbor. He can hold it loosely, because his true treasure is in heaven. He can be generous, because his security does not depend on his balance sheet. His walls are simply tools for kingdom work, not idols for worship.
For the poor man, it means his poverty is not his ultimate ruin. His circumstances are difficult, but they are not ultimate. He can be righteous in his poverty, and in being righteous, he has access to the true Strong City. He can run to the Lord and be safe. This does not mean his earthly troubles disappear, but it means they do not have the last word. His ruinous condition on earth is temporary. His identity is not "poor," but "child of God," an heir of all things. He has a hope that transcends his circumstances, a hope that the man who trusts in riches can never have.
The gospel is the great leveler. In Christ, the rich are humbled, realizing their wealth cannot save them. And in Christ, the poor are exalted, realizing their poverty cannot condemn them. Jesus Christ became poor, though He was rich, so that we through His poverty might become rich (2 Cor. 8:9). He entered into the ultimate ruin, the curse of the cross, to deliver us from our ruin. He is the only foundation upon which a truly strong city can be built, the city of God, the New Jerusalem.
So, by all means, work diligently. Build, save, invest. Be a wise steward of all that God gives you. Do not be lazy and fall into the pit. But as you build, do not for one moment believe that the walls of your own making are your salvation. Build with one hand, and with the other, cling to the cross. For your wealth is only a blessing when it is held in submission to God, and your poverty is only a temporary affliction when your hope is in Him. He alone is the strong city that will never fall.