Lately I’ve observed misuse of Proverbs 28:1 by certain Christian leaders. The righteous are as bold as a lion! The verse is being utilized as a rallying cry, encouraging Christian to be “loud” (speak out boldly) about issues in society and culture. And there is no balance or caution in how this is presented. Be loud. Be bold. Run to the roar! One speaker I listened to noted that when animals hear a lion roar, they are then cautious and avoid the vicinity of the roar, as a lion is a predator. But Christians should not behave this way. If there is a roar in society, we should run to it! We should not flee. Proverbs 28:1 in full states: “The wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.”
Okay. Where to start? The commentaries I looked at explain Proverbs 28:1 this way: wicked people are often looking over their shoulder, worried about getting caught for a crime or misdeed they have done, while a righteous person can be more confident, not looking over their shoulder in paranoia. Note the word confident. While many translations use the word bold, comments on this verse refer to its meaning as confident. The NET Bible actually translates it as confident, and the translation note says: “the verb batakh means to trust; to be secure; to be confident.”
While the NET Bible is known for its translation notes, it also has a study note on this verse: “The righteous, who seek to find favor with God and man, have a clear conscience and do not need to look over their shoulders for avengers or law enforcers. Their position is one of confidence, so that they do not flee.”
There are things we don’t have to worry about if we live an honest and straightforward life, and are not hypocrites. I just finished a series on the beatitudes here on the blog, and keeping the beatitudes in mind, Christians need to humbly be aware of their weaknesses. The way up is down in Christianity.
Christians are to be poor in spirit, mournful, meek, and hunger for righteousness. As stated in the beatitude series, you can’t hunger for righteousness if you think you are already righteous! Perhaps that sounds like a real downer and discouraging? But the beatitudes also state that when our life reflects these things, we actually get closer to God…ours is the kingdom of heaven, we are comforted, and our emptiness is filled.
When I observe the misuse of Proverbs 28:1, the assumption is that Christians are righteous, period. I don’t observe much place for a beatitude frame of mind. There seems to be little humility. The emphasis is on a rush forward in boldness to stand for righteousness in our increasingly immoral and wicked society! We are righteous, hear us roar!!
It seems a significant step has been missed, an examination of ourselves. There is excessive concern for the immoral and sinful society that surrounds us, while we overlook sin among ourselves. Did you know that historically, revival or renewal movements arose out of a deep humility about the believers own need before God?
Scripture says that believers should carefully examine themselves before going out in truth and judgment. Too often we are hypocrites, ignoring the plank in our own eye. See Matthew 7:1-5. Note there is a time for proper judgment and speaking truth but only when first things are first. Read Matthew 7:1-5 carefully!
Passages such as 1 Corinthians 5:9-12 and 1 Peter 4:17 indicate we should be more concerned with immorality among ourselves than in the world. It is sad and strange that believers can rationalize or overlook their own sin, somehow letting themselves off the hook, while holding the world to a standard that they don’t even hold for themselves!
All these comments do not mean Christians should not be concerned about society. We should be! But we have mixed up too many things. We don’t have a beatitude frame of mind. We can be proud and presumptuous. We are trying to stand for truth using worldly ways, possessing sinful attitudes, that conflict with the beatitudes.
A whole other post (well, multiple ones!) could focus on how Christians should best live and interact in a culture that is increasingly hostile to Christianity and has drifted from Judeo-Christian roots. Here are some books I recommend:
Onward: Engaging the Culture without Losing the Gospel by Russell D. Moore. I recently read this and highly recommend it. It is heartening and full of wisdom for everyday Christians. Maybe “losing the culture” is actually a good thing for genuine Christianity!
I am almost done with this book, and it is a more academic one: Christ &
Culture Revisited by D.A. Carson. The book critiques the well known Christ-culture options by Richard Niebuhr. While Carson does not present a new set of options (it is not that simple) there is much analysis that helps us realize careful biblical wisdom is needed as we live in an increasingly secular society.
And finally, here is a book I read and reviewed several years ago: The Church in Exile, Living in Hope After Christendom by Lee Beach. See my review HERE. This is also an academic book, but it has much practical insight. Believers have lived in exile before, and we can view this in hope, as an opportunity for renewal.
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Thanks for discussing this verse.
It is a curious thing about translations that they vary so significantly. Sometimes a single English gloss is used for many Hebrew roots and sometimes we get an artificial hapax as we have in this case for the gloss ‘bold’. Of 183 uses of this root in the Bible, only this one gets rendered as bold. KJV is all over the map with its glosses for beth-tet-khet.
A wicked one withdraws and there is none pursuing,
but a righteous one, like a lion cub, has confidence.
Such young lions also appear in Psalms 34:11,
Cubs – young lions want and are voracious,
but those searching for Yahweh will not lack any good.
Perhaps a verse to counter the riling up of the young lions. They may have confidence, but their behaviour will also be potentially disastrous as in Psalms 17:12.
Its likeness is like a lion that salivates to tear,
and like a cub sitting in hidden places.
Few identify the potential wordplay within cpr. It is not only the root for the animal, ‘lion cub / cub / young lion’. The same three letters are the root for cover, or cover-price, or ark-cover. Again KJV is all over the map with its glosses from pitch to atonement.
I wonder what those cubs would do if they were not riled up by foolish preachers but if they instead understood their role in covering-over the boards of Noah’s barge to stop it from leaking, and in the costly gold and purpose of the cover of the ark of the covenant, the mercy seat, to use the KJV’s rendering in Hebrews.
Clearly what we have here is a root that supports a few real homonyms in Hebrew. It is important, I think, for a translation to reduce the free use of English synonyms so we can really see the underlying words of the Hebrew and the wordplay in its own tongue.
You can see all the glosses that I have used in my translation for cpr in a coherent concordance I have just put up.
https://qonqordnxih-ltnk.blogspot.com/2021/01/cp.html#cpr
Thanks for this thoughtful response and information! I appreciate you taking the time to share it. Indeed, riled up behavior can prove disastrous and confidence is not always a good thing.
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Thank you for the confirmation on what I felt the LORD was speaking to me about Proverbs 28:1. I have much sin, but in His righteousness, I can rest, confident and sure of His acceptance.