'The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into
it, and is safe. 11. The rich man's wealth is his strong city, and as
an high wall in his own conceit'--PROVERBS xviii. 10,11.
The mere reading of these two verses shows that, contrary to the usual
rule in the Book of Proverbs, they have a bearing on each other. They
are intended to suggest a very strong contrast, and that contrast is
even more emphatic in the original than in our translation; because,
as the margin of your Bibles will tell you, the last word of the
former verse might be more correctly rendered, 'the righteous runneth
into it, and is _set on high._' It is the same word which is
employed in the next verse--'a high wall.'
So we have 'the strong tower' and 'the strong city'; the man lifted up
above danger on the battlements of the one, and the man fancying
himself to be high above it (and only fancying himself) in the
imaginary safety of the other.