Recently when my husband was preparing to preach on trusting God from Proverbs 29:25, I was prompted to actually look a bit more deeply into the verse. I was shocked at what I discovered…shocked in a good way because of the much bigger meaning I realised this verse had, and shocked in a sad way to realise once again how much our loss of recognition and understanding of honour and shame dynamics is robbing us of the richness and truth of Scripture. Meaning is getting lost in translation, and maybe that’s because translators are not thinking in honour and shame terms as much as needed …and then commentaries, and books and teaching that follows often also misses the depth of meaning.
I thought I would share with you some of my journey of what I discovered.
As we dig deeper on this verse, I hope you will also see how it helps us head higher in our levels of praise and thankfulness and joy of what God has given us through Christ.
The verse
Here it is in the popular ESV translation
"The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe"
Other Translations
Sometimes reading a verse in other translations helps us gain a greater context of the meaning. It definitely causes me to dig deeper to see what justification a particular translation has for translating a word/s a certain way.
So here are some of the alternative translations giving some clearer and surprising insights to the meaning:
NASBThe fear of man brings a snare, But one who trusts in the LORD will be protected.
NASB 1995The fear of man brings a snare, But he who trusts in the LORD will be exalted.
Legacy Standard BibleTrembling before man brings a snare, But he who trusts in Yahweh will be set securely on high.
KJVThe fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.
AmplifiedThe fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in and puts his confidence in the LORD will be exalted and safe.
CEVDon't fall into the trap of being a coward--trust the LORD, and you will be safe.
GNTIt is dangerous to be concerned with what others think of you, but if you trust the LORD, you are safe.
NETThe fear of people becomes a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD will be set on high.
Geneva Bible of 1587The feare of man bringeth a snare: but he that trusteth in the Lord, shalbe exalted.
Bishops' Bible of 1568He that feareth men shall haue a fall: but who so putteth his trust in the Lorde, is without daunger.
Coverdale Bible of 1535He that feareth men, shal haue a fall: but who so putteth his trust in the LORDE, shal come to honor.
When we look at this verse in other translations we begin to see how that the real meaning is more than what appears on the surface.
Expanding the Understanding
It is interesting that the oldest English translation listed on Biblehub.com translates the word which in most of our bibles that reads ’safe’, as: ‘come to honour'
This brings the context of this verse out of an issue of earthly physical protection to a context of relational and eternal status security protection. It’s easy for us to often view Scripture on a physical level and miss the honour and relational level. Some translations more literally translate the word as ’set on high’. But it is very interesting that centuries ago the understanding of that was ‘honour’.
So let’s look a little more at this verse:
The fear of man is a fear not just of a physical entity in the shape of a person, but the fear of what that person will think about you, and thus then maybe also do to you or your reputation (honour). But seeking to please people out of fear of what they will think of you is an illusion of refuge. It pretends that prioritising what others will think, and being worried about pleasing people, will offer protection from rejection, or disappointment, or being ignored, or gossipped about, or being shamed, or mocked, or thought less of, or being blamed for disharmony.
It looks like the path to significance in the eyes of people, security from their negative and painful responses, to being well-thought-of, and being liked, accepted, welcomed, and respected. It looks like the path to avoiding shame and maintaining or gaining honour and glory in the eyes of those around us.
But illusions are never the real thing.
They appear to promise what we want, what we hunger for, but eventually disappoint and don’t deliver. They are a deception. And that deception might appear to relieve momentary possible discomfort of disapproval from people, but it will build an even greater dangerous appetite for false honour and respect, that will eventually crumble and crush you. Deception will always promise life and deliver death. It is a trap, a snare and a dangerous deception.
Thus the Proverb’s wisdom warns against it and alerts us to its danger. So we should look out for it. It often impacts how people make decisions at all levels of life and society. It impacts how you and I can make decisions if we are not careful.
Our sinful tendency is to seek our own good and glory by our own wisdom. Thus we are all vulnerable, unless we first find our honour vertically from God and give our honour vertically to God, instead of horizontally with people. We must be careful not to exchange the glory of the Creator with the created, as to do so is dangerous and even damning (Romans 1).
However, the Proverb also has a second part that brings a contrast and good news.
When we trust in the Lord instead of fearing people, instead of a trap or snare or danger, there is an assurance and promise of safety.
But do we take the time to think clearly about what this safety involves?
The Hebrew word here has a consequential meaning by implication, of safety. But its actual meaning is to ’set on high’. And in many other places it is used in the Old Testament it is translated into English as ‘lifted’ or ‘exalted’ or ‘high’. Again with our Western minds we can quickly jump to a physcial context of something being out of reach and thus safe. And that could be part of it, but this is more than that. This is a context of being exalted. This is not just a physical position of safety from a physical trap, but relational safety from a relational trap of being more concerned about horizontal relationships with people rather than our vertical relationship with God.
Many take the concept of safety as nothing bad will happen to me on this earth, like injury or disability or poverty or home invasion or assault. I was surprised to read many of the Bible Commentaries that took this to mean safe from malice and wicked acts and anger of people.
However, its true meaning is more relational than physical. The issue about ‘fearing people’ is about our relationship with them and their attitude towards us before any action towards us. There might not be any ’sticks and stones’ physical damage to us, but we can still be controlled by fear of what attitude people will have towards us. We want to be in a position of honour in the eyes of others.
The honour desire itself is not our core problem. We were made to seek honour and its not wrong to seek honour (Romans 2:7). The book ‘Glory Hunger’ is a great start to understanding this more. Our problem is we are prone to seek it horizontally from people instead of ‘vertically’ from God.
So this proverb warns us about seeking to be in a place of honour in the eyes of people and fearing loss of ‘face’ or loss of ‘honour’ in the eyes of people. We are encouraged instead to aspire to find it elsewhere…in trusting in God who gives honour that is safe, secure, sealed for eternity, because it is ’set on high’. And thus in that honour, we are ’safe’.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary captures some of these nuances and links to the dynamics of honour and shame, when he explains that this verse is about a contrast, and salvation from the snare of being ashamed to known as a Christian.
He says:
29:25. "Many are ashamed to own Christ now; and he will not own them in the day of judgment. But he that trusts in the Lord will be saved from this snare.”
Yet, I would suggest, this is not just about being safe by being prevented from the punishment God will bring if we are ashamed of Christ in our fearing of people. But this is about an awareness and confidence of the honour that we can rest in when we trust in God for the fulfilment of our desire for acceptance, love, welcome, value and belonging.
When we fear shame before people, we fear being mocked or disregarded or excluded or persecuted or put low. But to trust God is to put ourselves into the care of the one who is the highest and can thus give us the place and position of acceptance and honour which cannot be surpassed or taken down. To be saved from the temptation of being ashamed of Christ, comes from being assured of far greater honour instead.
Remember we are seated with Christ in heavenly places, at the right hand of the Father. No place is higher than where God dwells in full glory and honour.
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