Proverbs 18:10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower; The righteous run to it and are safe.
When I found out what a tower looked like, I saw this scripture in a different light. You know sometimes we just read scriptures and never really do a deep dive to get the meaning of words or even images to capture what we are reading. I won’t be shocked that even though many people have heard or seen this verse of scripture many times, only few know what a tower really looks like and how that relates to the Name of the Lord.
First of all, a tower is a building or structure typically higher than other surrounding buildings or structures. You’ll see images of different towers above the title of this excerpt. When I discovered this explanation of a tower and saw images, it was clear that a tower stands tall, is clearly visible, distinguished, unique and more like in a class of its own because surrounding buildings can’t compete. The reason why the righteous can run to this tower and be safe is the height of the tower. With surrounding buildings closer to the ground, many things can affect those structures but a building that stands that tall can keep a person safe because it’s far above the other buildings. Now that we have an idea of a tower, let’s delve into the Name of the Lord and then we breakdown the first part of the opening verse to see the full picture. Before then, take note of these words because of the height of a tower; above, exalted, magnified, raised. We’ll come back to these words.
What is the name of the Lord? The name of the Lord is Jesus. How, you may ask? You know in the Old Testament, God was beginning to introduce himself to a people He wanted to separate unto Himself, called the Israelites. In the quest to get the people to know Him, we see different names of God.
Names are meant to reveal to us the nature, character and identity of a person.
In Exodus 3:14, God told Moses to tell the people that He was I AM. Then in Exodus 6:2-3, God told Moses that He appeared to the patriarchs as God Almighty(Yahweh) but did not make himself fully known to them. So there were many names that we later see. Names like Elohim, Jehovah, Adonai, Jireh, El Shaddai, Rappha among many others. These names only showed parts of the Lord and that explains the statement; “but did not make himself fully known to them“. Rappha speaks of the Lord as a healer while Shalom speaks of the Lord being our peace. However, when God wanted to fully reveal Himself to man, He came as a Man to the earth named Jesus and in Jesus we see God fully. Jesus is the reflection of God. John 10:30 I and the Father are one. Colossians 1:15(NLT) Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation. Remember that I stated earlier that because of the height of towers, they are clearly visible. Jesus is the summation of all the names of the Lord God. In other words, in the name Jesus, you find all these attributes that were only in each name.
Jesus is the Name of the Lord.
That’s why at the name, every knee bows because everything needed is inside the name, whether it’s provision(Jireh), peace(Shalom) or healing(Rappha). Do you get it now? If the verse says, the name of the Lord is a strong tower, you can say it means Jesus(name of the Lord) is that tower.
Another word for the Name of the Lord is the Word. Remember in John 1:1, In the beginning was the Word…… and the Word was God? Then in verse 14, that Word became flesh(the man Jesus). Therefore the Word is also called Jesus. This means The Word is also a strong tower just as Jesus is a strong tower because they both represent the name of the Lord. Just like in Jesus we have every name of God known in the Old Testament, and everything needed for life, we have all we need to become all He has purposed for us in His Word.
So let’s tie the first part of the opening scripture together; The name of the Lord is a strong tower. Take note that a tower is high, elevated, raised and magnified above surrounding structures and buildings. This means Jesus or the Word is elevated, raised, above any other thing or person we have around us. So the one who runs to the Word or to Jesus can be assured of safety because Jesus is raised above everything and everyone in the system of this world.
Take a look at these scriptures and you’d see they explain all that has been stated. Philippians 2:9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name. The ‘name‘ is Jesus/Word and ‘every name’ are all those names we knew in the Old Testament before Jesus showed up.
Ephesians 1:20-21 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority. So Jesus is far above just like towers are far higher than regular surrounding structures/buildings. Psalm 138:2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. Here we see the Word magnified above All His Name(names of God prior to Jesus’ coming).
The next time you read this verse you know that He is not saying the ‘mention of the name‘ is the strong tower. The name of the Lord is the strong tower. The famous scripture in Philippians 2:10 never said it’s the mention of the name Jesus that causes knees to bow.
‘At the name‘ is different from ‘At the mention of the name’.
It is about the understanding of Jesus and His Word that we execute that authority and not just the mention of the name. If it were so, then everyone who just says the name should get results automatically. That’s why the opening verse stated that it’s the righteous that will run to it and be safe. The question now is who is the righteous? We would look into that and conclude the remaining part of the full verse in the next excerpt.
The Word In Clarity 