“He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls” (Proverbs 25:28).

Part One, on the context in Proverbs and the “Road to Ruin.”

Part Two, on the significance of city walls in the ancient Middle East, and how that relates to the need for self-control.

This post is just a freebie that I’m throwing in without extra charge :), because it doesn’t really have much to do with the Proverb itself.  Hebrews 13:12:

Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.

I thought of this verse yesterday when I was writing about the significance of city walls.  The emphasis of the passage in Hebrews is two-fold:  First, by being outside the city, Jesus was fulfilling the picture of the sin offering which was killed outside the camp of Israel.  Second, He was slain as an outcast outside the gate of the city, bearing reproach and shame for us.

But as I thought about city walls yesterday, it struck me also that as He bore our sin outside the city, suffering our shame outside the gate, He was outside the city walls, with all that meant in the time and place in which He lived and died.  He died in enemy territory, in the place of danger and insecurity.  All of that He bore for us, too.