He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.
This proverb puts two people side by side: the soldier who captures a city, and the man who rules his own temper. It gives the higher place to the second — so what makes that quiet victory the greater one?
Greatness measured inward
The verse praises a quality anyone can admire. One writer adds that a Christian should go further still.
What a testimony to the patient and the self-restrained in verse 32! If he walks in the light, as every Christian does, even more than this should flow freely. Yet slowness to anger and self-control are admirable in their place.
The comparison with the city-taker is not flattery of the mild. It exposes something absurd in the conqueror's position.
The years of experience evidenced by silver hair should certainly make one slow to anger (v. 32), though some unsaved men never learn to control their temper in spite of the assurance that in doing so, they are "better than the mighty." One who rules his spirit is wiser than a warrior who captures a city. For the latter seeks to control others when he has not learned to control himself.
What "slow to anger" means
One writer traces the word that stands behind "slow to anger" in the Greek Old Testament.
We may see much of the force of makrothumos in Prov. 15:18 and Prov. 16:32. There the Greek Old Testament uses it for our "slow to anger." But the patient restraint of spirit in the word is not limited to anger… It means "a long holding out of the mind before it gives room to action or passion." Scripture applies it to God, in His forbearance towards those who provoke Him.
Ruling one's spirit — the inner conquest
The verse says a man rules his own spirit. One writer uses those words to show what a human being is.
We read that "The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets" (1 Cor. 14:32). We have the verse in the Old Testament which says, "He who rules his spirit" (Prov. 16:32)… These and many other Scriptures like them show that in man the material and the spiritual are united under one personality.
Lose that rule and the picture turns around.
Self-control is a great inner conquest… In contrast, "A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls" (Prov. 25:28)… They are the spontaneous fruit of the Spirit, working in our lives when He is neither quenched nor grieved. Law neither produces nor prohibits them.
Where the strength comes from
One writer ties the verse to the believer's calling to reign, and to the Spirit who makes that possible.
Again, we are anointed as kings to rule. What does the Word of God say we are to rule? "He who rules his spirit is better than he who takes a city" (Prov. 16:32). We cannot do this in our own strength. But we have the Spirit of God in us to subdue everything that is against the mind of God… Look at Moses. God told him to speak to the rock (Num. 20:8). Instead he struck it twice. Because he disobeyed God, he was shut out of the Promised Land.
Where the failure shows
The tongue is the usual place where an unruled spirit becomes visible, and the proverb is read alongside that.
The tongue therefore is regarded in scripture as a mighty instrument which a man may wield for good or ill among his fellows… Hence, he who rules his spirit is mightier than he who takes a city, and "whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble" (Prov. 16:32; Prov. 21:23).
Even a servant of God can be overtaken here — and the recovery matters as much as the fall.
Was Paul acting according to this when he said, "God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall"?… Even the blessed apostle there failed; his impetuosity came to the top… Grace, however, at once showed itself in the apostle. When they said, "Would you revile God's high priest?" he said, "I did not know, brothers, that he was the high priest"… He bowed to the word at once.
Summary
- The contest. The hardest city to take is yourself. The warrior who captures a town seeks to control others but has never learned to control himself.
- The delay. "Slow to anger" translates a word for long-suffering. It means a mind that holds out a long time before it gives room to action or passion.
- The pattern. The same word describes God. He holds out long with those who provoke Him.
- The power. No one wins this in his own strength. It is the fruit of the Spirit, which law can neither produce nor forbid.
- The walls. Without that rule a man is like a city broken into and left without walls. Even Paul spoke hastily — then bowed to God's word at once.