The horse is prepared for the day of battle; but safety is of Jehovah.
Solomon puts two things side by side: the work a soldier does before the fight, and the result no soldier controls. The proverb does not mock preparation, and it does not trust it either — so how does a person hold both at once?
Where the outcome is decided
The proverb allows the horse its full value and still hands the result elsewhere. One commentator renders the second half "deliverance is of Jehovah" and draws the line plainly:
It is useless to trust in ordinary means without Him. You may get the horse ready for battle, but the victory belongs to neither the rider nor his horse. Deliverance is of the LORD.
The horse is still prepared
The proverb does not condemn preparation. Someone gets the horse ready, and that is right. One commentator marks out how far faith goes in using the help at hand:
Here we have the man of means and the man of faith. We can see at once how far the man of faith goes in using means. We should use means, no doubt. But only means that fit the full and blessed working of faith, and the undimmed glory of the God of all power and grace. Faith waits on God and lets Him use whatever means He pleases. It does not ask Him to bless our means; it lets Him use His own.
When the horse quietly takes God's place
The danger is not the equipment but the heart's transfer of confidence, which can happen under religious language. The same writer describes how the switch is made without anyone noticing:
But we often speak of using means and shut God out. We claim to use means in dependence on God, while in fact we use the mere name of God and depend on the means. In effect, and in the judgement of faith, this makes a God of our means.
Another writer states the same test in a single line:
If we use means and depend on them, we are not trusting God's power.
The man who wrote it forgot it
The sharpest commentary on this proverb is the later life of the king who spoke it. One writer sets the proverb beside what Solomon later did:
Solomon himself tells us in Proverbs 21:31 that "the horse is made ready for the day of battle." Then he adds what he later completely forgot: "the victory belongs to the LORD." But before Solomon began to reign, David wrote, "The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue" (Psalm 33:17). … In days of danger the LORD is worth more to His people than regiments of cavalry. … Solomon drifted away from these healthy truths. Let us beware of drifting away from what we have learned from God.
The translation this writer used reads the second half as "safety is of the LORD." Either way, the point stands: knowing the sentence is not the same as living by it.
Horses, tanks, and a lesson we keep re-learning
One writer brings the picture up to date:
In all men's activities they need some means of help or support, and in battle they find horses of great benefit. Of course now they need motorised equipment. But whether horses or tanks, these are no guarantee of success. Deliverance is only by the Lord (v. 31). We are slow indeed to learn this elementary lesson.
Safety that reaches past the battlefield
One writer takes the closing phrase past the battlefield and applies it to the safety of the soul:
He is presented now as a Saviour. As we accept Him as such and confess Him as Lord, we are safe for time and for eternity. Listen to a man who had proved that Christ is Saviour and Lord: "I am sure that neither death … nor things present nor things to come … nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39). Will you not seek refuge in this glorious Saviour today? "Safety is of the LORD" (Proverbs 21:31, older translation; ESV: "the victory belongs to the LORD").
Summary
- Prepare — get the horse ready. The proverb never calls that wrong. But use only means that leave God's glory undimmed.
- Lean — the test is not whether you own a horse. It is where your weight rests. If we depend on the means, we are not trusting God's power.
- Pretend — we can speak of depending on God while we lean on the gear. In the judgement of faith, that is to make a God of our means.
- Forget — Solomon wrote the line and later forgot it. A truth held in the memory is not yet a truth held in the heart.
- Receive — horses or tanks guarantee nothing. Deliverance is only by the Lord. The safety He gives in Christ holds for time and for eternity.