What does it mean that the righteous are as bold as a lion (Proverbs 28:1)?

The wicked is a coward; the righteous man, because he trusteth in the Lord and knows the Lord is on his side, is as bold as a lion. It is the conscience which makes a coward of the wicked man.

Every servant of Christ should be bold. He has nothing to conceal and should have nothing to fear. “The righteous are bold as a lion” (Prov. 28:1). The possession of the truth, held with a good conscience in the fear of God, raises the soul above all other fear.

"The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are hold as a lion."

A bad conscience of course breeds cowardice. and fleeing is to be expected on the part of a wicked man. It does not follow that all fear is the result of a bad conscience: nevertheless a believer should learn to never give in to fear: faith gives courage to stand as boldly as a lion. Why should we even resemble a wicked man by acting in the timidity of fear? "God hath not given us the spirit of fear. but of power. and of love, and of a sound mind" (2 Tim. 1:7). When tempted to hide in the temple. Nehemiah firmly replied. "Should such a man as I flee?... I will not go in" (Neh. 6:11).

Take a good look at that thief! See the change in him. He is now bold for God, and fearless of man. "The wicked flee," says Scripture, "when no man pursues; but the righteous are bold as a lion" (Prov. 28:1). And here is a man with that kind of character. Until now he was such a pest that his fellows had to get rid of him; but now, touched and changed by grace, he turns round and says to his neighbour, "Dost not thou fear God?" It is a fine thing when a man fears God. Perhaps you do not fear God. Well, I know what the Psalmist says of the man who does not. "The transgression of the wicked says within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes" (Ps. 36:1). There was no fear of God in my heart for many a day, but at length, like this thief, I found out that it is a wonderfully blessed moment when a man begins to fear God. It is not cringing fear I mean, but the sense of what is due to God. "Blessed is the man that fears the Lord, that delights greatly in his commandments" (Ps. 112:1).

Well did one write more than two centuries ago, "This fear is not cowardice; it doth not debase, but elevates the mind; for it drowns all lower fears, and begets true fortitude and courage to encounter all dangers for a good conscience and the obeying of God. 'The righteous is bold as a lion' (Prov. 28:1); he dares do anything but offend God; and to dare do that is the greatest folly and baseness and weakness in the world. From this fear have sprung all the generous resolutions and patient sufferings of the saints and martyrs of God, because they durst not sin against Him; therefore they durst be imprisoned, and impoverished, and tortured, and die for Him. Thus the prophet [Isaiah 8:12-13] sets carnal and godly fear as opposite, and the one expelling the other. And our Saviour [Luke 12:4], 'Fear not them that kill the body; but fear Him Who, after He hath killed, hath power to cast into hell: yea, I say to you, fear Him!' Fear not, but fear; and therefore fear that ye may not fear" (R. Leighton in loco, Jerment's ed. i. 133, 4).

"The righteous are bold as a lion," Proverbs 28:1 tells us. We see this verse well illustrated as Elijah meets King Ahab head-on. This prophet who had boldly asserted, "As Jehovah liveth, before whom I stand" (1 Ki. 17:1), once again fearlessly stands before the king. At Elijah's summons, the king goes to meet him. Elijah refuses the charge of troubling Israel, hurling it right back into the wicked king's face with convicting evidence for its appropriateness. Then he tells the king to gather all Israel to him, and specifically the 850 idolatrous prophets of Baal and the Asherah under Queen Jezebel's patronage. He, Jehovah's prophet, takes full command of the entire situation and by faith, obedience, and prayer gains a glorious victory.

Jacob learned lessons that night at Peniel which he never forgot, and, we may add, never lost the profit of. When he actually met Esau, it was only to prove the faithfulness of God to His own gracious word of promise, "I am with thee, and will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of." Instead of Esau killing him, as he had feared, we are told that "Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept." (Chap. 33:4.) After this they met at Isaac's funeral; for we read that "his sons Esau and Jacob buried him." (Chap. 35:29.) Many a bitter trial Jacob had to pass through, and had need to think of Bethel, and the God of Bethel, and, halting on his thigh, he could never forget that night at Peniel. However, he was at length so conscious of his dignity and superiority, as being an object of God's gracious care and blessing, that he could courteously take the place of conferring blessing on the greatest potentate on earth, and of bowing himself out of his presence. "Jacob blessed Pharaoh." Instead of courting this royal person, or coveting anything from him, he now rightly felt his real superiority over those who know not God. When the king said unto Jacob, "How old art thou?" Jacob said unto Pharaoh, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage." Again it is said, "And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh." (Chap. 47:7-10.) Jacob's conduct was certainly very different toward Pharaoh to what it was when expecting to meet Esau; and if the latter serves to illustrate the proverb, that "the wicked flee when no man pursueth," the former not less strikingly shows that "the righteous are bold as a lion."

To fear a foe much mightier than oneself is not reprehensible, but to fear without occasion — when one is invincible, is cowardice indeed, and such a spirit is stigmatized in scripture. It is solemn to learn that the "fearful" (cowardly) are classed with the "unbelieving" in the enumeration of those condemned to the lake of fire (Rev. 21:8). An evil conscience makes a coward. "The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are as bold as a lion" (Prov. 28:1).

But further. He learns also in the school of God his own vileness. Job, when brought into the presence of God, had to learn to abhor himself, Isaiah that he was undone and unclean, and Daniel that all his comeliness had turned to corruption. And the moment this mighty Wrestler enquired of Jacob, "What is thy name?" it touched the deepest springs of his heart, reached the secret workings of conscience, so that he was obliged to reply, "My name is Jacob," or supplanter; as much as to say, "I am vile, for I am a supplanter." Thus he learns during one night another salutary lesson. And all now who are under divine teaching, also learn that in the flesh is nothing good, but all manner of evil, and that it cannot be trusted. These things Jacob learns, as I have said, in the presence of God; for though the Wrestler appeared to him in the similitude of "a man," he afterwards owns that he is God; for he says, "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved" (v. 30); for surely none else could have so taught him that he was perfectly weak and thoroughly vile. In the sequel, he proved experimentally how entirely useless all his plans and stratagems were for appeasing Esau, and trying to escape his supposed anger, by taking up his own position in the rear of his long droves of cattle, his wives and children. The truth is that he had a bad conscience about Esau, and it happened to him according to the Scripture, "The wicked flee when no man pursueth."

9 The question put in the psalm is: If the foundations be cast down, what can the righteous do? - what they might refer to as of divine stability? For good does not exist, and the wicked are disturbed by no scruple of conscience, and with fraud of heart seek to destroy the righteous. There is a time when the Lord warns to flee, when no action and no patience is of any avail. This is not the case here. It is only so when God delivers up all to the wicked for a time, Fear and unbelief would urge flight, as a bird, away from the scene to a place of refuge and human security. Faith looks higher. "In Jehovah put I my trust." Trust in Jehovah, who is above all, to whom nothing is unknown, whom nothing escapes, whose faithfulness is unchangeable, without whom not a sparrow falls to the ground, who, after all, orders everything, whatever man's plans are, who is our Father. Trust in Him is the resource and peace-giving feeling of the righteous. This, in its nature, gives a perfect walk and calmness at all times; because circumstances do not govern the feelings, and the soul has no motive to lead it but the will of God, and can have boldness to do it when called on, through confidence in Him. It gives calmness too, because God is trusted for every result.