# “Retreat to the Holy One of Israel” by Thomas Brooks

- Link: https://tollelege.net/2026/05/16/retreat-to-the-holy-one-of-israel-by-thomas-brooks/
- Published: 2026-05-16T10:00:00-05:00
- Author: tollelege

‘The name of the LORD is a strong tower, 
the righteous runneth into it and is safe.’(**
Proverbs 18:10**)

“Sometimes by the name of the Lord we are to understand God Himself, but most commonly
God’s attributes are called His name, because by them He is known, as a man is by
His name; and here by the name of the Lord we are to understand the power of the
Lord, for by that God is known, as men are known by their names.

Now God Himself is a strong tower, and the power of God is a strong tower, yea, 
it is a tower as high as heaven, and as strong as strength itself; it is a tower
so deep no pioneer can undermine it, so thick no cannon can pierce it, so high no
ladder can scale it, so strong that no enemy can assault it or ever be able to stand
before it, and so well furnished and provided for all purposes and intents, that
all the powers of darkness can never distress it, or in the least straiten it.

Now to this impregnable and inexpugnable tower the righteous in all their distresses
and dangers run. All creatures run to their refuges when they are hunted and pursued,
and so do righteous souls to theirs.

But what doth the righteous man gain by running to his strong tower? Why, he gains
safety; he is safe, saith the text, or rather according to the Hebrew נשגב, exaltatur,
he is exalted, he is set aloft, he is a soul out of gunshot, he is a soul out of
all hazard and danger, he is safe in everlasting arms, he is safe in his strong 
tower of defence, he can easily overlook all hazards, yea, he can look upon the 
greatest dangers with an holy neglect.

And when the burning fiery furnace was heated seven times hotter than at first, 
whither doth Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego run? Why, they run to God:

> ‘Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar,
> we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God, whom we
> serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver
> us out of thy hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we
> will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.’(**
> Daniel 3:16-18**)

And so Moses in that **Ps. 90:1**, ‘Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all
generations;’ or as the Hebrew hath it, thou hast been our refuge-place in generation
and generation. By this Hebraism, generation and generation, the prophet sets forth
all generations, to shew that there hath been no generation wherein God hath not
been the refuge of his people.

God was a refuge to his people before the flood, and he hath been a refuge since
the flood, and he will be a refuge to his people, whilst he hath a people in the
world.

All the time that Moses and the people of Israel were a-travelling up and down in
that terrible howling wilderness, wherein they were compassed about with dreadful
dangers on all hands, God was a refuge and a dwelling-place unto them. In all their
troubles and travels for four hundred years together, God was a shelter, a refuge,
and an house of defence unto them.

Every man’s house is his strong castle, and thither he retreats when dangers come;
and thus did the people of God in the text. When dangers threatened them, they still
run to their God, they still made their retreat to the Holy One of Israel.

A man that hath God for his portion, when he is at worst can never be houseless 
nor harbourless. As long as God lives, he can never want an house, a mansion-house
to hide his head in.

All the powers on earth and all the powers of hell can never unhouse, nor never 
unharbour, nor never unshelter that man that hath God for his portion.”

–Thomas Brooks, “**[An Ark for All of God’s Noahs](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0851513026?tag=toletaupanre-20)**,”_**
[The Works of Thomas Brooks, Volume 2](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0851513026?tag=toletaupanre-20)**_,
ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1867/1980), 2: 85-
86.

[⌊The Works of Thomas Brooks Volume 2⌉⌊The Works of Thomas Brooks Volume 2⌉[

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