Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
The heart of the king is in the hand of God, to whom mercy and judgment are more pleasing than victims; plunder devours the plunderers; a corner is better than a quarrelsome wife; he who repels the poor will be repelled; feasting impoverishes; the wicked shall be given in place of the just; he who guards his mouth guards his soul; desires kill the sluggard; there is no wisdom against the Lord, whose it is to give salvation and victory.
Vulgate Text: Proverbs 21:1-31
1. As the divisions of waters, so is the heart of the king in the hand of the Lord: He will incline it whithersoever He will. 2. Every way of a man seems right to himself, but the Lord weighs the hearts. 3. To do mercy and judgment pleases the Lord more than victims. 4. The exaltation of the eyes is the enlargement of the heart: the lamp of the wicked is sin. 5. The thoughts of the strong man are always in abundance, but every sluggard is always in want. 6. He who gathers treasures by a lying tongue is vain and senseless, and shall be dashed against the snares of death. 7. The plundering of the wicked shall drag them down, because they refused to do judgment. 8. The perverse way of a man is alien: but he who is clean, his work is right. 9. It is better to sit in a corner of the housetop than with a quarrelsome woman in a shared house. 10. The soul of the wicked desires evil; he will not have mercy on his neighbor. 11. When the pestilent man is punished, the little one shall become wiser; and if he follows the wise man, he shall receive knowledge. 12. The just man considers the house of the wicked, that he may draw the wicked away from evil. 13. He who stops his ear against the cry of the poor shall himself also cry and not be heard. 14. A secret gift extinguishes wrath, and a present in the bosom, the greatest indignation. 15. It is joy to the just to do judgment, and dread to those who work iniquity. 16. The man who shall wander from the way of doctrine shall dwell in the assembly of the giants. 17. He who loves feasting shall be in want: he who loves wine and rich food shall not be enriched. 18. The wicked is given for the just, and the unjust for the upright. 19. It is better to dwell in a desert land than with a quarrelsome and wrathful woman. 20. A desirable treasure and oil are in the dwelling of the just: and the foolish man shall squander it. 21. He who follows justice and mercy shall find life, justice, and glory. 22. The wise man has scaled the city of the strong and has destroyed the strength of its confidence. 23. He who guards his mouth and his tongue guards his soul from distress. 24. The proud and arrogant man is called unlearned, who in anger works pride. 25. Desires kill the sluggard, for his hands refuse to work; 26. all day long he covets and desires: but he who is just shall give and shall not cease. 27. The sacrifices of the wicked are abominable, because they are offered out of wickedness. 28. A lying witness shall perish: an obedient man shall speak of victory. 29. The wicked man brazenly hardens his face: but he who is upright corrects his way. 30. There is no wisdom, there is no prudence, there is no counsel against the Lord. 31. The horse is prepared for the day of battle; but the Lord gives salvation.
1. AS THE DIVISIONS OF WATERS, SO IS THE HEART OF THE KING IN THE HAND OF THE LORD: HE WILL INCLINE IT WHITHERSOEVER HE WILL
First, Lyranus, Hugo, Dionysius, and others understand by the divisions of waters that primordial separation of the waters by which God at the beginning of the world divided the upper waters from the lower, interposing the firmament between them (Genesis 1:8), as if to say:
Just as God originally divided the upper waters from the lower, so He divides the heart of the king, now lifting it up so that it may think and devise great and lofty things, now pressing it down so that it may think about and deal with lowly and humble matters. Indeed He now raises the king himself to be powerful, now casts him down to be abject and common, as He cast down the proud Nebuchadnezzar by changing him into a beast (Daniel 4:30). Moreover, some understand by the upper waters the clouds, which are above the sky, that is, the air of the lowest region, as if to say: Just as God by sending wind drives the clouds to rain upon that place of the earth which He Himself has chosen, so likewise by His Spirit He drives the mind of the king, so that it is carried thither and carries out whatever has been pleasing and determined by God.
Second, others refer this to the divisions of the Red Sea, which God made through Moses, so that the Hebrews might cross, and then, the sea being turned back, the pursuing Egyptians might be drowned in it. For there God inclined the heart of Pharaoh the king (by that reasoning and method which I recounted at Exodus 7:3) to pursue the Hebrews, so as to drown him with his people in the sea. In a similar way, God turns back the hearts and counsels of wicked kings and tyrants upon themselves, so that they are caught and overwhelmed by the very things they had wickedly contrived against others.
Again, others by the divisions of waters understand the various divisions, stretches, and bays of the sea, which have their own distinct movements and tides: for in some there is a tide once a day, so that the sea now rises, now falls; in others twice or thrice, and in others four times, as if to say: Just as the sea and its bays and tides are in the hand of God, for Him to divide and regulate at will, so likewise the heart of the king, which like the sea surges with various thoughts, counsels, and meditations, is in the hand of God, for Him to divide and direct at will. Some confirm this sense from the Hebrew word pelagim, as though pelagus, that is, sea, were derived from it; but this is backward: for pelagim in Hebrew means divisions, not sea.
Furthermore, Bede understands by the divisions of waters the rivers which flow from the sea. Whence our Salazar shapes this maxim thus, as if to say: Just as rivers indeed flow from the sea by God's authorship, and again, as if with the same one balancing them, they traverse, wash, and pour into the longest stretches of the earth, and at last flow back into the sea — so also the decisions, commands, and just laws of a king are derived from the ocean of the divine will and sovereignty, and pass over to subjects as certain rivers flowing from it. So much so that the good will of a prince should be called a certain intimation and derivation of the divine will, which it is wicked to oppose. This is what is meant by: "He will incline it whithersoever He will," that is, his will is carried in that direction in which the will of God inclines. So that the just decisions of the prince are certain derivations and outflows of the divine will, which, after they have broadly washed great regions, flow back to the sea of that same divine will. And so Solomon, according to this interpretation, urges obedience and compliance toward kings upon subjects: because God governs their hearts and pursuits, and through them declares His will to subjects. This is what Wisdom Herself, that is God, proclaims of Herself in chapter 8:14: "Counsel is Mine and equity, prudence is Mine, strength is Mine. By Me kings reign, and lawmakers decree just things. By Me princes command, and the mighty decree justice."
Third, and genuinely, by the divisions of waters understand those by which rivers are channeled and flow into various parts of the earth, or by which masses of water are led into gardens and fields to irrigate and fertilize them, as the Nile is channeled through all of Egypt, and thus silts and makes it fertile. For the Hebrew word פלגי (palge) signifies these streams. Whence the Chaldean, Syriac, Cajetan, Vatablus, Pagninus, and others translate: as streams of water, so is the heart of the king in the hand of the Lord.
Moreover, these streams are made either by God and by nature, or by a farmer, or by an aquilegus (water-gatherer) who collects and gathers water and leads it through aqueducts wherever he pleases, as we see done in Rome through pipes and channels. Hence the author of the Greek Catena, from the Septuagint, translates thus: as the rush of water is in the hand of God, so is the heart of the king; for by a mere nod He bends it whithersoever He wills, as if to say: Just as God channels rivers, like the Nile, through streams into certain parts of the earth, to moisten and fertilize them, so likewise the same God channels and leads the heart and thoughts of the king, so that they are directed toward this nation or person and are beneficent to it, not to another. For when the Lord favors someone, He inspires sound counsels in princes and impels them to carry them out; but when He is angry with someone, He allows them to go into a reprobate mind, and inclines them to things that work evil and vengeance upon their subjects. This was evident in Saul, first chosen and afterward rejected; likewise in David, who, although he was a man after the Lord's heart, yet when the fury of the Lord was added to His anger against Israel, He moved David to a disastrous census of the people of Israel, as is clear from 2 Kings (last chapter). Whence that saying of Job 34:30: "Who makes a hypocrite to reign because of the sins of the people." But if the heart of a king is in the hand of the Lord — which seems supremely free — how much more the remaining forces, camps, armies, and the rest of the apparatus of war; how much more other private individuals? So that this maxim relates to that of chapter 20:27: "The lamp of the Lord is the breath of man, which (the Septuagint read: who, namely the Lord) searches all the secret places of the belly."
Again, these streams are led by the farmer or water-gatherer, and then the sense will be, as if to say: Just as the divisions of waters, that is, the streamlets of a spring, or of a torrent, or of a river, are divided and flow in the direction to which they are led by the farmer or water-gatherer, so the heart of the king is led in the direction to which God has inclined and led it.
These maxims, because they are concise, include much that must be mentally supplied by the reader and filled in by the interpreter. Therefore the word "divisions" includes both the spring from which the waters are led, and the streams that are led, and the place and parts of the earth into which they are led. Conversely, the heart of the king includes the counsels, plans, decrees, benefits, or mischiefs which from it, as from a spring, flow out upon the subjects and the commonwealth. Properly then, the heart of the king is compared to a spring; the counsels and benefits, etc., to streamlets; the place and parts of the earth, to the peoples and persons upon whom they are bestowed, as if to say: Just as a spring is in the hand of the farmer or water-gatherer, to lead it at his pleasure through ditches and channels into these beds of the garden or house, to irrigate, water, and fertilize them — so the heart of the king is in the hand of God, to lead it at will into those thoughts, counsels, and affections which are useful and advantageous to this people or person, or useless and harmful, and not otherwise. God does this by suggesting to the king counsels so attractive that his mind is seized to undertake them, and by implanting in the king an affection for them, so that he loves and desires them, but loathes and rejects the contrary. Thus God confounded the counsel of Ahithophel, good for Absalom but harmful to David (2 Kings 17): "By acting in the heart of Absalom so that he rejected such a counsel and chose another which was not expedient for him," says St. Augustine (On Grace and Free Will, chapter 20). But God knows and has in His mind and hand a thousand ways and means by which to accomplish this, inasmuch as He is all-knowing and all-powerful, and the King and Lord of minds; for He alone enters into the mind, and softens, hardens, bends, turns, and drives it wherever it pleases Him, and He does this surely and powerfully, yet sweetly and easily, leaving the mind its free will and free choice. For just as water, when a channel is made — that is, a canal or sloping ditch — flows spontaneously into it, so the heart of the king is spontaneously carried toward those things which God gently and fittingly suggests to it, by interiorly proposing to it those things which He knows to be suited to its nature, as St. Thomas explains this passage (Summa Theologica I, Question 83, article 1, ad 3). He moves therefore not by compelling but by soothing, softening, caressing, persuading, etc.
This maxim therefore signifies, first, that the heart of the king, who seems subject to no one but to rule over all, is subject to God and is in His hand, like clay in the hand of the potter, for Him to shape and form as He pleases. For although the hearts of all men are in the hand of God, yet this is properly said of the heart of a king, because God has a special providence over him: both because the king is the vicar of God on earth and governs the commonwealth in God's stead, and because God has a special care for the commonwealth and the kingdom, whose governance and happiness or unhappiness depends on the king. Wherefore when God is angry with the commonwealth for its sins, He infatuates the king or prince so that he ruins the commonwealth; but when He wishes it well, He suggests to the king sound counsels and a healthy disposition, so that he may prudently with all his strength promote the good of the commonwealth. Moreover, if the heart of the king is in the hand of God as clay in the hand of the potter — indeed more so — then He rules over it more than the potter over clay, namely with full right and divine power. Hence from this maxim of Solomon, Francisco Suarez infers (De Gratia, volume I, prolegomenon 1, chapter 5, number 9) that God can immediately by Himself necessitate the will on the part of the power itself, with no change made on the part of the judgment or object, nor in the other conditions physically or morally required for willing freely, and St. Thomas sufficiently indicates the same (De Veritate, Question 22, article 8). But then the will would not act freely, being driven by necessity. Wherefore God does not in fact use this absolute power of His, but leaves the will to its own freedom.
Second, it signifies that the king, if he wishes to rule rightly, ought to allow himself to be ruled by God, and therefore ought to search out His will and intention through prayers, and diligently carry out what he has learned.
Third, it signifies that if anyone desires to obtain something from the king, he ought first to approach God and ask Him to direct the king's heart and bend it to granting what is sought, as Esther did, who prayed to God that He would bend the heart of her husband King Ahasuerus toward love of the Jews, and that he would pardon them their life and liberty, already snatched away by the deceit of Haman through a decree — she prayed and obtained it. Hear her praying (Esther 14:13): "Grant a well-composed speech in my mouth, and turn his heart to hatred of our enemy, that both he himself may perish and the others who consent to him." He therefore who seeks the king's favor should first seek and win God's favor for himself. Whence St. Augustine (On Grace and Free Will, chapter 21), speaking of Ahasuerus and Esther: "He looked upon her, he says, like a bull in the rush of his indignation, and the queen was afraid, and her color changed through faintness, and she leaned upon the head of her attendant who went before her, and God turned and transferred his indignation into gentleness. It is written in the Proverbs of Solomon: As the rush of water, so is the heart of the king in the hand of God; He will incline it whithersoever He will. And in the Psalm it is read, spoken of the Egyptians, what God did to them: And He turned their heart to hate His people, to deal craftily with His servants."
Fourth, when we experience the counsels and dispositions of princes to be harmful to the commonwealth, let us know that this proceeds from God who is angry at our sins, and therefore let us appease His wrath by repenting; but when they are salutary, let us give thanks not so much to the king as to God, who governs the king's heart. "Therefore, says Louis Molina (I, Part, Question 14, article 13, disputation 21), the heart of the king (which on earth, having no fear of punishment or hope of reward from another by whom it might be restrained, and for that reason being more difficult to bend in one direction or another by anyone else than the heart of any other person) is said to be in the hand of God, who will incline it whithersoever He wills, namely by drawing it sweetly with gifts and aids in one direction or another, wherever God Himself wills, while preserving intact the full right of innate human freedom. The heart of the king is also in the hand of the Lord, because He can impose necessity upon it to will what it has pleased God for it to will, as we have shown (I-II, Question 6); but God does not customarily use this power of His, but is accustomed to leave men in the hand of their own counsel."
Finally, the Septuagint translate: as the rush of water, so is the heart of the king in the hand of God, as if to say: The heart of the king, surging with anger or some other passion, is like the rush of a river or torrent, which no one can resist and no barrier can block; but God with a slight turn is able to divert them, wheel them around, and bend them in the opposite direction. Again, just as God gives force to the water or torrent so that it rushes headlong into some part of the earth, so the same God sends impulses and passions into the king's heart to undertake what He Himself wishes to accomplish through them, according to Psalm 45:5: "The rush of the river makes glad the city of God." The Arabic version: as the lifting of waters, so is the heart of the king in the hand of God; whithersoever He nods, He inclines it thither. The Syriac: as a stream of waters, so is the heart of the king in the hands of God; whithersoever He wills, He will make it incline. Moreover, the author of the Greek Catena explains the Septuagint thus, as if to say: "Just as the rush of waters drives and turns sticks or leaves cast into it in every direction, so God impels the heart of the king toward whatever He wills. He stimulates the heart of the king, when it has turned from justice, toward repentance and the fruit of righteousness, and He inclines it not using force or power, but teaching and instructing, and drawing sweetly, so that it turns of its own accord where God invites, and refers all things to the praise and glory of God."
Furthermore, St. Basil and St. Gregory Nazianzen judge that the heart of the king is in the hand of God in that God protects and preserves kings, their hearts and lives, against enemies and plots. For the heart is the principle of life, and therefore its symbol. Hear them as quoted by Antonius in the Melissa, part II, chapter 1: "If the heart of the king, says St. Basil, is in the hand of God, it is preserved not by the strength of arms but by divine aid and guidance. But it is in God's hand not just anyone, but one worthy of the name of king." St. Gregory Nazianzen says: "Revere the purple of the king; for the lawgiver is reason itself, even for lawmakers. Know what has been entrusted to you, and what mystery there is in your affairs: the whole world is held under your hand by a small diadem and a little piece of cloth. The things above belong to God alone, but the things below are also yours. Be gods to your subjects, to say something rather bold. That the heart of the king is in the hand of God has both been said and believed: let your strength be there, and not in gold and armies."
Tropologically, Bede understands by the heart of the king the heart of the just man, who rules and moderates his passions: "Why does he say the heart of the king, and not rather of all men, is in the hand of God, when it is written: For in His hand are all the ends of the earth — unless perhaps he calls a king anyone holy who conquers the wars of vices within himself and fills the ranks of virtue's army? For just as the Lord with many-forked divisions of waters fills broadly both the ends of the earth and the air, and also covers the heights of the heavens with waters, so He will incline the heart of the king whithersoever He wills; because just as He distributes the divisions of graces according to His will to both angels and men, so He renders the hearts of the saints worthy of whatever gifts He wills. Nor does the Pelagian have any place here to claim that anyone can be saved without the grace of God."
The heart of the just man, then, is a kingdom in which God reigns. Whence St. Ambrose on Psalm 118, octonary 14, commenting on the words: My soul is in Thy hands: "The Prophet knows, he says, he knows where to place the defense of his soul, whence to hope for help; he wishes to establish his soul in the hands of God, because the heart of the king is in the hand of God. Whoever has subdued his own body, and as one who rightly governs himself has not permitted his soul to be disturbed by its passions with proper vitality, he, restraining himself with a certain royal power, is called a king, because he knows how to govern himself and is the arbiter of his own rights, so that he is not dragged captive into fault nor carried headlong into vice. The soul of such a one does not perish forever, nor does anyone snatch it from the hand of the almighty Father, or of the Son. For the hand of God, which established the heavens, does not lose those whom it has held."
Again, St. Ambrose (or whoever the author is; for I have shown in the preface to the Apocalypse that this is not the work of St. Ambrose of Milan), on Apocalypse chapter 8, near the beginning: "The Angel is said to have held a golden censer in his hand, because the hearts of the Apostles were in the hand of God, as Solomon says: The heart of the king is in the hand of God; He will incline it whithersoever He will. Was the heart of Solomon in the hand of God when he was worshiping idols? Was the heart of Antiochus or Herod in the hand of God? Were the hearts of kings persecuting the saints of God in the hand of God? No, but they were in the hand of the devil; because toward whatever crimes he wished, he inclined them. But the hearts of spiritual kings, that is, of the saints, are in the hand of God, and therefore He will incline them toward whatever He wills." Wherefore Synesius, in hymn 4, thus celebrates and invokes God: "Thou art the Mind of mind, the Soul of souls, the Nature of natures."
2. EVERY WAY OF A MAN SEEMS RIGHT TO HIMSELF, BUT THE LORD WEIGHS THE HEARTS
The Syriac: the ways of man are right in the eyes of his soul; and the Lord fits, disposes, establishes the heart. The Arabic: every man appears just to himself, and the Lord pierces (penetrates) hearts. You ask: how does every way of a man seem right to him, when many wicked persons, such as murderers, robbers, adulterers, and blasphemers, know that they act perversely and wickedly?
First, Lyranus responds and gives the reason: because, he says, "as St. Dionysius says, no one works looking at evil, but always looks at the good, whether true or apparent. The Lord weighs hearts in the balance of His justice, to render to them rewards or punishments according to their merits or demerits." So also Jansenius, Cajetan, and others. But the sinner looks at what is useful or pleasurable, not at what is right, that is, honest and consonant with the law; whence to the wicked their way and life does not seem right, but crooked and wicked. But it can be replied that even the wicked have their own worldly and shadowy propriety, by which they cloak their vices under the name of virtues, calling anger generosity, luxury magnificence, prodigality liberality, rashness courage, etc.; and so they glory in their crimes as if in outstanding deeds.
First, some explain it thus, as if to say: No way, that is, no action, is so depraved and distorted that it does not seem right and honest to some depraved and distorted person. Hence God has established in man the balance of right reason and judgment, so that in it all actions and intentions of the heart may be weighed, and from its equilibrium it may be seen precisely what is fair and right. "To you, says St. Basil (on Psalm 61), your own balance is given, which sufficiently demonstrates the distinction between good and evil."
Second, others explain, as if to say: Every way, that is, the action and life of an upright man flowing from uprightness, is right and good as it seems to him, and so it truly is — not from himself, but from God, who weighs hearts, that is, balances and levels them, so that they may see, enter upon, and pursue the level path of virtue. Whence the Chaldean and Septuagint translate: the Lord directs (Symmachus and Theodotion: ἐτοιμάζει, that is, prepares, strengthens; Cajetan: adapts) hearts; Vatablus: arranges, as if to say: "He who infuses the good will is the Lord." So also Rabbi Levi, Rabbi Solomon, and Aben-Ezra, who therefore joins this verse to the next: "To do mercy and judgment pleases the Lord more than victims." See, thus the Lord weighs hearts. Wherefore Gregory Nazianzen in the Apologeticus: "The best thing, he says, is that every prayer and action of ours should begin from God and end in God. Let Christ be your beginning and let Christ end all things for you." Thus St. Prosper explains this maxim (On the Calling of the Gentiles, Book I, chapter 9), and from it proves against the Pelagians that God is the author of all virtue and all good.
Third, our Salazar adds two other interpretations. The first is, as if to say: To man indeed the way which tends to the execution of evil seems smooth and easy, because it is pleasurable, and often also clear and unhindered by any obstacles. But God examines not this outward way but that inward one by which one proceeds to consent, with His level, and in it He finds the insurmountable inclines of a bad conscience. The second interpretation, which he himself prefers, is: Man indeed, pleased with himself on the scales of his own estimation, is accustomed to be carried away by the lightness of vain elation; but God is accustomed to weigh down such lightness of heart by imposing a weight, and (if one may say so) to bring back down to earth the lofty scale-pan which self-esteem has raised. This He can accomplish in two ways: namely, by imposing the burden of humility, or also of humiliation; for both depress elation of mind and cast down pride.
Fourth, Pagninus translates: but God numbers the hearts, as if to say: God counts whether there are two hearts in a man — one outwardly feigned, the other inwardly true — such as hypocrites have. God counts and abominates these, who gave us one heart, which He willed us to bear inwardly just as we present it outwardly. Again, God numbers hearts, that is, the thoughts and intentions of hearts, and from them measures and estimates the weight and value of an action.
Second, and more genuinely, "man" (vir) here and elsewhere means an upright, honest man, zealous for virtue and good reputation; for the word "virtue" (virtus) is derived from "man" (vir), as though it were "man's work." Whence the Septuagint translate: every man seems just to himself; but the Lord directs hearts. Thus "man" is taken for a good and wise man in Job 1:1: "There was a man in the land of Uz named Job" — where see St. Gregory. Jeremiah is commanded to seek such a man in the streets of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 5:1). And Proverbs 10:23: "Wisdom is prudence to a man." And chapter 20:24: "The steps of a man are directed by the Lord." And chapter 12:8: "A man shall be known by his learning." And chapter 18:4: "Deep water are the words from a man's mouth." And verse 14: "The spirit of a man sustains his weakness." Similar passages are in chapters 19:11 and 21, and 20:5. Here is relevant that saying of Herodotus in the Polymnia: "Human beings are very many; men are very few." Whence Diogenes, having lit a lamp at midday in the middle of the forum, when asked what he was looking for, said: "I am looking for a human being; I am looking for a man." The sense therefore is, as if to say: Every life, that is, every action of an upright man, seems to him when he carefully weighs and examines it to be good and right; but God penetrates and weighs the hearts of each, and often sees lurking in it some vicious affection which is the cause of the action and vitiates and pollutes it, or at least makes it less good and holy, according to chapter 16:2: "The Lord is the weigher of spirits." For by "heart" understand the spirit, affection, and intention of the heart; for God weighs, that is, balances, examines, appraises, estimates, and judges these. See what was said there. For many are deceived by cupidity, or self-love, or the appearance of good, and think they act well when they act badly, because they do not see through to the bottom of their heart and the hidden affections of revenge, avarice, pride, etc., lurking within it, which impel them to action. But God sees through and weighs these, and from them judges the action to be good or bad. Wherefore men ought not to flatter, trust, and believe themselves regarding the goodness of their actions, but should submit themselves with fear to God's judgment, and await it and say with St. Paul: "I am conscious of nothing against myself, but I am not thereby justified; He who judges me is the Lord" (1 Corinthians 4).
God alone therefore is the true weigher of hearts, the balancer of minds, and the ponderer of spirits, who with the most precise scales of His judgment weighs and examines the hearts and works of each individual, and determines precisely each one — what it is, of what quality and quantity, and of what value and merit — which the just man, however upright and diligent a searcher of his own actions, cannot achieve. I shall add here the versions and interpretations of others, so that the reader need not wander through books, but may find them all gathered here in one place and use them as the occasion requires.
3. TO DO MERCY AND JUDGMENT PLEASES THE LORD MORE THAN VICTIMS.
For "mercy" the Hebrew has "justice," and thus many Latin codices read before the Roman correction, as also the Septuagint, the Chaldean, Vatablus, Pagninus, and others. The Hebrew therefore reads thus: to do justice and judgment is chosen by the Lord above sacrifice; which the Septuagint explain thus: to do just things and to be truthful are pleasing to God more than the blood of victims; and the Chaldean: he who does justice and judgment takes delight in his God more than in sacrifice. The author of the Greek Catena from the Septuagint translates thus, in another reading: a just work and true prayer please God more than bloody victims. Great is this praise of justice and truth, that they please God above victims; for He is the first and highest Truth, from whom all truth flows; just as, conversely: "The devil is a liar, and his father," namely, of lying (John 8:44).
Here is relevant the Arabic proverb: "Be a balance to everyone," that is, be just and do not deviate from fairness, and do injury to no one so as to depress the balance of justice. And: "There is no justice with avarice," as if to say: It is difficult to be just and avaricious at the same time. And: "Haste in justice is not justice," meaning that a judge should not rush to a verdict when the matter has not been sufficiently investigated.
But our translator understood "justice" as "mercy": for the outstanding work of the just man, and the sign of his justice and holiness, is mercy. Whence "justice" is sometimes used for mercy, as in Daniel 4:24: "Redeem your sins with alms" (the Chaldean: with justice). Psalm 111:9: "He has distributed, he has given to the poor; his justice remains forever and ever." Justice, that is, the almsgiving which he gave to the poor, as the Apostle explains in 2 Corinthians 9:9. Add that in this passage justice properly so-called is understood through the word "judgment" which follows; for Scripture is accustomed to embrace every office of virtue under these two: mercy and justice. For every duty is either owed, and is signified by justice, or unowed and gratuitous, and is signified by mercy. The sense is, as if to say: To pursue virtue and holiness, namely works either owed from justice or gratuitous from mercy, pleases God more than victims; because the latter are dead and are the carcasses of beasts, but the former are the vital and living actions of men, by which for God's sake and by God's laws concupiscence is mortified through the mercy and justice which we show to our neighbor, who is the image of God, for His sake and out of love for Him. Again, through mercy we give life, as it were, to our neighbor who is dying of hunger or some other evil, and in our neighbor we give life, as it were, to God Himself, who considers what is given to our neighbor as given to Himself. For it is more glorious for God to be the author and lord of life than of death; but He is the author of life through mercy, of death through sacrifice.
Whence Micah, alluding to this (whom Christ follows, Matthew 9:13), at chapter 6:6, asking in the person of others: "What worthy thing shall I offer the Lord? Shall I give my firstborn for my crime? Or can the Lord be appeased with thousands of rams?" responds: "I will show you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: namely, to do judgment and to love mercy." See what was said there; for there I enumerated the reasons why works of mercy and justice please God more than victims. Therefore I shall not repeat them here, that I may proceed to other matters.
4. THE EXALTATION OF THE EYES IS THE ENLARGEMENT OF THE HEART: THE LAMP OF THE WICKED IS SIN
In place of "is," the Hebrew has "and," and so the Complutensian edition reads; but the Roman and other editions read "is," because the Hebrew vav, that is, the copulative conjunction, sometimes means "is": for just as "and," so also "is" joins the predicate with the subject.
In the Hebrew it is: exaltation of the eyes, pride, and breadth of heart, vain self-confidence — which twofold vice is the lamp, light, boast of the wicked (they rejoice in it and are pleased with themselves) — is sin, which provokes the wrath of God.
You ask: what is the exaltation of the eyes and the enlargement of the heart? Some take these in a good sense, as virtue. Whence, first, some understand by the exaltation of the eyes magnanimity: for the magnanimous man, as he has a lofty mind, so also with lofty eyes he looks upon great things and meditates on great things, as if to say: Magnanimity, as it exalts the eyes, so it also expands the heart and makes it magnificent, so that it plans and seeks great things. The Septuagint supports this, translating μεγαλόφρων, that is, magnanimous, or thinking and meditating great things, bold in bearing injury; but the torch of the wicked is sin. And thus the antithesis between the first and second hemistich is clear, as if to say: Magnanimity exalts the eyes to look upon great things, and expands the heart to love, aim at, and plan great things; hence the magnanimous man is spirited and bold in bearing and despising injuries of every kind, even the most atrocious. On the contrary, the wicked always have their sins before their eyes like a lamp, which depresses their mind, constricts it, and makes it base and pusillanimous. For it is well known that birds of prey, like kites, when a lamp is held before their eyes, become dazed and lose their ferocity; so also the wicked, when they reconsider and contemplate their perpetrated sins hovering before their memory, contract their mind and become timid and pusillanimous. Again, just as flies flying to a lamp burn their wings and burn and kill themselves, so the wicked, flying to the little flame of sin, burn, kill themselves with it, and plunge into the flames of hell. Here is relevant that saying of Gregory Nazianzen in his Iambics: To be envied is noble; envy is base; Walk tall, leaving the envious on the ground.
Second, Hugo and Dionysius: The enlargement of the heart, he says, is charity (or, as others say, hope) expanding the heart toward all persons and all things, to do them good; this is the exaltation of the eyes, because it raises the eyes to behold heavenly and celestial things, and to meditate on and plan great things in the hope of eternal goods, just as, conversely, cupidity contracts the heart and presses it down toward earthly things, according to the Psalmist: "They have set their eyes to look down upon the earth."
Third, Rabbi Levi: The exaltation of the eyes, he says, is knowledge; for this raises the eyes to see lofty things, and likewise expands the heart — that is, it makes it swollen and proud — according to the Apostle: "Knowledge puffs up, but charity builds up."
But others generally take these in a bad sense, to signify vice. Whence, first, some understand by the exaltation of the eyes avarice, according to chapter 23:5: "Do not raise your eyes to riches which you cannot have." Now avarice is "the enlargement of the heart," because it expands the heart to covet and seize many things, even those belonging to others. For what is said of water — "The more they are drunk, the more waters are thirsted for" — the same may be said of riches. This is the lamp of the wicked, which while they follow it, they fall into many sins: "For the root of all evils is cupidity, in Greek φιλαργυρία, that is, the love of money" (1 Timothy 6:10). Whence in Psalm 100:5, where we read from the Septuagint: "The proud eye and the insatiable heart," the Hebrew has the same words that Solomon uses here, which St. Jerome translates there as: proud in eyes and broad in heart. Rabbi Abraham: "Broad in heart, he says, is one who expands his heart to bear adversities, and does not even fear God;" such are the avaricious, who gape entirely after riches. Whence this cupidity so expands the heart, that is, the conscience, that they think all unjust things to be fair, and contrive a thousand pretexts for their usury and frauds; for in finding these they are most keen-sighted and sharp-eyed.
Second, others more correctly understand by the exaltation of the eyes, in the idiom of Scripture, pride, according to chapter 6:17: "Lofty eyes, a lying tongue." And chapter 30:13: "A generation whose eyes are lofty, and whose eyelids are raised on high." And Ecclesiasticus 23:5: "Give me not the haughtiness of my eyes." And frequently elsewhere. By "the enlargement of the heart," Jansenius and others understand avarice, as though two capital vices are noted here which, like a lamp, light the way for the wicked to all sins. These two are pride and avarice.
Third, and genuinely, the haughtiness of the eyes denotes the freedom and pride of spirit by which the arrogant raise their eyes, look around arrogantly at everything, and despise everyone and everything beneath them. The enlargement of the heart denotes the swelling, haughtiness, license, and concupiscence of the will, by which the proud and wicked, unbridled and libertine, extend their desire to everything, think everything is permitted to them, consider everything owed to them, so that they do whatever pleases and delights them. The haughtiness of the eyes therefore pertains to the imagination and intellect; the enlargement of the heart to the affection and will; and the latter is the cause of the former. For therefore the proud have a lofty and roving imagination, because they have a broad and swollen heart and will. He alludes to the proportion of the dimensions and expansion of bodies; for human bodies grow and rise in height proportionally as they expand and swell in breadth. Similarly, in the same way, the arrogant and lustful, to the degree that they expand their will and concupiscence, to that same degree they expand their imagination, so that they presume all things, fear nothing, and allow themselves to be restricted by no laws; for once the fear of God is excluded, which used to reduce the mind to narrow bounds, it expands to dare anything.
He explains what he said in the preceding verse: "Every way of a man seems right to himself," as if to say: Everyone, even the proud and wicked, thinks he acts rightly even while he acts wickedly, because the enlargement of the heart, that is, his arrogance and concupiscence, is the exaltation of the eyes, that is, it exalts and expands the eyes and the gaze of the mind, so that he thinks everything is permitted to him, that everything he does is upright and right. For the lofty eyebrow is the effect and sign of the swelling and arrogance by which the heart and will are puffed up. Wherefore "the lamp of the wicked is sin." The lamp, that is, the glory, excellence, and felicity of the wicked and proud, in which they grow insolent, boast, and vaunt themselves, is sin — namely, the arrogance and concupiscence already mentioned, signified by the exaltation of the eyes and the enlargement of the heart. The second hemistich explains the first. He alludes to the lamp of which he said in chapter 13:9: "The light of the just makes glad, but the lamp of the wicked shall be extinguished." And chapter 20:27: "The lamp of the Lord is the breath of man," as if to say: God has given man the lamp of reason, so that following it he may take the right path of virtue; but the wicked, having cast this aside, set up for themselves as a lamp "the exaltation of the eyes and the enlargement of the heart" — that is, arrogance and concupiscence — and therefore they choose not the way of justice, nor of judgment, nor of divine worship, but of sin, namely of concupiscence and arrogance, which seems right to them and causes everything they do to seem rightly done to them.
That this is the sense is clear from the Septuagint, who translate: "μεγαλόφρων, that is, thinking great things — that is, magnanimous, arrogant, and boastful — is bold in injury; but the torch of the wicked is sin." This is explained thus, as if to say: "The recklessly bold generally glory in those things for which they ought rightly to feel shame. For the wicked are so constituted that they even count their very sins as an honor." More expressive are the Greek words of the Septuagint: μεγαλόφρων ἐφ᾽ ὕθρει θρασυκάρδιος, that is, the arrogant man in injury is a thraso — one who is bold and blustering in heart. For as St. Gregory says: "The mind of the proud is always strong for dealing insults, but weak for enduring them." Wherefore Aben-Ezra, Jansenius, and others judge that these three belong together; whence they translate from the Hebrew thus: the exaltation of the eyes, and the enlargement of the heart, which are the lamp of the wicked, are sin — great and notable, that is. The Syriac: the light of the eyes and the enlargement (the Chaldean: swelling) of the heart and the lamp of the wicked is sin, as if to say: Pride and swelling bear the torch and light for the wicked toward all crimes. Moreover, as if to say: The proud display their haughtiness, and by it, as by a lamp, they think themselves made splendid and glorious. Philo says excellently, as quoted by Damascenus (Parallels, Book III, chapter 35): "An impudent look, a drooping neck, a continual lifting of the eyebrows, a proud gait, and being ashamed of nothing — these are the signs of a most base soul, engraving the dark forms of its shames upon the conspicuous body."
For "lamp," the Hebrew has נר (nir), which Aben-Ezra aptly translates as plowing or furrow; Baynus as fallow ground. Whence Vatablus translates: the fallow ground of the wicked sprouts sin, namely pride and insatiable cupidity, as if to say: The fallow ground, or new field that the wicked and proud plow, is sin. The wicked man frequently plows, that is, plots and contrives sin; as many furrows as the plowman draws in plowing, so many sins does the wicked and proud man plow and put together. Plowing therefore signifies, first, the habit of sinning; second, the ease of it; third, the contempt for it — for just as the plowman treads upon the furrows he has produced by plowing, so the sinner treads upon and makes light of the sins he has committed. Pagninus translates nir as "thought," as if to say: The thought of the wicked and proud is entirely directed toward sin. Rabbi Solomon translates nir as "cultivation" and explains it thus: When someone desires to fulfill the lusts of his soul, he embraces the cultivation of the wicked, who indeed agitate and strive for nothing else in their mind than crimes and impieties. This therefore is the way on which the wicked walk, or rather which they plow, and which therefore seems right to them, according to Hosea 10:13: "You have plowed wickedness, you have reaped iniquity, you have eaten the fruit of lies, because you trusted in your ways." See what was said there. Hence for "sin" the Hebrew has חטאת (chattat), that is, error, deviation, as if to say: The wicked, while they follow their lusts and sins or their lamp, and think they are entering upon the right way to happiness, are deceived and err by the whole breadth of heaven; for they follow chattat, that is, a devious path, which will lead them into errors, heresies, and hell. For there pride leads the proud, according to St. Augustine: "The proud become masters of error because they refused to be disciples of truth."
Finally, our Martin de Roa (Singularia, Book II, chapter 18) teaches that light and lamp are symbols of dominion, kingship, triumph, honor, and glory. Whence he reads and newly interprets this maxim of Solomon thus: The exaltation of the eyes, that is, the lofty, great, and vain hopes of riches and honors which the wicked set before the eyes of their mind and promise themselves; and the enlargement of the heart, that is, the feasts, delights, joys, banquets, and triumphs of the wicked; and the lamp of the wicked, that is, their modest splendor and glory, which is like the small light of a lamp enclosed, and like a slight breeze and thin air — is sin, that is, vanity, emptiness, and like a shadow, and vanishes more quickly and is reduced to nothing. For so the pleasure of pride, gluttony, and every sin passes suddenly, to which conversely corresponds Psalm 17:28: "For You will save the humble people, and the eyes of the proud You will humble" — that is, You will crush their pride, break their spirits, cut off all their hopes, and obscure their glory — "for You light my lamp, O Lord." That is, You pour in the oil of gladness for me, You who gladden my face with oil, You are the author of my happiness and glory; but for the wicked You render their lamps empty and void, and finally extinguish them, when You send the rich away empty and allow them to have no taste of true pleasure and happiness. Moreover, "to illuminate" and "illumination" in the Sacred Scriptures mean the same as "to gladden" and "gladness." The same Wise Man also alluded to this in Proverbs 24, when he said: Do not envy the wicked, for the wicked have no hope of the future. And in Proverbs 13 it is said: The light of the just gladdens, but the lamp of the wicked shall be extinguished — which is read in almost the same words in Job 18 and 21. And since many copies read: The exaltation of the eyes is the enlargement of the heart, etc., I add that this is said significantly; for the eyes, as St. Gregory Nazianzen says, are accustomed to follow the heart wickedly, as the prophet Jeremiah truly said (Lamentations 3): My eye has plundered my soul. Therefore blessed Job made a covenant with his eyes, not that he would not see, but that he would not even think about a maiden. For when the eyes have seen strange women (Proverbs 23), the heart will speak perverse things — for great indeed is the power and dominion of the eyes over the hearts, and great in turn is the slavery of hearts to the eyes, and it is immediate and sudden. So far Martin de Roa.
5. THE THOUGHTS OF THE STRONG MAN ARE ALWAYS IN ABUNDANCE (that is, they tend toward and lead to abundance, and produce a plenty of goods), BUT EVERY SLUGGARD IS ALWAYS IN WANT
For "strong man," the Hebrew has חרוץ (charuts), that is, decisive, energetic, diligent, active, industrious; for he is truly strong both in body and in mind, who with a robust and diligent heart undertakes labors and overcomes all difficulties that arise. The Hebrew seems to contradict the Vulgate, for instead of "sluggard" it has אץ (ats), that is, hasty, swift, precipitate. Whence the Hebrew reads: the thoughts of the diligent truly lead to abundance, and everyone who is hasty truly to want. From the Hebrew, therefore: first, the Chaldean translates: gathered thoughts lead to abundance, and the hasty foot tends toward want. Giggaeus translates "gathered" as "chosen." The sense is, as if to say: The thoughts of a man which do not scatter themselves among many things, but gather themselves to few, and therefore choose secure and better things, gradually increase one's goods and produce abundance; but those which are hasty and precipitate, while they scatter themselves among many things and try to scrape together many things at once, produce want. The reason is that the latter embrace everything, even doubtful and dangerous things, where there is little hope of gain and danger of losing one's capital; whence they sometimes lose everything in a moment. But the former embrace only what is secure, free from danger, and better, which give more gain and profit; therefore by gradually gathering they greatly increase their wealth. This is evident among merchants: for those among them who are prudent do not spend their money except on safe and profitable exchanges and goods, and so they grow wonderfully rich; but the imprudent, while they spend their money on whatever comes their way, often buy merchandise of little value, or spoiled or risky goods, and then suffer loss on them, and so they are impoverished.
Second, the Syriac translates: the thoughts of the chosen one are faithful; of the wicked, to want, as if to say: The thoughts of the just and upright man are faithful, that is, stable and effective, and faithfully lead him to the desired end, namely to an abundance of the things he seeks; but the thoughts of the wicked man, who desires to increase his goods through crime, by fair means or foul, lead him to want. The reason is that ill-gotten gains are ill-spent; but what has been justly acquired endures faithfully. So also Rabbi Solomon: Charuts, he says, that is, robust, diligent, is a man of integrity, who follows the way of truth and cultivates equity; his thoughts tend only toward happiness and honest gain. But the hasty and impatient man, who wishes to rush through time, is in want. And Aben-Ezra: He who, he says, rushes headlong to do evil, thereby causes himself to be stripped of his abundance of goods.
Third, Pagninus translates: the thoughts of the careful man truly tend toward superabundance, and everyone who is inconsiderate tends truly toward deficit; for those who are precipitate do not consider the disadvantages and dangers attached to a matter, and therefore, when they fall into them, they incur no light losses. So also Vatablus: the thoughts of the diligent, he says, assuredly tend toward abundance, and every busybody or reckless person assuredly tends toward poverty.
Fourth, the Septuagint manuscripts vary here. In the Roman edition this maxim is missing; but in the Complutensian and Royal editions it reads thus: The thoughts of the strong lead to sufficiency, but every hasty person only to less. In the Vatican edition it reads: The thoughts of the συντέμνοντος, that is, of the one who cuts short, cuts down, collects (others read συντέμνοντες, that is, cutting short — namely from the superfluous — that is, precise, concise, selected) lead only to abundance; but every hasty person only to want. For the Hebrew charuts means a precise and cutting man, who cuts short his counsels, calculations, and expenses, and trims away the superfluous, and makes only what is precisely and strictly necessary; for by this precision of his he becomes wealthy. Again, charuts means a diligent and discriminating man who rejects and cuts away useless and unlawful things, and thinks about and does only what is advantageous and useful. So Rabbi Levi, whom hear: "The thoughts of the clever and sharp man, he says, are circumscribed by limits and, as it were, decided by judgment from the very beginning of the enterprise, when he undertakes his actions; hence they look to profit and the increase of resources; for in his business he adopts a suitable plan, and therefore attains the desired outcome of his affairs. The sluggard — in Hebrew אץ (ats), that is, hasty — but the precipitate man, in acting, applies no caution or attentive reflection whether it is fitting to do that thing or not, or what plan should be adopted. This person, I say, will carry away nothing else than a lack of goods, and not an accumulation and increase of goods."
Fifth, our translator for אץ (ats), that is, hasty, precipitate, translates the opposite, namely "sluggard." Whence this? Some think that by antiphrasis the sluggard is called ats, that is, hasty, because he is anything but hasty, but is slow and sluggish like a tortoise. But there is nothing here that suggests such an antiphrasis. Therefore it seems that our translator read עצל (atsel), that is, sluggard, instead of אץ (ats); or certainly for ats he read לא אץ (lo ats), that is, not hasty, slow, sluggish. For some Septuagint manuscripts, as is clear from the Greek Catena, have μὴ ἐπισπουδάζων, that is, not hastening. For this directly contrasts with charuts, that is, decisive, diligent, energetic, hasty. It seems that כ, because it immediately preceded in כל (col), that is, "every," and ץ, because it follows in אץ (ats), as though redundantly repeated, fell out of the Hebrew text, and thus the negation אל (lo), that is, "not," also dropped out. Finally, by this reasoning this verse agrees perfectly with verse 4 of chapter 10: "The slack hand has wrought want, but the hand of the strong prepares riches." For the "strong" are called the diligent, active, industrious, hard-working, and energetic, who by their skill and energy easily attain great wealth both bodily and spiritual, namely great grace and great virtues; while the lazy and slothful by their laziness slide into extreme poverty. I have spoken at length on this subject at chapter 10, verse 4; therefore I shall not repeat it here, and shall briefly explain the present maxim.
It can be taken in two ways: First, as if to say: The thoughts of the strong and energetic man think and contrive strong and energetic things, so that by them he may procure for himself an abundance of goods; but the sluggard thinks of nothing but leisure and idleness, and consequently of the want by which he feels himself afflicted. The energetic man therefore is nourished, gladdened, strengthened, and expanded by his noble thoughts; but the sluggard is afflicted, constricted, and tormented by his sluggish thoughts.
Second, as if to say: The thoughts of the strong man tend toward and lead him to abundance; for the end and fruit of the thoughts of the strong and energetic man is an abundance of goods; but the end and fruit of the sluggard's thoughts is want, as if to say: Diligence produces wealth, negligence poverty; labor and energy produce an abundance of goods, idleness and laziness produce penury. The example is the strong woman, whose wealth and glory Solomon describes in the whole of chapter 31.
Morally, learn from this that from one's first thoughts hangs future abundance or want. Therefore those who in their youth think great things and aim at great things become great; those who think small and sluggish things remain small, sluggish, and poor. So the entire subsequent life in religious life depends on the novitiate: for what kind of person one was as a novice, such will he prove as a religious. If he was fervent and energetic in cutting away vices and exercising virtues in the novitiate, he will turn out an energetic religious, rich in virtues; but if in the novitiate he was tepid and sluggish, tepid and sluggish throughout his whole life will the religious remain. So we ordinarily see it happen: few are those who, aroused by a singular grace of God through terror or some powerful occasion, change this tepidity into fervor.
6. HE WHO GATHERS TREASURES BY A LYING TONGUE IS VAIN AND SENSELESS, AND SHALL BE DASHED AGAINST THE SNARES OF DEATH
Our translator, with the Septuagint, reads מוקשי (mokesche), that is, "snares of death"; now they read מבקשי (mebakesche), that is, "seeking death." Again, for "vain and senseless, and shall be dashed against the snares of death," the Hebrew has: vanity driven forth, or impelled into the snares of death; Theodotion: an agitated vapor; others: expelled smoke; the Chaldean: they shall be scattered and torn out. The Hebrew therefore literally reads: The work, or operation, of treasures by a lying tongue is vanity driven forth, or impelled toward the snares of death. Whence our translator rightly rendered the sense by changing the abstract "work" into the concrete "he who works"; for if the very operation and accumulation of treasures through lies is a vanity driven into the snares of death, then the very operator and accumulator by lies is vain and senseless, who by avarice expels himself from the heart, that is, from wisdom and prudence, and indeed from life itself, and impels himself into the snares of death. Therefore the word "driven," which is in the Hebrew, our translator rendered by two words, namely "senseless" and "is dashed"; for avarice expels a man from right reason and impels him into blindness, so that he entangles himself in the snares and dangers of death. Hence the Septuagint translate: he who works treasures by a lying tongue pursues vanity into the net of death; or, as others read: and comes, or will come, into the net of death. Now reading mebakesche, that is, "seeking," instead of mokesche, that is, "snares" — or as Symmachus reads, "seeking death" — they translate variously but with the same sense. The Chaldean: the works of store-keepers (the interpreter did not express clearly enough the word דסימת (desimata), that is, of treasures) by a lying tongue shall be scattered, and those who seek death shall be torn out. The Syriac: those who gather treasures by a lying tongue shall be destroyed unto perdition, seeking death, as if to say: He who seeks treasures through lies does not seek riches but vanity and death; for this is what he acquires. Pagninus: The gathering of treasures by a lying tongue is like stubble blown away: they seek death who gather them. Vatablus clearly: The gathering of treasures with lying speech is vanity and something that is usually blown away, tending toward death. Something, he says, that is usually blown away by the wind, that is, of no use. Cajetan: Vanity driven forth makes seekers of death, as if to say: Commonly the seekers of money are those who scrape together coins; but these are seekers of death, who through riches bring death upon themselves and theirs.
The work of treasures, or treasure-work, is put for collection. Instead of poal, the Alexandrians read poet, which the Vulgate rendered as: those acquired by a lying tongue, by fraud and deceit, are a scattered breath, they vanish like a breath, seeking death, bringing destruction upon those who prepare them.
Now those who gather treasures by a lying tongue include, first, judges who, corrupted by gold, render a lying verdict; second, false witnesses who sell false testimony for gold; third, lawyers who defend an unjust cause for profit; fourth, merchants who, by lying that their goods are of such quality, such substance, such value and price, or are such as they are not, sell them more dearly than is just; fifth, those who by lying flattery fleece the purses of the rich and of princes; sixth, those who falsely promise golden mountains, such as the making of gold from bronze, silver, etc., by alchemy, and thus scrape together heaps of money from various people and flee — as a certain Greek recently did in Italy, who was therefore sent to the gallows by the Duke of Bavaria; finally, all who in any way collect money through frauds and deceits. For these, riches gained by fraud become snares and traps of death, since once the fraud is detected they are punished with their present life by the judge, or by the injured party, as forgers and thieves — and with eternal death by God.
This accumulation of treasures through frauds and lies is therefore called vanity, both because it is sewn together and fabricated from a vain and empty thing — namely, a lie which, once the truth is discovered, is immediately blown away and vanishes like a vapor and smoke (so Aben-Ezra) — and because, quickly vanishing, it leaves a man vain, naked, and wretched. But the most wretched thing, and what most torments the lying rich man, is that through such vain and mendacious riches he brings upon himself death and hell. For these riches, gained by a lying throat and tongue, come back upon his own throat, and like fierce executioners and torturers tighten the noose around the guilty soul, strangle, and suffocate it — just as birds, for example partridges, which furtively and as if by fraud and deceit pick at another's harvest, are caught by a snare and strangled; and just as wild beasts, such as hares, bears, and wolves, which furtively and stealthily invade others' fields, are caught in nets prepared for that purpose, trapped, and killed. How great, do you think, is the torment and affliction of the soul of the perjurer, the false witness, the forger, the fraudulent merchant, in hell, when on account of such frivolous riches, which he acquired through lying, he sees himself in the fires of a blazing conflagration lasting forever! How that soul accuses its own madness, and strikes and gashes itself, because it was itself the cause and parent of its own torture and torments on account of the desire for so empty and perishable a thing! It roars indeed and cries out that saying of Isaiah 33:14: "Who among you can dwell with devouring fire? Who among you shall live with everlasting flames?"
Here is relevant the fable of the crow and the serpent in Aesop. A crow, he says, being in need of food, when it saw a serpent sleeping in the sun, swooped down and snatched it up. But the serpent, turning, bit the crow, and the crow, about to die, said: "Wretched me, who found such a gain by which I also perish!" The crow is the robber; the serpent is the stolen wealth, which bites and kills the robber himself. Similar is the fable in the same author of the lark, which, caught in a snare, weeping said: "Alas, wretched and unhappy bird that I am! I stole no one's gold, no silver, no other precious thing; but a small grain of wheat was the cause of my death." So robbers, on account of vile earthly riches, incur present and eternal death, and then they mourn and say something like what the lark said.
Now these nets and snares by which those who gather riches through fraud and lies are bound, tormented, and suffocated are various and manifold. The first is the anguish of conscience, which always gnaws at them for having gathered riches wrongfully and unjustly through frauds. The second is the desire for and attachment to unjustly acquired riches; for this so binds and ensnares them that even when they feel God's impulse to repent, indeed even when they repent and confess, they remain in the habitual disposition of retaining ill-gotten riches and are unwilling to restore them as they are obligated to do; or if they are willing and promise the confessor, soon after confession they relapse into the old disposition of retaining them. Therefore all their repentance is vain, and their confession invalid, and often sacrilegious, because they do not have a true purpose of amending and restoring what they have taken. Hence we see that out of a hundred, scarcely three are found who restore what they have taken. The third snare is the horror of death, which so afflicts them that they cannot bear to hear its name; and when death approaches, they are tormented by the mere thought of it, and therefore die more quickly and are struck lifeless. After death, moreover, they carry this snare to the tribunal of Christ, and ensnared by it are condemned by Christ and hurled into the abyss, where they are bound with the eternal chains of hell. Whence here some, for "is dashed against the snares of death," read "comes into the depths of hell," as if to say: This is a most grievous crime of forgers; therefore they are hurled not into the uppermost or middle, but into the lowest part of hell, to sit with Judas the traitor and forger. The fourth is the fear of disgrace and human punishment — that they may be condemned by the judge as thieves and forgers, and so lose their riches, reputation, freedom, and sometimes their life. The fifth snare is that of children and grandchildren, to whom they leave ill-gotten riches; for these are entangled by their parents in all the snares already mentioned, since they succeed to the fraudulently acquired inheritance and give no thought to restitution. Wherefore St. Augustine wisely warns (Sermon 25): "Release in this life the shackles of your patrimony by which you are bound; cast off the burdens of riches, cast off your voluntary chains." And St. Chrysostom (Homily on Psalm 49): "The torturer, he says, binds the body, but riches bind the soul. You see one in chains and do not pity him: approach him for this reason, that he is bound not by necessity but by choice, and that he himself drew the chains upon himself."
7. THE PLUNDERING OF THE WICKED SHALL DRAG THEM DOWN, BECAUSE THEY REFUSED TO DO JUDGMENT that is, to do what is just: namely, not to seize what belongs to others, and to render to each his right and due. For "plundering," the Hebrew has שוד (shod), that is, destruction, devastation, plunder, ruin, calamity. For "shall drag down," the Hebrew has יגורם (yegorem), which can be derived, first, from גור (gur), that is, to sojourn, dwell, be afraid, draw together; second, from גרה (gara), that is, to attract, to drag down, to saw; third, from גרם (garam), that is, to strip the bones. Whence you may translate: devastation, or plunder, shall strip the wicked to the bone. Hence, first, Rabbi Solomon translates: the plunder of the wicked shall dwell with them, as if to say: The wicked by plundering have brought robbery into their house; hence that very robbery, dwelling among them, shall despoil them (for the office and work of plunder is to plunder), so that just as they despoiled others, they themselves shall be despoiled. It is a prosopopoeia: for plunder is personified as a kind of executioner despoiling the wicked robbers. Whence the Syriac translates: the destruction of the wicked shall come upon them, that is, the devastation with which they broke others shall return upon their own head. And the Tigurina: the harm which the wicked do shall come back upon them, who refused to do what is fair and just. Pagninus: the Lord will bring the plunder of the wicked upon them.
Second, our translator genuinely translates: the plundering of the wicked shall drag them down, as if to say: The plundering and stolen riches which raised the wicked to the lofty pinnacle of wealth, power, and dignity — these very things, shortly afterwards, like a leaden and very heavy weight, shall drag them down from this summit, when on account of their plundering they shall be stripped by the judge, or by God, not only of their stolen riches but also of those legitimately gained, and shall even be deprived of their freedom, reputation, life, and salvation. Hence Zechariah (5:7) saw wickedness sitting in an amphora sealed with a talent of lead. See what was said there. Whence Symmachus translates: the plundering of the wicked shall demolish them; the Chaldean: shall take them away; Vatablus: the pillaging of the wicked shall destroy them.
The violence of the wicked snatches them away; their own violence snatches away, destroys the wicked, etc.
Third, Aben-Ezra translates: the plunder of the wicked shall saw them, as if to say: Plunder is like a saw, sawing and cutting apart the conscience, spirit, and mind of robbers. For plunder gnaws at the conscience more than other crimes, and just as a wound inflicted by a saw is difficult to heal — as surgeons report, because flesh unevenly bitten and ground by the teeth of a saw does not knit together — so likewise the wound inflicted upon the mind by the consciousness of theft scarcely heals and is fully cured, even after repentance and restitution of the stolen property; for the memory of past plundering perpetually lashes the conscience and cries out to it: Why did you steal what belonged to others? Why did you brand yourself with this disgrace and stain? So that you shall hear forever, "Robber!" and all who know shall point their finger at you and say: There is that robber, there is that thief.
Fourth, others translate: plunder or devastation shall strip the wicked to the bone, that is, shall consume them down to the bones, shall crush, destroy, and devour their bones, according to Zephaniah 3:3: "Her princes in the midst of her are like roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves that did not leave (in Hebrew גרמו goremu, that is, they stripped to the bone — they left indeed the bones) until the morning."
Fifth, the Septuagint translate: ὄλεθρος, that is, destruction or ruin, shall be a guest to the wicked, or shall be hospitably received; for they do not wish to do what is just. Or, as the author of the Greek Catena translates and explains: "Pestilence or destruction shall dwell among the wicked," since they are utterly unwilling to do what is fair and just. This is rightly said; for neither can calamities and miseries be separated from wickedness, nor can punishments and torments be separated from those who refuse to do what is just.
Therefore, just as the house of death is in hell (for there it dwells as in its own home), so the proper seat of ruin and disaster is the soul and house of the wicked, while the seat of salvation and happiness is the soul and house of the just.
But our Salazar explains it thus, as if to say: Plunder shall be received as a guest by the wicked, that is, fortunes gained by fraud do not remain long among the wicked, but like a guest or traveler staying at an inn they quickly depart and turn to others, wandering through inns and lodgings until they find their own proper seat and home — that is, until they reach someone who acquires them justly and without fraud; for there they stay longer and dwell like inhabitants in their homeland. Hence instead of "shall be hospitably received," others translate "shall sojourn," as if to say: Ill-gotten riches among the wicked are like strangers and exiles; whence they yearn to return to the just as to their homeland. Hence St. Chrysostom is accustomed to compare riches to runaway slaves who flee from a foreign master to their own. Hear him (homily on: The queen stood at Your right hand, etc.): "See, he says, the riches which I have always called a runaway slave; nor would I merely call them a fugitive, but also a murderer; for they not only desert their possessors, but also kill them; for when someone cultivates them with greater diligence, then above all they plot treachery against their cultivator."
The same is elegantly represented with an apt fable of the bee and the spider, adorned with charming antitheses, by Cyril (Moral Apologies, Book III, chapter 13), entitled: Against those who neglect to work and strive to live by plunder. "A spider, he says, weaving a net with the art of its fraud, when a bee passing before it was going about its pursuit of labor, said to it: Where, O you who are impatient of rest, do you run and roam about all day long? The bee, sweetened by the pleasantness of virtue, patiently replied: I fly about among the flowers, purchasing the food of honey with my labors. Then the spider said: It is foolish to go around so much for a drop of honeyed dew. To this the bee added: Indeed it is foolish not to perceive what you judge; but it is most foolish to vomit up one's life for food, to pour out one's most precious marrow for the most worthless thing, to spend what is certain for what is uncertain, to lose the great for the least, and to disembowel yourself for a most foul fly. I, losing nothing of my own, always labor on a sure thing. But you lie in ambush all day, disemboweled, and for something uncertain you give away and lose your insides to snatch what is external and another's." Then he shows the same by another argument: "Moreover, when nothing has fallen into the hidden net, what else do you have but what you have lost — your own? For every thief first loses what is his own before he takes what belongs to others. He gives the glory of faith for a garment, justice for gold, life for food, substance for what is accidental, and to feed his iniquity, like a foolish merchant, he loses the fame of the most brilliant virtue. Better therefore is labor performed as the fruit of justice than the most tempestuous rest of rapacious avarice. Having heard this, the spider hid itself."
8. THE PERVERSE WAY OF A MAN IS ALIEN: BUT HE WHO IS CLEAN, HIS WORK IS RIGHT
The Tigurina: the way of the perverse man is alien, but the work of the clean is right. For the perverse is contrasted with the clean, in that the way and work of the perverse is alien, but that of the clean is right. For the way and life of a perverse man are equally perverse and alien. By "perverse" understand in general any wicked and dishonest person; but properly the crafty, deceitful, false, malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, and impostor; for this man is contrasted with the "clean" (in Hebrew זך zach), that is, pure, transparent, limpid, crystalline, sincere, and open — one whose heart and works are bright, open, and simple, plain to all, and shine through like glass.
You ask: from what is the way of the perverse man, or the perverse way, alien? I answer: from the right. For he opposes the alien way of the perverse to the right work of the clean, as if to say: The way and work of the perverse is alien from the right and from rectitude, because it is oblique, crooked, and distorted; but that of the upright and clean conforms to what is right.
Therefore, first, the work of the perverse is alien from the right, that is, from what right reason dictates to be right, good, and honest. Hence consequently, second, it is alien from the dignity of man, which consists in reason and rational nature — namely, that one should follow the guidance and dictate of right reason, and should act and live not as a brute animal but as a rational man. Whence malice is nothing other than a dissonance of work, or an operation dissonant from the rational nature, and suited to a brute animal; for this follows not reason but imagination and concupiscence. So Bede, Jansenius, and others.
Hence, third, the way of the perverse man is perverse and alien from God, as some codices read. For God established in man the tribunal of judgment and right reason, and decreed that man should follow it in all things as a plumb-line and level of rectitude.
Fourth, the way of the perverse is alien from the society and fellowship of men; for this is sustained by the principle of rectitude, equity, and justice, as if to say: The wicked and deceitful man departs from the well-trodden path and the common way of acting among men; wherefore he walks through pathless ways and devises new, crooked, and distorted ways of speaking and acting; hence, as a stranger, he is hated by all.
Fifth, the same way is alien from oneself. Whence Pagninus translates: reversed (inverted) is the way of the wicked and alien man. And the Syriac: he who perverts his way is a strange man. And Aben-Ezra: the perverse way is the way of a strange man — who, as Rabbi Solomon says, becomes estranged from the divine commandments. Therefore the wicked and deceitful man alienates himself from himself, because since nothing is so closely joined and one as a man to himself, through deceit and fraud he departs from the humanity and purity and candor that were innate to him, which he formerly displayed, so that he now seems not the same as before, but altogether another person, and different from himself.
Hence the ancients, says Gregory Nazianzen (Oration 22), represented the deceitful man as Proteus, who transformed himself into whatever forms he wished, and from a man now made himself a fox, now a lion, now a wolf, now any other animal. For in a similar way the deceitful man now assumes and puts on the cunning of the fox, now the menaces of the lion, now the savagery of the wolf, etc. Indeed, through deceit he as it were transforms himself into a fox, through gluttony into a pig, through anger and quarreling into a dog, through sloth into a donkey, through pride into a lion, through plunder into a wolf. Whence the Gloss: "To live justly before God, it says, is proper to the human condition, according to Ecclesiastes 12: Fear God and keep His commandments; for this is every man. He who lives perversely walks a way alien from human nature; therefore a perverse action is against nature and alien. But he who is clean in work rightly carries out what he originally received through nature."
Moreover, the Chaldean translates: he who perverts the way of another is a stranger, as if to say: He who corrupts another and leads him into crime is like a pagan and publican. He alludes to the Jews, who abominated strangers — that is, Gentiles, as being idolaters — as pagans and atheists or polytheists, as if to say: He who entices and perverts another to villainy is to be shunned and avoided as a pagan, because just as a pagan, being estranged from the true God, estranges others from Him, so likewise the one who seduces others to crime, being estranged from God, strives to estrange others from Him. Therefore his company, as alien and pagan, must be shunned with all diligence by the upright man. On the other hand, the company of the clean and upright man, whose works are right, is to be sought and cultivated. For he leads all with him to his God.
Finally, the Septuagint translate: upon the perverse, God sends perverse ways; for His works are clean and right, as if to say: God causes the perverse to fall into perverse things, that is, sad and adverse things, and especially causes the deceitful to fall into the same or similar frauds and deceits which they contrived against others, because the works of God are clean, right, sincere, and bright — inasmuch as He, by His essence, is uncreated and boundless purity, cleanness, brightness, and holiness. Wherefore He Himself hates, strikes, and punishes the perverse and deceitful, so that they may be caught and perish by their own deceits. This is what the Psalmist says to God (Psalm 17:27): "With the elect You will be elect, and with the perverse You will be perverse" — that is, You will deal not kindly but harshly and perversely, because he himself acts perversely with his God. The author of the Greek Catena understands "the perverse ways" which God sends upon the perverse as the ways of hell, as if to say: God sends the perverse away to the torments of everlasting fire, that they may there reap the fruits of their ways and be filled with their own desires.
The way of the wicked, therefore, is perverse and entangled in a thousand difficulties from which they cannot extricate and free themselves. Hence the Hebrew proverb applies to them: Donkey-camel. A camel is led by a rope; a donkey is driven before one by its drivers. He who does the opposite — they call him a Donkey-camel, and it has become a proverb for one who can neither go backward nor forward. The author of the Talmudic Lexicon says: "The way of a donkey is to be led, and the way of a camel to be pulled. But he who has a donkey and a camel, if he places the donkey behind him to pull it, and the camel before him to lead it — since neither will the donkey let itself be pulled, nor the camel let itself be led — the man remains stuck between the two beasts, so that he cannot make progress. Therefore they made from this a kind of proverb about one who cannot go, just like a donkey-camel."
9. IT IS BETTER TO SIT IN A CORNER OF THE HOUSETOP THAN WITH A QUARRELSOME WOMAN IN A SHARED HOUSE
Domatis is a Greek word meaning rooftop; for this is what the Hebrew גג (gag) signifies. Whence the Chaldean translates: in a corner of the rooftop; the Syriac: upon the pinnacle of the roof. The Hebrew literally has: on the pinnacle of the roof; for the Hebrew word means both a corner and a pinnacle. Take "rooftop" in its proper sense; yet by synecdoche, rooftop signifies house, as does the Greek δῶμα. For in Palestine the roofs are flat, not peaked, says St. Jerome — like balconies and terraces, on which therefore people are accustomed to walk, dine, and indeed during the whole summer to sleep at night in the open air, to catch the breeze on account of the region's heat. The Septuagint translate ἐπαίθρου, that is, in the open air, where one dwells not under a roof but under the sky. For "in a shared house," the Hebrew has בית חבר (beth cheber), that is, in a house of society, where you are not alone but live with several others in company. The Septuagint translate κοινῆ, that is, common, for which St. Jerome in Zephaniah reads καινῆ, that is, new. The Hebrew literally reads: It is good to dwell upon a corner, or pinnacle, of the roof, rather than with a contentious woman and a house of society. Whence the Tigurina translates: It is better to dwell on the pinnacle of a roof than with a quarrelsome woman who has part of the house. And clearly Vatablus: It is better to dwell in a corner of the roof than with a contentious woman and in a house of society, as if to say: It is better to dwell alone, in the open air in an elevated place where you are not safe from the assault of the winds, than with a quarrelsome woman.
The sense therefore is, as if to say: It is better to live alone on the rooftop and to be exposed to the open sky, winds, rains, and other inclemencies of the weather, than to dwell in a shared house, frequented by household members, with a wofear, invocation, faith, love, and consequently the favor and blessing of God, there remains on both sides fire and fire, that is, fire and fire -- namely, here the fire of Purgatory and there the eternal fire of hell. This fire is begotten by the fire of anger, quarrels, and strife. Is it not therefore better to dwell in a corner of the housetop than with a quarrelsome wife? This maxim therefore signifies how great an evil a bad wife is, and therefore how carefully one must choose a wife, and not marry a bad one, even if one would have with her fine houses and broad estates.
Hence secondly, some explain it thus, meaning: It is better to dwell in a corner of the house, that is, in some secret and secluded place in the home of one's parents -- that is, it is better to live as a celibate in seclusion at one's parents' house than to marry a wife who, by feminine nature, is often noisy and quarrelsome, and to dwell with her in a large and shared house. Others explain it: It is better to withdraw with servants into a corner of the house than to be in the middle of the house amid marital disputes. "How rare it is," says St. Jerome, Book I Against Jovinian, "to find a woman without these faults, he knows who has married a wife;" whence finely Varius Geminius, the sublime orator: "He who does not quarrel," he says, "is unmarried; for it is better to dwell in a corner of the roof than with a cursing wife in a shared house. If a shared house of husband and wife raises the wife to pride and brings insult to the husband, how much more if the wife is wealthier and the husband lives in her house. For she begins to be not a wife but a mistress, and if the husband offends her, he must move away." Here is fitting the witty epigram of Ausonius about a certain grammarian's quarrelsome marriage:
Teaching "arms and the man," and skilled in "arms and the man," I married not a wife, but rather arms -- a house of war. For whole days and whole nights in succession She assails me and my household with quarrels. And as though endowed by Mars with perpetual duels, She takes up arms against me, and no rest is given. And now I shall surrender to her as she resists, so that at last, vanquished, She may scold me for this alone -- that I flee from quarrels.
Similar to this is that of Palladas, likewise about a grammarian: A wife was married to me, the grammarian -- a pestilent fury, And an unhappy fury is my omen of the art. Alas, wretch! Lo, I am now crushed by fate with a double fury -- Of grammatical art and of a woman at home.
Thirdly, some take the quarrelsome woman as a prostitute; for her house is shared by many lovers, and prostitutes are especially quarrelsome and stir up fights and brawls among their lovers, and therefore are often the cause of battles and bloodshed, meaning: It is better to spend the night in any corner whatever than in the spacious and ample house of a prostitute. Hence Symmachus and Theodotion translate: It is better to sit in a corner of the housetop than to dwell with a woman in a house of companionship or prostitution.
Allegorically, it is better to sit in a corner of the housetop, that is, of the Church, which is the house of God, than with a quarrelsome woman, that is, with the synagogue of the Jews, which quarrels and contends with God and Christ. Hence R. Solomon: "The Midrash Aggadah says this is a prophecy intimating that the divine presence would finally be taken away from the Israelites, since they were like a quarrelsome woman; and it is called a house of fellowship because in it partners were joined to almighty God, such as the idol placed by Manasseh in the temple." Similarly the quarrelsome woman, says Jansenius, is the Church of the wicked and of heretics, which makes neither measure nor end of contentions and quarrels, and how hard and troublesome it is to dwell in the same houses and in the same cities and regions with her for a Catholic man, the calamity of this time teaches by experience. Certainly we are taught here, according to Paul's admonition, that their fellowship must be fled, and we must choose to become, as the Prophet says, a solitary sparrow on the housetop.
Tropologically, Bede takes the corner of the housetop as the religious life, heavenly and contemplative, which surpasses a quarrelsome wife, that is, the active life, busy, entangled with a thousand cares, and disturbed in the world. Otherwise: "What is meant by the corner of the housetop," he says, "if not the religious life, removed from all earthly activity and quiet from the disturbances of the present life? What is meant by the quarrelsome woman, if not the activity of the troubled world, which ceaselessly stirs up temptations for its lovers, sows quarrels and scandals, sends forth strife, incites wars, divides unity, violates peace, dissolves friendships, and by inflaming them with various desires, neither allows them to rest in themselves nor permits them to remain connected in fraternal love?"
Here is fitting that saying of Thomas a Kempis, the author of the golden booklet On the Imitation of Christ: "In all things I sought rest, and I found it nowhere except in a little corner with a little book." Thus St. Alexius preferred to sit, indeed to lie like a dog, in a corner of his father's house, rather than to dwell with a wife in a spacious house and be entangled in the pomps of the world. The same did Blessed John Calybita, whose corner was consequently converted into a church in Rome and is reverently visited. St. Ignatius, the founder of our Society, used to withdraw from cares and tumults to a terrace, and there, contemplating the stars and the sky, would dissolve into tears, and yearning for the company of the Saints, would exclaim: "How vile the earth seems to me when I gaze upon heaven!"
Finally, the codices of the Septuagint vary here among themselves and differ somewhat from the Hebrew, Syriac, and Vulgate; for the Roman edition has: It is better to dwell above the corner under the open sky than in the outcome of strife with iniquity and in a shared house; the Complutensian and Royal editions: "It is better to dwell in a corner under the open sky, that is, without a roof, than in painted houses with injustice and in a shared house." Which mystically the author of the Greek Catena explains thus: "The corner under the open sky is the secret activity of the studious man, illuminated by the sun of justice; but the painted house is wickedness veiled under the color of virtue, or the appearance of virtues."
Splendidly St. Basil, quoted by Antonius in the Melissa, Part II, Chapter 76: "Quietude is the purification of the soul, when neither the tongue speaks through human things, nor the eyes survey the colors of bodies and the fitting arrangements of limbs, nor the ears dissolve the soul's attention by hearing songs modulated for pleasure, or scurrilous and ridiculous sayings, by which the soul's attention is most wont to grow languid; for when the mind is not dissipated toward external things, nor poured out into the world through the parts in which the senses are situated, it returns to itself, and through itself ascends to the knowledge of God, and when it is illuminated and bathed in that beauty, it forgets even its own nature, its soul not troubled by the care of food or clothing; but freed from earthly cares, it transfers all its zeal to the acquisition of eternal goods -- so that it may have and exercise temperance and fortitude, justice and prudence and the remaining virtues." In the same place St. Gregory Nazianzen, the companion of St. Basil: "We ought to be quiet," he says, "so that we may converse with God without turmoil, and may draw back the mind a little from those things which seduce and envelop in error." And St. Gregory of Nyssa, the brother of St. Basil: "Leisurely quiet is to be valued more than the illustrious handling of affairs." In the same place and the following chapter, Blessed Nilus: "The wise man," he says, "pursues leisure and quiet so that he may opportunely become master of divine things; the wise man migrates from a confused and troubled life to a blessed life fitting for the peaceful. The mark of the perfect soul is freedom from care, but of the impious to be worn down by cares." And Blessed Cyril: "In a mind full of turmoil and anguish, neither the thought of honorable things nor the grace of God is present."
The corner of the housetop, or roof, denotes first, an elevated place; second, a secluded and solitary place; third, a dangerous one; fourth, a narrow one. There is added, fifth, the sharp point of the pinnacle that pricks the one sitting on it. Hence it is opposed to the shared house, that is, the social house, as the Hebrew has it, and the spacious one, as Pagninus translates. Hence Varro gives this etymology of 'corner' -- that it is the narrowest place. Pomponius Laetus, however: "'Corner'," he says, "is derived from the Greek angkunos, or from enggus, that is, 'near,' because it is bent, because things forced together from different directions form the shape of a corner." It is therefore preferable to endure these narrow confines and the four other inconveniences already mentioned than to dwell in a house that is spacious, social, and comfortable, but quarrelsome because of a morose and contentious wife: for she pricks and tortures more. Here is fitting the wit of a certain Rabbi derived from the Kabbalah: ischa, he says, and isch are the words for marriage, and they contain the name ia of God the helper of marriage. But when ia is not present in the marriage, and from isch the middle letter yod is taken away, and from ischa the final letter he -- which joined together make ia, which is the name of God, namely the abbreviated Jehovah -- when, that is, the fear of God, invocation, faith, love are absent from the marriage, and consequently... of a contentious wife. For her quarrels match all the injuries of the sky and outweigh them: for she, says our Salazar, when she cries out, thunders; when she hurls insults and curses, she lightnings; when she contends and quarrels, she raises storms and tempests; she burns when she is querulous, and when she shows herself rigid and not at all loving, she pours out ice. Finally, if there are any other greater injuries of the sky, these certainly yield entirely to the injuries of a morose wife. And indeed Socrates attributed thunder to his wife, who, after many outcries, when his wife Xantippe drenched him with water thrown from the window, said: "I was easily supposing that after thunder I would feel rain." Just as thunder, therefore, so also the other inclemencies of the sky may be fitted to a wife. Moreover, he names the corner, in Hebrew pinnacle or pinnacle of the roof, to signify that the danger from a wife's quarrels is greater than from standing on the pinnacle of the roof, whether flat or more peaked and pointed, such as exist now and were not lacking in ancient Judaea: for he who stands on the pinnacle risks falling to the ground and dashing himself, if he leans his body to either side, which easily happens; but he who constantly hears the quarrels of a wife is in greater danger of dashing not only his body, as the former, but also his soul through anger, impatience, and revenge -- lest he return quarrel for quarrel, insult for insult, blow for blow, blood for blood, or even kill his quarrelsome wife with poison or the sword, to free himself from so great and constant an annoyance. For it is easier for a man to stand upright and cautious on the corner and pinnacle of the roof so as not to lean to either side and fall, than amid constant quarrels to preserve a right and serene mind and not slip into anger and vengeance.
10. THE SOUL OF THE WICKED DESIRES EVIL; HE WILL NOT HAVE MERCY ON HIS NEIGHBOR.
In Hebrew: Mercy and grace will not be found in his eyes for his friend or neighbor; the Chaldean: And his companion will not obtain mercy in his eyes; Vatablus: No one else pleases the wicked man, whatever he may have done; he will not be rendered grateful by any services. For 'wicked' the Hebrew is rascha, that is, wicked, restless, a disturber, harmful, malicious. His disposition and character are described here, meaning: The wicked man desires evil; the wicked man in his wickedness desires wicked things. His wickedness does not allow him to rest, but instigates him to desire evils, namely to vex others, disturb them, afflict them with evils, just as if he bore a demon in his belly (for wickedness is similar to this), who would drive him to every crime. Therefore "he will not have mercy on his neighbor," but attacks him without cause, heaps insults upon him, beats him, maltreats him. It is a meiosis: "will not have mercy" means he is merciless, savage, and cruel toward his neighbors, according to that saying of chapter 12:10: "The righteous man knows the souls of his beasts, but the bowels of the wicked are cruel."
Therefore the nature of wickedness is signified, that it is malicious, harmful, savage, and cruel, born for the destruction of others, so that it seems to desire and plot it continually, nor does it rest until it fulfills it, and having fulfilled it, begins another and another. By contrast, the nature of goodness and holiness is to harm no one, but to do good to all as far as possible, as Christ did, of whom St. Peter says, Acts 10:38: "Who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, because God was with Him." Here is fitting that saying of St. Cyril quoted by Antonius in the Melissa, Part II, Chapter 88: "The beginning and root, and as it were the fountain and origin of our disturbances is the appetite inclined to evil, inviting the mind to them, first deceiving with illusions, then applying force and shaking it. For just as smoke, or even as certain vapors, the appetites of inborn pleasures arise in us; but he who is temperate and strong rebukes the motions and does not allow them to advance further, and easily overcomes the still-weak motions of disturbance. But the lazy and negligent man admits the beginnings of pleasures as though they were bare thoughts; when he has allowed them to advance broadly, it will be most difficult to resist; for he who has already been captured and occupied is not master of his own counsels, but rather will be subjected to the victorious disturbance as to some barbarian." For beenav, that is, 'in his eyes,' the Septuagint reading beene, that is, 'in the eyes,' varies: the soul of the wicked, which is carried by desire toward evils, will not obtain mercy from any man. For this is the law of retaliation -- that he who is merciless and savage toward others will find all others merciless and savage toward himself; for all hate and persecute the merciless and cruel. On the contrary, Christ says in Matthew 5: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." Here the Syriac agrees, translating: The wicked man does not appear in the sight of his companions. Note: The will cannot desire anything except good, as St. Thomas teaches, I-II, Question 8, Article 1; for good is the object of the will. Therefore the wicked, when they desire evils, consider in them something good, not honorable, but useful or delightful, and they desire and seek that: for evil in itself cannot be desired.
11. WHEN THE PESTILENT MAN IS PUNISHED, THE SIMPLE BECOMES WISER; AND IF HE FOLLOWS THE WISE MAN, HE WILL GAIN KNOWLEDGE.
In Hebrew: when the mocker is punished, the simple becomes wise, and in understanding the wise man he gains knowledge. Which first the Syriac translates thus: at the punishment of the mocker, the foolish becomes wise; but wisdom in counsel or meditation receives knowledge, meaning: The foolish man is corrected and becomes wise through the punishment of the wicked and mockers; but the wise man by consulting and meditating becomes wiser, more cautious, and more learned. R. Solomon agrees: "Punishments," he says, "and blows inflicted on mockers instill a wiser mind in fools so that they come to their senses" -- that they may avoid crimes, if not from love of justice, certainly from fear of punishment.
Secondly, the Septuagint translates: when the intemperate man is punished, the more simple becomes more prudent and shrewd; indeed even the wise man, if he is strong in judgment, will take knowledge of caution from this. The meaning is, says the author of the Greek Catena: "While evil and wicked men are punished for their crimes, children and the unlearned are rendered more cautious and prudent. In this manner also the righteous man washes his hands in the blood of the sinner, and having observed his punishment, purifies his own actions. Thus also the harlots are written to have washed themselves in the blood of Ahab and Jezebel. The wise man," he says, "admonished by this and in a certain way rebuked, will take care lest he himself also fall into the same troubles."
Thirdly, R. Levi and Vatablus translate: when judges punish the mocker, the simple becomes wise; and when all things prosper for the wise man, he gains knowledge. For the Hebrew haskel, that is, to understand or to act prudently, sometimes by metalepsis signifies to prosper: for the companion and fruit of prudence is usually happiness and the prosperous outcome of affairs. The meaning is: The simple man, when he sees mockers punished, that is, the wicked who laugh at everything, learns to be wise, so that he may avoid their crimes lest he fall into a similar punishment; but when he sees that all things prosper for the wise man, that is, the prudent and just man, he becomes knowing and prudent, so that he may imitate the wisdom and holy works of the wise man, and thus bring similar prosperity upon himself.
Fourthly, our Vulgate translates excellently: when the pestilent man is punished, the simple becomes wiser; and if he follows the wise man, he will gain knowledge -- practical knowledge, that is, human and divine Ethics, which teaches how to arrange one's life with knowledge and prudence, so that through it we may arrive at true happiness. For this is the true knowledge of the saints, in which actions follow knowledge, as the body follows its shadow, says Clement of Alexandria; while conversely, "neither in fish should voice be sought, nor in the unlearned virtue," says Plutarch in his Moralia. For all these things pertain to the simple one, in Hebrew pethi, that is, the simple, inexperienced, persuadable, flexible, docile, who easily allows himself to be taught, bent, and persuaded. "For the simplicity of morals forms the simple man," says St. Basil. Therefore he assigns two modes of teaching him. The first is through the punishment of the wicked; the second is through hearing and following the wise man, meaning: The simple one, that is, the easy and flexible, is so docile that he does not need to be punished in himself, but it suffices for him to see others who are wicked being punished; for from that he learns to beware of wickedness, for which he sees them punished. He therefore approaches the wise man, and hearing him, learns the full knowledge of acting and living rightly. For as St. Gregory Nazianzen divinely says, quoted by Antonius in the Melissa, Part I, Chapter 50: "Nothing is more unconquerable than philosophy, nothing more tranquil. All things will yield before the philosopher does. Two things are invincible -- God and the Angel; and the third is philosophy. For the philosopher is immaterial in matter, uncircumscribed in the body, heavenly on earth, undisturbed amid passions, inferior to others in all things except greatness of soul, and by yielding conquers those who think they conquer him. I know one wisdom: to fear God. For the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord." And elsewhere: "Hear the sum of the discourse: Fear God and observe His commandments." The first part of this verse is repeated at chapter 19:25, where I explained it; the latter part is clear from what was said at chapter 1:4, so I will not add the whole here.
An example is in Pharaoh, from whose plagues the Hebrews and other nations became wise, Romans 9:17. Hence St. Augustine: "The plagues of the Egyptians," he says, "are the instruction of the children of Israel;" for, as it is commonly said: The dog is beaten so that the lion may fear.
12. THE RIGHTEOUS MAN CONSIDERS THE HOUSE OF THE WICKED, TO DRAW THE WICKED AWAY FROM EVIL.
The Hebrew literally reads: the righteous understands concerning the house of the wicked, turning the wicked to evil; which various interpreters translate and explain variously. For 'turning' the Hebrew is mesalleph, that is, twisting, drawing away, deflecting, perverting, overturning. For 'considers' the Hebrew is maskil, that is, understanding, intelligently examining, investigating, devising.
First, R. Solomon takes 'the righteous' as God, who is the most just judge and avenger of the good and evil, meaning: God devises ways to abolish the house of the wicked, to drag it down to ruin and destruction, as He did with the Amalekites. Aben-Ezra refers the first hemistich to the righteous man, the latter to God, meaning: The righteous man considers, in Hebrew maskil, that is, understands how badly the house of the wicked behaves, and therefore how little it is from destruction; hence he acquires prudence and is made wiser by the house of the wicked, so as to avoid its impiety and the destruction connected with it; because God turns the wicked to evil -- meaning: Destruction hangs over the house of the wicked, because God will curse and exterminate it. Pagninus agrees, translating: the righteous man considers the end of the house of the wicked, and sees that the Lord turns the wicked to their own evil; and Vatablus: the righteous man is made wise on account of the house of the wicked; God turns the wicked to evil. The righteous man, he says, becomes wise on account of the house and family of the wicked man, which he sees perishing, because the Lord turns the wicked so that they perish miserably.
Secondly, R. Levi, meaning: The righteous man prepares prosperous fortune for the house of the wicked, namely when he dwells in his house; for then God, for the sake of the righteous man, heaps blessings upon the wicked one, as He blessed Laban for the sake of Jacob.
Thirdly, the Chaldean translates: the righteous man contemplates the house of the wicked and transfers the wicked to evil; Symmachus: and overturns the wicked to evil, meaning: The righteous prince or judge, by persecuting the wicked, exterminates them, and punishes the criminal with death, to free the commonwealth from their crimes and impiety. Thus David testifies that he did this in Psalm 101: "I did not acknowledge the wicked man who turned away from me; the one who secretly slandered his neighbor, I persecuted. In the morning I slew all the sinners of the land, that I might destroy from the city of the Lord all who work iniquity."
Fourthly, the Zurich version translates: though the righteous man may instruct the wicked house, the wicked still turn to crime, meaning: The wicked are more inclined to evil than the pious are powerful enough to instruct and convert, because their impiety and malice prevails over the piety and zeal of the good.
Fifthly, the Septuagint takes the house of the wicked as internal, namely the heart and conscience; hence it translates: the righteous man contemplates the hearts of the wicked and despises the wicked in their evil; and the Syriac: the righteous understands the heart of the wicked, he thrusts the criminal to evil, meaning: The righteous man considers how the wicked are tormented in their hearts by scruples, how they are tortured by cares, afflicted by fears and dangers; therefore he regards with contempt their external pomp, riches, and happiness as assigned "to evil," that is, he counts and reckons them not among goods but among evils. The author of the Greek Catena translates and explains the Septuagint thus: "The righteous man understands the hearts of the wicked and does not insult them while they are involved in evils. The meaning is: The righteous man does not accuse, pursue, or scorn the deeds of the wicked, as the wicked man is accustomed to do with the works of the righteous. For the wicked man often brings false accusations against the righteous and strives to involve him, though innocent, in evils -- none of which the righteous man does; indeed, he strives to lead them away from evils."
Sixthly, our Vulgate excellently, taking lara, that is evil (for this is customary among the Hebrews), as mera, that is, from evil, translates: the righteous man considers the house of the wicked, to draw the wicked from evil, meaning: So great is the charity, so great the zeal of the righteous man, that he cares not only for his own affairs and his own household, but also for those of others, even of the wicked. Therefore with all ingenuity and zeal he devises means and methods of converting the house, that is, the family of the wicked man, so as to draw the wicked dwelling in it -- namely, the master, the mistress, sons, daughters, menservants, maidservants -- from evil, that is, from a wicked life and crimes in which he sees them entangled.
The righteous man does this, first, out of love for the wicked, because he is zealous for their good and salvation; second, out of love for the neighborhood, the city, and the commonwealth, because the house of the wicked, through its crimes and the human and divine vengeance upon them, breathes like a plague upon the neighbors and upon the entire city and commonwealth. Therefore, to avert evil from it, he strives to heal the corrupted root, namely the house of the wicked; third, out of love for God, whom he sees so greatly offended in the house of the wicked: for the offense against God especially touches and torments the heart of the righteous man. Hence, to avert it, he devises all means to remove it; therefore he devises every way of converting to virtue the house and family of the wicked man.
This is what St. James says in chapter 5:20: "He who causes a sinner to be converted from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins." See what was said there.
Thus the ingenious and immense charity of Christ devised ways unthinkable to Angels and men, by which He might draw the wicked from their sins. For the Word was made flesh, and He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, made in the likeness of men and found in appearance as a man, so that He might teach men by word and example to avoid sins and to live chastely and holily. For this reason He went about even unto death, visiting towns and villages, preaching the kingdom of God, healing the sick, freeing those possessed from Satan, raising the dead. Finally, for this reason He endured insults, most atrocious torments, and at last the most bitter death of the cross, so that man, seeing that he had cost Christ so dear and was so loved by Christ, might repay love with love, and renouncing the world and the flesh, might live for God alone and for righteousness. For no fitting and worthy price of love exists except reciprocal love. Learn this on the cross, which Christ of His own will endured, most atrocious as it was, for His enemies, even unto death. For the academy of love is Calvary. Nor did the burning and immense love of Christ stop here, but He also devised an admirable way by which, after His departure to heaven, though visibly absent, He would be invisibly present to the faithful daily in the Eucharist, and through it would communicate to us His whole self and His whole divinity and humanity with all their gifts, so that in it He might really unite Himself to each one, and each to all and all to each, in Himself, and substantially incorporate them. What more wonderful, what more ingenious, what more lovable, what more divine could have been devised by our love? Wherefore nothing so afflicted Christ in this mortal life, and even now, already immortal in heaven, so troubles Him, as when He sees ungrateful men not valuing and despising this love of His. Hence He Himself, appearing to St. Bridget as though recently crucified, when she asked: "Who, O Lord, has thus crucified You?" answered: "Those who despise My love." So the Life of St. Bridget records. Hence also Blessed Jacopone wept continuously; asked the reason, he said: "Because love is not loved." The same thing was wept over by St. Francis and other Saints, and they still weep over it.
The Apostles and apostolic men followed Christ. Hence St. Paul devised a thousand ways of converting souls, as is clear from the outline of his life which I prefixed to the Acts of the Apostles. Therefore he thus urges the Corinthians in his Second Epistle, chapter 5:20: "We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were exhorting through us. We beseech you for Christ: be reconciled to God."
Thus, to omit innumerable others, St. Ignatius, the founder of our Society, devised marvelous ways of drawing men back from vices. For example, he plunged himself into ice-cold water to draw a lustful young man back from obscene loves, and as it were to extinguish them with the cold water thrown upon them. Hence he went about cities and provinces in the utmost poverty, catechizing, admonishing, teaching, preaching, with this end and fruit: that sin might be taken from the world. For this purpose he wrote the Spiritual Exercises, which have been the salvation of many; he founded schools of all the liberal arts throughout the world, to imbue youth from their tender years with good morals and learning; he established missions to enlighten the Indians with the light of the Gospel; he set up colleges, houses of professed members, and residences among all nations, to strengthen them in the Christian life. In short, he was wholly devoted to devising ways and means by which he might lead all peoples, of every age, condition, and sex, to salvation.
His follower was St. Francis Xavier, who by great journeys, labors, and dangers converted innumerable thousands of Indians to the faith and holiness, and devised wonderful things for their salvation, as can be seen in his Life. There, among other things, one can see two most effective weapons for converting sinners, namely holiness of life and charity; for being powerful in both, he brought over the greatest barbarians and sinners to Christ. Hence he used to approach them voluntarily, indeed to dine and lunch with them, and with wonderful courtesy and grace would draw away now one, now another mistress from them, until at last he detached them all; for no one could resist his holiness and the charity he poured out upon each one.
Fittingly, Christ, about to appoint Peter as His Vicar and Pastor of the whole Church, first tested his love, saying: "Peter, do you love Me more than these?" And when he answered: "Lord, You know that I love You" -- asking him again a second and third time and hearing the same -- He added: "Feed My sheep," to signify that he who wishes to be their pastor and sanctifier must be endowed with the greatest love.
13. HE WHO STOPS HIS EAR AT THE CRY OF THE POOR, HE ALSO SHALL CRY AND NOT BE HEARD.
In Hebrew: and he will not be answered; the Septuagint: he who stops his ears so as not to hear the weak, he also will call, and there will be no one to hear him. To stop one's ear, says Jansenius, is used metaphorically for being unwilling to hear and behaving as if one does not hear someone's cry, and even declaring that another's cry is bothersome. And well does it not say 'at the prayer' but "at the cry," to indicate the harshness of some who are not only not moved by the prayers of the needy, but not even overcome by their shouts so as to listen. Therefore it is justly added that a double evil will befall such people: first, because such a person will also cry out, which signifies that he himself will fall into some grave calamity that will compel him to cry out in anguish; second, because even when he cries out and strives with the utmost prayers to obtain deliverance and aid, he will not be heard, according to the Psalm: "They cried out, and there was none to save them; to the Lord, and He did not hear them."
The reason for this saying is the law of retaliation, established by God and by Christ, Luke 6: "For with the same measure that you measure out, it will be measured back to you" -- both by men and even more by God, who as He is merciful to the merciful, so He is hard to the hard, especially because He Himself is the father of the poor and claims for Himself the kindness or harshness shown to them. Hence He hears them when they cry out to Him against avaricious rich men. Again, the hard man who does not hear God crying out to him in and through the poor man, he indeed deserves that in turn, when he cries out to God, he not be heard by Him. Hence the Chaldean translates: he will also call upon God and not be heard; and St. Cyprian, On Works and Almsgiving: "And he will call upon God, and there will be none to hear him;" and the Syriac: "He will call upon God, and He will not answer." The example is in the rich Dives, who, not hearing Lazarus crying out, himself cried out in hell for refreshment to Abraham and was not heard by him. He justly asked for a drop of water and did not obtain it, who had denied a crumb of bread to Lazarus. He desires a drop who had denied a crumb. "O rich man, with what face do you ask for a drop, you who did not wish to offer a crumb?" says St. Augustine, Sermon 237 On the Times. Hence the same St. Augustine, Homily 23 On the Words of the Lord according to Luke, speaking of the rich man and Lazarus: "Punishments are weighed out," he says, "in proportion to riches, refreshment for poverty, flame for purple, nourishment for nakedness, so that the fairness of the scales may be preserved; and the manner of that measure does not lie: 'With what measure you measure out,' He says, 'it will be measured to you.' Therefore mercy is denied to the rich man in his punishments, because he himself, while he lived, did not wish to show mercy; therefore the rich man asking is not heard in his torments, because he did not hear the poor man asking on earth. The rich man and the poor man are two contraries to each other; but again they are two necessities to each other. No one would be in need, if they supported one another; and no one would labor, if both helped each other. The rich man was made for the poor man, and the poor man for the rich man. It is the poor man's part to pray, and the rich man's to give. It is God's part to repay great things for small: from His mercy, from small things great abundance is born. The field of the poor is fruitful; it quickly returns fruit to its masters. The poor man is the road to heaven, through which one comes to the Father. Begin therefore to give, if you do not wish to go astray: loosen in this life the shackle of your patrimony by which you are bound, so that you may freely ascend to heaven."
Finally, similar to this maxim is that of Philo quoted by Maximinus, Sermon 7: "Show yourself to be such toward servants and the wretched as you would wish God to be toward you; for as we have heard, so we shall be heard by God; and as we look upon others, so God will look upon us. Let us therefore offer mercy for mercy, that we may obtain like for like." And that of Sixtus the Pythagorean, Saying 206: "God does not hear the prayer of a man who does not hear the needy." The wise and nearly Christian sayings of this Sixtus are found in Volume V of the Library of the Holy Fathers.
And that of St. Gregory Nazianzen in his Poem: A poor man approached and departed having obtained nothing. I fear, O Christ, lest I too fall from Your hand: For what one has not given, let him not hope to receive either.
Knowing this, Tobias, about to die, thus commands his son in chapter 4:7: "From your substance give alms, and do not turn your face from any poor man; for so it will come about that the face of the Lord will not be turned from you."
14. A HIDDEN GIFT EXTINGUISHES ANGER, AND A PRESENT IN THE BOSOM QUENCHES THE GREATEST INDIGNATION.
The Zurich version: A secret gift extinguishes anger. Some take 'gift in the bosom' as a gift placed not in the bosom of the poor man, but hidden in the bosom of the miser, so that there is an antithesis between the generous and the avaricious. Hence the Septuagint translates: a hidden gift averts anger, but he who spares gifts arouses fierce fury; and the Syriac, following the Septuagint as usual: and he who refuses to give arouses fury, meaning: The generous man, who secretly gives gifts to an angry prince or powerful person, through them averts and appeases his anger. By contrast, the miser, who is sparing with gifts, arouses the wrath of God and men: because through avarice he offends many, and in order to amass wealth he often violates rights, and thus he arouses against himself the anger of God and men, which he further increases by being stingy with what he has unjustly acquired, and not distributing it to the poor, as charity demands, to soothe or mitigate the offenses. But others generally think there is no antithesis here, but that both hemistichs pertain to the same thing, namely to the generous man who gives gifts. Therefore 'the hidden gift' is the same as 'the present in the bosom,' namely, secretly placed and slipped into the bosom of another.
The meaning therefore is: A hidden gift, that is, given secretly and privately to a judge or prince, calms his anger; and a distinguished present (for this is what sochad signifies), secretly slipped into the bosom of the same person who pretends not to know or feigns reluctance, extinguishes his indignation however great. The force lies in 'hidden' and 'in the bosom.' For judges and princes do not want gifts to be given to them publicly and openly, lest they seem to seek them or be corrupted by them into pronouncing unjust sentences, and thus be considered base and infamous. Therefore gifts that soften, attract, and win over their hearts must be slipped to them secretly and into their bosom, as if they were unaware or unwilling, so that they convert anger and hatred into love and goodwill, as I said at chapter 18:16. Again, gifts must be given secretly to the courtiers and ministers of princes, lest the princes learn of it and be offended: therefore those who accept gifts secretly will be mediators with the prince and will reconcile the giver to him. So R. Levi, Aben-Ezra, and others generally.
Therefore it signifies, say Baynus and Jansenius, that Solomon means by this maxim how much generosity avails if prudently displayed -- that through gifts secretly given, even the greatest angers are often calmed, which cannot be extinguished by many words or by the authority of persons. It also signifies the avarice of some who generally allow themselves to be corrupted by gifts secretly given, so that they do not inflict the punishment they ought to inflict. According to the mystical interpretation, this saying commends the virtue of almsgiving, which, if done according to the precept of the Gospel, namely "Let not your left hand know what your right hand does" -- that is, if done in secret, not for ostentation, not for vainglory, but before God who sees in secret -- will extinguish the anger of the Judge, and will calm and change that sentence full of wrath and fury into the most clement one: "Come, blessed of My Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."
And it is entirely probable that this is the proper intended meaning, and that it is conveyed under the similitude of the plain sense, so that from what happens among men we may understand how much generosity avails with God, and thus mercy toward the poor is commended, as in the preceding verse, and as R. Solomon holds. Hence some refer the first part of the hemistich to God and the latter to a judge, so that the former is confirmed by the latter, meaning: A gift secretly given to a poor man will calm the wrath of God, just as a gift secretly slipped into the bosom of a judge is wont to extinguish his fury and the severity of the laws, however great and vehement.
An example is Abigail, who with her gifts extinguished the wrath of David, who was hastening to the destruction of Nabal, 1 Samuel 25:18. Truly the Poet compares a gift to the torpedo fish, which, touching the hand of the fisherman, numbs it: Do not your hands grow numb when you secretly accept gifts? Do you not feel it? Surely mind and spirit are stupefied. Indeed, "gifts placate the gods, let alone men themselves. There is nothing that the support of a gift cannot accomplish." Fittingly Pliny, in his Panegyric to Trajan, chapter 42, calls gifts "hooks baited with food, snares covered with prey." St. Jerome narrates in the Life of St. Hilarion that Hilarion rejected ten pounds of gold offered to him by a demoniac he had healed, and offering him barley bread, said: "Those who are nourished with such food consider gold as mud." But how few are such men!
Moreover, our Pineda on Ecclesiastes chapter 7:40 composes, contrasts, and prefers 'gift in the bosom' to 'indignation in the bosom,' which is the greatest: for anger that is hidden, covered, and as it were rooted in the bosom of the soul is most intimate, most deep, most lasting, and most grievous. Hence Ecclesiastes 7:10 says of it: "Anger rests in the bosom of a fool." And Aristotle, Ethics Book IV, chapter 5, teaches that "the irascible, although they are quickly angered, and at those they should not be, and more than they should be, are evident because of their quickness; but they have this good quality, that they also desist quickly. But those are bitter who are placated with difficulty and remain under anger for a long time; for they hold onto it, and unless they voluntarily set a limit to their anger, a long time is needed for the anger to be digested in them; and indeed, because they are not visible, no one persuades them."
Therefore the bitter have anger hidden in their bosom; so that this may be torn out of them through kindness, a gift must also be sent into the bosom, one that may tear it out, so that into the hidden inner chamber of indignation may penetrate equally its ready-made antidote, which may either blunt or overcome its bitterness, just as scammony penetrates to the innermost veins of the body and draws out harmful humors, and thus restores the person to health.
Wherefore 'gift in the bosom' also signifies a 'bosom gift,' that is, one sweet and pleasing to the soul, which the person eagerly embraces in the bosom of love. For unless it is such, it will not expel anger and hatred from the bosom; therefore, to expel anger, seek and offer to the angry person a gift that you know will be 'bosomly' to him, that is, highly desired and pleasing, so that through it he may press out and erase his anger.
Therefore, just as hunters send ferrets into the hollows and burrows of the earth so as to drive out the hares and thus catch them coming out into the light, so likewise a gift must be thrust into the bosom of the angry man, so as to wrest out malevolence from him.
15. IT IS JOY TO THE RIGHTEOUS TO DO JUDGMENT, AND TERROR TO THOSE WHO WORK INIQUITY.
For 'terror' the Hebrew is mechitta, that is, consternation, destruction; the Syriac has 'breaking.' This is rightly opposed by antithesis to the joy of the righteous, because it is the inseparable companion of grief and sadness: for where there is grief, there is terror and consternation; but where there is joy, there is likewise confidence, security, and courage. 'Judgment,' that is, justice; and since justice is taken in a threefold sense, a threefold meaning arises here.
First, justice can be taken here properly and strictly, namely that which renders to each his right, and especially that which assigns to the good the rewards they deserve and to the wicked the punishments they deserve, whether this is done by God or by a human judge. R. Solomon takes it of God, meaning: God takes great pleasure in exercising judgment upon the just, so that they may obtain a life overflowing with all good things and abounding in the merits of the age to come. Likewise the Just One, that is, God, is flooded with joy when He sends scourges and afflictions upon the just, so that they may be made pure for the future age. "Terror to those who work iniquity," meaning: Since they do not set their hearts to return to a better life, nor reap any fruit from these calamities, nor profit when vexed by afflictions, they are therefore filled with consternation. R. Levi takes it of a human judge: When justice is exercised among mortals, he says, it will bring joy to the righteous man: for he will be confident that he will not be involved in the affairs of the kingdom, since he carefully abstains from acting wickedly. For those who act unjustly, the same thing is calamity and consternation itself: for they vehemently fear lest they pay the penalties for their crimes. Hence robbers, says Lyranus, are generally timid and fearful: for, as St. Paul teaches, Romans 13, the ministers of justice are for good to the good, for evil -- namely for terror and vengeance -- to the evil.
Here our Salazar agrees: "Joy to the righteous to do judgment," he says, meaning: The righteous man, when he sees a Superior and Prince acting justly and keeping his subjects in duty, indeed rejoices and is glad -- which, on the contrary, is wont to strike the greatest fear and terror into the wicked. The former rejoices because he is free from guilt; the latter are fearful and terrified because, bound by the same crimes, they fear that the punishment justly inflicted on others will be imposed on them too by a just and severe judge.
Note the Hebrew mechitta, that is, anguish or the pain of a woman in labor, for those who work iniquity. For Origen, Homily 2 on Joshua, acutely compared the law to a midwife: because it assists the reluctant wills of subjects to bring forth, so to speak, life and morals according to reason, in the manner of a midwife. Consider, therefore, that in every man, even the wicked, the will, pregnant with right counsels and thoughts urging good morals, is never not stimulated to bring forth a good and honest life. Therefore, when some Superior or Prince is present who acts justly and urges his subjects with severity, immediately a certain pain and anguish similar to that of a woman in labor seizes all the wicked -- the severity of the Superior compels them to bring forth good morals even with pain and difficulty, as the commands and laws serve as midwife. This explanation is apt and appropriate, and the author of the Greek Catena follows it.
Secondly, some have taken 'justice' as almsgiving, which is not infrequently called 'justice' in Scripture for the reasons already mentioned, meaning: The righteous and beneficent man gives alms with joy, both because it is pleasant to do good, and because he knows and experiences that his wealth does not decrease through almsgiving but increases, and finally because he knows that the heavenly kingdom has been promised by Christ to the charitable, Matthew 25. But the miser who unjustly denies alms and does not redeem his iniquities with almsgiving, grieves and fears: both because avarice is in itself sordid, contracted, and sad; and because he feels that through it his wealth is diminished and exhausted and he is impoverished; and because he fears the hell threatened by Christ against the avaricious and ungenerous, Matthew 25. So Baynus.
Thirdly, others take justice broadly and generally for any virtue, or for what is just, fair, and honest, meaning: The righteous man performs works of virtue with joy, while the wicked commit iniquity with grief, fear, and anguish. This is so partly because virtue is in itself pleasant, happy, and delightful, while vice is foul, sad, and abominable; partly because God has proposed ample rewards for virtue, especially in heaven, and ample punishments for vices in hell; and finally because God sends heavenly consolations to the souls of those who do good, especially when the task is arduous, but desolations, anguish, and terrors to the minds of those who do evil, as their just reward or punishment. Hence St. Agatha, St. Cecilia, St. Agnes, St. Lawrence, etc., went to their torments and martyrdom joyfully, as though to banquets and delights. Thus Bede: "The righteous man rejoices," he says, "when he toils at good works, because he hopes that for these he will be rewarded with everlasting goods; but the reprobate, while they do the evils which they know the Lord has forbidden, although they may take carnal pleasure in the perpetration of their lust, nevertheless they cannot be free from the internal terror of the mind, because they do not doubt that they will suffer eternal punishments for the temporal evils they have done."
Again, more connectedly and profoundly, with Jansenius, you may refer both to the same thing, so that one and the same thing is signified: that for the righteous man there is joy, and for the workers of iniquity there is terror, namely in doing judgment. For doing judgment is joy to the righteous, but terror or destruction to the evil (for the Hebrew can also be translated thus), because the righteous rejoice when what is fair and good must be undertaken by them, while the evil, when such a thing confronts them, undertake it with fear and a languid spirit, and dread doing good as something difficult and unusual to them.
This maxim is similar to that of chapter 10:29: "The strength of the simple is the way of the Lord, and terror to those who work evil." Here the Septuagint version is relevant: "The joy of the righteous is to do judgment; but the holy man is regarded as unclean among impure men and those bound by crimes" -- partly because the impure judge the righteous as impure and similar to themselves; partly because, just as the righteous censure the actions of the unjust and rejoice when they see them punished, so equally the unjust censure the actions and virtues of the righteous and accuse them as impure and vicious. So the author of the Greek Catena.
Morally, learn here that justice alone, that is, works of virtue, begets joy: first, because the righteous man acts from the habit of justice. For it is delightful for everyone to act according to their habit, says Lyranus. Second, because works of virtue produce a good conscience, which wonderfully calms and cheers the soul; for they are works and fruits of the Holy Spirit, who is the source of all joy, according to Galatians 5:22: "The fruit of the Spirit," he says, "is charity, joy, peace," etc. Hear Blessed Caesarius of Arles, Homily 12: "True joy is not possessed unless peace and justice are held; for justice is first, and as it were the root, second is peace, third is joy: from justice peace is born, from peace joy is generated. Justice and peace seem to be good works; but joy is understood as the fruit of good works." And St. Bernard in his book On Consideration: "What is richer, what sweeter in the heart, what quieter and more secure on earth than a good conscience? It does not fear the loss of things, nor insults of words, nor bodily torments, and by death itself it is raised up rather than cast down."
Pagan writers agree with ours. Cicero, in his letter to Torquatus: "The consciousness of right will is the greatest consolation amid misfortunes." And Seneca, to Lucilius: "I never want joy to be lacking to you; I want it to be born for you at home. It is born, provided it is within yourself. Other gaieties do not fill the breast but merely relax the brow -- they are trivial, unless perhaps you judge that he rejoices who laughs. Believe me, true joy is a serious matter." And a little later: "The desire for true good is safe; do you ask what it is, or whence it comes? I will tell you: from a good conscience, from honest counsels, from right actions, from contempt of chance events, from the calm and continuous tenor of a life that presses one path."
Secondly, because good works win God for oneself, and in Him as their end and center they find rest, and from Him they expect all present and eternal joy. This is what Sirach 1:41 says: "The fear of the Lord is glory and exultation and gladness and a crown of rejoicing. The fear of the Lord will delight the heart and give gladness and joy and length of days." And Malachi 4:2: "And the Sun of justice shall arise for you who fear My name, and healing in His wings, and you shall go forth and leap like calves from the herd." Hence Chrysostom, Homily 18 to the People: "Many words are not needed; but if we consider only the saying of the Apostle, we shall find life; for he did not simply say: Rejoice always; but he added the cause of continual pleasure, when he said: Rejoice in the Lord always. He who always rejoices in the Lord cannot be deprived of this pleasure by any accident. For all other things in which we rejoice are changeable and quickly pass; but he who truly fears God as he ought and trusts in Him has gained the root of pleasure and possesses every fountain of joy."
Finally, St. Bernard, Epistle 114 to a certain Nun: "It is a great joy to me that I have discovered that you wish to tend toward true and perfect joy; which is not of earth but of heaven, that is, not of this valley of weeping but of that city of God which the rush of the river makes glad. And truly that alone is true joy which is conceived not from the creature but from the Creator, and which, when you have possessed it, no one will take from you; compared with which every pleasure from elsewhere is grief, every sweetness is pain, every sweet thing bitter, every beautiful thing foul, and finally every other thing that might delight is troublesome."
16. THE MAN WHO WANDERS FROM THE WAY OF LEARNING WILL DWELL IN THE ASSEMBLY OF THE GIANTS.
Here then is the terror and destruction destined for the workers of iniquity, as was said in the preceding verse. For 'giants' the Hebrew is rephaim, which our Vulgate elsewhere translates as 'the dead,' elsewhere as 'demons': for since the giants who fought against God were punished by Him with death and cast down to Tartarus to the demons whose pride and crimes they had imitated, hence by rephaim, that is, giants, are signified the dead and demons, namely the state of the damned in hell. See what was said at Genesis 6. In Hebrew they are called rephaim from 'striking down,' because with their monstrous height, deformity, strength, and savagery they struck men down, dissolved them with fear, and as it were struck them lifeless: for rippa means to dissolve. In Greek they are called gigantes, as if gegeneis, that is, earth-born, sons of the earth, as the Chaldean and Syriac translate. For gegeneis is derived from gignomai, that is, I am born, and gaia or ge, which in the Doric language becomes ga and means earth. See what was said at chapter 9:18. Hence Philo, in his book On the Giants: "The Lawgiver," he says, "wishes to teach you that some are men of the earth, others of heaven, others of God. Of the earth are those who hunt the pleasures of the body and seek from every quarter the material of each pleasure; of heaven are those who cultivate arts and sciences -- for what is heavenly in us is the mind; but the men of God are priests and Prophets."
For 'way of learning' the Hebrew is 'way of understanding,' that is, the way of prudence, by which one prudently journeys to virtue, salvation, and happiness, which is the way of justice, as the Septuagint translates. This way is the law of God itself; for he who walks in it by living according to it, walks the right path of salvation. Hence the Chaldean translates: the son of man who wanders from the way of understanding will dwell with the sons of the earth; the Syriac: will rest with the sons of the earth; Symmachus: in the assembly of theomachon, that is, those who fight against God, namely the giants; the Septuagint: the man who wanders from the way of justice will rest in the synagogue of the giants; Aben-Ezra: he will rest in the assembly of the dead, and will wander no more; R. Levi: when he reaches mature age, he will die by a sudden and unexpected fall, and will pass to the assembly of the dead; R. Solomon: he will be in the assembly of hell.
Now this saying can be taken broadly, as applying to any sinner, meaning: The sinner who, having left the right way of virtue and prudence that leads to happiness, takes the pathless way of pleasure, the flesh, and the world -- a way once taken by the giants, and before them by the demons under Lucifer -- he will surely be led to the goal and terminus of those whose path he followed, namely to hell, and will be joined to their assembly. And so it is signified, says Jansenius, that those who, having deserted the way that leads to life, preferred to follow the impulses and counsels of the demons, who like proud giants opposed God and wished to equal Him, will become companions in their damnation, when it will be said to them: "Go, cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." Or that those who here refused to obey God will share the lot of those giants for whose crimes the world perished in the beginning by the Flood. The elegance of this verse consists in the opposition of wandering and rest -- namely, because he who wandered from the right path, after long wanderings will at last rest, but unhappily, and as he deserved, in the assembly of the dead and of the giants. Thus St. Gregory, Book 17 of the Moralia, Chapter 12, on those words of Job 26: "Behold, the giants groan under the waters" -- by 'giants' he understands sinners who are proud of their sin: "For they do not live," he says, "because by sinning they have lost the life of justice. Nor can they rise again after death, because puffed up with pride after their sin, they do not have recourse to the remedies of penance. Hence it is again written: The man who has wandered from the way of learning will dwell in the assembly of the giants; for whoever deserts the path of righteousness -- to whose number does he join himself if not to that of the proud spirits?"
Again, properly and precisely you may apply this maxim to heretics, false teachers, and similar erring persons; for they properly wander from the way of doctrine, that is, from the true faith, and therefore will be thrust down to the assembly of the giants. Fittingly, heretics are compared to giants: first, because they imitate their pride and haughtiness, with which, like the giants, they wage a most proud war against God and His Church, daring to accuse God, the author of faith, of falsehood, and as it were to challenge Him to a duel of perfidy. Heretics, therefore, like the giants, are theomachoi (God-fighters), as Symmachus translates, and therefore if they persist in heresy, they at last fall into atheism, and like atheists deny God and every divinity entirely, as daily experience teaches.
Secondly, just as God brought the Flood on account of the giants and drowned and destroyed their vast bodies in it, so on account of heresy God sends upon the provinces infected by it the most grievous calamities of wars, seditions, tumults, etc., by which He swallows up and destroys the heretics, as we have seen happen in this century in France, Germany, Belgium, England, Scotland, etc. The poets fable that the Titans were struck down by Jupiter's thunderbolt; so heretics are struck by God and hurled down to the underworld.
Thirdly, the parent of the giants was the devil, persuading the sons of God, that is, the sons of Seth, to unite with most burning lust with the daughters of men, that is, the daughters of Cain, because of their beauty. So likewise the parent of heresy and of heretics is the devil; their mother is lust. Hear St. Gregory Nazianzen, Oration 48, On the Conventicle of Heretics: "That chorus was a stronghold of the devil; there he had built his army, and had placed his defenders and satellites in it. Here was the army of falsehood, the champions of fraud, the expedition of demons, the legions of unclean spirits. And, if one may borrow something from external terminology, there the depraved army of Furies raged against the Church. For thus am I led to call them women, who beyond nature showed themselves virile in evil." The same author, Oration 4, asserts that heretics surpass the devil in malice and perfidy. Hence most heresiarchs had a demon as a companion, that is, an attendant and familiar, as I showed with many examples at 1 Timothy 4:1.
Fourthly, because the place of heretics, as the most harmful, is in the depths of hell beneath the other damned, where likewise the giants and demons dwell with their Lucifer.
Fifthly, the poets have told wondrous tales about the giants, which Salazar reviews at length and aptly applies to heretics. Irenaeus, Book 2, Against Heresies, chapter 53; Origen, Homily 7 on Numbers; Jerome on Isaiah chapter 24 assert that all heretics, and those who rebel against God and bring insult upon the Church, bear the figure of the most wicked and most proud giants. See Gregory in the place cited, and Cassian, Conference 8, chapter 21; and when Theodoret reports this manner of interpretation, Question 48 on Genesis: "Some," he says, "say the giants are haters of God and men who are adversaries of God." Finally hear the author of the Greek Catena on this passage: "He wanders from the way of justice," he says, "who departs from the orthodox faith, or from a life and conduct worthy of a Christian man. For in these the ways of justice are situated. By 'giants' he means either demons, or heretics, or any others alienated from God; and he designates them with this name because they are exceedingly powerful in committing evils." Another in the same place: "Scripture," he says, "is accustomed to call men full of pride and rebellious against God, and notably wicked, 'giants.' The meaning therefore is: He will be numbered among the giants, that is, the devils, or the heretics who attack God. Moreover, this name 'giant' signifies three things: for first it denotes a man who by design opposes God, as: 'No one will take spoils from the giants,' which Symmachus rendered: 'from the theomachon, those rebellious against God.' Then it denotes a man endowed with a vast body, as: 'We saw there the sons of the giants, and we were before them as locusts.' And finally a strong or mighty man, as: 'He exulted like a giant to run his course.' So says he."
17. HE WHO LOVES FEASTS WILL BE IN WANT; HE WHO LOVES WINE AND RICH FOODS WILL NOT BECOME RICH.
In Hebrew: a man of want (will be) he who loves joy; and he who loves wine and oil will not become rich, that is, he who loves the banquets and joys of continual feasting will be reduced to want. Hence, explaining this joy, he adds: "He who loves wine and rich foods will not become rich." For the Hebrew scemen, that is, oil, signifies whatever is rich, both in meats and banquets, and in spices; hence it signifies ointment, with which banqueters of old were accustomed to be anointed for the sake of delicacy, both for softness and for the fragrance of the scent. It therefore signifies that the rich man, if he indulges in sumptuous tables and the joys of banquets, and pours his time and wealth into them, once they are exhausted will be reduced to want; and the poor man who strives to become rich, though he labors much, will nevertheless not become rich if he squanders and consumes his labors in wine and feasts. In general it signifies that banquets and a luxurious life produce poverty, while a sober and frugal life mixed with labor brings abundance of things. Hence the Chaldean, Syriac, and Vatablus render this maxim in a single sentence. The Chaldean thus: The man who is needy and loves joy and loves wine and ointment will not become rich; the Syriac: The needy man who loves joys and wine and pleasure will not become rich; Vatablus briefly and clearly: The slender man who indulges in mirth, wine, and ointments will never become rich.
Note that Solomon does not absolutely attack those who drink wine and eat rich foods, but those who love these things, so as to fasten their heart and mind upon them: for these, immoderately pursuing them, consume and lose both present and eternal riches. Famous is the saying: Belly, featherbed, and lust -- these must be fled by the one pursuing praise. For there are three chief enemies of all true praise and honor, three deadly plagues: gluttony, sloth, and lust. These indeed are those alluring Sirens, against whom Ulysses, the shadow of wisdom, had stopped his ears; these are the true Gorgons, producing torpor in the mind and in industry; these are the most rapacious Harpies, plunderers of the soul's nourishment, who settle upon the goods of the homeland -- that is, of the mind -- strip them of reason, and blind the light of the mind.
Moreover, the Septuagint translates contrarily: a needy man loves mirth; he who loves wine and oil comes to riches. But they must be reconciled, meaning: He who loves merry and festive banquets will always be needy, because he loves wine and oil and considers them the greatest delicacies; therefore he spends and consumes his wealth on them, to soothe and quiet his anxieties and sorrows, which poverty suggests and produces for him -- for wine cheers the sorrowful spirit, and oil soothes and caresses the body. The author of the Greek Catena, however, gives a mystical meaning: "By the needy man," he says, "he seems to designate a sober and continent mind. For this rejoices with the righteous, and has purity as its friend, and considers almsgiving, signified by the name of oil, among its chief riches."
But, as the same author adds, it is probable that the codices of the Septuagint are corrupted here, as elsewhere, and that the negation 'not' is missing in them, so that instead of 'to riches' one should read 'not to riches,' that is, he will not become rich. For thus read the Hebrew, the Chaldean, the Syriac, Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, the Vulgate, and all the other interpreters without exception.
Cyril adorns the truth of this saying with an elegant fable of water and oil, and demonstrates it to the eye, in Book 4, Moral Apologues, chapter 6, entitled Against lovers of rich foods: "In a glass lamp," he says, "when the oil poured over the water had first descended to the bottom and then rose to the top, the water spoke to it saying: Why, my brother, did I nourish you in the roots of the olive tree, and with such ingratitude, spurning reverence, have you risen with such force? The oil replied: Following the impulse of nature and the path of reason, I do this; against these it is not lawful to rebel. Did not you too, dearest, impelled by the same nature, when you were agreeably above, drawn from the heights, descend to the bottom? To this the water calmly added: As I see, you know; teach me how nature makes you float above. The oil said: The reason is ready at hand -- my fiery richness lifts me. When the water had carefully noted this, the wick was immediately lit and began to feed on the oil. And when the oil saw itself decreasing drop by drop while the flame was growing, it is said to have spoken thus with growing indignation: O flame, you have clung sweetly in order to consume your companion fraudulently! When will your burning be satisfied? The flame replied: When, of course, your richness dries up; for unless the fatness is first removed from you, the process of burning will never cease." He proves the same with the example of asbestos, the body, and lust: "Do you not know that I am never separated from asbestos, because my vigor lives perpetually with the oily moisture invisibly clinging to it? So, kindled in the beginning of life by the seed in the marrow of the body, I burn so long as the richness of food is replenished in them. Is not the burning of lust extended exactly as much as life is fattened in luxury? After these words, when the oil was shortly consumed, the flame came to the water; immediately the water opposed its cold to the heat, and armed itself with its substantial leanness against the abyss of burning. And soon the water began to cry out and said: What is this that you are doing, greedy one? Why do you wish to extinguish my life by consuming me, as a little before you destroyed the oil? I know your malice -- I am your medicine. At these words, the flame was extinguished."
Morally, learn here that feasts and banquets produce poverty, both bodily and spiritual, while frugality produces abundance. Wisely Dionysius, quoted by Antonius in the Melissa, Part I, chapter 40: "Take care," he says, "never to spend money rashly, from which you will gain no glory for yourself; for great wealth is accumulated not so much by receiving much as by not spending much." How true this is, merchants and wealthy heads of households know, because they are frugal. Consider the Dutch. That saying is well-known: "Thrift is a great revenue." Hence St. Ambrose praises his brother Satyrus for this frugality in his Funeral Oration: "He was never," he says, "delighted by more elaborate feasts or heaped-up courses, except when he invited friends to dinner; he sought what was enough for nature, not what might be left over for pleasure, and certainly he was not poor in wealth, but nonetheless poor in spirit." The same author on Psalm 119, octonary 9: "Many things," he says, "seem to be pleasant in this world that are not: luxury seems pleasant, but becomes bitter when the patrimony is exhausted. Rich foods are sweet when consumed, but fetid when discharged." Well known is the story of the prodigal son, who by devoting himself to feasts and luxury squandered his patrimony and was reduced to the point where he was forced to work as a swineherd and feed pigs, Luke 15:15.
Much more do delicacies and feasts produce a spiritual poverty of delights, grace, virtues, and divine consolations: because just as "when the spirit has been tasted, all flesh becomes insipid," as St. Bernard says, so conversely, "for him to whom flesh is savory, the spirit becomes insipid." Hence St. Gregory, Homily 40 on the Gospels: "The fire of poverty," he says, "purged the evils of Lazarus, and the prosperity of the present life rewarded the goods of the rich man. Poverty afflicted and cleansed the one; abundance rewarded and repelled the other. Therefore, all of you who fare well in this life, when you recall the good you have done, greatly fear in these things, lest the prosperity granted to you be the reward of those same goods; and when you see any poor people committing some reprehensible acts, do not despise, do not despair: for perhaps what the excess of the slightest depravity stains, the furnace of poverty purges." See Amos 6:4; St. James 5:5, who sharply attack feasters and threaten them with poverty and the woe of eternal curse, where I treated this matter at greater length.
18. THE WICKED IS GIVEN IN PLACE OF THE RIGHTEOUS, AND THE UNJUST IN PLACE OF THE UPRIGHT.
In Hebrew copher, that is, the expiation of the righteous is the wicked man; the Chaldean and Syriac: in exchange for the righteous the wicked man will be given, and for the upright, plunderers; Vatablus: the redemption of the righteous is the wicked man, etc., that is, the righteous man is withdrawn from danger and the wicked man undergoes danger in his place; the Zurich version: the wicked man expiates for the righteous and the transgressor for the upright; Pagninus: for the redemption of the righteous the wicked will be given, and for the upright the transgressor.
Moreover, the Septuagint, joining this maxim to the preceding one, translates copher as perikatharma, that is, purgation, or literally, the cleansing of the righteous is the wicked man; Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion: the propitiation of the righteous is the wicked man. The author of the Greek Catena explains the Septuagint, meaning: "The wicked man is contemptible to the righteous, like refuse and the purgings of the belly." But this explanation is weak, so the same author adds another more genuine one, of which presently.
First, therefore, Bede, reading 'is given' as 'is condemned,' as it seems, explains thus: "The righteous and the upright seem to be the same; but there is a difference between the wicked and the unjust, for all the reprobate are unjust, but the wicked are those involved in greater crimes, who either never received the holy mysteries of the faith, or after receiving them returned to apostasy. Hence in this place 'the wicked man' can be taken as every persecutor of the faithful. Moreover, by the word 'unjust' all evil men generally seem to be designated. And the wicked man is given for the righteous, when for the martyr the persecutor who delivered him to death is punished; the unjust for the upright, who though seeing their justice, were unwilling to imitate it. Herod is condemned not only for the innocents whom he wickedly delivered to death, but also receives an increase of damnation because he was unwilling to follow the faith of the Magi in seeking the Lord, though he was a Jew and knew the words of the Prophets. Hence the Lord says: The Queen of the South will rise in judgment with this generation and will condemn it, etc. -- not that she will condemn by her own virtue and power, but because in comparison with her they will be condemned, who, knowing her devotion, could much more easily have had the care for wisdom that they concealed." But this explanation does not sufficiently exhaust the force of the saying, nor sufficiently explain the word 'for' and the Hebrew copher, that is, expiation, redemption, price.
Secondly, more fittingly Baynus: "The wicked is given for the righteous," that is, he says, when some evil threatens the righteous, it frequently happens that the righteous man escapes it and the wicked man suffers it in his place. But neither does this sufficiently exhaust the Hebrew copher and the Greek perikatharma. Wherefore,
Thirdly, more profoundly and vigorously, copher, that is, "the expiation of the righteous is the wicked man" -- that is, the wicked are as it were a sin-offering, a price, and as it were a victim for the sin of the righteous, meaning: When God sends a calamity upon a city or commonwealth as punishment for sins, which calamity would also befall the righteous on account of certain minor sins of theirs, for which they have deserved a portion of the punishment, God, loving them and having mercy on them, causes the whole calamity of punishment to devolve upon the wicked, so that they themselves, who gave the principal cause of the calamity, may absorb it entirely, and thus make satisfaction for the righteous by suffering God's punishment in their place. Therefore the righteous are, as it were, redeemed and cleansed by the punishment of the wicked, because the wicked are the price and redemption of the calamity sent, which God accepts, so that when they are punished His anger ceases, and He recalls His vengeance and sheathes His drawn sword. The wicked, therefore, are perikatharma, that is, the sin-offering of the world and of the righteous, as the Septuagint translates. A striking example is in 2 Samuel (2 Kings), chapter 21, where the famine brought upon Israel by God because the Gibeonites were slain by Saul, contrary to the pledge given them by Joshua in chapter 9:16, is expiated by the death of seven of Saul's descendants, as posterity of the guilty and culpable Saul. So Lyranus, R. Solomon, Aben-Ezra, Jansenius, and others.
The a priori reason is: Since the wicked are supremely harmful and guilty, they therefore deserve to be the common sin-offering for both their own crimes and the offenses of the righteous. For a sin-offering is usually chosen from among all as the one most guilty and harmful; nor can the wicked complain that they bear the punishment of another's sin, namely the righteous man's, because by their own crimes alone they deserve a far greater punishment. Therefore let them rather give thanks to God that He mitigates the punishment due to them and punishes less than they deserve. For here we are speaking of a common calamity of the commonwealth, of which the wicked are the sin-offering; for individually, each person, even the righteous, will receive from God, either in this life or the next, particular punishment and penance for each of their offenses.
Moreover, this general maxim can be applied to many cases. First, apply it to accusers who falsely accuse others of crime: for when the falsehood is detected, by the law of retaliation they are forced to undergo the punishment they thought to bring upon another by false accusation. For this is the just vindication of an unjust accusation, and as it were the sin-offering of justice and the righteous man. Thus the wicked elders, falsely accusing Susanna of adultery, underwent the stoning decreed for adulterers, Daniel chapter 13; and Haman underwent the punishment of treason aimed at Mordecai and the Jews, Esther 7:9.
Secondly, to those who by force or fraud plot unjust death or similar harm against the innocent: for by the just judgment of God, this force and fraud is usually turned back upon the head of the plotters. St. Gregory, Dialogues III, chapter 15, recounts a fitting example concerning St. Sabinus, Bishop of Canosa, to whom his Archdeacon, aspiring to his bishopric, sent poison through a servant. St. Sabinus, foreseeing the fraud by the Spirit of God, said: "Give it to me; I will drink it. But tell him who gave this to you: I indeed drink the poison, but you will not be Bishop." Therefore, making the sign of the cross, the Bishop drank the poison without harm, and in that same hour in another place where his Archdeacon was, the Archdeacon died, as if through the mouth of the Bishop the poison had passed to the Archdeacon's bowels. Yet the bodily poison did not cause his death, but in the sight of the eternal Judge the poison of his own malice killed him."
Thirdly, and most fittingly, in the common calamities of the commonwealth, which God sends upon it because of the sins of its citizens, although He sometimes involves the good with the wicked, yet He often preserves the good either partly or entirely unharmed, and destines the wicked as victims, as the most guilty and harmful. They, therefore, are the perikatharma, that is, the sin-offering or expiatory victim, which expiates all the offenses of the commonwealth and exempts the righteous from harm. Thus, when the siege and destruction of Jerusalem by Titus was imminent, the Christians with their Bishop St. Simeon, at God's warning, left the city and withdrew to the city of Pella, and thus remained safe from the disaster, as Baronius teaches from St. Epiphanius, Heresies 29 and 30, for the year of Christ 68, chapters 47 and 50.
Fourthly, in particular cases, the harm threatening the righteous man is often diverted by God onto the wicked, so that the latter rushes to destruction in his place: for the eye of God's providence, just and vigilant, keeps watch against harm and vengeance, and seeks out the guilty and harmful head. When by chance, says R. Levi, according to the order of common providence, something harmful should befall the righteous man, God substitutes the wicked for him, so that the criminal may be entangled in calamities in place of the innocent; which indeed happens when, by reason of the particular providence by which God cares for the good, they are withdrawn from these afflictions. But when the wicked reap this fruit from their crimes -- that they may be abolished from them (that is, from the crimes, meaning that they may cease to sin and repent) -- for this reason the ruined are driven to such calamity.
Pious kings and princes imitate God, who divert the burdens of the commonwealth from the faithful and upright onto the faithless and wicked, especially heretics; hence they impose heavier taxes on them than on others, so as to compel them to the faith and uprightness. Thus in this year of the Lord 1629, Ferdinand II, the most pious and most invincible Emperor, by burdening the heretics with garrison soldiers through his general, as though they were faithless and rebellious, while relieving the Catholics, converted Silesia to the orthodox faith: for the heretical Silesians, to be freed from the soldiers, abjured their heresy.
The figure of this was the double goat in the feast of expiation, namely one the scapegoat, which was released free by the priest; and the other for sin, which was slaughtered and sacrificed in place of the scapegoat. For the scapegoat represents the righteous, the other for sin represents the wicked, Leviticus 16:8 and following. See what was said there.
Understand that these things happen sometimes, or not rarely, but not always. For sometimes God does the contrary and allows the righteous to be afflicted for the wicked, indeed by the wicked, in this life; but in the future life most assuredly the unjust will be punished for the righteous in hell. Thus Christ the Righteous suffered for all the wicked, to free them from sin, the devil, death, and hell -- which was indeed His immense clemency and charity, according to Isaiah 53:4: "Truly He bore our infirmities, and He carried our sorrows, etc.; but He was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our crimes: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Thus the Apostle, 1 Corinthians 4: "We have been made like the refuse" (in Greek katharmata, that is, sin-offerings by whose death the world is purged and expiated) "of this world, the offscouring of all things until now." See what was said there.
19. IT IS BETTER TO DWELL IN A DESERT LAND THAN WITH A QUARRELSOME AND ANGRY WOMAN.
The Septuagint adds: and talkative; for this is the cause of anger and strife. The a priori reason is: First, that it is more advantageous to live as a solitary in the desert in quiet than in a house and crowd with anger and strife, especially of a talkative and contentious woman.
Second, that in the desert life is spent among wild beasts, such as lions and dragons; but fiercer and more savage than these is a quarrelsome and wicked woman, as Sirach 25:23 says.
Third, that in the desert life is lived without the stain of sin, which in the company of men, and especially of a sharp-tongued and quarrelsome woman, is easily and frequently contracted, according to that saying of St. Leo: "It is inevitable that even religious hearts become soiled by earthly dust." In the desert one may and desires to contemplate heaven and heavenly things, and to converse with God and the Angels, and to lead a heavenly and angelic life, such as St. John the Baptist, St. Anthony, St. Paul, St. Hilarion, St. Jerome, St. Basil, St. Gregory Nazianzen, and innumerable thousands of anchorites lived there. See what I said about the advantages of the desert and solitude at Hosea 2:14, on those words: "I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart." The remaining things pertaining to this maxim I explained at verse 9.
Mystically, the author of the Greek Catena says: A combative and talkative woman, he says, is vice and malice; for this makes the one with whom it dwells quarrelsome, talkative, and angry. The desert land is virtue, which does not have its former inhabitants, nor men depraved according to the desires of error; but new and whole ones, and therefore the enemy man, the devil, does not find rest in it, according to that saying: "He walks through dry and waterless places, seeking rest and finding none." For he is the king of all who dwell in moist and watery places; hence also of wisdom, to oppose him in the same places, it is written: "The paths of his dwellings are watery," Job 40:16, according to the Septuagint. Again, "the desert land" is the contemplative life. which indeed surpasses the quarrelsome woman, that is, the active and busy life, which is mixed with and subject to many cares, quarrels, and disturbances.
20. A DESIRABLE TREASURE AND OIL ARE IN THE DWELLING OF THE RIGHTEOUS, BUT THE FOOLISH MAN WILL SQUANDER IT.
In Hebrew: in the dwelling of the wise man, and the foolish man will swallow it up; the Septuagint: a desirable treasure (the Chaldean: silver) will rest upon the mouth of the wise man; but foolish men will devour it; the Syriac: the wisdom and prudence of the sons of men will swallow it up. Similar to this maxim is that of Plutarch in his Moralia: "Prudence for the most part bestows good fortune; but fortune does not make prudence. You will attend to all affairs, but above all you will exercise prudence; for the greatest thing enclosed in the smallest is a good mind in the human body." And that of Solon: "Prudence surpasses the other virtues as much as sight surpasses the other senses." And that of Nazianzen in his Distichs: "I prefer a drop of mind to an ocean of fortune."
A certain Rabbi explains it, meaning: Studious and wise men value oil more dearly than wine and other delicacies, because they use oil in their studies and in their nocturnal and pre-dawn labors. Hence when one was asked why he was wiser than his companions, he replied: "Because I profited more from my oil than my neighbors from their wine." Similarly Demosthenes the orator, when asked whence he had obtained such great eloquence, replied: "Because I consumed more oil than wine."
More authentically, Aben-Ezra: otsar, he says, that is, treasure, is a generic name comprehending all kinds of superior foods which are stored away by a man; but only oil is mentioned because among the rest it holds the first place, since we offer worship to God with it; and mortals among other trees have given the olive the primacy because of its excellent richness, as the well-known saying attests: it is the part of the wise man to store away oil and not consume it; but the foolish man, in Hebrew kesil, that is, the stupid man, as soon as he has acquired oil and food, immediately devours and squanders them.
Oil, therefore, by synecdoche signifies an abundance of provisions and delicacies, because the wealth of the Holy Land is commended in Scripture by its fertility in oil; for oil has great use: first, in foods; second, in lamps; third, in medicines; fourth, in ointments for strength, as well as for the pleasant and delightful recreation and refreshment of the body.
The meaning therefore is: The wise man by his wisdom, prudence, and foresight acquires for himself desirable treasures of wealth, clothing, and all things necessary for his family -- that is, precious, great, and excellent, and therefore desirable -- and especially oil, that is, provisions of every kind for abundantly feeding himself and his household. But the foolish and unwise man will suddenly consume all these things prudently gathered by his ancestors through banquets, feasts, largesse, games, etc., prodigally, and will squander them on prostitutes, parasites, and buffoons. The word scemen, that is, oil, could also be referred to the treasure, meaning: A treasure oiled, that is, rich and abundant, is in the house of the righteous man. Hence Vatablus translates: a desirable treasure, and a copious or rich one, is in the house of the righteous man.
Again, by this maxim Solomon signifies that treasures, that is, precious things, are acquired and carefully preserved by the wise man, but are squandered and dissipated by the fool. Thus certain wise men assemble precious books and libraries, as Ptolemy Philadelphus did; others acquire and store away rare garments, others paintings, others gems, others wines, others precious spices, etc., so that they may serve their own and their household's needs when required. But the foolish and improvident immediately squander everything, and therefore, when they are in need of them, they are forced to beg.
Mystically, oil is first a symbol of grace and charity; hence Bede explains thus, meaning: "The brightness of good works, always lovable to God, and the richness of love shines in the Church of the saints. But the reprobate hasten not only not to attain virtues in reality, but even to persecute them and to overwhelm them in goods as far as they can. This verse can indeed also be applied to any of the Martyrs, in whose dwelling, that is, body, the holy soul -- namely, the treasure of God -- is preserved; and the anointing of spiritual grace abounds. But the foolish persecutor can break open such a dwelling; but the treasure that was held in the dwelling, and the oil, he can in no way touch. Hence the Lord teaches: Do not fear those who kill the body, and after this have nothing more that they can do," Matthew 10.
Secondly, oil is a symbol of mercy and almsgiving, meaning: These two things you may observe in the house of the righteous -- a great treasure, that is, ample wealth, and oil, that is, abundant mercy; for both are connected to each other, since more generous almsgiving increases wealth. "The foolish man will squander it," because, namely, by hoarding avariciously and being sparing in pious donations, he immediately wastes and loses both.
Thirdly, oil is a symbol of spiritual consolations, which God sends to the righteous to console and soothe the labors and pains of virtue, and to invite and strengthen him for greater things, according to Isaiah 10:27: "The yoke shall rot because of the oil." Where I said more on this matter. This oil is experienced by novices at their entry into religious life, and through it they are suddenly changed into other persons. A delicate young man, says our Alvarez de Paz, nourished among delights and pleasures, who ate sumptuously and lavishly and wore the softest garments, now eats tasteless and poorly prepared food, indeed is refreshed by hunger and fasting itself, and goes about cheerful and happy, covered with the vilest sackcloth or the harshest hairshirt. The pleasure-loving man, addicted to the enticements of his flesh, now loves chastity, tames his flesh with scourges, vigils, and scarcity of food, and abhors every sense of pleasure. The ambitious man, desirous of honors, fame, and dignities, now desires to be trampled underfoot and trodden upon, embraces ignominy, and loves lowly tasks.
21. HE WHO FOLLOWS JUSTICE AND MERCY SHALL FIND LIFE, JUSTICE, AND GLORY
Therefore whoever earnestly and steadfastly devotes himself to both, he "shall find life," that is, a prosperous and long life, and "justice," so that others render him his due, just as he himself renders the same to others, and so that God repays the reward justly owed to his justice and mercy; and "glory," both present glory among men and eternal glory among the angels in heaven. By these three things is signified what we commonly say: he will live well and happily. Hence the Septuagint translates: the way of justice and mercy will find life and glory. This is what Sirach says, following Solomon, in Sirach 1:11: The fear of the Lord (for this produces justice and mercy) is glory and boasting, and joy and a crown of exultation. The fear of the Lord will delight the heart, and will give joy, and gladness, and length of days, etc. See what was said there. So says the Author of the Greek Chain. It is about that glory, he says, of which it is written: "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us." For God, in the reward which He bestows upon those who act rightly and diligently, far exceeds their merits in many respects.
22. THE WISE MAN SCALES THE CITY OF THE MIGHTY, AND CASTS DOWN THE STRENGTH OF ITS CONFIDENCE
The Septuagint: and he overthrew the fortification in which the ungodly trusted; the Syriac: he subdued (the Chaldean: he pulls down) the strongholds of its strength. "Scales," that is, by climbing he occupies and storms it; for when soldiers invade a city, they climb many walls, and having gained them, they take the city: it is a metalepsis. Hence Vatablus translates: the wise man storms the city of the mighty, and casts down the strength in which they trust, meaning: wisdom conquers bodily strength; for in war and the storming of cities, the counsels, arts, machines, and stratagems of wise men avail more than the strength of soldiers, as Vegetius, Emperor Leo, and others who wrote on military matters teach. So that wise woman, by persuading the citizens to hand over the head of Seba the rebel to David and Joab, subjected the city of Abel to him, 2 Kings 20:22.
Second, St. Jerome, commenting on Ezekiel chapter 3, takes the wise man to mean the just man; for he reads it thus: The just man scales fortified cities, meaning: the just man by his piety, holiness, and trust in God subdues and conquers cities that are unconquerable by arms. So Moses by his piety and prayer took the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites and Og king of Bashan, says Lyranus. So Joshua, relying on God, defeated the cities of the Canaanites. So the Maccabees, fighting for God and God's law with their uprightness and zeal, by His help obtained famous and miraculous victories over Antiochus, just as the Spaniards and Portuguese in the preceding century, fighting against the Moors and Indians and other infidels, became masters of almost the entire West Indies; indeed, the Romans too professed the same of themselves. Hear Cicero in his first oration against Rullus: "However much we may esteem ourselves, Conscript Fathers, yet we have surpassed all nations not in number like the Spaniards, nor in strength like the Gauls, nor in cunning like the Carthaginians, nor in arts like the Greeks, nor finally in the native and innate sense of this nation and land, the Italians themselves and the Latins, but also in piety and religion, and in this one wisdom (that we have perceived that all things are ruled and governed by the divine power of the immortal gods) we have surpassed all peoples and nations."
Third, our Salazar takes the wise man to mean an ambassador, or an eloquent and fluent orator, meaning: it often happens that a city which the densest phalanxes of soldiers could not conquer, a single ambassador or learned orator, approaching it, compels to surrender by his persuasions, so that the bravest men, who had once easily broken and repelled the force of war and arms, yield disarmed by one man's speech and lay down their arms. So Pyrrhus king of Epirus subdued nations not by arms but by the eloquence of his ambassador Cineas. Hence that saying of Cicero against Sallust: Let arms yield to the toga, let the laurel give way to the tongue. "You who in a toga crushed armed men, and by peace overcame war, dare to cast my eloquence at me as a fault." And in Book I of On the Art of Rhetoric: "By eloquence many cities have been established, and very many wars extinguished." So Menenius Agrippa by his eloquence reconciled the common people with the senate.
Mystically, the Author of the Greek Chain says: By the fortified city, understand doctrine alien from the orthodox faith and truth, or certainly the wicked attempts and designs of criminal men. And Bede says: "The city of the mighty, that is, the world, Christ conquered, and also daily the wise man scales the city of the mighty and destroys the strength of its confidence, when some faithful teacher refutes the arguments of philosophers or heretics, or even the obstinate contradictions of carnal brethren who strive to defend and mitigate their crimes, by the sprinkling of the ecclesiastical faith and the discipline of correction, and tearing them apart annuls them." Salonius says nearly the same, word for word.
23. HE WHO GUARDS HIS MOUTH AND HIS TONGUE, GUARDS HIS SOUL FROM TROUBLES (Septuagint: from tribulation; others: from pressures; others: from tortures)
Lyranus, Aben-Ezra, and the Author of the Greek Chain take this as referring to gluttony and drunkenness; for he who guards his mouth from these, guards from pains and torments that distress the soul, that is, the stomach, breathing, and conscience, according to Sirach 31:23: "Watching, bile, and torment for the glutton."
Better, others generally take this as referring to speech, meaning: He who guards his mouth so as not to betray a secret, not to slander anyone, not to defame, not to lie, not to bear false witness, not to perjure himself, not to blaspheme, etc. — this man guards his soul from anguish. These anguishes are: first, the constant remorse of conscience; second, grief and regret for a mouth imprudently opened; third, enmities, lawsuits, quarrels, and murders resulting from sharp speech; fourth, dangers of prison, infamy, plundering, death, etc.; fifth, the obligation to restore a neighbor's reputation that has been taken away; sixth, the damages inflicted on a neighbor or the state through words of injury or imprudence; seventh, the guilt of God's wrath; eighth, anguish on the day of judgment, and the dread of damnation and hell. For these are like so many stings constraining, tormenting, and torturing the soul of one whose tongue is incontinent, talkative, and slanderous. Again and again Solomon, and Sirach following him, drive home the harms and damages of the tongue, to warn how strictly it must be bridled and guarded. See the comments on Sirach 28:29 and James 3:6.
Among the ancient Anchorites in the Lives of the Fathers there was an axiom: "In every place, if you are silent, you will have rest." Hence those three maxims of St. Arsenius: "Flee, be silent, be at rest." Indeed, Seneca too, in Epistle 107: "Nothing," he says, "profits so much as being quiet, and speaking as little as possible with others, as much as possible with oneself." For as Horace says, Epistle 19, Book I: And once sent forth, a word flies irrevocable. And St. Jerome, in his Epistle on the Preservation of Virginity: "A word uttered is a stone thrown." Here the Arabic proverb is relevant, Century 1, no. 37: "Put a bridle on your door, and you will not fear your enemies; that is, bridle your mouth, and impose on it the bridle of silence, and you will not fear your adversaries."
24. THE PROUD AND ARROGANT MAN IS CALLED UNLEARNED, WHO WORKS PRIDE IN WRATH
For "unlearned," the Hebrew has lets, that is, a scoffer, mocker, and consequently a pestilent, wicked person. Hence first, from the Hebrew you may translate thus: the proud, arrogant man (Vatablus: the insolent, proud man), whose name is scoffer, works pride through wrath, that is, he marks out a bold and arrogant deed, which Rabbi Solomon explains, meaning: He who has a swollen and arrogant mind will in the end become a mocker, refusing to lend his ears to one who reproves him. Aben-Ezra, however, means: The proud, arrogant man will earn the title of scoffer, because in his wrath he will exceed the limits of modesty, charity, and justice, and will burst forth into insulting words and deeds, injuring others. For wrath in Hebrew is called ebra, meaning passing over, excess, because it oversteps, exceeds, and violates the limits of benevolence, reason, and equity.
Second, the Chaldean, inverting the words, translates thus: the swollen scoffer, proud is his name, working wrath by his pride, meaning: a scoffer, that is, a wicked and criminal man, is a proud person swollen with arrogance, because through his pride and arrogance he bursts forth into wrathful words and blows, by which he mocks, scorns, vexes, and crushes others.
Third, the Syriac translates: the bold man, whose name is powerful, works iniquity in his fury, meaning: the proud man who dares all things, and therefore obtains the name of a strong and mighty person, he in his boldness and fury rashly and insolently does all things, is injurious and harmful to all, and strives to be over all and to domineer imperiously.
Fourth, the Septuagint translates: the bold and arrogant and boastful man is called pestilent, but he who remembers injuries is unjust; others: he who works in wrath is proud; Lucifer of Cagliari, in his Apology for St. Athanasius, reads: the rash and proud man shall be called a pestilence; the Author of the Greek Chain reads: "The rash and arrogant and proud man is designated by the name of plague; but he who remembers injuries is called unjust." And he explains simply as the words sound.
More precisely, our Salazar says: The bold man, who rashly and on the spur of the moment throws himself into vengeance (which is proper to pride and arrogance), is called pestilent or a pestilence; he proves to be pestilent, or rather the very plague itself. For just as a plague quickly destroys those it has struck or infected, so he too very swiftly pours out his conceived fury upon others. He adds: "And he who remembers injuries is unjust," supply: "is called," that is, he proves to be such; namely, he who does not immediately avenge injuries but, retaining them in memory, waits for the opportunity to take revenge — he is truly unjust, in Greek paranomos, that is, lawless, and very far removed from all equity and justice. Solomon highlights this man's malice above the other because that other sudden and improvident avenger is not so unjust: for if he deals a blow, he also in turn receives and suffers damage.
But this man who remembers injuries is more unjust and iniquitous because, seizing the opportunity for revenge, he certainly inflicts damage on others in such a way that he himself suffers no damage in return — which certainly happens frequently. He is therefore unjust because he does not share the damage equally but unequally with his enemy; rather, he deceitfully shifts it entirely onto him. Add that he plots many things unjustly against him: for "unjust" denotes malice, malignity, and a continual zeal for harming, whether by force or by deceit.
Fifth, our translator for lets, that is, scoffer, wicked, pestilent, translates "unlearned," that is, foolish, stupid, fatuous — meaning impious, criminal, wicked. For just as learning, that is, the wisdom and uprightness of a man, is known through patience, as he said in chapter 19, verse 11, so likewise ignorance, that is, the folly and wickedness of a man, is known through pride, wrath, and impatience. The meaning therefore is: He who is proud and arrogant is called and truly is unlearned, that is, foolish, fatuous, stupid, wicked, and criminal, because such a man, prone to wrath, through it produces proud and wrathful works by which he unjustly strips others of their reputation, or goods, or peace, or even life itself, by force or deceit. For the proud, at a light word or deed by which they imagine themselves touched or diminished, are immediately stirred up like dogs into bile, and through it leap into insults, quarrels, brawls, plundering, murder, etc. Therefore the proud man is called unlearned and imprudent, because although he esteems himself more learned and prudent than others, yet his works indicate the contrary, in that he works many things proudly through wrath; for pride and the wrath that follows pride cause a man to do many things imprudently and foolishly. By this is signified, says Jansenius, that the man who is proud, although he seeks honor and reputation above all, will nevertheless not attain fame and celebrity of name, but rather will be called by ignominious titles, and will be especially worthy of being called a scoffer, as one who despises and mocks others compared to himself, and rejects with derision the salutary warnings of others, proudly conducting himself against all through the wrath of his haughty mind. For pride is followed not only by mockery and contempt of others, but also by wrath and fury against those who do not satisfy their desires, or who oppose the will of the proud — driven by which, they burst forth into harming, beating, and killing others. Such a person, therefore, is called and truly is lets, that is, a scoffer, pestilent, wicked, criminal. Truly Evagrius, quoted by Antonius in the Melissa, part II, chapter 74: "A proud mind," he says, "is a den of various robbers." And Sirach 10:7: "Pride is hateful before God and men." See the comments there.
25. DESIRES KILL THE SLOTHFUL MAN; FOR HIS HANDS REFUSE TO WORK ANYTHING
More expressively in Hebrew: The desire of the slothful man will kill him, because his hands refuse to work. The Septuagint: For his hands do not choose to do anything. Symmachus and Theodotion: The lust of the slothful man will slay him; others: it casts him down.
The word "kill" can be explained in three ways: First, indirectly and concomitantly, because desires accompany the slothful man all the way to death, and he dies in his desires without having attained what he desired, so that desires are said to kill him because they lead him to death or accompany him to it. Just as we see this happen in the corporally slothful, so likewise in the spiritually slothful, who, though they desire salvation yet refuse to undertake the labors of good works, by desiring and doing nothing besides, fall into the death of the soul, and at last also into eternal death.
Second, directly and dispositively, meaning: desires continually torment the slothful man and so afflict him that they seem to kill him, indeed by gradually consuming and wearing him away they dispose and lead him to death. The first reason is that sloth, being idle and not occupying itself with anything else, wholly dissolves into thoughts and desires, both varied and many: for the idle man slips from one desire to another and another, and so into very many, almost infinite desires, which his idle mind, like a turning mill, indeed always working and revolving, continually suggests, and by suggesting wears down and consumes him. Therefore, just as occupation and labor blunt and extinguish the desires for possessing, so idleness sharpens and kindles them. And since they are in no way satisfied, they grow and blaze up and spread like a flame. Hence rightly our translator, explaining taavoth, that is, desire, by the plural taavoth, translates: desires kill the slothful man. The second reason is destitution and hunger: for since he refuses to work, he lacks bread and food; therefore his desire and hunger continually torment him, consume him, and gradually kill him. In a similar expression, Delilah, wearing down Samson with her desires to reveal to her the secret in which his strength lay, is said to have virtually killed him; for thus it is said of him in Judges 16:16: "And when she pressed him continually, and clung to him for many days, giving him no space to rest, his soul fainted, and was wearied even unto death; then, revealing the truth," etc.
Third, effectively and fully: "Desires," that is, the lack of the desired thing — namely, the lack of bread and food which the hungry slothful man desires — kills him; because the slothful not infrequently die and are slain by hunger. For the desire for food is nothing other than privation and hunger. Moreover, the desires of the covetous man are so burning that they drive him into quarrels, brawls, and fights, in which he loses his means, his reputation, and eventually his life. Common is that saying of the Hebrews: "The camel, desiring horns, lost even his ears." And that of St. Cyprian: "He who wants everything, loses everything." And that of Hesiod: "Fools do not know how much more the half is than the whole." For it often happens that he who desires unjust things loses what is just; and he who covets another's property is stripped of his own. "The insatiable eye of the covetous man is in the portion of iniquity; he will not be satisfied until he consumes and withers his own soul," says Sirach 14:9.
Moreover, his desires are at times so violent and uncontrollable that they destroy him, indeed sometimes drive him to self-destruction, so that he throws himself into a river, or takes his own life by a noose or poison; for sloth, or laziness, is the mother of sorrow, weariness, faintheartedness, and despair. So Rachel so uncontrollably desired children that she said to her husband Jacob, Genesis 30:1: "Give me children, or else I shall die," that is, "I shall bring death upon myself," says Isidore of Pelusium, Book II, Epistle 274.
So the holy desire of seeing Christ and enjoying Him, daily growing, at last consumed and exhausted the Blessed Virgin, so that she is believed to have died from that alone, without illness, as Suárez and many theologians teach, according to Song of Songs 2: "Support me with flowers, surround me with apples, for I languish with love;" so great is the power of an inflamed and burning desire.
Mystically, Rabbi Levi says: The indolent man is continually inflamed with desire to obtain the crown of virtues, but is held back by sloth from devoting himself to acquiring it. From this he will meet death, and nothing will remain for him beyond his desires, since his hands refused to work at anything by which his wishes might succeed.
To this may be added the maxims of the wise: "Idleness is the bilge-water of all temptations and evil and useless thoughts. The greatest malice of the mind is idle sloth," says St. Bernard in his letter to the Brothers of Mont-Dieu. Cassian says: "The slothful man hates what is present, desires what is absent; the one who labors is attacked by one demon, the idle man by infinite demons." Ennius in his Iphigenia: "In idle leisure the mind knows not what it wants. We go here, hence, thither: when we arrive there, we want to leave; it wanders uncertainly, and lives life carelessly." Diogenes, according to Laertius, Book VI, says that "the business of the idle is love and lust," because this passion especially occupies those given to leisure; for it happens thus that while they are at leisure, they fall into the most toilsome affair. Hence, as many sparks as a burning furnace throws out, so many desires does a mind seething with idleness rouse up: therefore, whoever wishes to escape wicked thoughts and lusts, let him flee idleness and give himself to labor. Again, a certain learned and pious man explains thus: "Desires kill the slothful man," that is, the slothful man who through inertia does not carry out God's inspirations and the holy desires for virtues and a more perfect life sent to him by God, is by God's just judgment abandoned by grace and permitted to fall into grave evils, both of punishment and guilt, indeed sometimes into mortal sin, which kills the soul. For his negligence, ingratitude, and neglect of grace deserve this. See the comments on Proverbs 1:24.
26. ALL DAY LONG HE COVETS AND DESIRES; BUT HE WHO IS JUST WILL GIVE AND WILL NOT CEASE to give as well as to labor, so that by laboring he may procure more things to give and distribute, both to feed his family abundantly and to relieve the poverty of the needy. In Hebrew: all day long he covets with covetousness, that is, he covets eagerly and ardently, so that his soul is full of covetousness and desires for possessing. Vatablus: all day long he burns with lust; but the just man gives generously and does not spare. He continues to explain the desires and covetousness of the slothful man, who, unwilling to work, unjustly gapes after the goods of others — and therefore he contrasts him with the just man, who by working justly and giving, liberally shares his goods with others. Aben-Ezra says: the upright man will give generously to the idle man. Rabbi Levi: "The slothful man continually burns with desire, but it makes no impression on him; the just man, however, devotes timely action and a share of his effort to each matter, and does not want his labor to be lacking for the pursuit of arts or wisdom." There is an antithesis between the slothful man and the just man, that is, the diligent man, and therefore the liberal and beneficent man; for often in Scripture, beneficence is called justice. This antithesis is that the slothful man is wholly given to desire, and therefore in perpetual poverty and torment; but the just man, that is, the diligent and liberal man, is wholly given to work, and therefore in abundance of goods and joy, to such an extent that not only does he himself live abundantly, but he also gives his surplus to others, and does not cease giving or laboring so that he may give more. For this is the character of the liberal and diligent man, this is his nature and condition: that he does not covet the goods of others as the slothful man does, but rather gives his own to others, and this all day long, that is, continually and without interruption; for the phrase "all day long" must be repeated from the antithesis in the latter hemistich. The just man therefore all day long gives and distributes his goods, and on the day when he gives nothing to anyone, he says in sorrow with Emperor Titus: "Friends, I have lost a day." The Septuagint seems to separate this saying from the preceding one and to apply it not to the slothful man but to any wicked person, especially the avaricious; hence they translate thus: the wicked man all day long covets evil desires; but the just man has mercy and has mercy without sparing. He calls them "evil desires" because they are troublesome, since they afflict and torment the mind. Also properly "evil," because the wicked man desires to seize others' property, to enrich himself by right or wrong, and to commit other crimes. Hence the Author of the Greek Chain translates: the wicked man all day long is tossed and driven by wicked desires, but the just man lavishly and without interruption gives generously and has mercy.
Mystically, the same Author says: "In this passage the devil is called wicked, as one who all day long assails men and desires to drive them headlong into sins. But the just man is Christ; for He it is who, having pity on our race, delivered Himself to death for us. It is proper to angels never to desire evil, but always good; it is proper to demons all day long and throughout life always to seethe with evil desires; but it is proper to men sometimes to conceive good and just desires, sometimes evil and unjust ones."
27. THE SACRIFICES OF THE WICKED ARE ABOMINABLE, BECAUSE THEY ARE OFFERED FROM WICKEDNESS
For "because," the Hebrew has aph ki, which Pagninus, Vatablus, and others translate "how much more"; but our translator took them separately, meaning: certainly because — and so too Aquila, the Septuagint, and others. Again, for "from wickedness," the Hebrew has bezimma, that is, in evil thought, scheming, wickedness; the Syriac: in iniquity. Hence a threefold translation arises here, noting a threefold defect and vice in the sacrifices of the wicked: namely, first, that they are sacrifices of the wicked, that is, of enemies and foes of God, who, deprived of God's grace and steeped in sin and wickedness, offer sacrifice to God, who detests them; second, that they are offered from wickedness, indeed that the wicked offer wickedness itself, namely a sacrifice procured and stained by theft or some other crime; third, that they offer the sacrifice with an evil intention. When these three things concur, a wicked man is said to offer a wicked thing wickedly. Conversely, for a sacrifice to be pleasing to God, three things are required: first, the dignity of the one offering, namely that he be just and pleasing to God; second, that he offer a worthy and holy sacrifice; third, that he offer it with a good mind, a good purpose, and a good intention. I take "sacrifices" here in their proper sense, that is, offerings and victims: for this is what the Hebrew zebach signifies; although it can also be extended to improperly so-called sacrifices, such as alms, vows, gifts, etc.
First, then, Vatablus translates: the sacrifice of the wicked is to be abominated — how much more if they have offered it in wickedness? Meaning: God abhors the sacrifice of the wicked, which should have been supremely pleasing to Him, because it is offered by the unworthy, namely the wicked; therefore He much more abhors the wicked works and crimes of the wicked. For the wicked, says Rabbi Levi, offer sacrifices to expiate their wickedness, but meanwhile wish to remain in their wickedness and not repent of it. Therefore they act just like those who wash unclean hands but do not remove the stains — that is, they wash the hands of an Ethiopian; or like those who wash their hands with water and at the same time defile them with dung. And so this saying fits those, says Jansenius, who, though they are guilty of some crime about which they feel no compunction, nevertheless think they can appease the wrath of God by other pious works — conceiving this impious and wicked thought about God, as though He would grant license to do evil in exchange for certain gifts, as earthly judges sometimes do. This agrees with Isaiah 1:13: "Incense is an abomination to me," etc. And it applies against those who, while persisting in sins, think they can appease God with alms — against whom St. Augustine wrote his book On Faith and Works.
Second, Aquila translates: the sacrifices of the wicked are an abomination, because an (evil) thought will bring it; and Pagninus: the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination, how much more if he brought it with evil intention. For zimma signifies evil thought, intention, scheming, and the plotting of wickedness. The offering of a good sacrifice is vitiated by an evil intention, if it is offered to obtain from God something unjust or impious — as when thieves, robbers, and adulterers offer God sacrifices with the purpose that He give them rich plunder and beautiful women. In this way too can be understood what our translator renders: "because they are offered from wickedness," meaning: from an intention of wickedness. So God detested the sacrifices of Balaam and Balak king of Moab, which were offered for no other purpose than the cursing of the Israelite nation, Numbers 23:1 ff.
Third, properly our translator with the Chaldean translates: from wickedness; and the Septuagint: the sacrifices of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord, for they offer them wickedly, meaning: God abominates the sacrifices which the wicked offer Him from theft, robbery, or other crime. The reason is that these sacrifices are criminal, indeed are crime itself; for a thing taken by theft or seized by robbery is called and truly is a theft or robbery, because it is the object and matter of theft or robbery, and therefore is stained and criminal. Furthermore, sacrifices are offered to God as the first author of all things. Therefore a thief or robber offering a sacrifice from stolen goods tacitly professes and signifies that God is the author of his theft and robbery, and that in thanksgiving he is offering this portion of his robbery to God as its first author. But this is an enormous blasphemy, because the wicked man attributes his own crime to God as its first cause and makes Him criminal, indeed the first agent of the crime — than which nothing more horrible can be said or imagined.
Sirach, following Solomon, in Sirach 34:23 ff., attacks at length the sacrifices and gifts of the wicked. See the comments there.
28. A FALSE WITNESS SHALL PERISH: THE OBEDIENT MAN SHALL SPEAK VICTORY
In Hebrew: A witness of lies shall perish; but a man who hears shall speak to the end, or shall speak victory; Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion: he shall go to victory. For the Hebrew netsach signifies both end and victory, which is the end of a lawsuit and a war. For the root natsach means to prevail, to conquer, and to bring to an end. Hence first, Cajetan translates: a false witness shall perish; but a man who hears shall always or firmly speak, meaning: the liar who testifies to things he neither saw nor heard but himself fabricated — he shall fail and destroy himself by his lies, because he will not be consistent in his statements, but will change them and frequently contradict himself. But he who testifies only to what he has heard — he shall speak firmly and steadfastly, because he will always be consistent with himself, and cannot be convicted of any self-contradiction, but always being the same, will perpetually say and testify to the same thing. Hence the Chaldean translates: and a man who hears will speak rightly; and Pagninus, clearly expressing this sense, translates: a false witness shall perish; and a man who testifies to what he has heard always testifies to the same thing, meaning: the man who testifies to what he heard and certainly knows, and does not fabricate from his own brain like a false witness — he will always speak; silence will not be imposed on him as on a lying witness, nor will he be affected by shame, nor death, nor any other punishment, as a false witness is — against whom even profane law enacts the law of retaliation. For he is worthy to perish by his own testimony who wished to destroy others through it; and by divine law, a false witness shall fall into eternal death and perdition. According to this sense, the opposition of the members of this sentence is beautiful. So also Rabbi Levi, except that he restricts "who heard" to him who heard the falsehood of a false witness, as if to say: the liar is not consistent in his statements but often contradicts himself; but the witness who testifies that he heard a falsehood from the liar testifies truly, and therefore is consistent with himself.
Second, Rabbi Solomon says: The witness who speaks false testimony will perish, either at the hands of the judge or at the hands of God; but the witness who hears and obeys the law that says: "You shall not bear false witness" — he shall continually speak, that is, he shall live and be granted a long life by God. So "to speak" is taken for "to live" in Hebrews 11:4, where it is said of Abel: "Being dead, he still speaks," that is, he still lives; and in Genesis 2:7: "Man became a living soul" — the Chaldean translates: man became a speaking soul.
Third, Aben-Ezra, as if to say: The false and perjured witness shall perish; but he who shall have heard that he perished will proclaim it to others throughout every age he lives, namely that the memory of the false witness perished because of his lies.
Fourth, the Septuagint translates: a false witness shall perish; but an obedient man, being guarded, shall speak, that is, as the Author of the Greek Chain clearly translates: a man obedient to the law shall speak cautiously, taking careful heed not to say a falsehood or bear false testimony, by which he might be destroyed and perish.
Mystically, the same Author says: "A false witness is what the devil is called (for the Greek word means the same as slanderer, namely, one who falsely accuses and slanders the good works of the just before God). For he always acts perversely and backward, and suggests to us things that are opposed to God and foreign to truth. But the obedient man is Christ. For as the Apostle teaches, He became obedient to the Father even unto death, the death of the cross.
Fifth, our translator profoundly and forcefully, with Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, translates: a false witness shall perish; the obedient man shall speak victory. Opposed to the false witness who perishes is the man who hears the truth and obeys it: for he lives and conquers; for truth conquers falsehood and triumphs over it.
Literally, it signifies first, says Jansenius, that a false witness, and everyone who lies to the destruction of another — because he acts against the law — shall perish miserably, so that either here or elsewhere he pays the fitting penalties; but everyone who obeys the divine law, and for that reason avoids falsehood as well as all other vices, will speak confidently of how he has overcome all punishments, vanquished all his enemies, and carried off a glorious victory over all — while the false witness will be forced to be silent, stricken with shame and justly punished.
Second, more precisely, and more aptly and antithetically, it signifies that he who bears false testimony against someone shall perish; but he who lives innocently, obeying the divine law, shall be delivered from the evil that was being prepared for him by false testimony, and shall gloriously triumph over it.
Third, and most perfectly, our Salazar by a false witness understands one who gives false testimony against someone and wrests an unjust sentence against him from a superior and judge. Solomon therefore says: Such a false witness, even though he may seem for a time to conquer and triumph over his adversary, will eventually perish and pay the penalties of his falsehood; but the obedient man shall speak victories, that is, he who bears with equanimity the unjust sentence pronounced by a superior and humbly obeys it — even though he seems conquered and cast out by his adversary, nevertheless it will eventually be his privilege to announce and proclaim his victories: either because, the fraud being detected, he will recover his lost glory and the punishment will fall back on the false witness; or certainly because, by submitting to and accepting the unjust sentence, he wins a noble victory over the adversary who wronged him, a nobler victory over the unjust judge, and the noblest victory of all over himself.
Here is relevant that saying of St. Augustine on Psalm 70: "Obedience alone holds the palm, disobedience alone finds punishment." And that of Quintus Curtius, Book VIII, On the Life of Alexander the Great: "By compliance empires are softened, and the cruelty of princes is turned to gentleness by the obedience of citizens." So Christ, obedient to the Father, indeed to Pilate, Annas, Caiaphas, and His torturers even unto death on the cross, triumphed over all of them, and over death itself, sin, hell, and the demons. Hence Philo of Carpathia, on Song of Songs chapter 3, number 3, on the words "The watchmen found me," reads: "Patience alone sings victories." The Cross of Christ was therefore like a triumph and triumphal chariot of obedient patience and patient obedience.
Symbolically, this saying can be applied to false and true teachers: for false teachers, such as heretics, quickly perish with their falsehood; but true teachers conquer and triumph. For above all things, virtue and truth conquer, and as falsehood and heresies vanish like melting wax, truth endures forever and triumphs.
Mystically, Bede says: "A false witness shall perish," etc. — this means, he says, "he who professes to serve God yet does not carry out his words in deeds shall perish; but he who faithfully, as he promises, submits to the divine commands — his speech shall reach victory, because while he strives through obedience to conquer his desires, he afterwards receives the palm of victory through the justice of the Judge."
Tropologically, learn here how powerful a conqueror and victor obedience is, which wins victory over all adversaries and triumphs over all things.
For first, the obedient man shall speak, that is, shall be able to speak victory and sing triumph over the conquered devil and all his attendant demons. For as St. Gregory says, Book IV on 1 Kings, chapter 5: "The acts of compliance of the obedient are sacrifices: because when we submit to men for God's sake, we overcome proud spirits; by other virtues indeed we fight against demons, but through obedience we conquer them. Therefore those who obey are victors, because when they perfectly subject their will to others, they themselves dominate the angels who fell through disobedience." But one of the principal reasons why we conquer the devil through obedience is that by obeying we expose his deceits and tricks. How often does he drag us under the appearance of good toward evil? How often does he drive us to indiscreet fervor or ridiculous lukewarmness? The virtue of obedience evades these attacks: for when we run to our spiritual Father, when we reveal to him the thoughts that have been sent to us, when, instructed by him, we simply obey, we clearly know what each thing is — whether good or evil — and how far we must proceed, and what must be fled as beyond our strength, and what must be embraced as according to our calling — none of this remains unknown to us. For this reason St. Anthony used to say (as is recorded in the Lives of the Fathers): "If possible, let a monk declare to his elders how many steps he walks, or how many cups of water he drinks in his cell, so that he may not deviate from the right path." Blessed Dorotheus, Doctrine 5, relates that a certain monk was beloved by the devil and preferred by him to others because he refused to be governed by a superior, and immediately adds: "He loves such men, and above all he delights in those who are without a guide; not in those who submit themselves to the one who, after God, is able to give help and lend a hand. For the devil did not have the power to approach all the brothers; when the holy Father found him carrying about so many potions, so many ointments, so many alabaster jars, he had not given them to all to drink. For whoever immediately ran to counter that one's present snares and revealed to the Father all his hidden thoughts, found help in the time of temptation; and for this reason the wicked tempter could not prevail against them. He found only that one unhappy man who governed and directed himself, who had no helper, and whom he manipulated at will, and departing gave thanks for him alone, detesting all the rest."
Therefore St. Bernard, in Sermon 3 on Psalm "He who dwells," says: "I beseech you, new plantings of God, you who do not yet have your senses trained for the discernment of good and evil, do not follow the judgment of your own heart, do not abound in your own understanding, lest that crafty hunter deceive you who are still unformed. For he spreads his snares openly enough for those wild and wholly bestial beasts (I mean worldly people), since he has no doubt they are easily caught. But for you, who like wiser deer kill serpents and thirst for the living fountain, he hides subtler snares and devises craftier arguments of his fraud. Therefore, I beseech you, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God your shepherd, and submit to the counsels of those who better know the wiles of that hunter, instructed by the long exercise of extended time and by frequent experience, both in themselves and in many others."
Second, obedience conquers the world, because the world's chief desire instilled in its followers is to dominate all others; but obedience utterly rejects and tramples this desire, because it subjects itself and obeys not only superiors but also equals, indeed even inferiors. Again, to conquer the world is nothing other than to oppose by our conduct the will of the worst men and to embrace the will of God: but only he does this who faithfully obeys His commandments. St. John indeed ascribes the victory over the world to faith, but rightly understood, insofar as it is joined to obedience. "Whatever is born of God," he says, "overcomes the world, and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith," 1 John 5:4.
Third, the obedient man conquers his third enemy, the most dangerous because internal and continually lying in ambush within him, namely the flesh, with its appetites and lusts, especially of gluttony and lust. Hence our Thomas, taught by God, in Book III of The Imitation of Christ, chapter 14: "He who does not willingly and freely submit himself to his superior," he says, "it is a sign that his flesh does not yet perfectly obey him, but often kicks back and murmurs" — as if to say: he submits himself to his flesh who does not strive to obey his prelate; and while he freely submits himself to his superior, he is marvelously freed from the dominion of the flesh. So also St. Bernard, in his Sermon on the Feast of All Saints, understood that second beatitude: Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth. "This earth," he says, "I understand to be our body. Now if the soul wishes to possess it, if it desires to reign over its members, it is necessary that it be meek itself and subject to its superior: for it will find its inferior to be such as it has shown itself to its superior; for the creature is armed to avenge the injury done to its creator. And therefore the soul which finds its flesh rebellious against it will realize that it too is less subject than it ought to be to higher authorities. Let it become gentle, and humble itself under the mighty hand of God most high: let it be subject to God, and equally to those prelates whom it must obey in His stead; and immediately it will find its body obedient and subject." So he says.
The first man through disobedience departed from God, and immediately felt the flesh rebelling against the mind — disobedience itself against the spirit added strength to it. "The eyes of both were opened," says Scripture, so that they would notice the assault of their flesh rising against the spirit and recognize that by sin they had lost peace. For as St. Augustine teaches, in Book XIV of The City of God, chapter 17, to reprove man's disobedience, the flesh bore a kind of testimony by its own disobedience, and once grace was removed, so that disobedience might be punished by a reciprocal penalty, there arose in the movement of the body a certain shameless novelty that made them attentive and rendered them confused. Hence likewise, the other animals, shortly before subjected to him by God, refused the first parent his due obedience when he became disobedient. Hear St. Gregory, Book 35 of the Morals, chapter 13: "Because Adam refused to be subject to his maker, he lost the right over his flesh which he governed, so that the confusion of his own disobedience might rebound upon himself, and being overcome he might learn what in his pride he had lost." But this rebellion of his own body is experienced not only by Adam but also by his descendants who are disobedient to God, as St. Bernard notes, Sermon 1 on the Feast of All Saints.
And St. Augustine elegantly argues to this point in Psalm 143: "Recognize the order," he says, "you to God, the flesh to you (namely, let it obey): what is more just? What more beautiful? You to the greater, the lesser to you. Serve Him who made you, so that what was made for you may serve you; but if you scorn to serve God, you will never make your flesh serve you: he who does not obey his Lord is tormented by his servant."
Furthermore, obedience conquers and surpasses the other virtues. Hence when four men, each excelling in a different virtue, were presented to Abbot Pambo — the first in fasting, the second in poverty, the third in charity, the fourth in obedience — Pambo preferred the fourth, the obedient one, to the other three. For although charity is in itself the greatest of virtues and therefore greater than obedience, nevertheless one who is perpetually obedient has a bond, firmness, and stable state of virtue which charity exercised at pleasure does not have: for the obedient man has made himself the servant of another's will. Therefore such men are Confessors, if they persevere thus to the end of life. So says Abbot Pambo in the Lives of the Fathers, Book V, booklet 14, number 7.
Fourth, the obedient man conquers himself, namely his own will and private judgment, the victory over which — just as it is the most difficult and perilous since the fall — is also the most noble and glorious. Hence St. Gregory, Book 35 of the Morals, chapter 10: "The obedient man," he says, "shall speak victories; because while we humbly submit to another's voice, we conquer ourselves in our heart." Our Alvarez de Paz adds, in his Treatise on Obedience: "And truly this is the chief victory of obedience: because the man who conquers himself, who has conquered everything else, is shown to be stronger, and obtains greater glory from this deed than from others. Man conquers himself through obedience: for he puts shackles on his own judgment, binds his will in chains, calls back his body and all its movements from harmful liberty, and summons them to God's service. He conquers himself because he does violence to his own desires, and willingly for the love of the Lord subjects himself to another's will." The obedient man therefore shall proclaim the victories he has won by triumphing over the devil, the world, the flesh, and himself, and shall receive their ample rewards from Christ, according to Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26: "To him who conquers I will give to eat of the tree of life. He who conquers shall not be harmed by the second death. To him who conquers I will give the hidden manna and a white stone. He who conquers and keeps My works to the end, I will give him authority over the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron." And Revelation 3:5, 12, and 21: "He who conquers," He says, "shall be clad thus in white garments, and I will not blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. He who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God. He who conquers, I will grant him to sit with Me on My throne." Hence our Alvarez de Paz, Book V, page 3, chapter 14, On Obedience.
Fifth, the obedient man conquers enemies in war — pagans, heretics, and all manner of men however wicked and impious. Enemies in war: because when in the army soldiers promptly obey their captain, and captains their commander, they become invincible and lay low their enemies. So Abraham with three hundred trained household servants, obedient at his nod, overtook and overthrew four kings. So Religious Orders in which the subjects promptly obey their Prelate are invincible and conquer all adversaries. St. Francis Xavier conquered the pagans, namely the Indians, and subdued them for Christ and for himself through obedience — for when suddenly sent to India by St. Ignatius, he immediately obeyed and the next day left Rome to proceed there. In India too he most promptly complied with all of St. Ignatius's directives.
Through obedience, our Peter Canisius conquered the heretics, namely the Lutherans. For in the year of our Lord 1557, when he was to dispute at Worms before Emperor Ferdinand with Melanchthon, Illyricus, Brenz, Bullinger, and the other giants of the Lutherans — when those proud sons of earth, superior in number and tumult, presumed and indeed plotted a violent victory — Canisius fearlessly wrote to Father James Lainez, Vicar General of the Society of Jesus, under whose obedience he had undertaken the contest: "The Lord God speaks in me: through His servant and my superior I shall hear Him; and my heart shall not tremble, even though armies encamp against me, for in obedience is the hope of my strength, and I choose to be nothing in the house of God but a beast of burden at your side all the days of my life." Nor did his hope fail him. For God sent upon those giants a spirit of dissension and confusion, whereby it came about that their chief, Melanchthon, was wonderfully torn apart by his own pupils, and the rest, fighting among themselves, tore one another apart and destroyed one another. So our Sacchinus relates in the Life of Canisius, Book II, pages 121 and 131.
Similarly, we experience this daily in Religious life. For Religious men who are to be sent to win victories throughout the world know full well that they must begin from victory over themselves, and therefore, raising no difficulty about any command, they show themselves ready and prepared for the work. Thus prompt obedience made Xavier not only the Apostle of the Indies but also a wonder-worker, so that he raised very many from death to life: for we are called to this, that we may heal the wounded, bind up the broken, and call back those who have gone astray. For many are members of the devil who will become disciples of Christ, says St. Francis of Assisi.
Sixth, obedience is victorious over the sea, fire, earth and animals, heaven and hell, so that hardly anything is attempted through obedience that is not easily overcome by the power of God for whose sake obedience is rendered. Over the sea: as when Peter at Christ's command walked upon the sea, Matthew 14:29; when Moses at God's command divided the Red Sea so that the Hebrews might cross on dry ground, and having done so, brought the divided waters back together and drowned Pharaoh and his army in them, Exodus chapter 14; when Joshua, at God's command, in chapter 3, divided the Jordan and led the Hebrew camp across on dry foot.
Over fire: when the three Hebrew youths, faithful and obedient to God, were thrown into a burning furnace at Nebuchadnezzar's command and remained unharmed in it, Daniel chapter 3. So in the Lives of the Fathers, Book V, chapter 4, number 18, at the Abbot's command a father cast his son into a burning furnace. But immediately the furnace became as dew, from which deed he acquired glory like Abraham the patriarch offering his son. Similar is the example of a Religious who, ordered by his superior to enter a burning furnace, remained unharmed in it. Sulpicius Severus vividly recounts this same story from the Lives of the Fathers in his Life of St. Martin, Dialogue 1, chapter 12: "The flame," he says, "was pouring forth from the burst furnaces, and within the hollow of that kiln the fire was raging with full reins. The master therefore commanded that stranger to enter. He did not delay in obeying the command, and without hesitation entered the midst of the flames, which, conquered by such bold faith, yielded to him as they once had to those Hebrew boys of old. Nature was overcome, the fire fled, and he who was thought about to burn, as though drenched with cool dew, marveled at himself."
Over earth and beasts. Well known is that Paul, the disciple of the great Antony, greater than his master himself in the power of miracles — since Antony would send to him those whom he himself could not cure, for no other reason than his obedience alone. For Antony himself used to proclaim this and would point him out to all as a model of obedience, and the memory of his many illustrious deeds still survives. Well known also is John, who, when ordered by his Abbot — and indeed as a joke — to capture a lioness, taking it seriously not only did not flee in terror from the roaring beast, but even pursued her as she fled, ordering her in repeated cries in his Abbot's name to halt, and led her captured and bound to the monastery. Well known also is another John who, having watered a dry stick every day for three whole years as had been enjoined upon him, and that with water fetched from far away, at last saw it turn green and bear fruit, which his master, carrying them to the church, displayed to the brothers, saying: "Behold the fruit of obedience." See the Lives of the Fathers, Book V, chapter 14 on obedience, and Book IV, chapter 26. In the same place
Book VIII, number 143 (I follow the section numbering of our Father Heribert), it is related that when two brothers lived in a certain monastery, one most zealous for obedience, the other for mortifying his body, the latter indeed, to test the holiness of the former, commanded him to go down into a river full of crocodiles, and that he did this eagerly, so that those monstrous beasts came running and, as if caressing him, licked his body. But shortly after, when they had come upon a human corpse, a prayer being offered in common, the dead man was raised to life. And when the abstinent brother was arrogating that praise to himself in silent thoughts, he was severely rebuked by the Abbot, to whom it had been revealed that this gift had been given by God not because of that man's fasting, but because of the other's obedience. Famous is the maxim of the elders found in Antonius's Melissa, Part II, chapter 91: "Obedience joined with continence tames even beasts."
Over heaven: as when Joshua, fighting against the five kings of the Amorites, obedient to God, halted the sun and all the heavens: "The Lord obeying the voice of a man, and fighting for Israel," Joshua 10:14. When Hezekiah, obedient to God, merited through Isaiah to be healed of a deadly illness, and as a sign of this, the shadow of the sun and the sun itself were moved back ten degrees, 2 Kings 20:3 and 11.
Over hell: as when Christ, "having become obedient unto death," merited "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, on earth, and under the earth," Philippians 2:8-9, and therefore descending to hell triumphed over it, and led all the fathers out of it into heaven in triumph.
Seventh, obedience conquers all temptations and sins, death and hell. Hence concerning Christ's obedience, Paul says in Hebrews 10:7 and 10: "Then I said: Behold, I come; in the head of the book it is written of Me, that I should do Your will, O God, etc. In which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ." Isaiah asserts the same, chapter 53, verses 10 and 11. Hence Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:55: "Death is swallowed up in victory," he says; "where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law: but thanks be to God, who has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." Examples of this victory, especially in the temptation of lust, may be seen in the Lives of the Fathers, Book V, chapter 14.
Finally, through obedience we overcome all dangers of damnation, which is truly a victory of the highest importance. Hence Climacus, Step 4: "Obedience," he says, "is the perfect denial of one's own soul and one's own body, a voluntary death, a life without anxiety, a voyage without peril, a burial of the will, a life of humility, and as if one were making a journey while sleeping." And he adds that to live in obedience is nothing other than to place one's burden on others' shoulders, to swim upon others' arms, and to be sustained in the waters lest we drown, so that we may cross this great ocean of life without danger, and indeed by the shortest voyage. What better or greater thing could be said?
That Anchorite in the Lives of the Fathers, Book V, chapter 14, number 19, saw four orders of Saints in heaven: the first, of the infirm who give thanks to God in their infirmity; the second, of those who minister to neighbors out of love; the third, of those who serve God in solitude; the fourth and highest, of the obedient — and these, distinguished by a golden necklace and crown, were adorned with a more illustrious glory than the rest. The reason is that the obedient man is like the angels, of whom it is said in Psalm 103: "Who makes His angels spirits, and His ministers a burning fire" — which conquers all things, indeed burns and sets on fire. For as St. Bernard says in his Sermon on the Virtue of Obedience, "The word of God runs swiftly, and desires to have a swift follower. For you see with what speed he runs who says in Psalm 118: 'I have run the way of Your commandments.' The faithful obedient man knows no delays, flees the morrow, knows not tardiness, anticipates the one commanding, prepares his eyes for seeing, his ears for hearing, his tongue for speaking, his hands for work, his feet for the journey; he gathers his whole self together to gather the will of him who commands. See the Lord commanding hastily, and the man obeying hastily."
Eighth, obedience conquers God Himself, so that He can deny nothing to the obedient. For thus He repays like for like: when we obey God, He in turn, as it were by a wondrous condescension, obeys us, according to what He Himself promised: "He will do the will of those who fear Him," Psalm 144:19. Hence the author of the sermon to the Brothers in the Desert, found in St. Augustine, Volume X, Sermon 61: "Know, brothers," he says, "that the more we ourselves are obedient to our superiors, the more will God be obedient to our prayers." For it is fitting that if we do the will of God, He in turn should do ours, and so obedience in God makes us, as it were, omnipotent. Hence St. Gregory, Book 35 of the Morals, chapter 10, explaining that passage in 1 Kings 15, "Obedience is better than sacrifice": "Because," he says, "through sacrifices another's flesh is slaughtered, but through obedience one's own will is slain. The more swiftly, therefore, does each person appease God, the more he slays himself before His eyes by the sword of the commandment, having suppressed the pride of his own will." Hence Jacob, by obeying his mother, supplanted Esau, and fleeing him at his mother's command, and returning to his people at God's command, and wrestling with God — or rather with the angel of God — received the name and blessing of Israel, that is, "one who prevails with God," Genesis 32:9 and 28. Something similar is said of Abraham, Genesis 18:18, 24 ff. Likewise of Moses, Exodus 32:9, 10, and 11.
It can also be translated plainly from the Hebrew with more recent scholars: "The obedient man shall speak forever," and shall live; he shall speak, I say, both to this age through the famous memory of himself and the example left to posterity — just as in Hebrews 11:4, Abel is said, though dead, still to speak — and in the next life. He shall speak, I say, as a truthful witness, of God's equity and of the true prudence, security, eternal reward, and palm of victorious obedience. So Bede. And thus the antithesis with the preceding hemistich is established. Climacus, in Step 4 on obedience, near the end, has a famous example of a certain outstanding obedient man named Acacius, who, when called from the grave by the elder and asked whether he was dead, replied that one who obeys cannot die.
29. THE IMPIOUS MAN BRAZENLY HARDENS HIS FACE; BUT HE WHO IS UPRIGHT CORRECTS HIS WAY
The Syriac: directs his way; the Hebrew: the impious man strengthens his faces; and the upright man himself will prepare his way; the Chaldean: shameless of face is the impious man; the Septuagint: the impious man shamelessly stands firm in face; but the upright man himself understands his ways; Theodotion: the impious man will harden his face. And for those words "corrects his way," Aquila and Symmachus translate: will prepare, or clear his way. Note: For iachin, that is, directs, corrects, the Septuagint read iabin, that is, understands. Hence the Author of the Greek Chain translates: but the upright man examines and chooses his ways, that is, even if no one admonishes him, he nonetheless examines himself, and if anything seems to need correction, he amends it.
For "his face," the Hebrew has bepanav, which Rabbi Solomon takes as beappo, that is, in his wrath, meaning: at the time when the lost man flares up in anger, he displays his shamelessness and insolence, which he shows in his flared nostrils and face. But bepanav and beappo are different words. Now first, Pagninus translates: the impious man strengthened his face against him; but the upright man himself will dispose his way — so that this verse is referred to the preceding one, meaning: a false witness, when he utters false testimony against an innocent man, strengthens and hardens himself against him so that he seems to be speaking truth, not falsehood. And Rabbi Levi says: the impious and depraved man puts on a brazen face, lest his change of expression be detected — that movement which usually follows the appearance of the face when someone lies. But the man of integrity will have an excellent understanding of what bearing he should adopt with regard to the expression and composure of his face.
And Baynus says: The impious man strengthens, that is, supply "false words," with his face, namely shamelessly uttering false testimony and affirming falsehood by his very face; or against the face of him, that is, of the one who responds and contradicts. But a just and fair judge will easily understand his ways and manners. Otherwise: he who is upright and brings true testimony will make the judges understand his ways, being content to set forth the matter plainly as simple truth. So he says.
Second, the same Baynus explains better: This saying, he says, signifies the difference between the impious man and the upright or just man, of whom the former hardens his face and with great either constancy or impudence does evil; but the latter directs his ways so that he neither departs from the right nor does anything with ostentation. For he does not parade his uprightness by his face or haughtiness. If the reading is "understands," the sense will be: he who is upright is content to understand his own ways, without displaying them by his face — much less does he parade stubbornness or impudence by his expression; for he knows that both are unbecoming to a wise and upright man.
Third and genuinely, this saying signifies the difference between the upright and the impious man when each is admonished or corrected about some defect, error, or fault — whether externally by a person, especially a superior, or internally by God. For the impious man, because he is proud and because he has obstinately resolved to cling to the vice into which he has fallen, strengthens himself against the admonisher and the admonition, brazenly hardens his mind and face, defiantly defends his vice, and insults the one who admonishes him. But the upright man, if admonished, acknowledges and corrects his error and fault, because he is humble and prudent, and a lover of what is right and just.
Hence gather these antitheses between the impious and the upright. First, the impious man, if admonished, does not know how to blush; the upright man immediately blushes and is suffused with shame and redness. Second, the impious man imprudently and impudently excuses or utterly denies his vice; the upright man acknowledges and confesses it. Third, the impious man is obstinate and impenitent in his vice; the upright man is flexible, repents, and grieves. Fourth, the impious man persists in his fall; the upright man corrects and amends his fall. Fifth, the impious man with brazen brow resists and pushes back against the admonisher; the upright man lowers his eyes and forehead and bows and submits his neck to the admonisher. Sixth, the impious man hardens his face so as to carry through what he has resolved or begun, however wicked, by fair means or foul, even if he knows it will cost him his reputation, wealth, life, and soul; but the upright man, seeing danger, prudently avoids it and takes care.
Hear St. Gregory, Book 10 of the Morals, chapter 3: "Just as the upright," he says, "regard the voice of correction concerning some things they have not done rightly as a ministry of charity, so the perverse consider it an insult of derision. The former immediately prostrate themselves for obedience; the latter rise up to the madness of their own defense. The former consider the help of correction the protection of their life, through which, while the fault of a present vice is corrected, the wrath of the coming judgment is tempered. The latter, when they see themselves attacked by reproof, believe it a sword of smiting — because when fault is detected through the voice of correction, the reputation of present glory is tarnished. Hence indeed in praise of the just man, the Truth says through Solomon: 'Teach a just man, and he will hasten to receive it.' Hence He despises the stubbornness of the wicked, saying: 'He who corrects a scoffer does himself an injury.' So Judas," says Bede, "because he was impious in heart, though the Lord Himself rebuked him, refused to restrain his evil beginnings. But Peter, because he was upright in heart, that is, a lover of uprightness, when the Lord looked upon him, immediately corrected by repentance what he had done wrong by denial."
So Pharaoh, when God and Moses warned him to lay aside his tyranny and pride and to let go the Hebrews oppressed in Egypt, resisted by defying them and hardened his heart and face like a fierce and savage bull, Exodus 7:3. So Jeremiah 3:3 says: "You have had the forehead of a harlot; you refused to blush;" and Ezekiel 3:7: "The house of Israel is brazen of forehead and hard of heart." See what I noted on those passages. So heretics, in place of the truth and sincerity which they have abandoned, substitute shamelessness, and with hardened, bull-like face resist the faith and insolently defend their own perfidy.
Morally, learn here that it is the fool's part to resist and protest against one who rightly admonishes him; but it is the part of the prudent and upright man to accept correction, obey the one who corrects him, and amend his faults. For thus a man is restored to himself, to the law, and to God; indeed, he fulfills the law previously violated. For as St. Bernard says in On Precept and Dispensation, chapter 16: "The observance of the rule should be divided into precepts and remedies; by precepts, life is established against sin; by remedies, innocence is restored after sin. Thus our profession embraces both of these, so that when any professed person happens to transgress some point of the regular mandates, if he has recourse to the equally regular remedy, even though he is convicted of transgressing the mandate, he is not a violator of the pact. Therefore I would judge that only he has broken his vow, violated his commitment, and broken the pact who has scorned both the precept and the remedy. For I indeed call that man safe who, even if he sometimes oversteps the bounds of obedience, does not spurn the counsel of penance. For he does not evade the regular boundaries, even if he has often offended, who does not escape the discipline of censure which proceeds from the rule. For regular correction is part of the rule, and in it is found not only instruction for a good life but also the amendment of a bad one. In it are found both the precepts of obedience and the remedies for disobedience, so that even by sinning one does not depart from the rule."
St. Basil suggests an effective reason for accepting and even seeking correction, in the Longer Rules, Rule 52: "Those to whom medicine is administered," he says, "should consider it their part not to receive the bishop's rebukes with hatred, nor to regard as tyrannical domination the treatment which someone, moved by mercy, applies to them for the sake of their soul's salvation. For it would be unbecoming if, when those who suffer from bodily illness place such great trust in physicians that — even though they cut them, even though they burn them, even though they cure them by administering the most bitter medicines — they nonetheless count them among their benefactors: we should not be similarly disposed toward the physicians of our souls, whenever by imposing some harder thing upon us they bring about our salvation, since the Apostle says: 'And who is it that makes me glad, but he who is made sorrowful by me?'" 2 Corinthians 2:2. Moreover, whoever wishes to escape the correction of another should do what the Arabic proverb advises, Century 1, number 22: "Prune your vine with your own hand, not with another's hand; that is, reprove yourself for your fault before another reproves you for the same." And number 26: "Let no one scratch your head except your own nails."
30. THERE IS NO WISDOM (Chaldean: understanding), THERE IS NO PRUDENCE, THERE IS NO COUNSEL AGAINST THE LORD
The Syriac: there is no counsel like the Lord's; in Hebrew: leneged Jehova, that is, before or opposite the Lord, namely so that it could be compared with Him or set against Him, meaning: if human wisdom is compared with divine wisdom, it is not wisdom or prudence, but rather foolishness and madness. Again, "there is no wisdom, there is no prudence before the Lord," namely not only so as to resist God, but so that it cannot even stand before Him; indeed, so that it serves the divine will and command whether willing or unwilling — as was evident in the brothers of Joseph, who by their malice and by selling him raised him up as prince of Egypt in order to fulfill God's plan. So the malice of Haman exalted Mordecai and the Jews. So the devil's machinations exalted Job, and the cruelty of the Jews exalted Christ crucified. Hence the Septuagint of the Roman text has: there is no wisdom, etc., in (the Complutensian editors less correctly translate "against") the impious man, wisdom namely which would oppose God and resist Him and elude His plans or decrees — in the impious man, I say, whether human or demonic, says Cassian, Conference 7, chapter 18, although more correctly the Septuagint should be read as: there is no wisdom, etc., against the Lord, as the Author of the Greek Chain notes. For thus the Hebrew, Chaldean, Syriac, Vulgate, Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, and the other translators consistently read.
The meaning is clear and evident from daily experience. Hence Rabbi Solomon explains thus: "Any wise and prudent man is of absolutely no esteem if compared with God; and much more, if he misuses his wisdom against God, even though he be a noble master, he will receive no honor." Aben-Ezra puts it thus: "These two sayings should be joined to this meaning: There is no man whose prudence, wisdom, or counsel avails against the Lord — that is, so as to escape from His hands by the help of any of these, even if he has prepared his horse for flight on the day of battle; he cannot slip away and escape danger. For it belongs to God to keep safe whomever He wills according to His will." Rabbi Levi says: "There is no wisdom, etc. — wisdom, prudence, and counsel are of no use in those matters which one plots in his mind against God. For although a man may possess the greatest wisdom and understand the matter perfectly and devise the most fitting counsel, he will nevertheless not be able to change the divine decree or attain his aim — as is clear from what happened to Joseph and from the various histories that are read throughout the sacred prophecies. We might perhaps also affirm this meaning of the verse: there is certainly no need of wisdom, prudence, and counsel for him who is dear to God and near to His care — who has adhered to God so as to strive to obtain the fulfillment of his wishes; for the divine power so directs the efforts and endeavors of mortals that rightly conceived plans succeed. Both explanations are perfectly consistent with what is immediately added."
The reason for this saying is, first, because the wisdom of God is uncreated and infinite, which immeasurably surpasses and transcends all the created and finite wisdom and prudence of all men, demons, and angels; second, because the wisdom of God is omnipotent, and therefore no one can resist it: for who would butt against the All-knowing and Almighty?
The end, aim, and fruit of this saying is that from it we may learn that everyone, however wise, rightly ought to depend on God alone, to trust in Him and not in himself, and should attempt nothing that he knows to be contrary to the divine will — which so far from being able to be impeded by human or demonic prudence, is rather promoted and perfected by it whenever man or devil attempts something against it, as is clear in the case of Joseph's brothers, Pharaoh, Herod, and the redemption of the human race, which the devil strove by every means to prevent.
31. THE HORSE IS PREPARED FOR THE DAY OF BATTLE: BUT THE LORD GIVES SALVATION
In Hebrew: but the Lord is salvation; the Chaldean: but from the Lord is salvation; the Septuagint: but from the Lord is help; Vatablus: but salvation is given by the Lord — and he adds: This saying depends on the preceding one and proves it, meaning: "Impious horsemen prepare horses for themselves, in which they trust; when salvation depends only on God, not on the horse." By "horse" understand cavalry: for these are the most powerful in battle and lay low and trample the infantry; likewise chariots, arms, engines, and all military equipment. "Salvation" is understood not only as deliverance from death and every evil and danger, but also as victory: for this is the full salvation of the entire army and nation in war. The meaning is: generals and soldiers prepare horses, arms, chariots, etc. for war, and they do so fittingly and prudently; but all these things are in vain unless God gives His aid, for it belongs to God to give salvation and victory. Therefore let commanders and soldiers learn from this to prepare for war in such a way that they place their chief hope in God, and therefore by constant prayers, purity of life, and almsgiving win His help for themselves. For whichever of the two contending parties or battle lines God favors — even if it is the weaker and less equipped with arms and soldiers — shall obtain the victory and triumph as the victor. In vain then the battle line, in vain the arms, in vain the soldiers, unless God in His favor comes to their aid and grants victory.
The a priori reason is, first, that the preparation of a thing is easy, but its execution, on account of the various turns and circumstances of events — especially when various obstacles arise on this side and that to impede the matter — is difficult, and therefore although both depend on God, the latter depends more so, and hence Scripture customarily attributes it to God as the first and principal agent. According to chapter 16:1: "It belongs to man to prepare his soul, and to the Lord to govern the tongue;" and verse 9: "The heart of man plans his way, but it belongs to the Lord to direct his steps." Where I said more on this subject.
The second reason is that God has a special care for great matters which encompass many things and are of great consequence: and such are the armies of princes and many nations, wars, and victories.
The third reason is that God especially cares for the governance of kings and kingdoms, and has decreed from eternity that kingdoms and empires should succeed one another in turns through the ages, passing through nations and families as if circling around, according to Daniel 4:14: "In the decree of the watchers it is determined, and in the word of the holy ones is the request: until the living know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He wills;" and Proverbs 8:15: "By Me kings reign." Now this transfer and alternation of kings and kingdoms takes place through wars and victories. Therefore, when God wills to transfer a kingdom from one nation to another, He causes this one to attack that one in war, to conquer and defeat it. So He transferred the monarchy of the Assyrians to the Babylonians by defeating the Assyrians through Nebuchadnezzar; He transferred that of the Babylonians to the Persians by defeating Belshazzar and the Babylonians through Cyrus; that of the Persians to the Greeks by defeating Darius and the Persians through Alexander the Great; that of the Greeks to the Romans by defeating the Greeks through Scipio, Paulus Aemilius, and other Roman generals. In a similar way, in nearly every century or each hundred years, we see God transferring kingdoms from one house and family to another through wars and victories.
Hence that oracle of Balaam: "The Lord his God is with him (Israel), and the shout of victory of a king is in him. God brought him out of Egypt; his strength is like that of the rhinoceros," Numbers 23:21. And that saying of David: "Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory and the victory, etc. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom, and You are above all rulers," 1 Chronicles 29:11. Hence Judas Maccabeus, "seeing the coming of the multitude, and the various equipment of arms, and the fierceness of the beasts (of Nicanor), stretching out his hands toward heaven, invoked the Lord who works wonders, who gives victory to those who are worthy, not according to the power of arms, but as it pleases Him," 2 Maccabees 15:21.
Furthermore, this saying applies not only to bodily wars and victories but also to spiritual ones, in which we continually fight and conquer against the temptations of the flesh, the world, and the devil. For this victory is won through the grace of Christ, according to Paul: "But thanks be to God, who has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Corinthians 15:57; and: "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph (that is, causes us to triumph) in Christ," 2 Corinthians 2:14; and: "This is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith," 1 John 5:4. Hence mystically Bede explains: "The horse is prepared for battle, but the Lord gives salvation," meaning: "It belongs to men to prepare their spirit devoutly for God in time of persecution and to offer their body to danger; but it belongs to the divine help that victory and salvation may follow upon the labor of the contest once begun." And St. Gregory, Book 31 of the Morals, chapter 9, and chapter 19: "By the name of horse," he says, "is understood the preparation of right intention, as it is written: 'The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but God gives salvation,' since against temptation the mind indeed prepares itself; but unless it is helped from above, it does not fight effectively." See more in St. Gregory there. So also the Author of the Greek Chain says: by "horse" he means the mind fighting vigorously against vices; for the horse in battle is fierce, spirited, swift, savage, and exulting. See Job 39:21 ff. So also Hugh by "horse" understands the human spirit and body: for both are prepared for the battle of temptations by the rider, that is, the mind and reason, which bridles, governs, directs, sharpens, and inflames both for combat, so that through God's help and grace victory may be obtained. "The horse," says Hugh, "is prepared for battle in time of persecution in three ways. First, by accustoming it to labor, pain, hunger, thirst, cold, and other such hardships, lest when it comes to battle it be terrified by the mere sound of the trumpet. Second, it is prepared by the virtue and courage of its rider: for a horse under a vigorous rider is more vigorous itself. Third, it is prepared by the protection of armor, lest it be wounded by each javelin. By arms I here mean fortitude, patience, boldness, by which death is despised. and so this horse, outfitted and prepared, exulting at the sound of the trumpet, says 'Aha!' and boldly goes forth to meet the armed foe."
Second, the horses are the passions and virtues, which reason and the grace of Christ govern so as to conquer. So St. Ambrose, On Isaac and the Soul, chapter 8. Again, the horse is the humanity of Christ, upon which the divinity, riding it, conquered sin, death, earth, heaven, and hell. So St. Ambrose, on Psalm 40. I quoted his words at Habakkuk 3:8, on the passage: "Who, mounting upon Your horses, and Your chariots are salvation."
Third, the horse is a symbol of the Apostle and preacher; its rider and charioteer is Christ, the conqueror of unbelievers and sinners, according to Revelation 6:2: "Behold a white horse, and he who sat upon it had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he went forth conquering that he might conquer" — namely, so that Christ through the Apostles might defeat and subject to His faith all nations. Where I said more on this subject.