Exposition on Proverbs 1 part 2/4

But Scripture appears to have coined, from the natural history of the kepphos bird, the term for the man who is persuaded by the harlot woman — 'kepphized' and made like the bird, as though stirred up on account of licentiousness.

She wounds us with the thoughts, but she slays us with sins.

Courage stands midway between rashness and cowardice.

He says that Wisdom is praised at times 'at the goings-out,' at times 'at the comings-in' — that is, among those who go out from vice and come in to virtue.

For he names the 'going-out' and the 'coming-in' after the one who goes out and comes in;

and we have often noted this habit of his, that from the states he names those who possess them, whether the best states or the worst.

Here he has called 'heart' the virtue that comes to reside in the heart.

Here he has taken 'wisdom' as the genus of instruction and knowledge;

for having set 'instruction' and 'knowledge' first, he then adds:

'For wisdom is better than costly stones' — since instruction and knowledge are contained within wisdom, which is the first gift of the Holy Spirit, if indeed the word of wisdom is given through the Spirit.

And this very same Spirit is also called the 'Spirit of adoption.'

It should be noted that he calls the unjust man, the insolent man, and the arrogant man by the names 'injustice,' 'insolence,' and 'arrogance,' naming him after his worst state.

The same food is called both 'meat' and 'bread' and 'milk' and 'vegetables' and 'wine';

except that the foolish are said to partake of it as 'bread,' and as 'wine that has been mixed.'

But if this is so, how are we to understand, 'Man ate the bread of angels'?

The 'mixing-bowl' is the spiritual knowledge that contains the principles concerning the incorporeal beings and bodies, judgment, and providence.

If Paul the apostle is a servant of Christ, and Christ is Wisdom, then Paul the apostle is a servant of Wisdom.

And in the same way let us draw the argument together also concerning the rest of the apostles and the prophets, showing them to be servants of Wisdom.

This proclamation alone is lofty, for it proclaims the domains of the knowledge of God.

He did not say 'of my meats,' for solid food belongs to the perfect.

One ought not reprove the wicked for their sins;

rather, one should discourse with them about the fear of God, which persuades them to depart from vice.

If to know the law belongs to a good understanding, then to do the commandment also belongs to a good understanding;

yet the doing of the commandment comes before the knowing of the law, since knowledge by nature accrues after purification.

'He who leans upon lies.' Scholion:

He is carried about by every wind of teaching and has been shipwrecked concerning the faith.

'For he abandoned the paths of his own vineyard.' Scholion:

For he had abandoned the vine that said:

'I am the vine, you are the branches, and my Father is the vinedresser.'

'And with her hands she gathers unfruitfulness': Unfruitfulness is vice and ignorance.

'She who does not know shame.' Scholion:

As though shame were something that could be taught, it is said, 'She does not know shame.'

And David [says?] that the fear of God is teachable:

'Come, children,' he says, 'listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.'

But if fear and shame are natural passions of the soul, how can they be taught? Or perhaps by 'the fear of the Lord' he means the teaching concerning the fear of the Lord, which teaches us how we must turn away from vice;

since indeed 'by the fear of the Lord everyone turns away from evil.'

And again he calls 'shame' the discourses concerning repentance and shame that lead us to an awareness of our own sins;

'I will look upon the heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have founded;'

that is, 'I will contemplate the principles concerning the heavens and the moon and the stars.'

'Take pleasure in touching hidden bread.' Scholion:

'Bread of falsehood has been sweet to them;'

'and after this their mouth will be filled with gravel.'

'But leap away, do not linger': The mind ought not to linger over base notions;

'for no one will bind fire in his bosom without his garments being burnt.'

'And do not drink from a strange fountain': Just as with God there is a fountain of life, so also with the devil there is a fountain of death;

and if the fountain of God is a fountain of virtue and knowledge, then clearly the fountain of the devil is a fountain of vice and ignorance;

and one must understand the same likewise concerning rivers, wells, waters, and rains.

'Treasures will not profit the lawless': 'Treasures will not profit the lawless' — the treasures that they have stored up on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

'But he will overturn the life of the impious': If the life of the impious is vice, and the Lord will overturn this, then clearly the impious will at some point no longer be impious;

for after this overturning the Lord will hand over the kingdom to God the Father, that God may become all in all.

'Instruction not corrected goes astray': He calls 'uncorrected instruction' the evil conduct of the soul, which also becomes for it the cause of its wandering.

'Unjust lips conceal enmity': He calls vice 'enmity,' for through it we become enemies of God.

'For if, while we were enemies,' says Paul, 'we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son,'

and if enmity is vice, then friendship is virtue and the knowledge of God, through which we become friends of God and of the holy powers;

for on the basis of this friendship, those who are friends of the same one are also friends of one another.

'But the desire of the righteous is acceptable': 'Lord, all my desire is before you,' says David.

'The fear of the Lord adds days': If the fear of the Lord adds days, and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, then these days are parts of wisdom, coming to be under the sun of righteousness;

on behalf of which David also prays, saying:

'Do not take me away in the midst of my days;'

and Abraham too died having fulfilled these days, concerning whom it is said:

'And Abraham died, an old man and full of days.'

'The righteous will never give way': '[For] the age' is used instead of 'throughout life';

and Paul [says], 'I will never eat meat, lest I cause my brother to stumble,' calling 'age' the span of time coextensive with the duration of his life.

'But the mouth of the impious will be turned away': Here he has called the mind 'mouth.'

'Those who have no governance': They are carried about by every wind of teaching, and are shipwrecked concerning the faith.

But he hates the sound of security: By 'the sound of security' he meant the discourses concerning salvation.

But the merciless man destroys his own body: Here he has called the soul directly 'body'.

And Christ too in the Gospels calls the soul 'body', saying, 'The lamp of the body is the eye;'

calling the mind 'lamp', for it is the mind that is receptive of knowledge;

and 'body' [he calls] the irascible and concupiscible part of the soul, which some call the irrational part, and others the passible part.

He who joins hand to hand unjustly shall not [go unpunished]: This one joins hand to hand unjustly, who becomes a teacher of evil deeds and of evil doctrines;

and this one sows righteousness, who puts forth discourses concerning the virtues and the knowledge of God.

There are those who sow their own and increase it: Opposed to those who sow their own and increase it are those who gather and are diminished;

and if those who sow their own are those who sow unto the spirit and reap life, then those who gather are those who sow unto the flesh and gather corruption for themselves.

He who withholds grain is cursed by the people.

This is similar to what is said by our Savior in the Gospels:

No one, having lit a lamp, puts it under the bushel, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.

He who builds good things seeks acceptance: If carpentry is a working of good things, and the practical [life] is a working of good things, then the practical [life] is carpentry.

From the fruit of righteousness the tree of life grows: This is the tree of life planted in the midst of paradise, which after the sin Adam is forbidden to touch, having cast away the seeds of righteousness, from which the tree of life grows.

But the lawless man shall be passed over in silence: 'Be not silent toward me,' says David, 'lest I be made like those who go down into the pit.'

But the wealth of sinners is stored up for the righteous: The wealth of the impious is vice.

and the righteous shall consume it entirely, evidently through good teaching, either now or also in the age to come, becoming rulers over fifteen cities.

But according to your hardness and impenitent heart you store up for yourself wrath on the day of wrath and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God.

But wise lips are weapons of perception: For nothing evil is arrayed against wisdom, because it is an invincible weapon;

for against it alone the demons are powerless.

The houses of the lawless shall owe purification: So that, having become pure, they may see God;

for this is the blessed end, which is reserved for every rational nature.

From his reflections [comes] the good man: By 'reflections' here he means the settled states of the virtues, which he has opposed, as it were, to the ways of the reckless-hearted man.

But the crafty shall hold fast perception: He has opposed vice to perception;

and if vice is opposed to virtue, then 'perception' here signifies virtue.

In abounding righteousness is much strength: 'Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees and scribes, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.'

But those who hate reproofs die shamefully: By 'reproofs' here he means the commandments;

for these reprove us when we sin.

But the good are at rest continually: Rest is abstention from vice.

The ways of life are the reflections of the prudent man: By 'way of life' he means the practical virtues that lead unto knowledge.

And through them even enemies become friends: Paul having proclaimed:

Those who were once enemies were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.

Yet one must take heed whether all enemies become friends through the righteous, so that Christ may say to all as well:

No longer do I call you servants, but friends.

A divine oracle is on the lips of the king: Christ is the knower of hearts, and He shall judge the world in righteousness.

The wrath of the king is a messenger of death: The messenger who knows the accounts concerning punishment is called the wrath of God.

The broods of wisdom are more to be chosen (

...to be chosen) than gold: Knowledge of wisdom [is] above gold, and knowledge of prudence above silver.

But he who keeps reproofs shall be made wise: By 'reproofs' he means the commandments of God;

for these reprove us when we sin.

But the instruction of fools is evil: By 'instruction of fools' here he means instruction that goes uncorrected;

and if the instruction of fools is vice, then uncorrected instruction is folly.

But on his lips he shall carry discernment: He called knowledge 'discernment', because it recognizes all things.

A crooked man sends forth evil things: The account [signifies] that the demons, being taught by the devil, undertake to attack the holy ones and try to separate them from knowledge, which by nature joins them in friendship to the heavenly powers.

And this same thing, I think, Solomon too has declared through this proverb: calling Satan the 'crooked man', and calling by 'deceits that walk about' the evil demons [that move] against those who are being taught, and calling by 'friends' the holy ones who are joined to one another through knowledge.

This one is a furnace of vice: The whistling spirit of dew shakes off the flame of this furnace.

All things come into the bosom for the unjust: It must be noted that here he has called the hearts of the unjust 'bosom';

and I think that everywhere 'bosom' signifies either the mind or knowledge;

but if there is also a blameworthy 'bosom', it evidently signifies ignorance.

A prudent servant shall rule over foolish masters: If everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin, then everyone who has departed from vice and through the virtues has mastered the demons has thereby mastered foolish masters;

and such a one shall also become a steward of the mysteries of God, giving spiritual knowledge to each of the brethren according to the proportion of his state, giving the Corinthian milk to drink, but nourishing the Ephesian with more solid food, discoursing concerning height and length and breadth and depth;

and through these dimensions signifying the division of rational nature, which comprehends the discourses concerning the judgment and providence of God, being exceedingly profound and surpassing the human condition.

[Joshua] the son of Nun divided the land of promise ( ) among the twelve tribes, which is a symbol of the knowledge of God and of the things that have come to be by Him.

Yet this must be known, that the discourses concerning the incarnation of Christ and His sojourn are laid up in knowledge in the land of Judah;

for in his portion is Christ born;

and I think that the discourses concerning providence are fitting to the state of the hidden Judah and Benjamin;

which names I consider to be tokens distinguishing various pure states, since Judah is interpreted 'confessing', and Benjamin 'son of days' or 'son of the right hand'.

The evil man obeys the tongue of the lawless, but the righteous does not: This one obeys the tongues of the lawless, who receives from them unjust thoughts and hastens to act according to them;

to whom the righteous is said not to give heed, that is, not to nourish them further within himself.

The whole world of riches belongs to the faithful: The faithful man, he says, shall see the reasons of this world, which he figuratively called 'riches of the mind';

but the unfaithful man shall not know the reason even of the most ordinary thing, on account of the impurity of his soul.

And that the wealth of the soul is the knowledge of God, Paul teaches through what he writes: 'In everything you were enriched, in all knowledge and all wisdom.'

But if anyone should wish to show that this is not the meaning of this proverb, let him say where those who went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being ill-treated, afflicted, destitute, obtained an abundance of riches;

and how is it that the unfaithful man does not ( ) have even an obol, when many unfaithful are clothed in wealth;

I mean, indeed, many kings and rulers of this world.

Faithful lips will not suit a fool: 'For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?' He who hides a wrong seeks friendship: Through righteousness we hide injustice, and through self-control [we hide] licentiousness, and again through love [we hide] hatred, and through freedom from love of money [we hide] covetousness;

and we hide also, through humility, pride, and through gentleness, recklessness, thereby seeking spiritual friendship, which signifies the holy knowledge.

And in Paul too, certain of the saints are said to have become fellow-citizens ( ) and members of the household of Jerusalem, having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.

He who repays evil for good: If he who repays evil for evil is lawless, how much more is he who repays evil for good more lawless still;

Such indeed did Israel become toward God in the wilderness, to whom Moses says in Deuteronomy:

A crooked and perverse generation—do you repay the Lord in this way? The beginning of righteousness confers authority: Knowledge follows upon righteousness.

And vice precedes ignorance.

He who judges the unjust man righteous, and the righteous man unjust: Such a one is like him who calls the bitter sweet and the sweet bitter, and names the light darkness, and the darkness light.

To what end has wealth come to the fool?: The fool's wealth is the follies that attend each of his individual affairs;

for it is because of these that, having become senseless, he is unable to acquire wisdom.

He who turns aside from learning: He who turns aside from learning that the Lord sets himself against the proud will fall into evils.

Let brothers be useful in adversities: If the sons of Christ are brothers to one another, and both angels and righteous men are sons of Christ, then angels and holy men are, accordingly, brothers to one another, having been begotten by the Spirit of adoption.

For to this end are they begotten: For to this end are they begotten by Wisdom, that they may guide men from vice to virtue, and from ignorance to the knowledge of God;

since indeed creation itself also groans and travails together with us, and was subjected to futility, not of its own will.

A man fickle of tongue will fall into evils: This is the fickle man—he who easily turns from virtue to vice.

The impious man receives gifts into his bosom: The ways of him who receives unjust thoughts into his heart do not prosper;

the gifts offered to us—or rather, the impious man will receive them into his bosom, so as to turn aside the paths of judgment.

A prudent son gladdens his mother: The prudent son gladdens his mother, but the foolish son grieves her who bore him.

But the eyes of the fool are on the ends of the earth: The heart of the fool is in the extremity of vice, and there is grief for her who bore him.

The prudent son has both her who bore him and a mother, but the foolish son has only her who bore him;

for the mother is also she who bore him, but she who bore him is not in every case also a mother;

for if that which was born should die in vice and ignorance, she is indeed one who bore, but she is not a mother, because that which was born has not even partaken of the Spirit of adoption.

And in the same way this shall be understood also with regard to sensible mothers, and with regard to sensible death;

for we shall call the mother also 'she who bore,' but we shall no longer call her who bore 'mother' once the child has died.

It is not good to punish a righteous man: for they seek not what is ours, but us.

He who refrains from uttering a harsh word is a man of knowledge: He has named the thought that stirs up wrath a 'harsh word';

or he has named the word that stirs up his neighbor's wrath a 'harsh word.'

To a fool who asks about wisdom, wisdom will be reckoned to him: If this one asks about wisdom—he who wishes to learn something concerning wisdom—while that one is silent concerning wisdom—he who wishes to know nothing about wisdom—then for this reason the former is said to be more prudent than the latter.

A man who wishes to separate himself seeks pretexts: By 'pretexts' he means sins;

for, as it is said, 'to make excuses with pretexts in sins';

and by 'friends' he means all the saints with whom he was united through virtue.

He who is wanting in understanding has no need of wisdom: for he loved darkness rather than light.

(α) The face of the impious man is not good: He who accepts the vice inherent in the devil and acts in accordance with it—such a one admires the face of the impious.

But his reckless mouth invokes death: If death is begotten from recklessness, and death separates the soul from true life, then recklessness separates us from him who said:

'I am the life'; and just as death is begotten from recklessness, so life is begotten from gentleness;

for gentleness is opposed to recklessness.

Fear casts down the slothful man: Fear casts down the slothful—either the hostile fear, or the fear of the Lord—separating them from sloth through good works.

But the soul of the man-woman shall hunger: The man-woman is he who is able neither to teach another nor willing to learn from another.

He who does not heal himself in his own works is brother to him who destroys himself: And Paul says:

'If, therefore, anyone cleanses himself, he will be a vessel useful to the Master.'

From the greatness of strength [comes] the name of the Lord: The name of the Lord signifies the knowledge of God;

and through the upright life the righteous run to it, while through contemplation they are exalted.

Before ruin the heart of a man is exalted: Just as ruin follows upon pride, so glory follows upon humility.

He who answers a matter before he has heard it, it is folly and a reproach to him: This saying must be applied against those who, not having received knowledge from God, nevertheless attempt to teach others.

[One must first come] to hear the sound of your praise, and then to recount to others also your wonders.

And again Solomon says:

'What your eyes have seen, speak.'

But a faint-hearted man—who shall bear him?: Just as our Lord is said to become a leopard at a loss toward those who transgress, and a rock of stumbling toward those who disobey, so also he becomes faint-hearted over those who sin;

and it is possible also to call 'faint-hearted' the evil one and all the demons who have fallen away from virtue and knowledge.

A man's gift enlarges him: Here he means by 'a man's gift' the upright life, which affords him room and enlarges him, and renders him worthy of the fullness of God;

which he calls the 'seat' of the holy powers;

for the 'seat' of the mind is the best disposition, keeping him who sits in it hard to move, or immovable.

The lot puts an end to contention: Knowledge puts an end to folly;

—the portion allotted to the rational nature.

Death and life are in the hands (hand) of the tongue: Here he says that the soul is receptive of both death and life, from which we conclude that it possesses free will.

He who has found a good wife has found favors: He who has found good wisdom has found favors.

But he who keeps an adulteress is foolish and impious: But he who keeps vice is foolish and impious.

Wealth adds many friends: The wealth of knowledge and wisdom adds to us many angels as friends;

but the impure man is separated from the angel given to him from childhood;

for spiritual friendship is virtue and the knowledge of God, through which we are joined in friendship to the holy angelic powers, since indeed men who repent become a cause of joy to the angels.

Thus also the Savior once calls his servants friends, having deemed them worthy of the greater contemplation.

Thus also Abraham, having grown rich in knowledge, sets forth that mystical table for the friends who appeared to him at noon.

But Saul, on account of vice, is separated even from the friend he had;

'And the spirit of God departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented Saul;'

calling the angel 'the spirit of the Lord';

for, as it is said, 'Who makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.'

And that angels also have been entrusted with human beings, the Lord teaches in the Gospels, saying, 'See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven.'

'The angel who delivers me from all evils...'

'And the angel who spoke with me said...'

He who accuses unjustly shall not escape: As many as, being ignorant of the principles concerning judgment and providence, blaspheme the Creator—these accuse unjustly;

and as many as, again, being troubled by their own passions, suppose that virtue cannot be attained—these accuse unjustly him who gave the law.

A good understanding will draw near to those who know it: Here by 'understanding' he means the knowledge of God, and by 'those who know it,' the pure in heart.

But he who provokes words shall not be saved: The passionate thoughts provoke the soul toward vice.

Luxury does not befit a fool: Neither intelligible luxury nor sensible luxury befits the fool;

for the one [intelligible luxury] he will trample underfoot, being a pleasure-loving swine;

But by sensible delight his flesh will be stirred.

A merciful man is longsuffering, but his boast comes upon the lawless: If he who boasts rightly boasts in the Lord, and our Lord is wisdom, then he who boasts rightly boasts in wisdom;

The boast, then, of the longsuffering and merciful man — which is his wisdom and knowledge — comes upon the lawless, releasing them from vice: now only possibly, but necessarily in the age to come.

A king's threat is like the roaring of a lion: Our Lord becomes a consuming fire and an angry lion toward sinners, burning wood, hay, and stubble, and consuming the flesh that wars against the spirit;

but he is light and dew to those who act rightly, showing them the principles of the things that have come to be, quenching the fiery darts of the evil one, and cooling the burning heat that arises from the practical life.

Prayers from a harlot's wages are not pure: He named the unclean soul 'a harlot';

and her wages he called 'the condition,' from which prayers do not become pure.

Fathers apportion house and substance to their children: To teach the sons about virtue and the knowledge of God belongs to the fathers;

but to give wisdom to the children belongs to the Lord;

for here he calls wisdom 'a wife';

for he says, 'Love wisdom, and she will keep you';

'honor her, that she may embrace you.'

He who keeps the commandment keeps his own soul: The commandments, in relation to God who commanded them, are called 'commandments';

but in relation to the mind that journeys within them, they are called 'ways';

and in relation to those to whom the commandments were given, they are called 'testimonies';

wherefore the mind that receives them is also named 'a witness,' who, if it bears false witness against them, will not go unpunished.

But according to his gift he will repay him: By 'gift' here he means the purity of heart;

for it is in proportion to our freedom from passion that we are deemed worthy of knowledge.

An evil-minded man will suffer great loss: I think that the great loss comprises the privation of the contemplation of the things that have come to be, while the addition made to the soul comprises the disappearance of the natural conceptions concerning God, the soul having fallen altogether into irrationality.

And the Savior also says in the Gospels:

'What will it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, but lose his soul and suffer loss?' But here the 'losing' (perdition) signifies ignorance of things corporeal and incorporeal;

while 'the loss' represents the ultimate irrationality.

That you may become wise in your old age: Knowledge comes after right conduct;

for 'at the last' here does not signify time, but the purity that comes after the practical virtues.

The fear of the Lord leads to life for a man, but he who goes astray will lodge in places which the Eternal One does not visit: If the fear of the Lord is unto life for a man, and the fear of the Lord is instruction and wisdom, then the life of the man is instruction and wisdom.

Christ, therefore, is instruction and wisdom.

To know instruction and wisdom, then, is to know Christ;

he, then, who is without fear will be in vice and ignorance, in which Christ is not.

He who unjustly hides his hands in his bosom will not even bring them to his mouth: He who does not live rightly hides his hands unjustly in his soul, not wishing to work his own land nor to be filled with bread;

for the practical virtues hold the function of hands, bringing to our mouth the bread that came down from heaven and gives life to the world.

The son who dishonors his father and rejects his mother will be put to shame and reproached: Through transgression of the law he dishonors God, and he rejects the mother, who is instruction;

since indeed a righteous man is begotten unto life, and righteousness is constituted from all the virtues.

The son who fails to keep his father's instruction will meditate on evil sayings: The impure thoughts are the evil sayings engendered in the soul of him who has not kept the commandments of the heavenly Father.

Wine is licentious, and drunkenness is insolent: If their wine is the wrath of dragons, and wine is licentious, then wrath, therefore, is licentious, making men licentious, and anger is insolent;

for this drunkenness is by nature produced from the seething of wrath.

But if the Nazirites abstain from wine according to the law, then it has been ordained that the Nazirites be free from wrath.

The threat of a king is no different from the wrath of a lion: Here he plainly called Christ 'king';