約伯倫理 第 546 章

Verses 7-10.—A tree hath hope; if it be cut down, it groweth green again, and its branches sprout. If its root be old in the earth, and its stump be dead in the dust, at the scent of water it shall bud, and put forth leaves as when it was first planted. But man, when he is dead and stripped and consumed, where, I ask, is he? 5. By the name of 'wood/tree' many things are signified: the Cross, the just man, the incarnate Wisdom of God. By the smiting of the just, men are kindled to the love of the heavenly homeland. But since this is plain according to the letter, we ought to bring the sense back to the inner things, and to search out how these things ought to be understood according to the spirit.

For in sacred Scripture, by the name of 'wood' sometimes the Cross, sometimes the just man—or even the unjust—and sometimes the incarnate Wisdom of God is figured. For the Cross is signified by wood, when it is said: Let us put wood into his bread (Jer. 11:19). For to put wood into the bread is to apply the Cross to the Lord's body. Again, by the name of 'wood' the just man or even the unjust is expressed, as the Lord says through the prophet: I the Lord have brought down the high tree, and have exalted the lowly tree (Ezek. 17:24). Because, according to the voice of the same Truth: Everyone that exalteth himself shall be humbled, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted (Luke 14:11). Solomon too says:

If the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in whatsoever place it shall fall, there shall it be (Eccles. 11:3). For on the day of his death the just man falls toward the south, the sinner toward the north; because the just man is led to joys through the fervor of the spirit, and the sinner is reprobated in the coldness of his own heart together with the apostate angel, who said: I will sit in the mount of the covenant, in the sides of the north (Isa. 14:13). Again, by 'wood' the incarnate Wisdom of God is figured, as it is written of her: She is a tree of life to them that lay hold on her (Prov. 3:18); and as she herself says: If they do these things in the green wood, what shall be done in the dry (Luke 23:31)?

In this place, therefore, since wood/tree is preferred to man, what is man understood to be but each carnal person? And what is designated by the name of 'wood' but the life of each just man? For a tree hath hope; if it be cut down, it groweth green again, because when the just man in the death of his passion is afflicted for the truth, he is restored in the greenness of eternal life. And he who here grew green through faith, there grows green through sight. And its branches sprout, because very often from the passion of the just, all the faithful are multiplied to the love of the heavenly homeland, and receive the greenness of the spiritual life, while they rejoice that they have here acted bravely for God. It follows: