Exposition on Proverbs

Structure and Definitions§1

The Role of Fear and Wisdom§2

2It signifies knowledge. For this is the habit of the Holy Spirit, to name God and his angels, and the mind and virtue and knowledge, and evil and ignorance, and the devil and his angels, by many names. He does not set down the names simply, as some think; for these are recognitions of diverse activities, of God through his angels working in us and us in him, and of demons toward us and us toward them.

The possession of the just is wisdom and understanding and prudence; for it is said to possess wisdom and to possess understanding, and he who possesses prudence loves himself. But the impious seize this possession, persuading the just man to do something of those forbidden by God, so that the mind, being blinded by sin, might fall from these holy possessions.

These they plunder, whom the demons conquer, taking from them the armor of God: the helmet and the breastplate and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Eph 6:17). These are co-heirs of the adversaries, those grasping the same evil for themselves. And that which is not of the one God is common.

A net is an eternal punishment from the just Judge, being brought to the impure souls toward destruction, through the badly fleeing wings from them. He names as 'exit' the soul coming out from evil and ignorance; and such also is the exit of the sons of Israel, which has come to pass after the occurrence of the judgment and teaching of God.

And he calls the same soul 'broad'; for he says, 'Widen your mouth, and let it be filled' (Psalm 81:10), and 'Widen yourselves then also' (2 Corinthians 6:13), in the letter to the Corinthians by Paul. And by the soul exiting in this way, wisdom is praised; but in the soul being widened through virtues, it leads to boldness.

And he calls its highest wall the highest dispassion; 'If those loving the law surround themselves with a wall,' David also prays over such a wall, saying, 'Let the walls of Jerusalem be built' (Psalm 51:18), that is, the fallen things of such a soul, clearly from the expression of Uriah. And he calls the virtues of the wise 'gates of the mighty.' For he says, 'Open to me the gates of righteousness' (Psalm 118:19); and 'The mighty are hot-tempered, let them drink no wine' (Proverbs 31:4). Text ends abruptly..

Lest the unskillful overlook wisdom, and the weak be unable to judge rightly. How then does Solomon say before the end: 'Shall he not be acquitted who rejoices at the destruction of the one perishing?' (Proverbs 17:5). Or perhaps wisdom rejoices in this way, as it rejoiced at the destruction of Matthew the tax collector and at the destruction of the thief who believed in Christ; for wisdom destroyed the thief, but destroyed the tax collector.

Moral instruction is a siege, overturning a soul that has been badly built up. If it is up to us to want to attend to the purposes of wisdom and not to want to attend to them, we have become masters of our own will. Similar to this is: 'If you will and will hear me, you shall eat the good things of the earth; but if you will not, nor will you hear me, a sword shall fall upon you; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things' (Isaiah 1:19-20).

Just as infants are among the righteous and the unrighteous, so all men are among angels and demons, neither being demons nor angels making money, until the completion of the age. The dispassionate one rests without fear from every evil thought. This one hides the commandment of God, the one doing it, even if the demons are said to snatch us away by making us not forgive it.

Now he calls the voice the dispassion of the soul; for this has a nature of calling upon the knowledge of God. So also David says: 'With my voice I cried to the Lord' (Psalm 142:1), and again: 'Give heed to the voice of my supplication' (Psalm 5:2). Then you will understand how the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Psalm 111:10), and how knowledge of God becomes a guest. But one must pre-exist in wisdom and understanding, so as to be able to comprehend the fear of the Lord; and let us add these things to those who despise wisdom and understanding, but to those wishing to flee toward fearing God, as toward an easy thing.

The commandments of God are axes that drive us toward the knowledge of God. And David says: 'Because of this, I have performed all your commandments' (Psalm 119:128). The holy angels say all things faithfully; but men, some things faithfully and some things unfaithably; but the devil, nothing faithful, instead of being worthy of not-faith. For he says, 'the devil is a man now,' if a wicked man has sown weeds. If purpose is a movement of what kind of mind, how has this left behind the instruction of youth? And how...

Wisdom, Nature, and the Soul§3

The Nature of Virtue and Knowledge§4

4Every passionate thought and every rejected false knowledge. These many ways lead to one single way, which says: 'I am the way' (John 14:6). But the virtues that lead to the knowledge of Christ have spoken of many ways. The place of this army is wickedness and pseudo-knowledge.

If the Lord gives sleep to his beloved, but the impious are not his beloved, then the Lord does not give sleep to the impious. From this it is also possible to show that even the demons do not possess the nature to sleep. From this we know what the army of the opposing power is fed by; for they say its grain is impiety and its wine is lawlessness.

Our virtues go before us and enlighten us, until the sun of righteousness (Malachi 4:2) shines its day upon us. The impious do not even know the manner in which they sin, nor do they know the cause from which they stumble; they do not even know this, that they act lawlessly, which is the mark of ultimate folly.

He calls the virtues springs, from which they generate the living water, which is the knowledge of Christ. And David says that the springs of the waters were seen and the foundations of the world were uncovered, according to the manifestation of our Savior Christ. Those who have dispassionate thoughts and true doctrines, these see rightly.

For virtue is a mean; therefore they say that courage is between boldness and cowardity; but now he calls 'right' not those things which are naturally right, but those things which appear right because of pleasures. For he says the north is a harsh wind, but it is called 'skillful' by name; saying 'north' symbolically for the evil one, from whom all the evils on earth were kindled. This agrees with: 'Unless the Lord builds the house and guards the city' (Psalm 127:1), and so on.

Tears signify pleasure, from which impurity is brought forth; from which wickedness and ignorance are born, of which nothing is found more bitter among existing things. He spoke of the harlot above, but now he named folly. For those descending into Hades after death, David prays, saying: 'The living descended into Hades' (Psalm 55:15). If the paths are not well-known, it is well said: 'They do not know how they stumble' (Proverbs 4:19). He said 'way' in this...

One sees the mind proceeding toward virtue; perhaps virtue stands as a guard to separate us from wickedness. Here we recognize that the irascible part prevails in the demons; for anger is unmerciful, he says, and wrath is sharp. Through wicked deeds, the evil ones crush the flesh of Christ and consume the blood, regarding it as common; for he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life (John 6:54), and I will raise him up on the last day (John 6:54). There was a time when wickedness was not, and there will be a time when it shall not be; but there was a time when virtue was not, and there shall be a time when it shall not be; for the seeds of virtue are never entirely exhausted.

This also convinces me: having become almost, though not perfectly, everything wicked, and the rich man having become wretched in Hades through wickedness and pitying his brothers; for to pity turns out to be the most beautiful seed of virtue. Knowledge is both a well and a spring; for to those approaching, virtue seems to be a deep well, but to the dispassionate and the pure, it is a spring; even so the Savior sat by the spring, when it was about the sixth hour (John 4:6); and the Samaritan woman calls it a well; for she says, 'Lord, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep' (John 4:11). The woman here signifies the knowledge of God; and this was given to us from youth, for which Solomon speaks of a teaching in youth: 'My son, let not evil counsel take hold of you' (Proverbs 1:10), saying this as one who has left behind the teaching of youth and a divine testament, calling the devil one who counsels wickedly.

Forgetfulness and the loss of knowledge and possession are second evils; just as sickness is the worst of health, and death is the second of life. At the same time, this must also be understood: that regarding the same knowledge, it is called mother, wife, and sister; it is called mother because the one who taught me through it has brought me into being, as Paul did through the gospel in Galatians (Galatians 4:19); it is called wife because, being joined to me, it brings forth virtues and correct doctrines, just as wisdom brings forth prudence to a man; and it is called sister because both I and it have come from the one God and Father; for he says, 'I have said that your wisdom is your sister.' If grace and friendship set free, virtue and knowledge set free the rational soul; for grace and friendship are virtue and knowledge. If the deer is born of friendship, and the foal is born of grace,

The Ant Analogy and the Honey of Words§5

5The deer is a symbol of contemplation, and the foal is of dispassion; for the one is destined to come from virtues, and the other from knowledge. Virtue and the knowledge of God are proper to the rational nature. To be many is to possess a multitude of theorems; but a multitude is that which is being benefited.

Regarding 'Be not much toward strangeness' (Proverbs 5:20), some think it is said concerning external wisdom, for which it is not necessary to spend time because of the hidden deceits; others will take it concerning evil, and will interpret being 'not much' toward it as follows: that it is not possible for a man, being a man, to entirely abstain from evil thoughts, but it is possible not to linger in them; and that he calls 'stranger's embraces' the evil thoughts which seize the soul and do not escape the God who knows the heart.

Everyone who guarantees Christ, the friend of the apostles, as righteousness and truth, delivers his own soul to those enemies who are accustomed to war against men because of their friendship toward the Savior; for friendship is spiritual, the knowledge of God, by which also the saints are called friends of God; so also John the Baptist was a friend of the Bridegroom, and Moses and the apostles; for he says, 'I no longer call you servants' (John 15:15). He says, 'but friends through prayers and supplications and your friend whom I will guarantee,' saying: 'Keep me, Lord, from the hand of a sinner, and rescue me from an unrighteous man, and because of my enemies do not deliver me into the hands of those distressing me; for because of you we are being killed all day long, and we were counted as sheep for slaughter' (Psalm 44:22).

Sin is a sleep of the soul in terms of energy; but drowsiness is the first unclean thought established in the soul; therefore even before drowsiness, the word calls it sleep. For he says it was said to the ancients: 'You shall not murder' (Exodus 20:13), but I say 'You shall not be angry.' And here, for it seems to me, the law forbids sleep; but drowsiness is forbidden by the gospel...

The joy of Christ: for one cuts off sin in action, while the other cuts off the evil first established in thought. It is to be noted here that he calls the natural, harmonious movement of the ant wisdom; for indeed the wiser of the wise is called wiser.

And how is it that he is not under a master, if the five universes are slaves of God? Or is God ever called master in two ways, as Creator and as one who is known? Therefore also Paul writes: 'But now, having been freed from sin and having become slaves to God (clearly according to virtue and knowledge), you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end eternal life' (Romans 6:22). If the ant, being irrational, is unworthy of such an end, it is clear that he is also free from such a slavery. It is therefore well said that the ant is not under a master according to this kind of mastery; and yet he is again under a master, as having God as Creator.

Through the ant, it seems Solomon outlines the practical path for us, but through the bee, he signifies the contemplation of events and of the one who made them, which both the pure and the impure, and the wise and the foolish, bring toward the health of the soul. And it seems to me that the preacher of their discourse holds the word, while the honey remaining to him is a symbol of their contemplation. And the preacher shall pass away; for heaven and earth, they say, shall pass away (Matthew 24:35); but the honey shall not pass away; for neither shall the words of our Savior Christ pass away. Concerning which Solomon says: 'Pleasant are words of honey, and sweetness to the throat' (Proverbs 16:24). And David: 'How sweet are your words to my throat, sweeter than honey to my mouth' (Psalm 119:103).

He named the result of toil 'toil of toils.' This sleep is destined to happen only to the rational soul; for it signifies here evil and ignorance, of which wakefulness produces something. Poverty is a deprivation of knowledge; and want is a scarcity of virtues.

The Nature and Deception of Vice§6

6One must be careful here, lest the opponents ever recognize our own thoughts being nourished through these bodily movements, since we have believed God alone to be the knower of hearts. Everyone who eats the flesh of Christ and drinks his blood acquires righteous blood, the loss of which is said to cause the rational soul to die; for he says that the soul that sins, it itself shall die (Ezekiel 18:4). And if there is righteous blood, it is evident that there is also unjust blood; which is what those who devour the given food among the Ethiopian peoples gather within themselves, being nourished by the bread of falsehood. And some, sacrificing to foreign gods, consume their own righteous blood, while others, offering themselves as a sacrifice to the only God, destroy unjust blood. But the generation of righteous blood will certainly follow the corruption of unjust blood, and the generation of unjust blood will follow the corruption of righteous blood. But this is the way it has become by nature, not from the beginning; for righteousness did not come about through the corruption of evil, just as health does not come about through the corruption of disease, since children are born after health from the beginning.

They are brothers who have the gift of adoption and have Christ as father under the same, whom the witness of injustice attempts to separate, casting disturbances and judgments upon them. The 'burning up,' I think, will be added because of the passionate thoughts, kindling the spirit toward anger and hatred, and desire toward shameful works. These very thoughts the holy Paul also named the fiery arrows of the evil one, piercing the soul and working death (Ephesians 6:16). He urges the mother to be approached, who is the wisdom that gave birth to us according to God. Yet it was necessary for him to speak of the father; for he is more suitable for being in union with the son. But since it is not possible for him to know God before the contemplation of things having happened, for this reason he urges the mother to be approached and not the father, so that through the mother the son may see the father; for if she does not give birth to him, he does not see the light, which is the knowledge of God. Because the commandment of the law is a lamp and a light (Proverbs 6:23), and perhaps the old covenant is a lamp; for it was the lamp that was burning and shining, but the new covenant is light; for he says, 'I am the light' (John 8:12).

of the world. For such is the pleasure of vice, as much as a single loaf of bread. This one unbinds the fire in the belly, he who permits the unclean thought to linger in the heart to corrupt the righteous thoughts. And this one walks upon coals, he who through the energy of sin destroys his own soul.

He calls vice an adulterous woman; for the devil is her husband, begetting with her lawless children. And the Savior in the gospels to the Jews says, 'You are of your father the devil' (John 8:44). But if one is caught by true knowledge, he will cast away all false knowledge, he who formerly through deficiency of knowledge was stealing from the foolishness of our Savior's wisdom. Everyone who has shared in vice is an adulterer of the devil, he who first rejoiced in vice and from the beginning became a murderer.

Here he shows that we have the devil as an accuser of the things done to us on the day of judgment; and this is also what the holy Paul says: 'If the adversary falls into temptation, having nothing trivial to say about us' (Titus 2:8). If through the transgression of the law someone dishonors God, by doing so making it manifest that he honors God. Wisdom is our sister, because he who made the incorporeal nature is a father and has made this; but here he calls wisdom not the Son of God, but the contemplation of bodies and incorporeal things and the judgment and providence in them; the vision of which is also prudence and knowledge, and instruction and understanding.

Words that are thrown into one's mind for the sake of pleasure are passionate thoughts. He now calls the flesh of man a door; for through this the evil one works his snares for men, those who wish to walk the broad way and wide, leading toward destruction (Matt 7:13). But here one must pay attention to what Solomon says concerning vice, that it is not this vice that leads man in the beginning toward evil, nor does it compel him to go through the passages of her house, or to approach a corner, or to speak in the evening darkness; but if he sees someone giving himself over to pleasures, immediately he encounters it, having the appearance of a prostitute, which causes the hearts of the young to be deceived. He names the nocturnal silence and the dark state of the soul as unclean, through which sin is unfolded through the body.

Wisdom, Knowledge, and the Nature of Spiritual Food§7

Exegesis of Proverbs§8

8If they are natural, how are they didactic? Or perhaps he calls the fear of the Lord the teaching concerning the fear of the Lord, which teaches us how we must turn away from wickedness; unless everyone turns from evil by the fear of the Lord.

And again, he names shame the discourses concerning repentance and shame which lead us into the sensation of our own sins; thus also the Levite says: 'I will behold the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you established' (Ps 8:3); that is, I will behold the discourses concerning heaven, moon, and stars. 'Seize sweetly the bread of secrets' Scholion. 'Bread of falsehood was sweet to them; and after this their stomach shall be filled with gravel.' But flee, do not settle in: It is not necessary to settle the mind with worthless notions; for no one will carry fire in his bosom, nor will he burn his garments. And do not drink from a foreign spring: Just as with God there is a spring of life, so with the devil there is a spring of death; and if the spring of God is a spring of virtue and knowledge, then clearly the spring of the devil is a spring of wickedness and ignorance; and likewise it must be considered regarding rivers, wells, waters, and rains.

8 'Lawless treasures will not profit': Lawless treasures will not profit, those which they have treasured upon the earth, where even your food perishes, and where thieves break in and steal. 9 'He will overturn the life of the ungodly': If the life of the ungodly is wickedness, and the Lord will overturn this, then clearly the ungodly will one day not be ungodly; for after this overturning, the Lord will deliver the kingdom to God and Father, so that God may become all in all (1 Cor 15:28). 10 'Unrestrained instruction wanders': He names as unrestrained instruction the evil governance of the soul, which becomes a wandering stranger to it. 11 'Unjust lips cover enmity': He means enmity as wickedness, for through this we become enemies of God. For if being enemies, as Paul says, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son (Romans 5:10); but if enmity is wickedness, then friendship is virtue and knowledge is that of God, through which we become friends of God and of the holy powers; for upon this friendship, those who are his are friends of one another. 12 'But the desire of the righteous is acceptable': Lord, against you all...

"My desire," 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, these days are parts of wisdom being produced under the sun of righteousness; for which things also David prays, saying, "Do not bring me down in the half of days" (Psalm 102:24). But these days Abraham also having fulfilled, died, concerning which it is said, "And Abraham died old and full of days" (Gen 25:8). "The righteous will not be given the age": meaning the age instead of the life; and Paul says, "I will not eat flesh forever, so that I might not scandalize my brother" (1 Corinthians 8:13), calling the age the duration co-existing with the constitution of his life.

But the mouth of the impious is turned away: the mouth has now turned the mind. To those to whom there is no governance: being tossed about by every wind of teaching and shipwrecked concerning the faith. He hates the sound of security: he called the words concerning salvation a sound of security. But the merciful one exhausts his own body: here the body spoke against the soul. And Christ in the Gospels calls the soul "body," saying, "The lamp of the body is the eye" (Matt 6:22); having said lamp, he meant the mind, for it is receptive of knowledge. But "body" is the irascible and desiring part of the soul, which some call the irrational part, and some the passionate part.

He who strikes hand to hand unjustly is not caught: this one strikes hand to hand unjustly, being a teacher of evil deeds and dogmas; and this one sows righteousness, being one who brings forward words concerning virtue and the knowledge of God. "Those who sow their own make more": to those sowing their own and making more, those gathering and diminishing oppose; but if those sowing their own are those sowing into the spirit and reaping life, those gathering are those sowing into the flesh and gathering destruction to themselves. "The one who hoards grain is accursed." This is similar to that which is said by our Savior in the Gospels: "No one, having lit a lamp, puts it under a bushel, but on the lampstand, and it shines for all those in the house" (Matt 5:15). "He who seeks to build good things is acceptable": if building is a work of good things and practicing is a work of good things, the practicing...

Exposition of Proverbs§9–10

9It is the carpenter's work. A tree of life grows from the fruit of righteousness: This tree of life is the one planted in the midst of paradise, which Adam is prevented from touching after the sin, having cast away the seeds of righteousness, from which the tree of life grows. But a lawless man shall be silent: 'Do not cast me off from myself,' says David (Psalm 51:11), 'and I shall be like those descending into the pit.'

93 Wealth is stored up for the righteous of those sinning: The wealth of the impious is wickedness. But the righteous will consume it, clearly through good teaching, whether now or even in the age to come, having become more than fifteen cities (Luke 19:17). And Paul says: 'According to your hardness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God' (Romans 2:5).

And wise lips are weapons of perception: For nothing evil opposes wisdom, because it is an invincible weapon; for only against it are the demons able. The houses of the lawless shall owe a cleansing: So that, having become pure, they may see God; for this is the blessed end, which has been preserved for every rational nature.

And from his thoughts, a good man: 'Thoughts' now means the habits of the virtues, just as it was set against the paths of the impudent. But the cunning ones will hold perception. He set wickedness against perception; but if wickedness opposes virtue, 'perception' now signifies virtue. In increasing righteousness, much strength: 'Unless your righteousness abounds more than that of the Pharisees and scribes, you will by no means enter the kingdom of the heavens' (Matthew 5:20).

But those who hate reproofs shall end shamefully: 'Reproofs' now means the commandments; for these reprove us when sinning. But the good ones are at rest always: Quiet is the abstention from wickedness. Paths of life are the thoughts of the prudent: 'Paths of life' says the practical virtues which lead to knowledge. And through these also the enemies...

Friends are made: as Paul preached, those who were once enemies were reconciled to God through the death of his Son. However, one must take care whether all enemies become friends through the righteous, so that Christ might also say to all, 'I no longer call you servants, but friends' (John 15:15).

A king's lips are a divination (Proverbs 16:10): Christ is the Knower of Hearts, and he will judge the inhabited world in righteousness. Smokes of wisdom are more excellent than gold: knowledge is wisdom above gold, and knowledge of prudence is above silver.

He who guards reproofs will be a sophist: by reproofs he means the commandments of God; for these reproof us when we are sinning. But the education of fools is evil: he has now named that uncontrollable education as the education of fools; but if the education of fools is evil, then the uncontrollable education is foolishness.

And he will carry epistemic-knowledge upon his lips: he called knowledge epistemic-knowledge because it recognizes all things. A crooked man sends out evils (Proverbs 16:28): the Word attempts to make the demons, learning from the devil, try to approach the saints and tempt them, separating them from the knowledge which has been able to bind them to friendship with the heavenly powers. Solomon, as I think, has also revealed this very thing through this proverb, calling Satan a crooked man, describing the evil demons going about with deceits instead of being taught, and the saints being bound to one another through knowledge.

This is a furnace of wickedness: the wind of drought fans out the flame of this furnace. Everything comes into the bosom of the unrighteous: it should be noted that here he has spoken of the bosom of the hearts of the unrighteous; but I think that the bosom also signifies the mind or the knowledge everywhere; and if there is also a 'false bosom,' it will signify ignorance. A wise servant...

Exegesis of Proverbs§11–12

11easily changeable

After saying, 'I am the life,' just as death is born from audacity, so life is born from meekness, for meekness stands in opposition to audacity. Fear casts down the slothful: fear casts down the slothful, meaning either the fear of the enemy or the fear of the Lord, which separates them from sloth through good works. And effeminate souls shall hunger: an effeminate person is one unable to teach another and desiring to learn from another.

He who does not discipline himself in his own works is a brother to him who wallows in himself: And Paul says, 'If therefore anyone cleanses himself, he will be a vessel useful to the master' (2 Tim 2:21). The name of the Lord is a strength of greatness: The name of the Lord signifies the knowledge of God; and the righteous run to Him through upright living, but through contemplation they are exalted.

Before crushing, the heart of a man is exalted: Just as crushing follows pride, so glory follows humility. He who answers a word before hearing, it is folly to him and a reproach: Use this saying for those who have not received knowledge from God, yet attempt to teach others. And David says, 'To hear the sound of your praise, and then to recount your wonders to others' (Psalm 26:7): And again Solomon says, 'Yes, my eyes have seen' (Eccl 11:7).

Who will esteem a man of little soul? Just as our Lord is said to become a leopard rushing toward those who trample, and a stone of stumbling to those who disobey, so also the man of little soul is toward those who sin; yet one may call the evil man and all the demons 'little-souled' because they have fallen away from virtue and knowledge.

A man's dome expands him: The upright life is now called a man's dome, which provides for him and expands him and provides what is worthy of the fullness of God; which he calls the seat of the holy powers; for the mind is a seat, an excellent state, maintaining the one seated, difficult to move or immovable. A lot stops contention: Knowledge stops ignorance; for this is the lot of the rational nature.

Death and life are in the hands (LXX: hands) of the tongue: Here he says the soul is receptive to death and life, from which we fashion that which is within its own power. He who found a useful wife, found grace: He who...

12He found good wisdom; he found grace. But he who holds a net is a fool and impious; and he who holds onto wickedness is a fool and impious.

Wealth adds many friends: wealth of knowledge and wisdom adds to us many friendly angels; but the unclean one is separated from the angel given to him from childhood; for spiritual friendship is virtue and knowledge of God, through which we are joined to holy angelic friendships by divine powers, if repentant men become causes of joy to the angels. Thus also the Savior calls his servants friends at last, having deemed them worthy of the greater vision. Thus also Abraham, having become rich in that mystical knowledge, sets a table for the friends appearing to him at midday. But Saul is separated even from his existing friend because of wickedness; for it is written: 'And the Spirit of God departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord tormented Saul' (1 Sam 16:14); 'a spirit of the Lord' saying the angel: 'For he says the Maker makes his angels spirits, and his ministers a flaming fire' (Ps 104:4). Since also angels watch over men, the Lord teaches in the Gospels: 'See,' saying, 'do not despise one of these little ones, for their angels always see the face of my Father in heaven' (Matt 18:10). And again Jacob: 'The angel who delivers me from all evils' (Gen 48:16). And Zechariah: 'And the angel was speaking in me' (Zechariah 1:9). But he who accuses unjustly shall not escape: Those who, being ignorant of the words concerning judgment and providence, blaspheme the Creator, these accuse unjustly; and again, those who, being troubled by their own passions, think virtue to be impossible, these accuse Him who gave the law unjustly.

A good concept draws near to those who know it: He now named the knowledge of God 'concept,' and those who know it, the pure in heart. But he who provokes the words shall not be saved: Passionate thoughts provoke the soul toward wickedness. Luxury does not benefit a fool: Neither intellectual luxury nor sensual luxury benefits the fool; for he will trample the former with his feet, being a lover of pigs; and by the sensual luxury, his flesh will be moved. A merciful man is patient, but his boast comes to nothing...

If one boasts rightly in the Lord, and our Lord is wisdom, then the one boasting thus boasts rightly in wisdom. The boasting of the long-suffering and merciful—which is his wisdom and his knowledge—comes upon the lawless, freeing them from wickedness, now somewhat and necessarily in the age to come.

The threat of a king is like a lion's roar: Our Lord becomes a consuming fire and an angry lion toward those sinning, burning wood, brush, and reed, and consuming the flesh that wages war against the spirit; but toward those walking uprightly, he is light and dew, showing them the words of things that have happened, and quenching the inflamed arrows of the evil one, and refreshing the heat that comes from practice.

Not pure thanks from a prostitute's reward: He named the unclean soul a prostitute; and regarding this, he called the reward the condition, from which they do not become pure prayers.

Fathers divide house and substance: To teach the sons about virtue and the knowledge of God is the work of fathers; but to give wisdom to the children is the work of the Lord; for there he calls wisdom a wife: For he says, 'She loved wisdom, and she will keep you; honor her, so that she may take hold of you.'

He who keeps a commandment keeps his own soul: The commandments are called commandments as toward the God who commands; but as toward the mind walking in them, they are called ways; and again, because the commandments were given upon the witnesses of heaven and earth (Deuteronomy 30:19), they are called testimonies; therefore also he who received them is named a witness, who, having not lied about them, will not be dishonored.

According to his gift he will repay him: He named now the purity of heart a gift; for by analogy of our dispassion we are deemed worthy of knowledge.

A man of evil mind will suffer much loss: I think the great loss contains the deprivation of the contemplation of things that have happened, and the addition of the soul is the destruction of the natural notions concerning God, the whole of which falls into irrationality. And the Savior says in the Gospels: 'What will a man profit, if he gains the whole world and loses his soul and is harmed?' (Matt 16:26). But here the loss is ignorance.

The Law of Consequences and Divine Nature§13

13It manifests things of bodies and things incorporeal; and the loss demonstrates the ultimate irrationality. So that one becomes wise in old age: After right conduct comes knowledge; for the 'end things' here does not mean time, but purity that comes after the practical virtues.

The fear of the Lord is unto life for a man (Proverbs 14:27), but the wanderer will stumble in places where the age is not observed. The fear of the Lord is unto life for a man, and the fear of the Lord is discipline and wisdom; the life of the man is discipline and wisdom. But Christ says: 'I am the life' (John 14:6); therefore Christ is discipline and wisdom. To know, then, discipline and wisdom is to know Christ; so the one without fear will be in evil and ignorance, in which Christ is not.

He who hides his hands in his bosom unjustly, nor with his mouth will he ever bring them forth: He who does not rightly, hides the hands unjustly in his soul, not wishing to work his own land nor to be filled with bread; for the practical virtues have a logic, bringing the bread to our mouths, the one descended from the heavens and giving life to the world.

He who dishonors a father and pushes away a mother will be ashamed and will be a reprobate: Through the transgression of the law he dishonors God, and he pushes away the mother, who is the discipline; if a righteous man is born unto life, and righteousness consists of all the virtues. A son left to fail in keeping the discipline of a father will meditate bad sayings: The impure thoughts are bad sayings being born in the soul of one who has not kept the commandments of the heavenly Father.

Unrestrained wine and insolent drunkenness: If their wine is the wrath of dragons, and the wine is unrestrained, then the wrath is unrestrained, making men unrestrained, and the anger is insolent; for this drunkenness is accustomed to come from a boiling wrath. If, however, Nazirites abstain from wine according to the law, then the Nazirites are outside of wrath...

It is established as law. Neither the threat of a king nor the fury of a lion differs (LXX: not). Here Christ is spoken of as a king in opposition; for he, provoked by sins, sins against his own soul.

Likewise, the one lending grain in a year of famine: If it is possible to borrow grain in a year of famine, it is also possible to borrow spiritual grain in the age to come from those who worked their own land in the six years and fed the widow and the orphan in the seventh year. He will leave his children blessed: those whom he has brought forth according to virtue.

A father or mother being slandered, a lamp will be extinguished: The same Christ is able, in thought, to be both father and mother; father to those possessing the spirits of adoption, but mother to those needing milk and not solid food; for the Christ speaking in Paul became a father to the Ephesians, revealing mysteries of wisdom to them, but a mother to the Corinthians, giving them milk to drink.

A part being studied in the first stages: It may for a time moisten your throat with part, but later you will find it more bitter with bile. Do not say: I will strike the enemy: Do not say this, moved by pride: I alone will fight the enemies, but endure the Lord so that he may help you. And David says: I trust not in my bow, and my sword shall not save me (Psalm 44:6); and again: A false horse toward salvation (Psalm 33:17); and if the Lord builds not a house, and keeps not a city (Psalm 127:1).

A great and small weight and double measures, both are an abomination (LXX: unclean) before the Lord (Proverbs 20:10): I think that what is called a great and small weight by some is considered reckless; and I think that a great and small weight is any total excess or deficiency; for both are evils. Double measures: He who intends to suffer well from another, but does not pre-meditate to similarly refresh others, has double measures, not obeying the commandment which says: All that you want men to do to you, all so do you to them (Matthew 7:12).

Exegesis of Proverbs on Virtue and Vice§14

14And you also do the same to them. An ear hears and an eye sees: It is not the eye seeing badly that is the work of the Lord, but the seeing; and it is not the ear hearing badly that is the work of the Lord, but the hearing. And the same must be said concerning the other members of the body. Use this saying against those who accuse us of this body and who insult the Creator.

Open your eyes and be filled with bread: Through virtues we open the eyes of the soul, and through the wisdom of intelligible things we are filled with bread. And how can a mortal understand (LXX: know) his own ways: A mortal cannot understand the ways of the Lord if he has not yet died together with Christ.

A wise man is a swift snare to ungodly men: Repentance toward good things does not happen to the righteous but to the unrighteous; yet the unrighteous did not expect anything from God without consideration; for after praying, repentance occurs. And a deceitful yoke is not good before Him: The mind, which is naturally disposed to judge things rightly, is called a deceitful yoke when it swerves by the inclination of the will.

A wise man is a winnower of an ungodly king: Separating the chaff from the sieve. And he sets a wheel upon them: Make them as a wheel. The light of the Lord is the breath of men: If the light of the Lord is the knowledge of the Lord, and the light of the Lord is the breath of men, then the knowledge of the Lord is the breath of men. He named the devil, who seems to be in ignorance, a lamp, emptying the mind of good things and transforming himself into an angel of light.

To do justice and to speak truth is more pleasing to the Lord than the blood of sacrifices: This saying casts out the sacrifice through irrational animals; for a sacrifice to God is a crushed spirit. But His works are pure and right: If the works of God are pure and right, and one of His works is the mind, then the mind was created pure and right by the Lord.

It is better to dwell in a corner of the open air than in dusty places with iniquity (LXX: injustice) and in a common house: He set the open-air corner against the dusty and common house; but if the dusty and common house is evil, the open-air corner is virtue; therefore, an open-air corner is a practice of contemplation, touching and being illuminated by the sun of righteousness.

Paul has spoken well of the high priest of the Jews as a wall having been plastered, to be struck by God; and the Savior in the gospels has spoken of the Pharisees as tombs having been plastered. Also well did he speak of the stone at the corner, where the stone lies which was rejected by the builders and having become a head of the corner; and he has spoken commonly of that which is not of the one God.

A secret gift subverts passions: a gift is secret, so that what the right hand does the left hand may not know. A man wandering from the way of righteousness will rest in a gathering of giants: the gathering of giants is malice and ignorance.

It is better to dwell in a desert land than with a woman angry and contentious: and David says, 'In a desert land and uncultivated and waterless, so I appeared to you in holiness' (Psalm 63:1). A desert land is therefore the virtue which does not have the old men dwelling in it, those decaying according to the desires of deception; therefore the devil does not even find rest in it, if he passes through waterless places seeking rest and does not find it; for he himself is king of all those in the waters. And again regarding wisdom, he says the habits of its houses are sighs. If this is so, is not also the woman who is contentious and talkative and angry malice, which makes the one living with her contentious and talkative and angry.

A desirable treasure will rest upon the mouth of a wise man: The wisdom of the Lord will rest in the heart of a wise man (Proverbs 15:13, 15:33); but foolish men destroy it. A wise man ascended fortified cities: Wisdom is a fortified city, in which the wise dwell, pulling down reasonings and every exaltation being lifted up against the knowledge of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). He who guards his mouth and his tongue preserves his soul from tribulation: Mouth and tongue, soul and mind; for by 'soul' they mean anger and desire, which some call the passionate part of the soul.

An impious man all the day desires evil desires: For angels, never to desire evil desires; for men, sometimes to desire and sometimes not to desire evil desires; but for demons, always to desire evil desires. For 'all the day' signifies through life. Such is also 'be in the fear of the Lord all the day' (Proverbs 23:17), instead of 'through life.' A horse is prepared for a day of war (Proverbs 21:31): A horse...

The Soul as Court and the Slanderer§15

15He says, 'the mind shall mount upon your horses, and your cavalry shall be salvation.' And regarding Paul, the Lord says, 'to bear my name.'

A name more excellent than much wealth: He said that the virtue signified by the proper name is beautiful; for this is the beautiful name, which possesses the signified good. In this way, we shall not praise an unjust woman even if she is called justice, but rather the one possessing justice, even if she is named injustice.

A rich man and a poor man met one another, and the Lord made both of them equal. The one rich man purifies his anger through almsgiving, cultivating love; the one poor man is trained to be humble through his poverty.

The generation of wisdom is the fear of the Lord: These are the generations of Noah; these are the generations of Abraham. Snares and pits in crooked paths: And the Lord says to Adam, 'the earth shall bring up thorns and snares for you' (Genesis 3:18), that is, the soul. But he says thorns and snares mean sins, from which even the crown of Christ was struck; for he himself took away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

The rich shall rule over the poor (Proverbs 22:7): In the age to come, those having been enriched in every way, in all knowledge and all wisdom, shall rule over the unclean and the deprived of this wealth. And who are the servants and who are the masters, it is not necessary to publish now, because the word concerning them is mystical and deeper.

But the futility of his works shall complete: The Lord completes the futility of works through virtue and knowledge. He acquires victory and honor, he who gives gifts: He calls the virtues the gifts of man, through which, conquering the devil, he presents himself as precious to God, and his own soul is snatched away from those who have possessed it, from the demons.

Cast out a plague from the council, and strife shall come out with him: He called the governing state a council, from which the wise Solomon wishes to cast out man through spiritual teaching; and the strife signifies contention. But he may also mean the plague as the devil, whom it is necessary to drive away from the soul; for if he sits within it, through impurity he dishonors all the righteous thoughts.

The apostle also shows the soul as a tribunal, through which accusing thoughts are brought in and defending thoughts are brought in; for he says that thoughts are accusing or defending one another. Where there is accusation and defense, there is a tribunal.

A king shepherds with a rod: The Lord, who preserves our souls, himself shepherds us through spiritual knowledge, which knowledge the one transgressing his law despises. It should be noted that Christ, being a king, is said to shepherd us through condescension; for he says, 'I am the good shepherd' (John 10:11). But if he is a king over kings and a shepherd of sheep, he will at some time be only a king, the dignity of one having passed over into the royal.

The sluggard is faced with a lion in the paths: Our enemy the devil prowls like a lion seeking someone to swallow up (1 Peter 5:8), whom the sluggard, fearing, avoids in the work of virtues. He who is hated by the Lord will fall into him: Job did not fall into him because he was hated by the Lord, but because of testing.

A rod and instruction are far from him: The rod from the root of Jesse is far from the heart of the foolish (Isaiah 11:1). The slanderer does many evils of his own to the poor: Just as the devil slanders us, taking from us the virtues which he did not give to us, so also we slander him, taking from him the evils which we did not give to him. And just as we take the evils from him as if from a poor man in virtues, so also we give our virtues to him to our own diminishment, as if we were giving to a rich man in evil. One of the elders used to say that we are the slanderers, slandering Christ, who became poor because of us and owed nothing to us, yet we take much from him and give to Satan to the debasement of our souls.

Compare yourself with wise words: This one hears the words of God, the one doing the things protected by them; for the hearers of the law are not righteous before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified (Romans 2:13). And you also write these things down for yourself three times in counsel and knowledge to the breadth of your heart: He who widens through purity the...

The Proverbial Exegesis§16

16His heart will perceive the words of God, both the practical, the natural, and the theological. For every matter according to the Scripture is divided into three parts: ethical, natural, and theological; and the proverbs follow the first, the Preacher the second, and the songs of the senseless the third.

Do not give yourself as a guarantee, being ashamed of your face. Those who welcome evil thoughts and honor the wicked should strive for how much power through good thoughts can restore the bad; for if they are not able to do this, they will receive the layer under the sides of the soul, which is virtue; for this is called the garment of the mind standing in righteousness, but for the one having fallen through evil thoughts, it is called a cushion. Do not shift eternal boundaries, which your fathers set. He who shifts the boundaries of godliness demonstrates either superstition or impiety; and he who shifts the boundaries of courage achieves either audacity or cowardice. Likewise also concerning the other virtues and concerning the dogmas and concerning faith itself: it must be perceived; but above all this must be kept concerning the Holy Trinity; for he who does not theologize divides the Holy Spirit by baptism; and he who names others as gods brings the multitude into gods. And if you are more unlearned, do not desire his bonds: for not all contain the more mystical intellect of the Scripture. For these things have the life of falsehood: it is necessary that the divine Scripture be perceived intellectually and spiritually; for the sensory knowledge according to history is not true.

Do not join a man with a basket. If the basket eats the wheat of impiety and drinks lawless wine, one must not join with it; therefore it is not right to be impious and lawless; for these vices defile spiritual knowledge. Say nothing to the ears of a fool: say nothing sensible, that is, deep and mystical; for it is not necessary to cast pearls before swine (Matt 7:6). Do not enter into the property of orphans: wickedness is the property of orphans, through which they were deprived of the Savior in the heavens. But rather be in the fear of the Lord all the day (Proverbs 23:17): if everyone turns away from evil through the fear of the Lord, it advises well to turn us away from...

from all evil. For if you keep these things, you will have offspring (cf. Alex. cod.): 'The righteous thoughts and the spiritual contemplations are offspring,' he said to the mind; therefore also a soul is barren which does not have these offspring, which it is nature to bring forth from the spiritual bride. And everyone who is sleepy will dress in rags: There is no wedding garment torn and in rags. And do not despise that your mother has become old: I heard one of the elders saying the soul is the mother of the mind; for this mother he says leads the mind into light through the practical virtues; but by 'soul' he meant the passionate part of the soul, which is divided into anger and desire; for through courage, he says, and temperance, we acquire wisdom and knowledge of God; and courage and temperance are virtues of anger and desire.

Do not get drunk with wine: These wines are from the vine of Sodom. Do not talk with men, but talk in walks: A mind talking in walks walks worthily of the calling wherewith it was called. For if you give your eyes to the bowls and the cups: Sin according to intellect resembles a bowl, but according to energy a cup. Later you will walk more nakedly than the proud: The proud person knocks much and does not open the place which he knocks at. But to the disciples the Lord says: Knock, and it shall be opened to you (Matt 7:7). Your eyes, when they see something foreign, then your mouth will speak crookedly: A mind having received a foreign thought will meditate on evil logismoi; but the one having kept himself will inherit life.

And like a pilot in much swell: Being tossed about by every wind of teaching. When will it be dawn?: The dawn of the soul is the knowledge of sin. After guidance comes war: Those shipwrecking regarding the faith do not fight with the spirits opposing theology after guidance; but it is possible to say this same thing regarding every virtue; for there is also shipwreck regarding temperance and regarding love and regarding freedom from greed, and regarding every dogma similarly a shipwreck happens to the catholic and apostolic church. And if it is necessary to fight with the opponents after guidance, life on the earth is near us like a naval battle. In gates the wise do not turn away from the mouth (Proverbs 24:7).

Exposition of Proverbs§17–19

17Of the Lord: The gates of the wise are the practical virtues, through which the wisdom of God enters. But impurity will be inflicted upon a man of misfortune: If virtue diminishes evil, and virtue makes evil manifest, this will happen in the age to come until evil ceases; for it has been set to be said that 'will be inflicted' instead of 'will be corrupted'; and impurity is corrupted either by practical virtue or by the punishment of severity. 'Save those being led to death and being killed without mercy, do not spare' (Proverbs 24:11). Use this word for those being granted knowledge and those being negligent of the teaching, many of whom are being led by evil into death.

'Eat honey, my son, for it is a good thing, so that your throat may be sweetened' (Proverbs 24:13). He who is being benefited from the divine writings eats honey; but he who casts out the words from the things themselves, from which even the holy prophets and apostles have received, chews wax; and to eat honey is possible for everyone who wishes, but the wax is for the pure alone.

'Do not bring near the impious thinking you are just': Do not betray God for the sake of pleasure; for this one is thought to be just, and he will by no means abandon you. 'If your enemy falls, do not rejoice': For God turns his wrath away from the fallen one, having had mercy on him; but he is angry with the one who has been puffed up over the fall of his enemy; for everyone who rejoices is like the devil, who does not want all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. It should be noted, however, that he spoke of a man here as the enemy, for whom the Lord has enjoined us to pray in the Gospels (Matthew 5:44).

'For they will not bear children of the wicked': Evil things will not produce virtues and right doctrines, for these are the offspring of the soul, because they do not fear the Lord; but those being in the fear of the Lord will have offspring all day long, and their hope will not depart. 'Fear the Lord, my son, and fear a king' (Proverbs 14:26): In order that they may know you alone...

Punishment is deprivation of dispassion and of the knowledge of God, with bodily pain; but judgment is the generation of an age, distributing to each of the rational bodies according to proportion.

18Regarding his words: For it is not possible to add to the law of the Lord, nor is it possible to take away from it. 'Make me to have long false words and long pseudonymous knowledge.' Lest, having been filled with falsehood, I become so and say, 'Who sees me?' Lest—he says—having been filled, a listener becomes arrogant, and I say, 'No one shall know my own wisdom'; lest, having been filled with unapproachable knowledge, I appear to men as a liar, saying such things as those provided with blood and flesh are not able to know.

And the seventh proverb is also well-placed: 'Lest, being in need, I steal and swear by the name of God' (Proverbs 30:9); for someone steals foreign contemplations in order to fill a starving mind. But this happened before the arrival of the Savior; but now Paul says: 'Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him work righteousness, so that having acquired knowledge he may give to the one in need' (Eph 4:28); for what and what is it that is not ours, that we should steal, we who have believed in Christ? (1 Corinthians 3:21). For all things are ours, but we are Christ's, through whom all things came to be, and Christ is God's.

Or being in need, I will steal and swear by the name of my God: This one steals knowledge, not he who takes that of the predecessor, but he who subtracts from pseudonymous knowledge. For all those who have believed in Christ, receiving contemplations from the holy prophets and apostles, are not called thieves of foreign contemplations, but rather heirs of the patrimonial goods.

Do not deliver a servant into the hands of a master: To a fleeing mind, do not again deliver it to evil, if indeed everyone doing sin is a slave of sin; and sin is now called the devil, who works sin. But upon them shall come a good blessing: The good blessing is the intelligible blessing, which is distinguished from the sensible blessing.

Prepare your works for the exodus and prepare for the field: Our Lord in the Gospels named the world a field, but Solomon has now called the field the contemplation of the world; but the one in the Gospels, the field, is that of the composition of a human soul and body, for it is sensible; whereas the one indicated here, the field, is of the mind alone, being intelligible and composed from the words of this world, into which hearts enter.

Pure things. And you will not build your house: for a house is built with wisdom; but wisdom will not enter into a soul that is ill-skilled. And the walls of its stones are being undermined: A wall is the dispassion of a rational soul, constituted from the practical virtues.

Mocking the eye of a father and dishonoring the aged mother, crows cut him out of the ravines (Proverbs 30:17): these crows mystically nourish the righteous, but they slaughter the unrighteous, gouging out the eyes of injustice, because they mocked the Father and God of all, and dishonored the ancient knowledge that begot them; and regarding the crows that gouge out the eyes of the impious, he called them ravens, but regarding those devouring him entirely, he named them eagles, because they believe in a partial purification for the former, and a total purification for the latter.

And a goat is considered a scapegoat: if the unpurified are standing as rivals on the left side of the Savior, the goat leads these; lest the goat now signifies the devil.

And the weak will not be able to judge rightly: they will not be able to teach rightly (Proverbs 31:5). Give drink to those in sorrows (Proverbs 31:5): he who is intoxicated by the potency of the master's house forgets his pains. And distinguish between the poor and the weak: poor means one lacking in knowledge, and weak means the unpurified.

The glory of God hides a word (Proverbs 25:2): he who possesses the glory of God, he called the glory of God, and he who possesses the glory of the heavenly King, he named the glory of a king; for these hide the word of God within themselves, so that they might not sin, and they honor the commands through which they perform them. Often we have noted this, that those possessing virtues and evils are named by the virtues and the evils; thus, 'The Lord is just and loved justice,' instead of 'the just'; and 'The fear of the Lord hates injustice, insolence, and pride,' that is, the unjust, the insolent, and the proud. And here again he named the one possessing the glory of God and the one possessing the glory of the king, the glory of God and the glory of a king. Or perhaps he says 'the glory of God' regarding the one glorifying God, and 'the glory of a king' regarding the one glorifying the king, so that the saying might be such: the one glorifying God hides his word, and the one...

19He who honors the king honors his commands; for he who dishonors him, through the transgression of the law, dishonors him. Cast away the impious from the presence of a king, and his throne shall be established in righteousness.

By the spiritual word, having killed the old man, the one decaying according to the desires of deception, he establishes his own mind in righteousness, which is said to be the throne of God; for nowhere else has wisdom, knowledge, and righteousness been permitted to sit, except in the rational nature; and all these are Christ. Nor does he stand in the places of the powerful.

Do not say, 'Above the stars I will set my throne, I shall be like the Most High' (Isaiah 14:13), for it is better to be spoken of regarding you by Zeus, and God exalted him, and granted him a name above every name (Philippians 2:9). Do not fall headlong into battle too quickly: through battle he struck the evil. Whenever your friend reproaches you, withdraw to the rear, do not despise: and the Savior in the Gospels reproaches the cities in which most of his powers have become, because they did not repent: 'Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida!' (Matt 11:21). Grace and friendship set free, which you have kept for yourself, so that you may not become reproachable.

Solomon more densely remembers friend and friendship; therefore it is good now to attend to the name, what friendship intends to signify: for he says, 'Grace and friendship set free.' And yet the Savior in the Gospels says to the Jews who had believed in him: 'If you remain in my word, truly you are my disciples, and the truth will set you free' (John 8:31-32). And Paul again writes: 'Christ has freed us from the curse of the law' (Gal 3:13). If therefore friendship sets free, and the truth sets free, and the Savior sets free, Christ is the truth and the friendship; whence also all those having the knowledge of Christ are friends of one another.

Thus also the Savior has called the disciples friends, and John was a friend of the Bridegroom, and Moses and all the saints; and by this only friendship are his friends and friends of one another. But guard your paths with good sociality: the one having been taught concerning virtues and acting according to them guards his paths with good sociality.

A golden apple in a sardius setting: Just as a golden apple fits a sardius, so knowledge of God fits a pure soul. Before a golden and sardius setting, much wealth is laid out; a wise word for obedient ears: Cast a precious sardius before a golden setting, and the wisdom of the Lord into a dispassionate mind. Just as the departure of snow in a drought benefits against a heat: Just as snow cools a heatwave, so the knowledge of saints dissolves the toil of the soul.

And a soft tongue crushes bones: Now he named the irascible soul soft, which crushes the bones that were endowed to speak; Lord, who is like you? Bring a small amount with your foot to your friend: It is necessary to approach theological matters sparingly and not to do this densely, lest we say something of the unsaid things concerning God, and as impious ones fall away from knowledge, the mind being unable through its own weakness to gaze continuously upon such contemplation. The way of evil and the path of lawlessness shall perish in an evil day: This is, that evil and lawlessness shall perish in the day of judgment.

Thus a fallen passion grieves the heart in the body: The passions falling upon the heart are evils; of which, by deprivation, the dispassionate one is named. Thus the sorrow of a man harms the heart: Sorrow is a choice, a deprivation of corrupt pleasure; but sorrow is praiseworthy, a deprivation of virtues and knowledge of God. For having done this, you will heap coals of fire upon his head: Through kindness and goodwill, purifying his ruling principle. But a shameless face provokes the tongue: He said the devil is a shameless face, provoking the soul; and everywhere Solomon says the tongue is the mind; therefore, this is not good to feel shame of the face in judgment.

Good news from afar from the earth: Thus knowledge of God from the earth is good. Thus the unseemly has fallen against the impious: Regarding the thoughts of the mind, its falls are called so, and its uprisings, and its descent, and its standing, and others a walk and some of its obstacles are named; and others hard and soft, and fragrant and malodorous, and sweet and bitter, and smooth and straight and crooked; and again some of its things are called thorns and...

Exegesis of Proverbs§20

20Opposites are used: light and darkness, life and death, sickness and health; and again, falsehood and truth are named; and many other names the Scripture assigns according to the soul and its thoughts. As for what it assigns to the soul, to say but a few of many, these are: mind, soul, heart, man, man (male), woman, slave, servant, father, son, spirit, eye, mouth, lips, tongue, larynx, belly, womb, arm, finger, wood, nostril, sheep, ram, shepherd, and there are many more names of the soul, which cannot now be set forth due to the kind of commentaries that do not permit long-windedness.

Here, then, a righteous mind falls before Satan, having received an impure thought or a false dogma. And David says: 'All who descend to the earth shall fall before him' (Psalm 22:29). But this fall contains true knowledge and pure thoughts. Thus, a man who does nothing by design: 'Will' here means the inclination of the heart toward the better. 'A whip for the horse, a goad for the ox, and a rod for the fool' (Proverbs 26:3). The rod is now a symbol of punishment. He who sends a word through a foolish messenger makes a dream out of his own feet: 'Do not give holy things to dogs, nor cast pearls before swine' (Matthew 7:6). Removing the path of the legs and the proverb from the mouth of fools: 'Remove the evil path of the fool, and make a long distance of false knowledge from him.' He who releases a stone from a sling is like one giving glory to a fool: 'Knowledge does not suit a fool, and a stone is worthless in a golden sling' (Proverbs 26:8).

Much is frozen in the flesh of fools, for their ecstasy is crushed: If the ecstasy of fools, by which they were beside themselves of God, is crushed, they become pure again and approach God; for all flesh shall see the salvation of God (Luke 3:6). One must note here that he names the thickened souls from the evil flesh of fools; so also the Lord says: 'My Spirit shall not remain in these men, because they are flesh' (Genesis 6:3). Just as a dog, when it falls upon its own vomit and becomes loathsome, so a fool, turning away by his own wickedness...

Having cast his wickedness and turned again to it, he is like a dog eating his own vomit (Proverbs 26:11). A lazy man, having hidden his hand in his bosom, is unable to bring it forward.

If a tree of life is nourished from the fruits of righteousness, everyone who hides righteousness with unrighteousness will not eat from this tree. Just as one who holds a dog's muzzle, so is the one presiding over an alien judgment. Use this saying for those deciding certain unworthy ones in the sanctuary or by lot. Where there is no wrath, a battle will be stilled: He said, 'The wrathful man is a hothead' (Proverbs 25:20/14:30).

Smooth lips cover a wicked heart (Proverbs 26:23): Sorrow will not seize a pure heart, for it has driven away corrupt desires from it. If the enemy entreats you with a loud voice, do not be persuaded by him: Satan sometimes entreats us, tickling us through impure thoughts and spreading himself over us with the smoothness of pleasure, and sometimes he puts forth a voice so loud as if having been defeated, as if one should not be persuaded by one having unmitigated war against us.

For there are seven evils in his heart: These evils oppose the seven spirits. A soul being in abundance plays with masters, but a soul in want finds even bitter things sweet: A pure soul enjoys knowledge; but an impure soul considers false knowledge to be true knowledge.

Thus a man is enslaved when he is made a stranger from his own places: The place of the heart is virtue and knowledge, from which, having been made a stranger, a man falls into wickedness and ignorance and becomes a slave; because everyone who does sin is a slave of sin (John 8:34). A heart delights in myrrh, wine, and incenses: A dispassionate mind delights in manifold wisdom; but a passionate mind falls into ignorances.

Do not abandon your friend and your brotherly friend (Proverbs 27:10): They abandoned me, the fountain of living water (Jeremiah 2:13), and they dug pits for themselves. If you do not enter into your brother's house in misfortune: Such was the one who entered the wedding feasts and did not have wedding clothes (Matthew 22:11). A near friend is better than a brother living far away (Proverbs 27:10): Better is the one joined to me through true knowledge than the one joined to me through untrue knowledge. Having taken off his garment, for the insolent man passed away: This is the...

Knowledge, Law, and the Soul§21

21Regarding what is said in the Gospel, 'even from him who does not have, that which he seems to have will be taken away' (Matt 25:29). This signifies, in my opinion, the intellectual remnants of virtues and the knowledge of God, which are taken from men who have used them badly.

'He who plants a fig tree shall eat its fruits' (Proverbs 27:18): Our Lord is the fig tree, for its fruit heals leprosy. 'If one dishonors a fool in the midst of a sitting, you will not take away his foolishness from him' (Proverbs 27:22): Not dishonoring the fool will not remove him from foolishness, but rather teaching him what kind of dishonor foolishness becomes to a stranger.

'Knowingly shepherd your souls' (Proverbs 27:23): Attend to yourself and direct your virtues, for men do not always remain equally strong in them; nor do they transition healthily from virtue to virtue or from knowledge to knowledge, those not easily receiving the human condition...; for he says 'generations' regarding virtues and knowledges, according to which the saints are born, and he shows this through what he writes: 'A generation of wisdom: the fear of the Lord, and riches, and glory, and life' (Proverbs 22:4).

This proverb should also be used toward the shepherds of the churches, to whom it is necessary to attend not to faces but to hearts, and to shepherd the sheep intellectually. 'Tend the green things in the field and shear the wool' (Song of Sol 2:16/4:16): He calls the mind a field, and the green things are the virtues existing within it by potentiality; the one tending them shears the wool, which is a symbol of the knowledge of God, which he also again calls a mountain pasture; for a mountain pasture is the knowledge of the holy powers, fitting the more irrational state of souls. It is the custom of Scripture to call the saints 'mountains.' Thus also David lifts his soul up to the mountains, whence his help shall come (Ps 121:1); and again, 'the mountains like rams, and the bulls like lambs of the flock, for the salvation of Israel' (Psalm 114:4); for if angels rejoice over one repentant person, how much more over a multitude traveling from evil toward virtue. Therefore also...

Only the knowledge of the holy angels nourishes the virtues within us, from which the soul's organs of compassion are clothed: kindness, patience, humility, faith, self-control, love, and the good things born from these. For since the fields are also metaphorical, and David speaks of rational souls, it is to be learned from here. For they say, 'Your fields shall indeed be filled with plenty' (Psalm 65:11); and again shortly after, 'And the barns shall be full of corn' (Psalm 65:13); they shall cry out, for they shall indeed sing (Psalm 65:13). For hymn and cry alone are suited to belong to rational nature.

A man who slanders the poor in impieties: If he is brave in impieties, he is brave also in virtues; and if the brave man slanders the poor in impieties, the brave man in virtues exhorts the poor; surely everyone who exhorts the poor is brave in pieties. But those who love the law surround themselves with a wall: Everyone who loves the law practices the law, and everyone who practices the law acquires dispassion and the knowledge of God; if then those who love the law surround themselves with a wall, now the wall signifies dispassion and the knowledge of God, which alone is suited to guard the rational nature.

He who shepherds profligacy dishonors his father: He calls the mind a shepherd, and the passions within it are sheep, which he nourishes within himself through the transgression of the law, thereby dishonoring God; for profligacy is a sickness of the soul, consisting of passionate thoughts carried out through the body; but profligacy of the mind is the assumption of false dogmas and contemplations.

He who increases his wealth through usury and abundance brings it to the one who shows mercy to the poor: If the wealth of the impious is wickedness, and wise men will destroy it, it is evident that the righteous and wise are destroying wickedness by leading the impure toward virtue through spiritual teaching. He who turns his ear not to hear the law, he himself has detested his prayer: It is not the law that is detested by anyone.

The Twelve Thrones and the Perishing of the Ungodly§22

22Prayer, but God is the one who gave the law. And Paul says: 'The Scripture foretells what is to come' (Galatians 3:8), instead of 'The one who gave the Scripture.' He who explains and reproves will be loved. I said: I will confess my lawlessness to the Lord, and you have forgiven the impiety of my heart.

A lion hungry and a wolf thirsty, who tyrannizes being a poor man of a meager nation: If those who hunger and thirst for righteousness are blessed (Matt 5:6), those who hunger and thirst for injustice are lions and wolves. A king in need is a great slanderer: The approaches of the evil king are evils and false doctrines; for those ruled by him approach these things to him.

A man who guarantees a murderer will be a fugitive and not in safety: He who guarantees Satan guarantees injustice, promising to him that he will render the fruits of injustice. And concerning this the Gospel also says as one defiled through murder and sedition was cast into prison (Luke 23:19). A lawless nation shall by no means obey: The lawless nation is the order of the demons, to which the educated son does not obey.

He who works his own land will be filled with bread: He who cleanses himself will be filled with knowledge, but the unclean will be filled with ignorance. He who is ashamed of the faces of the unrighteous is not good: If the virtues are the faces of the righteous, he is not good who is not ashamed of the virtues; and if evils are the faces of sinners, he is good who is not ashamed of the evils. An insolent man hastens to be rich: Therefore the merciful in the age to come, having been shown mercy by God and having become angels, shall rule over the ungodly. Such is the status and...

He promised his disciples that the Lord would give them to sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. A throne is that in which the mind sits, a spiritual knowledge, gathering together those who have wandered from godliness. And to judge there means to teach, as 'Open your mouth with the word of God and judge all things healthily' (Proverbs 31:8), instead of 'Teach.' It is also necessary to know this: that the merciful one, having grasped the staff, himself will not become a staff, but will rather make the staff merciful.

And in the destruction of those, the righteous will be multiplied: If the ungodly perish in being ungodly, they will become righteous; for destruction now means the removal of ungodliness. Thus also Matthew, the tax collector (Matt 9:9), having been lost, the Lord granted him righteousness. For when it is burning, there is no healing (Matt 13:12): He did not say that once the flame has ceased there is no healing, but that while it is burning there is no healing, as one still having clearly wood, hay, or straw (Matt 13:12); if even for those being burned, health is found to approach after the ember.

And when ungodly rulers prevail, men groan: All those who are under the rulers and the authorities and the cosmic rulers of this darkness (Eph 6:12), all these groan. He who pastures prostitutes, destroys wealth: He who nurtures wickedness destroys wealth.

—Otherwise. A shepherd is a good mind having acquired dispassionate thoughts; and a shepherd is an evil mind having acquired passionate thoughts. If this is so, then surely a passionate thought is a goat, and a dispassionate thought is a sheep; therefore also the Lord stands the goats on the left and the sheep on the right (Matt 25:32-33); and he calls them both goats and sheep...

Discipline, Pride, and the Law§23

23Those having sheep and goats, that is, those possessing dispassionate and passionate thoughts. Thus also he brought forward those having weeds and those having grain having grain, naming them according to the best and worst skill. Such is also what is said by Paul, 'Love does not fail' (1 Cor 13:8), instead of 'He who has love.' A righteous king raises up a land: Christ raises up the rational nature, but the antichrist undermines it. And to a poor man there is no discerning mind: surely he is poor who does not have a discerning mind.

And a foolish man being angry is laughed at and does not fall: 'And upon him, says David, they will laugh and say, Behold a man who did not set God as his helper' (Psalm 52:6-7; Ps 36:14). Men of blood hate the holy, but the upright seek its soul: this one seeks the soul of a righteous man, he who wishes to understand things as they have been thought. A wise man is stored up by parts: this one stores up his anger by parts, namely, he who is angry at things toward the righteous, or he who consumes his anger by parts through long-suffering; and toward the simple one the former should be spoken, but toward the diligent the latter.

There shall not be an interpreter for the nations to the lawless: to those who have kept the law there shall be an interpreter; but to those who have acted lawlessly, an interpreter there shall not be, but a punisher shall be; if indeed not a word but a rod is given to the lawless for the nations. A hard servant will not be instructed by words: because no one is hard by nature, it demonstrates, 'For even if he should understand, he will not obey' (Proverbs 29:19); for he who is hard by nature would never understand anything right. I say this because of Pharaoh the hard...

Having been set upon Israel, and having been disciplined not by words but by beating. He who squanders shall be a servant from childhood. If squandering makes one sin, and everyone doing the sin is a slave to sin, then everyone who squanders is a slave to sin.

Pride humbles a man: Now he calls the wickedness of the rational soul 'pride'. He who divides with a thief hates his own soul: The thief, he says, does not come except to steal and to sacrifice and to destroy. If, after an oath is proposed, hearing them do not announce: He spoke an oath according to the law; for just as the oath sets God in the soul, so also the law introduces God into the soul; and in whatever way perjury again removes God from the soul, so also lawlessness casts God out of it. If, therefore, he says, having heard the law being set, they do not confess their sins, having feared and been ashamed of men, they shall be tripped up.

So also David: 'I have sworn and I have stood to keep the judgments of your righteousness' (Psalm 119:106). And again Solomon says: 'He who covers his impiety shall not prosper, but he who explains and reproves shall be loved.' And David said, he says: 'I said, I will confess my lawlessness to the Lord, and you forgave the impiety of my heart' (Ps 32:5). And 'Say, you first, your lawlessness.'

Many heal the faces of leaders: In doing what is right we heal the angels; for they themselves are the leaders of us, having taken us from the beginning, when the Most High divided the nations and set the borders of the nations according to the number of his angels. And that which is just from the judgment shall be for us from the Lord on that day, when he judges the inhabited world in righteousness; if indeed all the judgment

Clothing and Symbols of the Soul§24

24The father has given to the son. What woman will find a brave one? Bravery is an excellent state of the rational soul, by which it has mastered the opposing forces of enemies. Such a thing will not be despoiled by dogs: having conquered the opposing power, we plunder it, learning the discourses concerning it.

Wool and linen being dyed: the soul is dyed like wool and linen, exercising itself in the discourses concerning the living and the non-living, or examining the discourses concerning the practical and the natural. And someone said that the soul is dyed like wool and linen, pulling the contemplation of bodies and incorporeal things toward it through the practical life.

And rising from the nights, she gave food to the household: the one who practices righteousness finds the soul rising from the night, being watchful; and certainly, also praying so that she might not fall into temptation; for she herself hastens to say, 'I awoke and became like a sparrow perching on a roof' (Psalm 102:7). And her lamp is not extinguished through the whole night: a pure mind is a lamp, filled with spiritual contemplation. Her wicks are set in a lampstand: a pure mind is a lampstand, weaving virtue with virtue and doctrine with doctrine; or an articulated word, drawing spiritual contemplation from the mind.

Her husband does not care for those in the house when he lingers: the mind would not go forth, nor would it come to be in the contemplation of the incorporeal, without first correcting what is within; for the disturbance of the domestic affairs is accustomed to turn it back toward those from which it had departed; having acquired dispassion, it will linger in contemplation, and will not care for those in the house; for anger is clothed with gentleness and humility, and desire with temperance and self-control.

Clothing itself of deep color and purple: The words of earth and sea are garments of the rational soul from the depths and the purple.

Another will say that the contemplation of events and the contemplation of the Holy Trinity are the clothing of a pure mind from the depths and the purple. He made linen cloths and gave them, but belts to the Canaanites (Proverbs 31:24): The linen cloth revealed on the roof (Acts 10:11) was a symbol of this sensible world; for the various animals contained therein showed the diverse characters of men, having been purified by the cross of Christ. If one linen cloth signified this world, perhaps many linen cloths contain the contemplation of various worlds, which the pure soul having contemplated, shared with others. If the Canaanites are interpreted as the lowly, it was not rightly that he gave the linen cloths to the lowly in mind, but rather the linen cloths to the pure, and to the Canaanites belts, which are symbols of practice, binding the passionate part of the soul.

Secure dwellings of its house: If the devil is king of all those in the waters and finds no rest through dry places, it is rightly said that the dwellings of the pure soul are secure. And he did not eat lazy grain: They say lazy grain is the grain of wickedness. For a prudent woman is blessed (Proverbs 31:30), but let this one praise the fear of the Lord (Psalm 111:10): If the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, the soul which happens to possess wisdom rightly praises the fear of the Lord, which has become to her a precursor of such knowledge.

They were collected from which we found them spread out. And again, these were corrected by the hands of Pamphilus and Eusebius.