Notes on Proverbs

The Possession of Wisdom and the Exodus of the Soul§1

1A proverb is a word which, through sensible things, signifies intelligible matters.

The kingdom of Israel is spiritual knowledge containing discourses about God, the incorporeal and the corporeal, judgment, and providence, or revealing a theory concerning the ethical, the physical, and the theological.

For the purpose of knowing wisdom and instruction, he says, 'reigned in Israel to know instruction and wisdom' (Prov 1:2). And wisdom is the knowledge of bodies and incorporeal things and the judgment and providence observed in these; but instruction is the moderation of passions, observing the passionate or irrational part of the soul.

To direct judgment: The judgment to be direct and incorruptible signifies the criterion. And there are three criteria in us: sensation, word, and mind; sensation indeed of the sensible, word of names and utterances and things said, but mind of the intelligible.

And piety toward God is the beginning of sensation: Just as through sensations the mind imposes itself upon the sensible, so also through virtues it presides over the intelligible.

But the impious will despise wisdom and instruction: Those who cultivate wickedness will despise wisdom and instruction; but by word, as I think, no one despises wisdom and instruction.

For a crown of grace will be on your head and a golden ring around your neck: Just as the head and the neck signify the mind there, so also the crown and the ring signify knowledge there. For this is the custom of the Holy Spirit to name God and his angels, and the mind, and virtue, and knowledge, and wickedness, and ignorance, and the devil himself and his angels, with many names. But he does not set down the names simply, as some think; for they are identifiers of different activities, of God through his angels working in us and of us in him, and of demons.

The possession of the righteous is wisdom, understanding, and prudence. The impious seize this possession, persuading the righteous to do something of those things forbidden by God, so that the mind, having been blinded by sin, may fall from these holy estates. These are plundered by those whom the demons conquer, taking from them the panoply of God: the helmet, the breastplate, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Eph 6:16-17).

Those who are co-heirs with the adversaries are they who partake of the same wickedness as them. For that which is not of the One God is common. Nets are not spread unjustly; it is a net, an eternal punishment from the righteous Judge, drawn toward the impure souls to their destruction as they flee badly with their wings.

Wisdom is praised in exoduses; in the marketplaces it leads to boldness; on the tops of walls it is proclaimed; and at the gates of the powerful it sits. Exodus now names the soul emerging from wickedness and ignorance. Such is also the exodus of the sons of Israel, which has come to pass after the generation of the judgment and teaching of God. Regarding the same soul, he says: 'Enlarge the place of your tent' (Isa 54:2) and 'Enlarge your heart' (2 Cor 6:13) in the address of Paul to the Corinthians. And wisdom is praised by the soul emerging in this way; and in the soul being enlarged through virtues, it leads to boldness. Its high wall he calls the highest apathy, if 'those who love the law surround themselves with a wall' (Proverbs 28:4), for which wall David also prays, saying: 'Let the walls be built.'

The Fear of God and the Deception of the Devil§2

2“Jerusalem,” that is, the fallen things of such a soul, is evident from the expression of Origen. Regarding the gates of the mighty, he speaks of the virtues of the wise: “For open to me, he says, the gates of righteousness” (Psalm 118:19), and “The mighty are hot-tempered; let them not drink wine, lest having drunk, they fail to perceive wisdom and be unable to judge rightly for the weak” (Proverbs 31:4). 13 1, 26 Indeed, I too shall laugh at your ruin; and I shall rejoice whenever destruction comes to you. How then does Solomon say before the event: “But he who rejoices at the destruction of another shall not be acquitted” (Proverbs 17:5)? Or perhaps wisdom rejoices in this way, just as she rejoiced at the loss of Matthew the tax collector and at the loss of the thief who believed in Christ. For wisdom lost the thief, but lost the tax collector. 14 1, 27.1–3 And just as an unexpected noise will reach you, so destruction will come like a storm when tribulation and siege come to you. A siege is an ethical teaching that overturns a soul badly constructed. 15 1, 30.1 It also did not wish to pay attention to me through intentions. If it is up to us to want to pay attention to the intentions of wisdom, and not to want to pay attention, we have become masters of ourselves. Similar to this is: “If you are willing and will listen to me, you shall eat the good of the earth; but if you are not willing and will not listen to me, a sword shall strike you; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things” (Isaiah 1:19-20; Isaiah 1:19). 16 1, 32.1 Because they were wronging the infants, they shall be killed. Just as infants are in the midst of the righteous and the unrighteous, so all men are in the midst of angels and demons, neither being demons nor angels, making their living until the consummation of the age. 17 1, 33 And he who hears me will dwell in hope and will rest fearlessly from every evil. The one in apatheia rests fearlessly from every evil thought. 18 2, 1 Son, if having received the word of my commandment you hide it within yourself, 2, 2.1 your ear will obey wisdom. This one who does the commandment of God hides it, even though it is said that the demons snatch us away because they do not forgive it. 19 2, 3.1–2 For if you call upon wisdom and give your voice to understanding, now he calls the apatheia of the soul a 'voice'; for this is accustomed to call upon the knowledge of God. So also David says: “With my voice I cried out to the Lord” (Psalm 142:1).

And again: 'Give heed to the voice of my prayer.' Then you will realize fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. At that time you will realize how the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and how the knowledge of God becomes a guest. Wisdom and understanding must pre-exist so that one may be able to understand the fear of the Lord. And we shall add these things to those who despise wisdom and understanding, but who wish to flee toward fearing God as if it were an easy thing.

Then you will realize righteousness and judgment, and you will straighten all righteous axes. 'Axes' refers to the commandments of God which lead us toward the knowledge of God. And David says: 'For this reason I have kept all your commandments' (Psalm 119:128). In order to be rescued from an evil way and from a man speaking nothing trustworthy. The holy angels speak all things trustworthily; men speak some things trustworthily and some things untrustworthily; but the devil speaks nothing trustworthily, rather he is not worthy of faith. For he calls the devil a 'man' now, if he is a wicked man who has sown discord.

'Son, let not an evil counsel seize you, having forgotten the teaching of youth and the divine covenant.' If counsel is a movement of the mind, how did this leave behind the teaching of youth? And how did it also overtake the divine covenant? For it discourses to us about him as if he were a rational animal. Either he calls the devil a 'bad counsel' now. For he counseled wickedly, saying, 'I will set my throne above the stars; I will be like the Most High' (Isa 14:13). And he also overtook the divine knowledge, leaving behind the teaching of youth, which youth reveals his former state, by which he was also a zealot among the trees of paradise.

All those who walk in it will not turn back, nor will they find paths of straightness; for they are not overtaken by the years of life. 'For those pursuing righteousness love' (Proverbs 15:9) and 'so run that you may attain' (1 Cor 9:24). Those who 'are overtaken by the years of life' are those who seize paths of straightness. And 'your mercy, he says, shall pursue me all the days of my life' (Ps 23:6). The good shall be inhabitants of the earth; but the harmless shall be left in it. Those who, he says, remained in harmlessness, were left in the land, that is, in knowledge; the...

Analogies of Rational Nature and Moral Virtues§3

3But those having fallen through wickedness will return again through kindness. 'My son, do not forget my commandments; let your heart keep my words' (Prov 3:1). If this one forgets the law, the one not living according to it, this one remembers the law; but if this one keeps the words of God, the one doing them, this one destroys them, the one not willing to do them; 'for the hearers of the law are not righteous before God, he says, but the doers of the law will be justified' (Rom 2:13). 'Be of good trust with all your heart in God; but do not be proud of your own wisdom' (Prov 3:5-7). 'Do not be puffed up,' he says, 'having acquired the wisdom of God.' Because he says here the wisdom of God and not the human wisdom, by which he demonstrates: 'for in all your ways you will know her, so that she may make your paths straight' (Prov 3:6).

'Then there will be healing to your body and care to your bones' (Prov 3:8). When the powers of the soul receive care, they will say the greatest things: 'Lord, who is like you? For all, he says, my bones will say: Lord, Lord, who is like you?' Because the mnemonic power of the soul, receiving care, will certainly say, 'I remembered God and was glad.' Similarly, the optic power will say, 'I understood your works and was astonished.' Likewise also the desiring power: 'Lord, all my desire is against you.' And the calculating power will also say, 'I considered the days of old.' According to these things, it will happen also to the other powers.

Something more precious than costly stones is; nothing evil opposes it. Toward wisdom alone, the demons are unable to cast thoughts into the heart of the one having become wise, if they are not permitted; for the mind, being occupied with the theorems of wisdom, becomes unfit for unclean thoughts. A pure mind approaches wisdom; but the unclean will be distanced from it. It is a tree of life to all those holding fast to it. Adam is prevented from partaking of this tree after the transgression, if 'a tree of life grows from the fruits of righteousness.' But if the tree of life is the wisdom of God, he is justly prevented from grasping this tree; 'for into a craftless soul, he says, wisdom will not enter.' God established the world by wisdom.

The earth: and the holy Paul named the breadth there; and the heavens being called height in his epistle to the Ephesians; and the so-called tropical abysses he names depth; and the cloud-formed mists he calls length. All these are symbols of rational natures, divided by worlds and bodies according to the analogy of their state.

‘That your soul may live, and that there may be grace around your neck’ (Proverbs 3:22): ‘Neck’ he says of the soul that has borne the yoke of the Lord. ‘That all your ways may go in confidence in peace, and that your foot may not stumble’ (Prov 3:2, 23): ‘Stumbling block’ is an impure thought of rational nature or a false knowledge. ‘If you sit, you shall be without fear; and if you sleep, you shall sleep sweetly, and you shall not be afraid of a falling terror or the coming of the impulses of the ungodly’ (Prov 3:2, 24-25). From this we know that almsgiving removes fearful fantasies occurring to us in the night. Gentleness, lack of anger, and patience also do the same, restraining the passion that is prone to be disturbed, if indeed fearful phantoms are wont to arise from the disturbance of the passion.

‘Do not envy a man without cause, lest he work evil against you’ (Proverbs 3:30): This enmity toward the neighbor works some evil. ‘The curse of God in the houses of the ungodly; but the dwellings of the righteous are blessed’ (Proverbs 3:33): ‘The ignorance of the Lord in the souls of the ungodly; but the knowledge of God in the souls of the righteous’ (Proverbs 3:33). ‘The Lord resists the proud, but gives grace to the lowly’ (Prov 3:34): Just as the Lord resists the unrighteous as righteousness, and the liars as truth, so also he resists the proud as humility. ‘The wise shall inherit glory; but the ungodly have exalted dishonor’ (Prov 3:35): The wise shall inherit knowledge; but the ungodly have honored ignorance.

‘For I will give you a good gift’ (Proverbs 4:2): It should be noted here that he names the law a ‘good gift’ because the one receiving gifts in his lap unjustly is not being guided straight. For there, the commands of the evil one are called unjust gifts, which the mind receiving them is not guided straight in its ways. ‘Do not abandon my law’ (Proverbs 4:2): He who transgresses it abandons the law.

Exegesis of Proverbs§4

4Engrave her, and she will exalt you. If it is within our power to engrave wisdom, and the virtues are within our power, then the engravings here signify the virtues which exalt the knowledge of God.

That you may give a crown of graces to your head, and a crown of splendor may protect you; the knowledge of God is a crown of grace and a crown of splendor, which also protects us from every passionate thought and every rejected false knowledge.

Listen, son, and receive my words, and the years of your life shall be multiplied, so that many paths of life may become yours. These many paths lead into one path which said, 'I am the way' (John 14:6). The virtues have spoken of many paths that lead to the knowledge of Christ.

In whatever place they may encamp, do not go there; but turn away from them and deviate. The place of this army is wickedness and false knowledge.

For they shall never sleep unless they do evil; sleep is taken away from them, they do not sleep. If the Lord gives sleep to his beloved, the impious are not his beloved; the Lord does not give sleep to the impious. From this it is also possible to show that the demons are not even able to sleep.

For these feed on the grain of impiety; and they get drunk on lawless wine. From this we know what the army of the opposing power is nourished by; for, he says, the grain is impiety and the wine is lawlessness.

But the paths of the righteous shine similarly with light; they go forward and illuminate, until the day is perfected. Our virtues go forward and illuminate us, until the sun of righteousness shines his own day upon us.

But the paths of the impious are dark; they do not know how they stumble. The impious do not even know the way in which they sin, nor do they know the cause from where they stumble, but they do not even know this, that they act lawlessly, which is the mark of ultimate folly.

So that your springs may not fail you, guard them in your heart. He calls the virtues 'springs,' from which the living water is generated, which is the knowledge of Christ. And David says: 'The springs of the waters appeared' (Psalm 18:15).

The foundations of the world were revealed, through the manifestation of our Savior Christ.

Let your eyes see uprightly; and let your eyelids be righteous. Those who have dispassionate thoughts and true doctrines, these see uprightly.

Do not turn to the right nor to the left; but turn your foot from the evil way. For virtue is a mean; therefore they say that courage is between rashness and cowardice. Now, 'right' names not those which are naturally right, but those things which appear to be right because of pleasures; 'for the north, he says, is a harsh wind; but it is called skillful by name.' Saying 'north' symbolically refers to the evil one, from whom all evils were burned upon the earth.

He himself will make your paths straight; and he will lead your journey in peace. This agrees with 'unless the Lord builds a house' (Psalm 127:1) and 'keeps a city' (Psalm 127:1) and so on.

Do not pay attention to a bad woman; for honey turns away from the lips of a prostitute, who for a time moistens your throat, but later you will find it more bitter than bile and more piercing than a double-edged sword. Fat signifies pleasure, from which impurity is brought forth, from which wickedness and ignorance are born, of which nothing more bitter is found among existing things.

For the feet of those using folly descend after death into Hades. She who was above, the prostitute, now named folly.

David prays for those descending after death into Hades, saying, 'Let the living descend into Hades' (Psalm 55:15). For the ways of life do not arrive; but its paths are unstable and not well-known. If the paths are not well-known, it has been well said, 'they do not know how they stumble' (Proverbs 4:19).

Make your road long from it; do not approach the doors of her houses. Here he spoke of the mind walking toward virtue. Perhaps virtue protects us by separating us from wickedness.

So that others may not take your life and have mercy on your life. From this we know that the irascible part prevails in the wicked; 'for an irascible spirit, he says, and sharp anger'.

Whenever the flesh of your body is worn away by evils, the wicked through evils...

Friendship, Grace, and the Soul§5

5They wear away the flesh of Christ and squander the blood, regarding it as common; for he says, 'He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day' (John 6:54).

I was for a little while in all evil in the midst of a church and a synagogue. There was a time when there was no evil and there shall be a time when there shall be no evil; but there was not a time when there was no virtue, nor shall there be a time when there shall be no virtue, for the seeds of virtue are unceasing. And this one also persuades me, having been for a little while and not perfectly in all evil, even the rich man being judged in Hades because of evil and pitying his brothers. But to show mercy happens to be the most beautiful seed of virtue.

Drink waters from your own vessels and from your own wells, a spring. Knowledge is both a well and a spring. To those approaching virtues, it seems to be a deep well, but to the impassive and the pure, a spring. So also the Savior 'was sitting by the well, it was about the sixth hour' (John 4:6). And the Samaritan woman calls the well herself: 'Lord, for you have no bucket and the well is deep' (John 4:11).

Let your spring of water be your own, and rejoice with the wife of your youth (Proverbs 5:18). If the woman here signifies the knowledge of God, this was given to us from youth; thus the knowledge of God was given to us from the beginning, for which Solomon speaks of a more profound teaching in youth: 'For son, let not a bad counsel seize you' (Proverbs 2:17)—saying the devil, as one who counsels wickedly—'leaving behind the teaching of youth and a divine testament.' But forgetfulness and the loss of knowledge and possession are second evils, just as extreme sickness is second to health and death is second to life. It is also to be understood at once that the same knowledge is called both mother and wife and sister. Mother, because he who taught me through her has brought me into being, as Paul did through the gospel in Galatians. Wife, because, being with me, she brings forth virtues and correct doctrines, if 'wisdom is to a man...'

Kill the intellect. And sister, because both I and you have come from the one God and Father: 'for I have said,' he says, 'that your wisdom is to be your sister.'

Let the deer of friendship and the foal of your graces converse with you; and let your own wisdom be esteemed by you and be understood by you at all times; for by behaving in this friendship, one will be many. If 'grace and friendship set free,' but virtue and knowledge set free a rational soul, then grace and friendship are virtue and knowledge. If the deer is born of friendship, and the foal is born of grace, the deer is a symbol of contemplation, and the foal of apatheia; 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 contemplations. And a multitude is that which is beneficial.

Do not be much toward a stranger, nor hold on with embraces that are not your own. Regarding 'do not be much toward a stranger,' some think it is said concerning external wisdom, toward which it is not necessary to spend time because of the hidden costs; 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 he calls the 'foreign embraces' the evil thoughts that seize the soul and do not escape God, the discerner of hearts.

Son, if you have a friend near you, will you give your hand to an enemy? Everyone who guarantees Christ, the friend of the apostles, as righteousness and truth, gives his own soul to those enemies who are accustomed to war against men because of their friendship toward the Savior; for friendship is the spiritual knowledge of God, by which also the holy friends become rich in God. In this way also John the Baptist was a friend of the Bridegroom, and Moses, and the apostles: 'for you do not call me slaves anymore,' he says.

The Honey of Contemplation and the Blood of Justice§6

6But friends. 'And provoke,' he says, through prayers and supplications, 'and say I will pray for my friend': 'Keep me, Lord, from the hand of a sinner' (Psalm 140:4) and 'deliver me from an unrighteous man' (Psalm 140:4) and 'do not deliver me into the hands of those who afflict me, because for your sake we are being killed all day long; we have been counted as sheep for the slaughter' (Ps 44:22).

Do not give sleep to your eyes, nor let a watchman stand over your eyelids. Sleep is sin in its activity; but drowsiness is the first unclean thought established in the soul. Therefore also before drowsiness, the Law prevents sleep: 'For it was said,' he says, 'to the ancients: You shall not murder' (Ex 20:13); but I say: You shall not be angry. And here, for it seems to me, the Law prevents sleep, but the Gospel of Christ prevents drowsiness, if indeed the one cuts off sin in its activity, while the other cuts off the evil first established according to the intellect.

Go to the ant, O sluggard, and observe its ways and become wiser than it (Prov 6:6); for even without a farmer being there, and not having one to compel him, and not being under a master, it prepares its food for the summer. Note here that it calls the natural and harmonious movement of the ant wisdom; for indeed the wiser is called wiser than the wise. And how could it not be under a master, if all things are slaves of God? Or is God ever called a master in two ways, as Creator and as known? Therefore also Paul writes: 'But now, having been freed from sin, having become slaves to God' (Rom 6:22), clearly according to virtue and knowledge, 'have your fruit unto sanctification, the end being eternal life.' And if the ant is unworthy of such an end, being irrational, it clearly is also free from such a slavery; so it is well said that the ant is not under a master according to this type of mastery, but is again under a master as having God as Creator.

Go to the bee... of which kings and commoners bring their labors for health. Through the ant, it seems Solomon outlines the practical way for us, but through the bee, he signifies the contemplation of events and of the one who did them, which both the pure and the impure, and the wise and the un-

They are brought toward the health of the soul. And it seems to me that the herald of these things holds the word of the matter, but the honey remaining to him is a symbol of their contemplation. For the herald will pass away: 'for the heaven and the earth, he says, will pass away' (Matt 24:35); but the honey will not pass away. For neither will the words of our Savior Christ pass away, concerning which Solomon says: 'Words sweet as honey are good, and their sweetness is healing to the soul' (Prov 16:24); and David: 'How sweet, he says, are your words to my throat, sweeter than honey to my mouth' (Psalm 119:103).

The result of the labor is named labor. Until when, sluggard, will you lie down? When will you arise from sleep? This sleep only happens to a rational soul; for here it signifies wickedness and ignorance, of which watchfulness makes something 'like a sparrow chirping on a roof.' Poverty happens to you like an evil traveler, and want like a good runner. Poverty is a deprivation of knowledge; and want is a scarcity of virtues.

He himself blows with the eye, but it signifies the foot, and he teaches by blowing with the fingers. Beware here, lest the opponents, through such movements of the body, recognize their own thoughts being nourished in us, since we have believed only God to be the Knower of Hearts. An eye of insolence, an unjust tongue, hands pouring out righteous blood. Everyone who eats the flesh of Christ and drinks his blood acquires righteous blood, the deprivation of which is said to cause a rational soul to die; 'for the soul, he says, that sins shall die' (Ezek 18:4).

And if there is righteous blood, it is evident that there is also unjust blood, which those who devour the given food among the Ethiopians gather within themselves and are nourished by the bread of falsehood, consume. And those sacrificing to foreign gods consume their own righteous blood; but those offering themselves as a sacrifice to the only God destroy unjust blood. And certainly, the generation of righteous blood will follow the corruption of unjust blood, and the generation of unjust blood will follow the corruption of righteous blood. But this is destined to happen now; from the beginning it was not so; for righteousness did not come about through the corruption of wickedness, just as health does not come about through the corruption of disease, of the...

Theft, Adultery, and the Nature of Wisdom§7

7Children being formed with health from the beginning. A false witness kindles lies and sends judgments among brothers. Brothers are those having the gift of adoption and being under the same father, Christ, whom the witness of injustice attempts to divide, casting tribulations and judgments among them.

And 'kindles', I think, is placed because of the passionate thoughts igniting the mind toward anger and hatred, and desire toward shameful works. These thoughts the holy Paul also named the fiery arrows of the evil one, piercing the soul and working death (Ephesians 6:16).

'Guard, son, the laws of your father and do not reject the statutes of your mother...' (Proverbs 6:20-22). Whenever you walk, lead her, and let her be with you. The mother is proposed to be led, who is the wisdom having begotten us according to God. Yet it was necessary for him to say 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 proposes the mother and not the father to be led, so that through the mother the son might see the father; for if she does not himself beget him, he does not see the light, which is the knowledge of him, the God.

That the commandment of the law is a lamp and light and way of life, a reproof and instruction. That the commandment of the law is a lamp and light. And perhaps the Old Testament is a lamp: 'for he was the lamp that was burning and shining' (John 5:35); but the New Testament is light: 'for I, he says, am the light of the world' (John 8:12).

For the honor of a prostitute is as much as one loaf. For such is the pleasure of wickedness as much as one loaf.

Will someone release fire in his bosom and not burn his clothes? Or will someone walk upon coals of fire and burn his feet? This one releases the fire in the bosom, the one forgiving the unchaste thought in the heart, corrupting the righteous thoughts through lingering. And this one walks upon the coals, the one destroying his own soul through the energy of sin.

Thus the one who entered toward an unchaste woman will not be acquitted, nor everyone touching her. An unchaste woman speaks of wickedness; for the devil is the man of her, who begets with her the lawless sons.

And the Savior says in the Gospels to the Jews: 'You are of your father the devil' (John 8:44).

It is no wonder if someone catches a thief; for he steals in order to fill a hungry soul. If he is caught, he will pay sevenfold and, by giving all his possessions, he will save himself. But if he is caught by true knowledge, he will lay aside all false knowledge, he who formerly stole through the need of knowledge from the foolishness made mad by our Savior's wisdom.

And the adulteress, through the need of wits, procures destruction for her soul. Everyone who has shared in the evil of the adulteress is a partaker of the devil, the first who rejoiced in evil and who from the beginning has been a murderer.

For the mind of a man full of zeal for it will show no mercy in the day of judgment. There he shows that we will have the devil as an accuser of the things done to us in the day of judgment. And this also the holy Paul says: 'so that the one against us, having nothing to say, may appear nothing trivial concerning us' (Titus 2:8).

'Son, honor the Lord and you will be strong; but fear no other besides him' (Proverbs 7:1). If through the transgression of the law someone dishonors God, by doing so he makes it manifest that he dishonors the law and God.

I have said that your wisdom is a sister; make practical understanding known to yourself. Our sister is wisdom, because he who made the incorporeal nature is Father and has made this. And there he speaks of wisdom not as the Son of God, but as the contemplation of bodies and incorporeal things, and of the judgment and providence in them, the vision of which is understanding, and knowledge, and instruction, and discernment.

In order that he may keep you from an alien and evil woman, if she should strike you with words of charm. The words that strike with charm are passions of thought.

For peeping from a window of her house into the streets, seeing the youth of any of the foolish children, lacking in wits, passing by a corner in the passages of her house, and speaking in the evening darkness, whenever the nocturnal silence is thick, the woman meets him having a prostitute-like appearance, which causes the hearts of the young to fall away. He now calls the flesh of the man a window; for through this the evil one works his snares for those who wish to do so.

Exegesis of Proverbs§8

8To walk the broad, spacious road that leads to destruction. But here, one must attend to what Solomon says concerning vice: that it does not lead a man initially onto the broad road, nor does it force him to walk through the passages of its house, or approach a corner, or speak in the evening darkness; rather, if he sees someone giving himself over to pleasures, there immediately 'an appearance having met him, it is a fornication, which causes the hearts of the young to wander' (Proverbs 7:10).

an state is what is called the soul's condition, through which, being unfolded, sin is accomplished through the body. 92 it wanders for a certain time outside, a time in the squares, sitting by every corner, aving taken hold, it loved him. Those wandering in the squares taking up thoughts of adultery, fornication, and theft; 8 but those wandering outside of these move according to nature, seeking the bed of men and taking up fantasies of other forbidden things.

f of the thoughts some are pure and others are unclean—and if of lines the straight ones are called straight, but the bent ones are not straight, a corner being a bent straight line—then an unclean thought is a mental corner. Therefore, vice sitting by every corner signifies its deceiving the soul through all the unclean thoughts. And a demonic passion is an impression moved toward shameful work, calling out the soul.

, 15 'Because of this I went out to meet you; longing for your face, I have found you' (Prov 7:15); 7, 16 'I have spread my bed with curtains; I have made my couch with cushions of Egypt' (Prov 7:16); 7, 17 'I have torn my veil with saffron; my house with cinnamon' (Prov 7:17). Vice seeks to disgrace the face of our soul through the curtains, the bed, the cushions, the saffron, and the cinnamon, which are various evil passions as they occur according to the inventors of evils.

, 19 'For my man is not at home; he has gone on a long journey' (Prov 7:19); 7, 20 'having taken a bag of silver in his hand; after many days he will return to his house' (Prov 7:20). If it says 'after many days he will return to his house,' Paul, having intensely scrutinized the economy, writes of the last enemy.

The overcoming of death. Regarding the one who followed it, having been seduced: there are three kinds of erithion, namely the kepphos, the white one, and the one called the asterias. Of these, the kepphos mates difficultly and pours out; for it both cries out and pours blood, as they say, letting it flow from the eyes, and it gives birth poorly and painfully. These things, indeed, we have set down from Aristotle's histories concerning animals.

But it seems that the Scripture has fashioned its wording from the history of the kepphos bird to mean the woman being persuaded by a prostitute, being seduced and becoming like a bird through lawlessness. [For example, being moved.] For having wounded many, it has cast down them, and they are countless, whom it has murdered; Titroskes mocks us with thoughts, but it murders with sins.

For it is upon the high edges; and in the midst of the soft ones, courage stands between recklessness and cowardice. For it lies in wait by the gates of the powerful; and in the entrances it is praised. Wisdom is said to be praised sometimes in exits and sometimes in entrances, that is, beside those coming out from evil and entering into virtue; for he names the one coming out and the one entering as exit and entrance. Often we have noted this habit of his, that from the states he names those who possess the states, that is, the best ones or the worst ones.

Perceive, you who are without malice, the craftiness; but you who are uneducated, put a heart within you. Here, Cardia has spoken of virtue as that which accompanies the heart.

Take instruction and not silver, and knowledge instead of tested gold... For wisdom is better than precious stones. There, Wisdom took as a genus the instruction and the knowledge; for having placed instruction and knowledge before, she leads into it; 'for wisdom is better than precious stones' (Proverbs 8:11), as instruction and knowledge are contained within wisdom, which is first the gift of the Holy Spirit, if indeed 'a word of wisdom is given through the Spirit' (1 Corinthians 2:13). And this same thing is also called the spirit of adoption (Romans 8:15).

The fear of the Lord hates injustice, and insolence and pride, and the ways of the wicked (Proverbs 8:13). Note that he speaks of injustice and insolence and pride regarding the unrighteous, the insolent, and the proud, from the worst ways.

On Fruitlessness, Shame, and False Sustenance§9

9He is named as such from the beginning. He slaughtered his own victims and poured his own wine into a bowl. The same food and meat are named as bread and milk and vegetables and wine. However, the foolish are said to partake as if it were her bread and as if it were poured wine. If this is so, how shall we understand that 'man ate the bread of angels' (Psalm 78:25)? Spiritual knowledge is a bowl containing discourses concerning the incorporeal and the corporeal and 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. Likewise, we shall gather the word concerning the rest of the apostles and the prophets, having shown them to be servants of wisdom. Calling with a high proclamation to the bowl, saying: This proclamation alone is a high place of knowledge proclaiming God.

He did not say 'eat of my meats'; for 'solid food is for the mature' (Hebrews 5:14). One must not rebuke the evil, so that they may not hate you. It is not necessary to rebuke the evil ones who are sinning, but rather to discourse with them concerning the fear of God, which persuades them to depart from wickedness.

If 'to know the law is the work of a good mind,' and to do the commandment is the work of a good mind. However, to do the commandment comes before knowing the law, if it is the nature of knowledge to come after purification.

He who relies on falsehoods, he will shepherd winds; and he himself will chase flying birds, being carried about by every wind of teaching and having shipwrecked concerning the faith. For he left the paths of his own vineyard; he has gone astray from the axes of his own farm. For he left the vine that said: 'I am the vine, you are the branches' (John 15:5), and: 'My father is the farmer' (John 15:1).

Fruitlessness brings about wickedness and ignorance by its own hands. A foolish and impudent woman becomes lacking in shame, one who does not know shame; since shame is a teacher, it is said 'she does not know shame.' And David says that the fear of God is a teacher: 'Come, children, listen to me, I will teach you the fear of the Lord' (Psalm 34:11). But if fear and shame are natural passions of the soul, how are they teachers? Perhaps he calls the teaching about the fear of the Lord 'the fear of the Lord,' which teaches us that we must turn away from wickedness, as it is said, 'all shall turn from evil by the fear of the Lord' (Proverbs 16:6). Again, he calls 'shame' the discourses concerning repentance and shame that lead us to a sense of our own sins. Thus David says: 'I will behold the heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you established' (Psalm 34:11), that is, I will behold the discourses concerning heavens, moon, and stars.

Seize the sweetness of hidden bread and the pleasantness of stolen water: 'Bread of lies will be sweet to them, and after this their mouth will be filled with pebbles' (Proverbs 20:17). But flee; do not linger in that place, nor fix your eye upon it. It is not necessary to linger the mind with worthless thoughts; 'for no one carries fire in his bosom and burns his clothes' (Proverbs 6:27). And do not drink from a foreign spring or a foreign well. Just as with God there is a spring of life, so with the devil there is a spring of death. 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. Likewise, one must consider this regarding rivers, wells, waters, and rains.

Lawless treasures will not profit, but righteousness will rescue from death: 'Lawless treasures will not profit,' which they have stored up upon the earth, 'where moth and worm destroy, and where thieves break in and steal' (Matt 6:19).

Exegesis of Proverbs§10

10The Lord will not starve to death a righteous soul; but he will overturn the life of the impious. If the life of the impious is wickedness, the Lord will overturn this, so that the impious will clearly be seen at some time to be not impious; for after this overturning, the Lord will hand over the kingdom to God and Father, so that God may become 'all in all'.

Instruction preserves the paths of life; but instruction wanders uncontrolled. He calls uncontrolled instruction the bad political order of the soul, which becomes a stranger to it through wandering.

Righteous lips cover enmity; but those who bring forth reviling are thoughtless. He says enmity is wickedness; for through this we become enemies of God. 'For if we were enemies,' says Paul, 'we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son.' 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 friends are also friends to one another.

Desire is acceptable to the righteous; 'Lord, all my desire is against you,' says David.

The fear of the Lord adds days; but the years of the impious will be diminished. 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 made under the sun of righteousness, for which David also prays, saying, 'do not bring me up in the midst of my days.' And having fulfilled these days, Abraham died, concerning whom it is said, 'and Abraham died old and full of days.'

The righteous will not possess the age; but the impious will not inhabit the land. Instead of the age, and Paul says, 'I will not eat meat for ever, so that I may not scandalize my brother,' he calls the age the duration of his life.

The lips of righteous men send forth grace; but the mouth of the impious turns away. The mouth has now set the mind.

Salvation exists in much counsel for those who have no governance and fall like leaves, being carried about by every wind of teaching and shipwrecked regarding faith. The evil one does evil when he mixes with the righteous; but he hates the tone of security, those concerning salvation.

A man of mercy does good to his soul, but the merciless man drives the body out of it. Here the soul is spoken against by the body.

And Christ in the Gospels calls the soul 'body', saying, 'the eye is the lamp of the body' (Matt 6:22). Having said lamp, he means the intellect—for it is the receiver of knowledge—but 'body' refers to the spirited and desiring part of the soul, which some call the irrational part and others the passionate part.

He who strikes hand against hand unjustly shall not be unpunished; but he who sows righteousness shall receive a reward of the faithful. This one who strikes hand against hand unjustly is the teacher of evil deeds and dogmas. And this one who sows righteousness is the one who puts forward words concerning virtues and the knowledge of God.

There are those who, sowing their own, make more; and there are those who, gathering, are diminished. Those who sow their own and make more are opposed by those who gather and are diminished. If those who sow their own are those who sow into the spirit and reap life, those who gather are those who sow into the flesh and gather corruption to themselves.

He who withholds grain would leave it to the nations; but a blessing is upon the head of the giver. This is similar to that which is said by our Savior in the Gospels: 'No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it under a bushel, but on a lampstand, and it shines for all those in the house' (Matt 5:15).

If the work of making is a work of good things, and the work of virtues is a practical work, then the practical work is the making. The tree of life grows from the fruit of righteousness; but untimely souls are removed by lawlessness. This tree of life is the one planted in the midst of paradise, which Adam is prevented from grasping after the sin, having cast away the seeds of righteousness, from which the tree of life grows.

He who finds grace is greater, but the lawless man shall be passed over in silence: 'Do not pass me over from you, says David, lest I become like those descending into the pit' (Psalm 28:1). The good man shall inherit sons of sons; but wealth is stored up for the ungodly.

The wickedness of the ungodly. But the righteous will consume it, clearly through good teaching, whether…§11

11The wickedness of the ungodly. But the righteous will consume it, clearly through good teaching, whether now or in the future age, over fifteen cities.

And Paul says: 'But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God' (Rom 2:5).

All things are contrary to a foolish man; but the lips of the wise are weapons of perception. For 'it does not oppose' wisdom 'anything evil,' because it is an invincible weapon; for the demons are only powerless against it.

The houses of the foolish must undergo cleansing; but the houses of the righteous are receptive, so that having become pure, they may see God; for this is the blessed end which is preserved for all rational nature.

The reckless man will be filled with his own ways; but a good man is known from his thoughts. Regarding thoughts, he has now spoken of the states of virtues, just as he set them in opposition to the ways of the reckless.

The foolish are divided by wickedness; but the cunning will prevail through perception. He set wickedness in opposition to perception. If wickedness opposes virtue, then perception now signifies virtue.

In increasing righteousness there is much strength; but the ungodly are uprooted from the earth. 'Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven' (Matt 5:20).

The education of the inattentive is known by those passing by; but let those who hate reproof perish shamefully. Regarding reproof, he has now spoken of the commandments; for these reprove us when we are sinning.

All the time the eyes of the evil receive evil; but the good are at rest always. Silence is a refuge from wickedness.

Ways of life are the thoughts of the prudent, so that having turned away from Hades, he may be saved. Regarding ways of life, he speaks of the practical virtues which lead toward knowledge.

The ways of righteous men are acceptable to the Lord; and through them, even enemies become friends. This is from Paul preaching: '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 slaves, but friends' (John 15:15).

Divination is upon the lips of a king; but in judgment, one will not wander...

Christ is the Searcher of Hearts who will judge the inhabited world with justice by his mouth (Prov 14:5). The wrath of a king is a messenger of death (Proverbs 16:14), but a wise man will escape him. The angel who stands regarding matters of punishment is called the wrath of God.

Diseases of wisdom are better than gold (Proverbs 16:16), but diseases of prudence are better than silver. Knowledge of wisdom is better than gold, but knowledge of prudence is better than silver.

He who receives instruction will be in good things, but he who guards reproofs will be a sophist. Reproofs refers to the commandments of God; for these reprove us when we are sinning.

A fountain of life is a concept to those who possess it, but instruction is bad for the foolish. The uncontrollable instruction, the foolish have now named it instruction. If the instruction of the foolish is evil, the uncontrollable instruction is foolishness.

The heart of a wise man will understand things from his own mouth (Proverbs 16:23); but he will carry epistemic-knowledge upon his lips. Knowledge said epistemic-knowledge to mean knowing all things.

A crooked man sends out evils and flashes the spark of deceit (Proverbs 16:28), separating friends. The Word attempts to teach the demons, learning from the devil, to attempt to act against the saints and to test them, separating them from the knowledge which is natural for uniting them to the heavenly powers. Solomon, as I think, revealed this very thing through this proverb, calling Satan a crooked man, flashing the sparks of deceit the evil demons, instead of being taught, and the saints, the friends joining one another through knowledge.

He who supports his eyes is reckoned straying, but he defines all evils with his lips; this is a furnace of evils. The spirit of a driving wind scatters the flame of this furnace.

Everything comes into the laps of the unrighteous (Proverbs 16:33), but all things just are from the Lord (Proverbs 16:33). It should be noted that he spoke of the hearts of the unrighteous as laps here. I think also that everywhere 'lap' signifies either the mind or knowledge. If it is also a deceptive lap, it will signify ignorance.

A prudent servant will rule over foolish masters (Proverbs 17:2); but among brothers, parts are divided. If 'everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin' (John 8:34), everyone who...

Virtue as a Shield and the Nature of True Friendship§12

12Having turned away from evil and having prevailed through virtues, he has mastered foolish demons. And such a person will become also a steward of the mysteries of God, giving spiritual knowledge to each of the brothers according to the analogy of their state, sometimes watering the Corinthian with milk, sometimes feeding the Ephesian with firmer food, discussing height and length and breadth and depth, and through these dimensions signifying the division of the logical nature, which contains the discourses concerning the judgment and providence of God, being most profound and fleeing the human condition.

Just so Jesus son of Nun distributed the land of promise to the twelve tribes, which is a symbol of the knowledge of God and of those things having come from Him. However, it must be known that the discourses concerning the incarnation of Christ and His appearance in Judah are held in reserve for knowledge; for in this lot Christ is born. But I consider the discourses concerning providence to be fitting for the state of the hidden Judah and Benjamin, whose names I regard as distinctions of different and pure states, if Judah is interpreted as confessing, and Benjamin as a son of days or a son of the right hand.

An evil man obeys the tongue of the lawless; but a righteous man does not give heed to lying lips. This one obeys the tongues of the lawless, he who receives from them thoughts and hastens to act according to them, whereas the righteous is said not to give heed, that is, not to nourish them any further within himself.

To the faithful belongs the whole world of things; to the unfaithful, not even a mite. The faithful, he says, will see the discourses of this world, which he has figuratively gathered as riches of the mind; but the unfaithful will not know the discourse of even a chance matter because of the impurity of his soul. Since knowledge of God is a wealth of the soul, Paul teaches this through those things in which he writes, 'you were enriched in every way in all knowledge and all wisdom' (1 Corinthians 1:5). And if anyone wishes to show that this is not the meaning of this proverb, let him say where those who passed through became destitute of things, 'in meager things, in skins of goats, being poorly treated, afflicted, and lacking' (Hebrews 11:37); and how also the un-

He will not have a single penny, being surrounded by the wealth of many unfaithful ones, I say, many kings and rulers of this world.

Faithful lips do not suit a fool, nor false lips a righteous man: 'For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness, or what communion light with darkness?' (2 Cor 6:14). He who hides wrongdoings seeks friendship; but he who hates hiding distinguishes friends and kinsmen. Through righteousness we hide injustice, through self-control we hide intemperance, again through love we hide hatred, and through freedom from greed we hide avarice. We also hide pride through humility and boldness through meekness, seeking the spiritual friendship, which signifies holy knowledge. And according to Paul, some of the saints are said to have become fellow-citizens and kinsmen of Jerusalem, 'having been built up on the foundation of the apostles and prophets' (Eph 2:20).

He who gives evil instead of good, evil shall not move out from his house. If he who gives evil instead of evil is lawless, how much more the one who gives evil instead of good is more lawless? Such became toward God the Israel of the wilderness, to whom Moses says in Deuteronomy: 'These generations are crooked and perverse, repaying the Lord' (Deut 32:5).

Authority is given by words, the beginning of righteousness; but standing and strife precede need. Knowledge follows righteousness; but wickedness precedes ignorance. He who judges the unrighteous as righteous, and the righteous as unrighteous, is unclean and an abomination before God. Similar is he who calls the bitter sweet and the sweet bitter, and calls the light darkness and the darkness light.

Why did money exist for a fool? For he will not be able to acquire wisdom without a heart. Money belongs to a fool; for regarding each of his matters, there is foolishness; because of these things, having become without a heart, he is unable to acquire wisdom.

He who makes his own house lofty seeks destruction; but he who turns aside from learning will fall into evils. 'He who turns aside from learning,' because 'the Lord opposes the proud' (Proverbs 3:34), 'will fall into evils' (Proverbs 17:20). Let a friend be to you at all times; but brothers are useful in necessities.

If the sons of Christ are brothers to one another, and the angels and the righteous men are sons of…§13

Spiritual Friendship and False Witness§14

14He is unable to learn anything from another, desiring to be independent.

He who does not discipline himself in his own works is a brother to him who defiles himself. And Paul says: 'If anyone cleanses himself, he will be a vessel useful to the master.'

Great in power is the name of the Lord; but those running to him are exalted as righteous. The name of the Lord signifies the knowledge of God. And through righteous living the righteous run toward him; but through contemplation they are exalted.

Before crushing, the heart of a man is exalted, and before glory it is humbled. Just as crushing follows pride, so glory follows humbling.

He who answers a word before hearing it, folly is to him and a reproach. It is a reproach to this man, who, not having received knowledge from God, attempts to teach others. And David says: 'To hear the voice of your lovingkindness and' then 'to recount' and to others 'your wonders.' And again Solomon says: 'What your eyes have seen, speak.'

A man's spirit is stilled by a prudent servant; but who will consider a small-souled man? Just as our Lord is said to become a rushing leopard toward those who transgress and a stone of stumbling toward those who disobey, so also the small-souled man is toward those sinning. It can also be said that the evil one and every demon has fallen away from virtue and knowledge regarding the small-souled.

A man's house expands him and establishes him among the powerful. He spoke of the upright life just now, 'a man's house,' which expands him and provides him worthy of the fullness of God, which he calls the seat of the holy powers; for the mind is a seat, an excellent state, difficult to move or immovable, preserving the one seated.

A lot stops contention; but among the powerful it defines the state. Knowledge stops folly; for this is the lot of the rational nature.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue; and those holding it give its fruits. Here he says the soul is receptive of death and life, from which we fashion its free agency.

He who found a good wife, found grace... But he who holds an adulterous, foolish, and impious wife. 'He who found' wisdom 'good, found grace.' 'But he who...'

He possesses wickedness, the fool and the ungodly. Wealth adds many friends, but the poor man is deprived even of the friend he already had. Wealth adds many angels to us through knowledge and wisdom, but the unclean man is separated even from the angel given to him from childhood. For spiritual friendship is virtue and knowledge of God, through which we are joined to holy friendship by power, if repentant men become causes of joy to the angels. Thus also the Savior calls his servants friends, having at times deemed them worthy of the greater vision. Thus also Abraham, having become rich in that mystical knowledge, set 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), the spirit of the Lord calling the angel; 'for he who makes his angels spirits and his ministers a burning fire' (Ps 104:4), he says. And that even angels believe in men, the Lord teaches in the Gospels: 'See,' he says, 'do not despise one of these little ones, for their angels always behold the face of my Father in heaven' (Matt 18:10). And again Jacob: 'the angel who delivers me from all evils' (Genesis 48:16). And Zechariah: 'and the angel was speaking in me' (Zechariah 1:9).

A false witness shall not go unpunished; 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 those again, being troubled by their own passions, think virtue to be unavailing, these accuse the Giver of the law unjustly.

A good understanding draws near to those who know it; but a prudent man will find it. The knowledge of God now names 'understanding,' and those who know it are the pure in heart.

He who does much evil perfects wickedness; but he who provokes words shall not be saved. Passionate thoughts provoke the soul toward wickedness.

Luxury does not benefit the fool. Neither intellectual luxury nor sensual luxury benefits the fool. For he will trample it underfoot with his feet, being a lover of pigs; but by the...

Loss, Wisdom, and the Discipline of the Father§15

15The flesh of a person of sensual luxury will be moved.

A merciful man is patient; but his boasting comes upon the lawless (Proverbs 19:11). If one boasts correctly in the Lord—and our Lord is wisdom—then the one boasting correctly boasts in wisdom. Therefore, the boasting of the patient and merciful one, which is his wisdom and his knowledge, comes upon the lawless, freeing them from wickedness now somewhat imperfectly, but necessarily in the age to come.

The threat of a king is like the roar of a lion; but his pleasantness is like dew on grass (Proverbs 19:12). Our Lord becomes a consuming fire and an angry lion toward those sinning, consuming wood, grass, reed, and 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 extinguishing the inflamed arrows of the evil one and cooling the heat arising from the practical life.

He named the unclean soul a prostitute, and has called its wages the condition of prostitution, from which prayers do not become pure (Proverbs 19:13).

It is for the fathers to teach the sons about virtue and the knowledge of the God of the fathers; but to give wisdom to the children is the Lord's (Proverbs 19:14). For there he calls woman wisdom: 'For you have been loved by wisdom, he says, and she will preserve you; honor her, so that she may embrace you' (Proverbs 4:6).

The commandments are called commandments as toward the God who commands; but they are called ways as toward the mind walking in them (Proverbs 19:16). And again, because they were given upon the witnesses of heaven and earth, the commandments are called testimonies; therefore also the one receiving them is named a witness, who, having lied about them, will not be without punishment.

He who keeps a commandment preserves his own soul; but he who despises his own ways will perish (Proverbs 19:16).

He named the purity of heart 'gift' now; for by analogy of our apatheia we are made worthy of knowledge (Proverbs 19:17).

He who is of a bad mind will suffer much loss; and if he is struck by plague, even his soul...

I think the great loss consists in the deprivation of the contemplation of things, while the addition to the soul is the vanishing of natural conceptions about God, leading it entirely into irrationality. And the Savior says in the Gospels: 'What will a man profit, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul' (Matt 16:26) and 'be harmed' (Matt 16:26). But here the loss shows the ignorance of bodies and incorporeal things; while the harm presents the ultimate irrationality.

Listen, son, to the instruction of your father, so that you may become wise in your later years (Proverbs 19:20). The 'later years' here does not mean time, but the purity following the practical virtues.

The fear of the Lord is life to a man (Prov 14:27); but the one without fear will slip in places where knowledge is not observed. If 'the fear of the Lord is life to a man' (Prov 14:27) and 'the fear of the Lord is instruction and wisdom' (Prov 1:7), then the life of the man is instruction and wisdom. But Christ says: 'I am the life' (John 14:6); therefore Christ is instruction and wisdom. Thus, 'to know instruction and wisdom' is to know Christ. The one without fear will be in wickedness and ignorance, in which Christ is not.

He who hides his hands in his lap unjustly will not even bring them to his mouth (Proverbs 19:24). He who does not correctly live 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 to our mouths the bread descending from the heavens and giving life to the world.

He who dishonors his father and pushes away his mother will be disgraced and will be a mocker (Proverbs 19:26). Through the transgression of the law he dishonors God, and he pushes away the mother, who is the instruction, if 'a righteous man is born unto life' (Proverbs 11:19). And righteousness consists of all the virtues.

A son left to guard the instruction of a father will meditate on evil sayings (Proverbs 19:27). The impure thoughts are evil sayings being born in the soul of one who has not kept the commandments of the heavenly Father.

Unrestrained wine and insulting drunkenness (Proverbs 20:1). If 'their wine is the fury of dragons' (Deuteronomy 32:33), then the wine is unrestrained, and therefore the fury is unrestrained, the people...

It makes men, and anger is insolent; for this is the intoxication that is prone to arise from a boiling…§16

16It makes men, and anger is insolent; for this is the intoxication that is prone to arise from a boiling spirit. If the Nazirites abstain from wine according to the law, then it has been legislated that the Nazirites be excluded from anger.

The threat of a king does not differ from the anger of a lion; but he who is provoked by it sins against his own soul. Here Christ has been spoken of in opposition as a king; for he who sins against his own soul by being provoked by this one the king sins.

The one who insults while being lazy is not ashamed; likewise the one who borrows grain in a famine. If it is possible to borrow grain in a famine, it is also possible to borrow spiritual grain in the coming age from those who worked in the six years for their own land and who feed widows and orphans in the seventh year.

He who conducts himself blamelessly in righteousness will leave his children blessed, whom he has made manifest through virtue.

A lamp will be extinguished by one slandering a father or a mother; and the maidens of his eyes will see darkness. The same Christ is able, by intention, to be both father and mother; father to those possessing the Spirit through adoption, and 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, and a mother to the Corinthians, giving them milk to drink.

A portion being studied in the first things will not be blessed in the last. 'It parches the throat for a time'; 'later indeed you will find it more bitter, like bile.'

Do not say: 'I will fight the enemy'; but endure the Lord, so that he may help you. Do not say, moved by pride: 'I alone will fight the enemies'; but endure the Lord, so that he may help you. And David says: 'I do not hope in my own bow, nor shall my sword save me' (Psalm 44:6). And again: 'A false horse for salvation' (Psalm 33:17) and 'Unless the Lord builds a house and guards a city' (Ps 127:1).

I think that what is called by some a 'great and small weight' is a great excess and deficiency; for both are evils.

The one who suffers well...

One who intends harm to another, but does not himself intend to allow others to rest, has a double measure, not obeying the commandment which says: 'Whatever you want men to do to you, do likewise to them' (Matt 7:12).

An ear that hears and an eye that sees are both works of the Lord. It is not the eye that sees badly that is the work of the Lord, but the one seeing; nor is it the ear that hears badly the work of the Lord, but the one hearing; and the same must be said concerning the other members of the body. Use this saying against those who slander us, insulting this body and the Creator.

Do not love to speak maliciously, so that you may not be caught; but 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.

A double weight and a deceitful scale are an abomination to the Lord (Prov 11:1). The mind, which is naturally inclined to judge things rightly, but deviates by the inclination of self-will, calls a deceitful scale a 'deceitful scale.'

The steps of a man are directed by the Lord (Proverbs 20:24); but how can a mortal man understand His ways? A mortal man who has not died together with Christ cannot understand the ways of the Lord.

It is a quick snare for a man to sanctify his own things; for after praying, repentance happens. Repentance toward good things does not happen to the righteous, but to the unrighteous. Let the unrighteous not promise anything to God without careful consideration; for 'after praying, repentance happens.'

A wise man is a winnowing fan for an impious king and imposes a threshing floor upon them, separating the chaff from the wheat. 'Make them as a threshing floor' (Proverbs 20:26).

The light of the Lord is the breath of men, a lamp that searches the treasury of the belly. 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 one who seems to be a lamp in ignorance, emptying the mind of good things and transforming himself into an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14).

To do justice and to speak truth pleasing to God rather than the blood of sacrifices. This saying casts out the sacrifice through irrational animals; for 'a sacrifice to God is a broken spirit' (Ps 51:17). Toward the crooked, crooked paths.

Exegesis of Proverbs§17

17God sends; for His works are pure and upright. If the works of God are pure and upright, and the mind is one of His works, then the mind was created by the Lord upright and pure.

It is better to dwell on an open corner than in houses inhabited through injustice and in a common house. He set the open corner against the house that is inhabited and common. If the inhabited and common house is wickedness, then the open corner is virtue. A corner, therefore, is a practice of contemplation, touching and being illuminated by the sun of justice. And Paul also rightly said of the high priest of the Jews that the wall was inhabited and would be struck by God. And the Savior in the Gospels said of the Pharisees that they were tombs inhabited. It is also well said of the corner, where the stone lies, rejected by the builders and having become the head of a corner. And he who is not of the one God said 'common'.

A secret gift subdues passions; but he who restrains his temper stirs up a strong gift. A secret gift is such that the left hand does not know what the right hand does. A man wandering from the way of righteousness will find rest in a gathering of giants. The gathering of giants is wickedness and ignorance.

It is better to dwell in a desert land than with a contentious, talkative, and angry woman. And David says: 'In a desert land and uncultivated and without water, thus I appeared to you in the holy place.' A desert, therefore, is the virtue which does not have the old men dwelling in it, those who decay according to the desires of disease. 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 of wisdom: 'the dwellings of her are narrow.' If this is so, is not the contentious, talkative, and angry woman wickedness itself?

He makes the one living with her a fighter, a talker, and an angry person.

A desirable treasure rests upon the mouth of the wise; but foolish men swallow it. The wisdom of the Lord rests in the heart of the wise, but foolish men destroy it.

A wise man ascended fortified cities and pulled down the rampart upon which the ungodly had trusted. Wisdom is a fortified city in which the wise dwell, 'demolishing arguments and every exaltation raised up against the knowledge of God' (2 Cor 10:5).

He who guards his mouth and preserves his tongue keeps his soul from distress. Mouth and tongue are soul and mind; for soul they say is passion and desire, which some call the passive part of the soul.

An ungodly man desires evil desires all day long; but the righteous man shows mercy and compassion without stint. Regarding angels, it is never to desire evil desires; regarding men, it is sometimes to desire and sometimes not to desire evil desires; regarding demons, it is 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,' instead of through life.

A horse is prepared for the day of war; but the help is from the Lord. The mind says 'horse'; for 'will he not mount your horses, and your cavalry is salvation' (Habakkuk 3:8), he says; and regarding Paul, the Lord says, 'to bear my name' (Acts 9:16).

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

A rich man and a poor man met one another; but the Lord made both.

The Shepherd and the Slanderer§18

18Almsgiving purifies the passion while acquiring love; and the poor man is trained to be humble through his poverty.

Four generations of wisdom: fear of the Lord, wealth, glory, and life. 'These are the generations of Noah' (Genesis 6:9), 'these are the generations of Abraham'.

Thorns and snares in crooked paths; but he who guards his own soul will escape them (Proverbs 22:5). And the Lord says to Adam: 'the earth shall bring forth for you thorns and thistles' (Gen 3:18), that is, the soul. Thorns and thistles he calls the sins, from which even the crown of Christ was struck; for he himself bore the sin of the world.

The rich shall rule the poor, and servants shall lend to their own masters (Proverbs 22:7). In the age to come, those enriched in every way in all knowledge and all wisdom shall rule over the unclean and those deprived of this wealth.

But who are the servants and who are the masters? It is not necessary now to publish this, because the word concerning them is mystical and deeper.

God blesses a cheerful and giving man (Prov 22:8a); but the Lord brings to completion the vanity of his works through virtue and knowledge (Prov 22:8b).

The one giving gifts acquires victory and honor (Prov 22:9a), but his soul is taken away from what he has possessed. The gifts of a man are called virtues, through which, conquering the devil, he offers himself as an honor to God, and his soul is taken away from the demons who had possessed it.

'Cast out a pestilence from the council, and strife shall come out with him' (Prov 22:10); for when he sits in a council, he dishonors all. He spoke of the most critical state, from which the wise Solomon wishes to cast out the man through spiritual teaching; and the strife signifies contention. He may also mean a pestilence and the devil, whom it is necessary to drive away from the soul. For if he sits in it, through impurity he dishonors all the righteous thoughts. And the apostle also shows the soul as a council, into which he introduces accusing thoughts and defending ones; 'for, he says, among one another, thoughts are either accusing or defending' (Romans 2:15 allusion); where there is accusation and defense, there is also a council.

A king shall rule with his lips (Prov 22:11); and the eyes of the Lord shall preserve perception (Prov 22:12); but the lawless one makes words contemptible.

The Lord himself is the shepherd of our souls and through spiritual knowledge he shepherds us, a knowledge which he who transgresses his law despises. It should be noted that since Christ is king, he is said to shepherd us through his condescension; 'for I,' he says, 'am the good shepherd' (John 10:11). But if he is a king among kings and a shepherd of sheep, he will at some time be only a king, as a dignity for those sheep who have transitioned into the kingdom.

The enemy, the devil, is seen to say: 'a lion in the roads, and murderers in the streets' (Proverbs 26:13); our enemy the devil prowls about like a lion seeking someone to devour, whom the sluggard, fearing him, rises up to meet in the work of virtues.

'A deep pit, the mouth of the lawless' (Proverbs 22:14); but he who is hated by the Lord will fall into it. Job, not being hated by the Lord, but on account of testing, fell into it (Job 5:7).

'Folly spreads from the heart of a youth; but a rod and instruction are far from him' (Prov 22:15); far from the heart of the foolish is the rod which is from the root of Jesse (Isa 11:1).

'The slanderer's poverty does many of his own evils; but he gives to the rich upon less' (Proverbs 22:16); 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 from him the evils, as if from a poor man we take in virtues; so also we give our virtues to him at a loss, as if to a rich man we give in evil. One of the elders was saying that we are the slanderers, slandering Christ, having made him poor through us, even though he owes nothing to us, and taking much from him and giving to Satan upon the humiliation of our souls.

'Compare your ear with the words of the wise and hear my word; and examine your own heart, so that you may know that they are good' (Proverbs 22:17); this one hears the words of God, the one doing the things commanded by them; 'for not the hearers of the law are righteous before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified' (Romans 2:13).

'And you also shall write them down for yourself thrice for counsel and knowledge upon the breadth of your heart'; he who broadens his heart through purity will perceive the words of God, both the practical, the natural, and the theological. For all the...

Exegesis of Proverbs§19

19According to the Scripture, the matter is divided quite sharply into the ethical, the natural, and the theological. To the first follows Proverbs, to the second Ecclesiastes, and to the third the Hymns of the Hymns.

Regarding Proverbs 24:8, 26: 'Do not give yourself as a surety, being ashamed of your face'; and 24:27: 'For if you do not have something from which to spread it, the layer under your sides shall be taken.' Those who entertain bad thoughts and thus honor the evil one should strive to whatever power they can through good thoughts to restore the bad ones. For if they are not able to do this, the layer under the sides of the soul—that is, virtue—shall be taken. For this is called the garment of the mind when it stands in righteousness, but it is called a cushion when the rest has fallen due to bad thoughts.

Regarding Proverbs 24:28: 'Do not move the eternal boundaries which your fathers set.' He who moves the boundaries of godliness demonstrates either superstition or impiety, and he who moves the boundaries of courage achieves either rashness or cowardice. Likewise, this should be considered regarding the other virtues, regarding the dogmas, and regarding faith itself. Above all, this must be observed concerning the Holy Trinity; for he who does not theologize divides the Holy Spirit by baptism, and he who names others as gods introduces a crowd of gods.

Regarding Proverbs 23:1: 'If you sit to dine at the table of a powerful man, observe mindfully what is set before you...' and 23:3: 'But if you are more gluttonous, do not desire his delicacies'; for these things possess a false life. For not everyone contains the more mystical intellect of the Scripture. It is necessary that the Divine Scripture be understood mindfully and spiritually; for sensory knowledge according to the history is not true.

Regarding Proverbs 23:6: 'Do not dine with a coarse man'; nor desire his foods; 23:7: 'For in whatever way anyone swallows hair, so he eats and drinks'; 23:8: 'Nor let him be brought to you, and eat your bread with him'; for he will vomit him out and will defile your beautiful words. If the coarse man eats the grain of impiety and drinks lawless wine, one must not dine with him; therefore, it is not right to be impious and lawless, for these vices defile spiritual knowledge. Regarding Proverbs 23:9: 'Say nothing into the ears of a fool'...

Regarding the acquisition of your wise words: 'Say nothing wise,' that is to say, profound and mystical; for it is not fitting to cast pearls before swine. Regarding the boundaries: 'Do not shift the eternal boundaries which your fathers set,' and 'Do not enter the estate of orphans,' for wickedness is that by which they were deprived of their Father in heaven.

Regarding jealousy: 'Let not your heart envy sinners,' but be in the fear of the Lord all your days. Since it is said, 'All turns away from evil by the fear of the Lord' (Proverbs 16:6), it rightly exhorts us to turn away from all evil throughout our whole life.

Regarding offspring: 'If you keep these, you shall have offspring,' and 'your hope shall not be disappointed.' The mind has said that the right reasonings and the spiritual contemplations are offspring. Therefore, the soul is barren which does not have these offspring, which it is nature to bring forth from the spiritual bridegroom.

Regarding drunkenness and fornication: 'Every drunkard and fornicator shall be poor, and shall clothe himself in torn and ragged things.' There is no wedding garment that is torn and ragged. Regarding the mother: 'Listen, son, to the father of him who begot you, and do not despise that your mother has grown old.' One of the elders heard someone saying the soul is the mother of the mind; for this, he says, leads the mind into light through the practical virtues. The 'soul' referred to was the passionate part of the soul, which is divided into spirit and desire. For through courage and temperance, he says, we acquire wisdom and knowledge of God. Courage and temperance are the virtues of spirit and desire.

Regarding wines: 'Not of those who intoxicate with wines? Not of those who track where the drinking takes place?' These wines are from the vine of Sodom. Regarding fellowship: 'Do not get drunk with wine, but converse with righteous men, and converse in your walkings.' The Mind, conversing in walkings, walks worthily of the calling wherewith he was called.

Regarding eyes and cups: 'If you give your eyes to bowls and cups.' Sin resembles a bowl according to thought, and a cup according to energy. Regarding nakedness: 'Later you will walk more naked than the proud.' The proud knock much and do not open the place they knock at. But to the disciples the Lord says, 'Knock and it shall be opened to you' (Matthew 7:7). Regarding the eyes and mouth: 'Your eyes, when they see something foreign, your mouth then will speak.'

The Judgment and the Sword of God§20

20A scholion: A mind having received an alien thought will meditate on evil logismoi (thoughts). But he who guards himself will inherit life.

And it will lie still, just as in the heart of a sea, and just as a pilot in a great swell, being tossed by every wind of instruction (Proverbs 23:34).

When will the dawn be, so that coming, I may seek with those with whom I will be gathered? The dawn of the soul is the recognition of sin (Proverbs 23:35).

After steering comes war, but help comes with a deliberative heart. Those shipwrecking regarding faith do not fight against the opposing spirits in war with steering (Proverbs 24:6).

It is also possible to say this regarding every virtue; for there is also shipwreck regarding temperance, and regarding love, and regarding freedom from greed; and regarding each doctrine, similarly, it becomes a shipwreck according to the catholic and apostolic church. If, however, one must fight against the adversaries after steering, life upon the earth is near to us as a naval battle.

Wisdom and good understanding in the gates of the wise (Proverbs 24:7). The gates of the wise are the practical virtues through which the wisdom of God enters.

Impurity will stain a man like a plague (Prov 26:10), in a day of evil and in a day of tribulation, until it fails away. If vice diminishes virtue, and showing that virtue corrupts vice; this indeed will happen in the age to come, until vice fails away. For it has been set to stain instead of corrupting; but impurity is corrupted, either by practical discipline or by the punishment of severity (Prov 26:11).

To rescue those being led unto death and those being driven out to be slain, let him not spare. This is the word for those being made worthy of knowledge and those neglecting instruction, many of whom are led by vice unto death (Proverbs 24:11).

Eat honey, O son, for it is a good thing, so that your throat may be sweetened (Proverbs 24:13). He who benefits from the divine writings eats honey; but he who casts out the words from those very things 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 (Proverbs 24:13).

Do not bring near the impious thinking they are righteous, nor be deceived by the fullness of the belly. Do not betray God for the sake of pleasure; for this one is thought to be righteous and will never abandon you (Proverbs 24:15). If the man falls...

Do not rejoice over your enemy, nor exult in his stumbling, for the Lord will see and it will not please him, and he will turn his anger away from him. God indeed turns his anger away from the fallen one having had mercy on him, but he is angry with the one who has become proud over the fall of his enemy.

For everyone who rejoices over a perishing soul 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 human being here, for whom the Lord has enjoined us to pray in the Gospels (Matthew 5:44).

Evil offspring will not be produced, but the light of the ungodly will be extinguished. Bad virtues and doctrines will not be produced—for these are the offspring of the soul—because they do not fear the Lord; but those who are in the fear of the Lord will have offspring all day long, and their hope will not fail.

Fear God, son, and the King, and do not disobey either of them, 'so that they may know you, the only true God, and whom you sent, Jesus Christ' (John 4:24). For the ungodly will be extinguished suddenly; and who will know the punishments of both? How then does the Savior say in the Gospels: 'The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son' (John 5:22)? Either punishment is one thing, and judgment is another. Punishment is indeed the deprivation of impassibility and the knowledge of God with bodily distress; but judgment is the distribution of an age according to each of the rational bodies.

The tongue of a king is a sword and not a flesh-wound; and whoever is delivered to it will be crushed, 'and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God' (Ephesians 6:17). The 'not flesh-wound' refers to the 'not sensible'. If his anger is sharpened, he consumes men with nerves.

The sword of God consumes the old men who are being corrupted according to the desires of sickness, so that, having laid aside the old man, they may put on the new one created according to God. It rattles the bones of men and burns like a flame, 'for I came to cast fire upon the earth' (Luke 12:49). He is spotless for the pure, the one having been cleansed by the Lord and abstaining from all evil.

Ownership, Stewardship, and the Field of the Mind§21

21For I am the most foolish of all men, and there is no human wisdom in me. The Foolish One said this by way of the lack of human wisdom.

Who ascended into heaven and descended? 'No one has ascended into heaven above, except the Son of Man who descended from heaven' (John 3:13).

Who gathered the winds in a bosom? Who wetted water in a garment? Who grasped all the ends of the earth? By what faith or in what way did he gather those 'from the east and the west and the north and the sea' (Psalm 107:3) into the knowledge of God and have given to them a spiritual vision to deposit in the virtues? And in another way: Who through true knowledge hid false knowledge? Who deposited true knowledge in the virtues? Who 'from the east and the west and the north and the sea' (Psalm 107:3) gathered all the nations, making them dense with the virtues and depositing the heavenly water, the flowing from the spring of life?

Do not add to his words, so that he may not examine you and you become false; for by the law of the Lord, 'it is not permitted to add, and it is not permitted to take away' (Deuteronomy 4:2).

Make a vain word and a long false word far from me. Make a pseudonymous knowledge far from me.

So that, not being filled, I may not become false and say: 'Who sees me?' Or, being in need, I may steal and swear by the name of God. Lest, he says, being filled, a proud listener of knowledge I become and say: 'No one shall know my wisdom.' Lest, being filled with unapproachable knowledge, I appear to men as a liar, saying such things which those endowed with blood and flesh are not able to know.

And the following is also well-added: 'so that, not being in need, I may not steal and swear by the name of God'; for someone steals foreign theories so that he may fill his mind while starving. But this happened before the coming of the Savior; now Paul says: 'let him who steals steal no longer' (Eph 4:28), but rather let him work righteousness.

so that having acquired knowledge, one may share it with the one in need. For what indeed is that which is not ours, so that we, who have believed in Christ, should steal? For all things are ours, but we belong to Christ, through whom all things came to be, and Christ belongs to God (1 Corinthians 3:23).

He who steals knowledge is not the one taking from the one who previously possessed it, but the one who subtracts knowledge from a false name. For all those who have believed in Christ, receiving insights from the holy prophets and apostles, are not called thieves of others' insights, but rather heirs of ancestral goods.

Do not hand over a servant into the hands of a master, lest he curse you and you be destroyed. Flee, mind, lest you hand over yourself to evil again, if 'everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin' (John 8:34). And now, the one practicing sin is called sin by the devil.

But those who rebuke others will appear better; and a good blessing will come upon them. The good blessing is the intellectual one, which is distinguished from the sensory blessing.

Prepare your works for the exodus and prepare for the field. Our Lord in the Gospels named the world a field; but Solomon now has spoken of the field as the theory of the world. But the field in the Gospels is that of the existing composition of a human soul and body, for it is sensory; whereas the field indicated here is of the mind alone, being intellectual and understood from these words of the world, into which pure hearts enter.

And go after me and you will rebuild your house, 'for a house is built with wisdom' (Prov 24:3); 'but into a poorly-crafted soul wisdom will not enter.' If you leave him, he will become a wasteland and will wither and become abandoned; and the barriers of his stones will be dug up. A barrier is apatheia of the rational soul, established from the practical virtues.

Interpretations of Proverbs§22

The Varied Names of the Soul's States§23

23impassive

To stand in judgment is not good. Just as cold water is unpleasing to a soul that thirsts, so is a good message from far off the earth, and so is the knowledge of God from the earth pleasant.

Just as if someone were to break open a spring and enjoy the outlet of water, so a just man falls disorderly before the thought of the thoughts of the ungodly; his falls are called such and such, his risings, his seat, his standing; and others his walking and some of his obstacles are named; and others hard and soft and fragrant and sweet and bitter and smooth and straight and crooked; and again some of his are called thorns and briars, others light and darkness and life and death, others diseases and healths; and others again are named falsehood and truth; and many other names the Scripture sets down according to the soul and the thoughts of it.

But what it sets down against it, as it is possible to say a few of many, these are they: mind, soul, heart, man, man, woman, slave, servant, father, son, spirit, eye, mouth, lip, tongue, larynx, belly, bosom, arm, finger, wood, nose, sheep, ram, shepherd; and there are more names of the soul, which it is not possible now to set down because the nature of the scholia does not permit prolixity. There, therefore, a just mind falls before the devil, receiving an unclean thought or a false dogma. And David says: 'Before him shall all those descending into the earth fall' (Psalm 22:29); but this fall contains true knowledge and pure thoughts.

Just as a city with its walls cast down and without walls, so a man who does nothing by intention. 'Will' is spoken here for the inclination of the heart toward the better.

Just as a whip to a horse and a goad to a donkey, so a rod chastises the lawless. The rod is now a symbol of punishment.

He who sends a word through a foolish angel makes a dream of his own ways. It is not necessary to give the holy things to dogs, nor to cast pearls before swine (Mt 7:6). Having removed the journey of the legs and the lawlessness from the mouth of the foolish, remove the bad way and make a long distance of false knowledge from it. He who releases a stone from a sling is like one giving glory to a foolish person. Knowledge will not fit a fool and...

Virtue, Knowledge, and the Perils of the Soul§24

24A stone is worthless in a golden setting.

Much is covered by the flesh of fools, for their ecstasy is crushed. If the ecstasy of fools, by which they were beside themselves for God (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:13), is crushed, having become pure again, they approach God; for 'all flesh shall see the salvation of God.' One must note here that he named 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' (cf. Genesis 6:3).

Like a dog when it rushes upon its own vomit and becomes loathsome, so a fool, having turned back to his own sin by his own wickedness, is like a dog eating its own vomit after casting away his wickedness and turning again toward it.

Having hidden a sluggish hand in his lap, he will not be able to bring it to the mouth. If 'a tree of life grows from the fruits of righteousness' (cf. Proverbs 11:30), everyone hiding righteousness with unrighteousness will not eat from this tree.

Like one holding a dog's leash, so is the one presiding over another's judgment. Use this saying for those being voted for some unworthy ones in Jerusalem or by lot (cf. Proverbs 26:17).

Fire flourishes in many woods; but where there is no hot-tempered one, the fight rests. He said the hot-tempered, hot-tempered one.

Smooth lips cover a sad heart. A pure heart will not seize sadness; for he has driven away corrupt desires from it.

If the enemy entreats you with a loud voice, do not be persuaded by him. Our Satan sometimes entreats us, tickling us through unclean thoughts and throwing himself upon us with the smoothness of pleasure, and sometimes indeed raising a voice truly loud as if having been defeated, one whom one must not obey having the 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 need, the bitter things seem sweet to it. A pure soul enjoys knowledge; but an unclean soul thinks false knowledge to be true knowledge.

Like a bird when it falls from its own nest, so a man is enslaved when he is made a stranger from his own places.

Virtue and knowledge are of the heart, from which being estranged a man falls into wickedness and ignorance and becomes a slave, since 'everyone practicing sin is a slave of sin' (John 8:34). The heart is delighted by perfumes, wines, and incenses; but the soul is shattered by accidents. The impassive Mind delights in diverse wisdom; but the empassioned mind will fall into ignorance.

Do not abandon your friend and your fellow-countryman; 'They have left me the spring of living water and have dug for themselves cisterns' (Jeremiah 2:13). Do not enter the house of your brother 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 far from home. Better is the one joined to me through true knowledge than the one joined to me only through nature.

Take away his garment, for an insolent man passes by who plunders what belongs to others. This is that which is said in the Gospel: 'And from him who has not, even what he seems to have will be taken away' (Luke 8:18). This shows, in my opinion, the intellectual remnants of virtues and the knowledge of God being taken from men who have used them badly.

He who plants a fig tree will eat its fruits; but he who guards his Lord will be honored. Our Lord is the fig tree; for its fruit heals leprosy. If you dishonor the fool in the midst of a sitting, you will not escape his foolishness. Not dishonoring the fool will not turn him from his foolishness, but rather you are teaching him what kind of dishonor foolishness brings to a stranger.

Knowingly recognize the souls of your flock and understand your heart with your wise flocks; for they do not hand over strength and power to a man for an age, nor from generation to generation. Attend to yourself and direct your virtues, for men do not always prevail in them, nor do they transition healthily from virtue to virtue or from knowledge to knowledge, as the human condition does not easily receive this. Since he speaks of generations regarding virtues and knowledges, according to which the saints are born, he shows through what he writes: 'A generation of wisdom, the fear of the Lord, and wealth and glory and life' (Proverbs 22:4). And one should use...

Law, Apatheia, and the Soul§25

25By this proverb, it applies also to the shepherds of the churches, whom it is necessary to attend not to faces, but to hearts, and to shepherd the sheep intellectually.

Regarding the one who cares for the green things in the field and shears wool and gathers a pasture in the mountainous field, the mind says: the green things are the virtues that exist within it in potential, of which the one caring shears wool, being a symbol of the knowledge of God, which he again calls a mountainous pasture; for a mountainous pasture represents the knowledge of holy powers that suits the soul's unreasoned state. It is a custom in Scripture to call holy mountains such. Thus also David lifts up his soul, asking, 'From where will my help come?' (Psalm 121:1); and again: 'The mountains leap like rams, and the hills like lambs of the flock' (Psalm 114:4) concerning the salvation of Israel. For if angels rejoice over one repenting, how much more over such a multitude traveling from wickedness to virtue.

Therefore, only the knowledge of the holy angels nourishes the virtues in us, from which the soul clothes itself with the bowels of compassion, kindness, patience, humility, faith, self-control, love, and the good things generated from these. That David speaks of rational souls regarding fields, from this one can learn: 'And your fields, he says, shall be filled with fullness' (Psalm 65:11); and again shortly after: 'And the valleys shall abound with grain; for they shall cry out and shall sing' (Psalm 65:13); for hymn and cry are by nature suited to join with the rational nature.

Regarding the man who is brave in impieties, slandering the poor like a useless and empty cloud: if he is brave in impieties, he is brave also in virtues; and if the brave man in impieties slanders the poor, the brave man in virtues exhorts the poor; surely everyone who exhorts the poor is brave in piety. Thus those abandoning the law praise impiety; but those loving the law surround themselves with a wall. Everyone who loves the law makes the...

Law: everyone practicing the law acquires apatheia and the knowledge of God. If 'those loving the law surround themselves with a wall', now the wall signifies apatheia and the knowledge of God, which alone is fit to guard the rational nature.

344 28, 7 He who guards the law is a prudent son; but he who pastures intemperance dishonors his father the Shepherd, calling the mind the shepherd, and the passions within it sheep, which he nourishes within himself, 'through the transgression of the law he dishonors God'. For intemperance of the soul is passionate thoughts being carried out through the body; but intemperance of the mind is the assumption of false dogmas and theories.

345 28, 8 He who increases his wealth through usury and excess, bringing the poor to him whom he pities—if the wealth of the ungodly is wickedness, and wise men will lose him, it is evident that the righteous and wise are losing wickedness, by means of spiritual teaching leading the impure back to virtue.

346 28, 9 He who turns his ear from not hearing the law, and he himself has detested his prayer; the law does not detest anyone's prayer, but God who gave the law. And Paul says: 'the Scripture foretelling' (Galatians 3:8) the future, instead of 'he who gave the Scripture'.

347 28, 13 He who covers his ungodliness will not prosper; but he who explains reproofs will be loved, 'I said: I will confess my iniquity to the Lord, and you have forgiven the ungodliness of my heart' (Psalm 32:5).

348 28, 15 A hungry lion and a thirsty wolf who tyrannizes, being poor, of a needy nation; if 'blessed' (Matthew 5:6) are 'those who hunger and thirst for righteousness', lions and wolves are those who hunger and thirst for injustice.

349 28, 16 A needy king is a great slanderer; but he who hates injustice will live a long time. The approaches of the evil king are wickednesses and false dogmas; for these approach him, those who are ruled by him.

Exegesis of Proverbs 29§26

26A man who guarantees a murderer will be a fugitive and will not be in safety. He who guarantees Satan guarantees injustice, promising to pay him the fruits of injustice. Concerning this, the Gospel also says that one defiled through murder and strife is put into prison.

Bring up a son and he will love you and give wealth to your soul (Proverbs 29:17); he will not obey a lawless nation. A lawless nation is the order of demons, which the brought-up son does not obey.

He who works his own land will be filled with bread; but he who pursues leisure will be filled with want (Proverbs 28:19). He who purifies himself will be filled with knowledge; but the unclean will be filled with ignorance.

He who is not ashamed before the faces of the righteous is not good; such a man will be given a crust of bread instead of a man (Proverbs 28:21). If the virtues are the faces of the righteous, he is not good who is not ashamed of the virtues. And if the vices are the faces of the sinners, he is good who is not ashamed of the vices.

A wealthy man hastens to be rich, and does not know that mercy will rule him (Proverbs 28:22). Those who are now merciful will, in the age to come, be shown mercy by God and, having become angels, will rule over the ungodly. Such a status was also promised to his disciples, that the Lord would give them to sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28). And a throne is that in which the mind sits, a spiritual knowledge gathering together those who have wandered from godliness. And to judge here means to teach, as also 'open your mouth with the word of God and judge all healthily,' instead of teaching. It is also to be understood that the merciful one, having conquered the ruler, himself will not become a ruler, but will rather make the ruler merciful.

The righteous stand in the places of the ungodly; and in their destruction the righteous will be multiplied (Proverbs 28:28). If the ungodly abandon the...

They being impious, they shall become righteous; for the destruction now signifies the removal of impiety. Thus also Matthew, having lost the tax collector, the Lord granted righteousness to him (Matt 9:13).

A man rebuking a stubborn man is better (Prov 29:1); for when he is burning, there will be no healing. He did not say that when the flame has ceased there is no healing, but that while he is burning there will be no healing, as one having wood, grass, or reed still present, even if health happens to come to those being burned after the ember.

When a righteous man is praised, peoples will rejoice; but when impious rulers rule, men groan (Prov 29:2). All those who are under the authorities and the powers and the cosmic rulers of this darkness, these certainly also groan.

A man loving wisdom, his father rejoices; but he who pastures prostitutes will lose wealth (Prov 29:3). And he who nurtures wickedness will lose knowledge. Alternatively: A good mind is a shepherd having possessed passionless thoughts, and an evil mind is a shepherd having possessed passionate thoughts. And if this is so, is not a passionate thought a goat, and is not a passionless thought a sheep? Therefore also the Lord sets the goats on the left and the sheep on the right; and he says 'goats and sheep' regarding those possessing goats and sheep, that is, those having passionate and passionless thoughts. In the same way, regarding those having the weeds, he commanded 'weeds', and regarding those having the grain, 'grain', naming them from the most inferior and most excellent state. Such is also what is said by Paul, 'love does not wander' (1 Corinthians 13:8), instead of 'he who has love'.

A righteous king lifts up a land; but an unlawful man overthrows it (Prov 29:4). Christ lifts up the rational nature; but the antichrist overthrows it.

A righteous man knows how to judge the poor; but the impious will not understand (Prov 29:7).

The Law, Confession, and Courage§27

27A discerning mind does not exist even for a poor man. Truly, one without discernment is poor.

A wise man judges nations; but a foolish man, being enraged, is laughed at and does not fall. 'And at him, says David, they shall laugh and say: Behold a man who did not set God as his helper' (Psalm 52:7).

Men sharing in blood will seek the holy; but the upright will seek his soul. He who seeks the soul of the righteous is the one desiring to understand things as they have been thought.

A fool pours out his whole passion; but a wise man stores up his passion in measure. This one stores up his passion in measure, that is, he who is enraged at things concerning the righteous, or he who consumes his passion in measure through long-suffering. And to the simpler ones, one should speak the former, but to the serious ones, the latter.

An interpreter shall not exist for a nation that is lawless; but he who keeps the law is blessed. To those who have kept the law, an interpreter shall exist; but to those who have acted lawlessly, an interpreter shall not exist, but a punisher shall exist; if not by word, then by rod; a rod is given to a lawless nation.

A harsh servant will not be instructed by words; for even if he understands, he will not obey. Because no one is harsh by nature, he demonstrates 'for even if he understands, he will not obey'; for the one who is harsh by nature could never understand anything right. I say this because of Pharaoh, having been hardened against Israel, being instructed not by words, but by scourging.

He who squanders from childhood will be a servant; but at the last he will grieve for himself. If squandering makes one sin, 'for everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin' (John 8:34), then everyone who squanders is a slave of sin.

Pride humbles a man; but the humble-minded, the Lord exalts with glory. Now the evil pride of the soul...

He calls it logical. He who divides the truth is hated by his own soul. 'The thief,' he says, 'does not come except in order to steal and slaughter and destroy' (John 10:10).

If, however, having an oath set forth, they hear it and do not disclose the sin, they will be turned aside by fear and shame of men. The Oath spoke the law; for just as the oath places God in the soul, so also the law introduces God into the soul; and in whatever way perjury again annuls God from the soul, so also lawlessness casts God out from it. If, therefore, he says, having heard the law set forth, they do not confess their sins, 'they will be turned aside by fear and shame of men.' Thus also David says: 'I swore and I stood to keep your judgments of righteousness' (Psalm 119:106). And again Solomon says: 'He who covers his impiety will not prosper; but he who explains and reproves will be loved' (Proverbs 28:13). And David: 'I said, he says, I will confess to the Lord my iniquity, and you forgave the impiety of my heart' (Psalm 32:5); and 'speak first of your iniquities.'

Many treat the faces of leaders; but from the Lord, justice happens to the man. In acting rightly, we treat the angels; for they are our leaders having taken us from the beginning, 'when the Most High divided the nations' (Deut 32:8) and 'he set the boundaries of the nations according to the number of his angels' (Deut 32:8). And the justice from the judgment will be for us from the Lord on that day when he judges the inhabited world in righteousness (Acts 17:31), if indeed the Father has given all judgment to the Son.

What man will find a courageous woman? Courage is an excellent state of the logical soul, by which he has mastered the opposing forces of enemies. Such a thing will not fail good dogs. We plunder the opposing power having conquered.

Those learning the words about her. She makes unserviceable wool and linen with her hands. The soul is a…§28

28Those learning the words about her. She makes unserviceable wool and linen with her hands. The soul is a weaver of wool and linen, considering the nature of living and lifeless things, or examining the discourses concerning the practical and the natural. One said that the soul weaves wool and linen, drawing the contemplation of bodies and incorporeals toward it through the practical life.

The one who is the sun of justice finds the soul rising from the night, being watchful, and moreover 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). She rose up and realized that it is good to work, and the lamp is not extinguished through the whole night. A pure mind is a lamp, filled with spiritual contemplation.

She stretches out her hands toward what is profitable; her shuttles she rests upon a loom. A pure mind is a loom, weaving virtue with virtue and doctrine with doctrine, or a spoken word drawing spiritual contemplation from the mind. Her husband does not care about those in the house whenever she is busy; for all those near her are being clothed. The mind would not proceed, nor would contemplation of the incorporeals occur, without first correcting the inner things; for the disturbance of the household is wont to turn it back toward those things from which it had departed. But having acquired apatheia, she will be busy in contemplation and will not care about those in the house; for the soul has clothed itself in practicalness and humility, and in desire, temperance and self-control.

She made two shuttles for her husband; garments of earth and sea from fine linen and purple. The discourses are garments of the rational soul from fine linen and...

A purple garment. Another says that the contemplation of events and the contemplation of the Holy Trinity is a garment of a pure mind made of the deep and purple.

He made linen and gave it, and girdles to the Canaanites (Proverbs 31:24). The linen shown on the roof was a symbol to Peter of the sensible world; for the various animals contained in it showed the diverse characters of men, having been purified by the cross of Christ. If one linen signified this world, may it not be that many linens contain the contemplation of various worlds, which the pure soul having contemplated, shared with others. And if the Canaanites are interpreted as the lowly, it is well that he did not give the linens to the lowly in mind, but to the pure the linens, and to the Canaanites the girdles, which are symbols of the practical life, the passionate part of the soul binding.

Narrow dwellings of the house (Proverbs 31:27). If the devil is 'king' of 'all those in the waters' and 'through waterless places he finds no rest', then it is rightly said that the narrow dwellings are the habits of the pure soul.

She was lazy and did not eat grain (Proverbs 31:27). They say that lazy grain is the evil.

For a wise woman is blessed; but the fear of the Lord let her praise (Proverbs 31:30). If 'the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom', then the soul which happens to find wisdom rightly praises the fear of the Lord, which has become to her a precursor of such knowledge.

He who does not conduct himself with his own house will inherit wind, and he will serve a fool despite being wise (Proverbs 11:29). This exhortation of the fool. Every worthless fool, every fool is a slave, therefore every worthless person is a slave.

Friends will hate poor friends, but many friends of the rich (Proverbs 14:20). For the holy angels love the holy because of their virtues; but they hate the sinners because of their poverty.