Virtue and Purpose

…The word becomes much, and man was created so that he might live according to virtue. This the psalmist saw and said: 'Make me know my end and the number of my days, what it is, so that I may know what I lack' (Ps 39:4). To say that he was created for this purpose—to live according to virtue and to participate in his wisdom, and to both speak and act according to it. Since he sees himself being left behind in many things, which he says is due to mediocrity, he says, 'Make me know my end,' so that he may know how much time he remains here, in order that he may strive to make up for his deficiencies.

According to this thought, it is also said in Ecclesiastes: 'Do not become hard, lest you die not in your time' (Eccl 11:9), which indicates that since you have become one who bears the fruit of virtue, do not neglect it, lest you depart imperfect. David also prays, saying: 'Do not bring me back in the midst of my days' (Ps 39:10). And Abraham is also said to be 'old and full of days.' Even if we take this more simply, many of the many who were before him lived more years, yet they were neither called old nor full of days.

One who is 'full of days' is one who has received the illuminations of 'the sun of righteousness' without interruption. And one who is 'old' is one who has been honored with those presbeia, about which it is said: 'For old age is a precious thing, not measured by long years or by the number of the years, but it is a great wisdom for men, and old age is a life without turmoil.' Since Abraham 'believed in God' (Gen 15:6) as 'his faith was reckoned as righteousness' (Rom 4:3) and he was 'full of days' and 'old,' it is fitting that he 'died in good old age.'

The fullness of days is understood in this way and is confirmed from other sources: it is said, 'Honor your father and your mother, so that it may go well with you and you may be long-lived upon the earth which the Lord gives you' (Exod 20:12). This is not indisputable; for many who showed great honor to their parents died prematurely, and others who dishonored their mothers and fathers lived long lives. It is also said in the Psalms concerning 'the one who dwells in the help of the Most High' (Ps 91:1): 'I will fill him with length of days and show him my salvation,' which indicates completion. For the stay here is not for the most part; for it is said, 'he was snatched away,' so that 'evil may not change his understanding.'

All these things are said to us to show that things occur for a certain purpose and from many, but much more from God. And Elihu, knowing this and being both approachable and wise, is moved in his mind by the things before him to think thus: that receiving admonition gently and toward a return will result in a good and honorable end, which is shown to him by this: 'he will be released in a grave like ripe wheat harvested in season.' The word follows him in sequence from the statement: 'Blessed is the man whom the Lord has reproved' (Ps 119:67), when he is also exhorted not to 'despise the admonition of the Almighty,' as He strikes and wounds, yet saves him six times from distresses of famine and war, from the scourge of the tongue and iron, from which it happens to him who experiences these things not to fear the onset of evils and the following things.

On all these things, he says, a good end will be received in due time and season, just as grain is gathered in a threshing floor. And it is blessed to be such a grain, about which the Savior says: 'The good seed are the children of the kingdom' (Matt 13:38). And concerning the same: 'If the grain of wheat does not fall into the ground and die, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit' (John 12:24). The fruit of this grain is not sensible offspring, but men, 'children of the kingdom.' It is a great thing not to hear: 'I will pull you up and transplant you from your dwelling and your root from the land of the living' (Jer 22:29), but rather to be filled with virtues like the grain that is filled and harvested in due time and season. The time and the hour are laid down in parallel, as in: 'Keep this law according to the hours of the days from day to day' (Exod 12:2). The spiritual perfection of the soul is not unripe. For they 'went and wept, carrying their seeds' (Ps 126:6), which shows the beginning of virtue through their labors and exercises; but 'coming, they will come in joy, carrying their sheaves' (Ps 126:6), which signifies, as previously stated, perfection; for this shows the gathering. For the perfect one is indeed on a firm foundation. We learn this well from the Savior, saying: '…that which he holds in his hand and …'