Exegesis of Proverbs

He stood by him, and he is before all things. And the Lord himself says: 'I am the beginning of the creation of God' (Rev 4:11). For just as a man undergoes becoming, desiring to be a foundation of the Church so that it might be established upon him without being shaken, so also, desiring to provide being to the creation, it has happened according to that, introducing the aforementioned relationship, becoming a beginning and a cause to those who are to come; but even if, he says, it was created according to these things, yet before all things God begets me, which is the Son.

He says that He takes the throne as his own kingdom, and the spiritual forces as winds; or just as David: 'He who walks on the wings of the winds' (Ps 135:6); desiring to present the less tangible part of his being as immaterial.

See the works being divided: wisdom and God. One was making, he says; but I was joining. And strong, how? We need no foundation, for it is upheld by the will of God alone.

Either that at the same time as appearing he provides life, or that he comes forth to reveal to someone descending toward the weakness of the mind there; for being life, and having come out to those able to see him, he gives life; and he says either will or love, or that he made us autonomous so as to be ready to do what is necessary.

Let him withdraw, that he may gain wisdom; for the imperfect is strengthened by the words and mysteries of wisdom.

The same food and meat are named both bread and milk and wine. Moreover, the foolish are said to partake of their own bread and of poured-out wine; if it is this, how shall we understand? 'A man ate the bread of angels' (Matt 4:4), meaning understand for me the solid commands of God as bread, and wine as the knowledge of him from the study of the divine Scriptures; likewise also his divine body and precious blood.

The natural thinker hears, 'The sun shall not burn you by day, nor the moon by night' (Ps 121:6). He calls the worldly cares a burning; and those being dried up by it he calls hay; but the Savior, through the parable, indicates the tribulations; and he called the persecutions according to the word a burning.

The wise man leads the heavy-hearted to perception by a rebuking word. Do you see that it is not to desire that is evil, but to desire such a thing, is evil? Of the

The ungodly have only evil hopes; for everything they hope for is destruction (Proverbs 10:28).

Verse 7. The phrase, “Instead of him,” does not mean as the subject of the pious man is subjected to judgment, but because the snare stands from the evil against the righteous; the pious one is rescued from it by God, but the ungodly, having been abandoned by divine providence, falls into it. Or, because the righteous man is subject to certain things as a man is to sins, but the ungodly having come and having done evil to the righteous, has rescued him from sins and from future punishments, while he himself received the punishments; and he is handed over not by anyone else, but by his own wickedness, as having previously handed himself over to an unproven mind.

Verse 4. Those who gather things are diminished from virtues; or, those gathering words and not transmitting them.

Verse 10. He who is harsh regarding each of the defects of his own house will be homeless; but a fool will serve a wise man.

Verse 13. An ungodly man, therefore, he says, is one who hates God; but a sinner is one who is evil regarding his actions; and a righteous man here he calls the practical man with word and knowledge; for the precision of righteousness is great.

Verse 6. “The better” is not comparative, but “instead of the good.”

Verse 9. The practical and the private man is more honorable than the one in word and elegant but inactive.

Verse 12. The roots of the righteous will not be uprooted, that is, the good dispositions.

Verse 7. Whatever he says, he says, is confirmed by works; and if it is more certain by work. Or, instead of saying “manifestly,” it is “established,” “unimpeachable,” to show it sufficiently himself. But a witness of the unrighteous is one who recommends and attempts what he would unrighteously do; and a deceitful man is one who has nothing upright.

Verse 10. The one speaking of punishments disturbs the one currently walking in a practical life; but the one speaking of promises rejoices. For the perfect righteous man will not be afraid from hearing evil, having fear of the Lord who exalts all (Proverbs 10:16).

Verse 16. The righteous, knowing human weakness, forgives, even if the offense is from a friend; or, because recognizing that the friend is according to the image of God, he is in agreement with himself, being moderate, and guarding himself, and having nothing of the enemy's malice, he holds his thoughts stable.

Verse 2. For the one will have the end of virtue, but the others will not have the fruit.