The Harvest of Iniquity and the Sifting of the Wicked

He calls him a witness of the mind. And they show what is 'from my youth' (Psalm 71:5), and that having dared to speak from the womb and being drawn up for godliness, he opposes the devil and his allies and bodyguards, who are arrayed against him and fighting against him, and by no measure was he defeated by them.

The 'from my youth' is able to show that he is strong and being strengthened by Christ, from whom I have cast off old age, having cast away the old man with his deeds; having clothed himself with the new man, fighting against the aforementioned enemies, he was never overturned by them, but conquering unceasingly and steadily, and turning them to witness for Israel.

And the boast is not small, to be fought against by the devil and those around him, who do not possess this strength; for they are his friends and obedient ones. And everyone alone says, 'For indeed you were not able to trample upon me, having received authority from the Word of God, upon the lion and the scorpion, and to trample the lion and the dragon' (Luke 10:19). For having escaped all such things, the God crushing Satan under his feet, he says, 'Many times they have fought against me from my youth, and indeed they were not able; but I was able against them, being strengthened by the Lord. The sinners have stretched out their necks upon my back, they have lengthened their lawlessness' (Psalm 74:18).

It is a stain and very dangerous to have the enemies before one's face, having them sufficiently according to thought, and to harm and destroy them merely through seeing and through the senses, those whom we have perceived of them; it is proper to always turn away from them, casting them upon the back. For he who hastens toward God and virtue turns away from wickedness.

For if the sinners have stretched out their necks upon the face and before one, they have harmed the heart, timely casting it into evil thoughts, and the sight through destructive spectacles, and the other senses harming through those things belonging to them. But he has the sinners behind, the one forgetting those behind, and stretching out himself toward those before, and going behind the Lord God; but he who follows the interpreted sinners turns away from the Lord, as to say God, 'They turned their backs upon me and not their faces' (Psalm 74:18). Mis—

For they have cast your instruction behind them, following the demons who are lovers of their heart. The lengthening of their lawlessness reveals the persistent wickedness of sinners who weave a series of sins like a rope, and by adding to those who have already received, they lengthen their lawlessness. The word weighs such people down: 'Woe to those who pile up sins,' as with a long rope and as with a heavy yoke, subduing their lawlessness. For their hands weave injustice, and as adding sin upon sin, they lengthen their own lawlessness. The Lord is righteous and has cut off the necks of sinners. The righteous Lord cuts off the neck of those who do not submit to his good yoke. But he makes this addition good for those who, having cast off their inclination and strength toward worthless things, submit to the Lord, who is all naked and bowed down.

And the wise of this world are themselves like stubble, having only their promise until this present life; and they are a heap of roofs for those who through them act and think that they have surpassed all. Therefore, it is a dried-up stubble, not casting its roots into the soil (that is, the sensible things), nor hastening toward a spiritual planting instead of stubble. Before they are even cut, they dry up, not filling the hands of the one harvesting this stubble, because they have unbelief. For the ungodly shall not rise in judgment, and 'he who does not believe is condemned' (John 3:18). Not only hands, but even the bosom of himself the harvester of this stubble will not fill, by not receiving them first into the bosom of Abraham, and then thereafter into the bosoms of the harvesting angel; for the Savior interpreted the harvesting angels as the harvester wielding a sickle in the prophet: 'Therefore I have cast away your prophets' (Matt 23:37). He himself also cleanses his threshing floor, having the winnowing fan in his hand to gather the wheat into the granary, but the chaff to burn with unquenchable fire. And who are those who hate Zion? They become not stubble, but like stubble, the weeds sown among the good seed by the evil one and being burned in the future.