Exegesis of Proverbs

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

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

8 'Lawless treasures will not profit': Lawless treasures will not profit, those which they have treasured upon the earth, where even your food perishes, and where thieves break in and steal. 9 'He will overturn the life of the ungodly': If the life of the ungodly is wickedness, and the Lord will overturn this, then clearly the ungodly will one day not be ungodly; for after this overturning, the Lord will deliver the kingdom to God and Father, so that God may become all in all (1 Cor 15:28). 10 'Unrestrained instruction wanders': He names as unrestrained instruction the evil governance of the soul, which becomes a wandering stranger to it. 11 'Unjust lips cover enmity': He means enmity as wickedness, for through this we become enemies of God. For if being enemies, as Paul says, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son (2 Cor 5:19); but if enmity is wickedness, then friendship is virtue and knowledge is that of God, through which we become friends of God and of the holy powers; for upon this friendship, those who are his are friends of one another. 12 'But the desire of the righteous is acceptable': Lord, against you all...

"My desire," says David. "The fear of the Lord adds days." If the fear of the Lord adds days, and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, these days are parts of wisdom being produced under the sun of righteousness; for which things also David prays, saying, "Do not bring me down in the half of days" (Ps 39:10). But these days Abraham also having fulfilled, died, concerning which it is said, "And Abraham died old and full of days" (Gen 25:8). "The righteous will not be given the age": meaning the age instead of the life; and Paul says, "I will not eat flesh forever, so that I might not scandalize my brother" (1 Cor 15:3), calling the age the duration co-existing with the constitution of his life.

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

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