Chapter VI.
After the prophet had initially lost hope, he later realized that everything happens according to divine arrangement, but that wealth is not the reward for virtue, nor is poverty the punishment for sin.
15. Finally, the Psalmist says, he said: Therefore I have justified my heart in vain: and have washed my hands among the innocent (Ps. 72:13). That is, I see them abound, I see all advantages follow them, but I am worn out and tormented by many temptations. Therefore, I have given myself to innocence in vain, and directed myself to the pursuit of a sober way of life. And he says beautifully: I have washed my hands among the innocent (Ibid., 14); so that he may not arrogate to himself the highest level of innocence, but seem to diligently devote himself to the pursuit.
16. Meanwhile, he testifies that he did not speak without harm. For he recalls being whipped throughout the whole day; because he had falsely justified his heart to the Lord, but after the whips, there immediately followed a correction of his wicked opinion. For my vindicator said, 'In the morning' (Ib.), that is, in the open and clear light; for the light of truth, comprehending him, did not allow him to understand what he had said. Therefore, the light of truth overcame and refuted me, because I had spoken incorrectly: 'I justified my heart without cause.' For I spoke those things as if being set in darkness, and while remembering them, my heart was pierced: but with a pierced heart, my affection was enlightened; so that there would arise in my heart a flaming fire, which made in me a spiritual beginning of the day. Therefore, being enlightened by the rising day, and as if placed in many morning circumstances, I understood that I was made outside the order of the generation of the children of God. And when I first believed, because the creator of the world, who provides for the human generation, had made all things for the benefit of us, whether sad or those things which give little pleasure, I later lost that good opinion, being disturbed by wicked opinions.
So I considered with my heart and said to myself: If I tell it thus, that I have justified my heart without cause, the voice of God answered me, saying: Behold the generation of your sons, to whom I have given it (Ibid., 15): that is, behold, you, Adam, find in the Scriptures that I have given it to the generation of your sons; for riches are not bestowed on the wicked by chance, nor are the rewards of virtue the advantages of a treasure; nor, on the contrary, is poverty the punishment of sin, but these things come indiscreetly, like the flood of a certain age, rolling along like a river.
And I thought, and it seemed to me that I knew this to be true, that this was in accordance with divine providence and fitting; but I, on the other hand, was disturbed in vain by those things in which I should not have been involved.