Chapter VII.
Having corrected his error, David knows that this work alone remains for himself, in order to enter into the mysteries of divine knowledge. The saints, as they advance in age, desire to know their own end and who they will be. This is the first true knowledge, by means of which we believe that good things are granted to the wicked only for the purpose of excluding their excuses. The same people who are uplifted by God's blessings can be thrown down and reduced to nothing.
Therefore, since I seemed to myself to have grasped the true meaning and to have attained knowledge of the thing itself, I said to myself: This is the labor before me, until I enter into the sanctuary of God, and understand in the end (Ibid., 17). That is, the only labor remaining for me is to enter into the sanctuary of God, where the Cherubim are, that is, the depths of knowledge, and not toil in uncertain and vain opinions; for the speech of a fool is like a burden on the road. Therefore, let us enter the shrine of sacred knowledge and the innermost depths of truth, so that there may be no labor in us; for wisdom leads us away from the sense of labor. Indeed, there is no labor in Jacob. The cause of labor, however, is ignorance; for he who does not know that rewards are stored up for the just is not refreshed by labors, but rather is bent and broken by his own foolishness. Therefore, let us enter the sanctuary of God, where the Cherubim are, in whom is the remembrance of sacred knowledge and that true and eternal light.
20. In that candlestick the image shines forth, by which we can understand the last things. For the saint, in the end, knows and attains perfect wisdom, saying: Show me, O Lord, my end, and what is the number of my days, that I may know what is wanting to me (Psalm 38:5). Who is the end, if not He who delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when the hidden things of wisdom are revealed? This is the end of our struggle that the Prophet sought, desiring to know what was lacking to his perfection; for the end of our discipline and the perfection of our studies is.
21. Therefore, this is the first true reason for knowledge; because things that happen in the world happen by chance: the second reason is that, due to their turning away, you have given them success in obtaining worldly benefits and an abundance of riches; so that they would not be blamed for being less devoted due to lack and bitterness of any sorrow and grief, and being provoked to the desire for theft and robbery by the necessity of poverty. For they were not enriched with abundant wealth or elevated by honors for the sake of tranquility of life and the enjoyment of happiness, but rather to exclude complaint and pile up suffering.
22. Therefore, such men are cast down while they are exalted. For it is not a favor, but a ruin; where neither the enduring use of the duty is preserved, nor the excuse for wrongdoing is removed. For what weightier complaint is there than that divine one which you have in the book of the prophet Micah: 'My people, what have I done to you, or how have I wearied you, or how have I been a burden to you? Answer me. Have I not brought you up from the land of Egypt, and freed you from the house of bondage?' (Micah VI, 3 and 4)? See how the wicked are thrown down while they are being lifted up, the complaints of the afflicted are excluded, and punishment is intensified. Indeed, invited by divine benefits, they should not have abandoned the giver of a secure and prosperous life, to whom they should have obeyed more. But just as God's justice is great, so is his severe vengeance. For when the wicked are accustomed to persevere, about whom you have seen and written elsewhere: I have seen the wicked exalted and lifted up above the cedars of Lebanon; and I passed by, and behold, he was no more; and I sought him, but his place could not be found (Psalm 36:35-36). The incredible swiftness of its extinction. You see suddenly the wicked powerful in this world: while you pass by, he is no longer. How great is the shadow on the earth: how short-lived it is! Move your footsteps, and the shadow has passed. Or if he moves anything here, raise your mind's footsteps to the things that are to come, and you will find there the wicked one who you thought was here will not be, for he does not exist who is nothing. Finally, the Lord knows those who are his own; but those who are not, he does not know, because they have not recognized him who is.