Chapter IX.
Those who dare to explore the depths of wisdom too curiously are criticized: it is said that wisdom is not to be sought in the abyss or in the sea, and for what reason: finally, the knowledge of it is only revealed to God alone, and to those to whom He has revealed it.
28. Sadly, thus the Holy One mourns the times of this life: I perish, he says, and I am carried away by the spirit: I beg for burial, and I do not obtain, I pray while I labor. And what shall I do? (Job 17:1-2) My days have passed in horror: the joints of my heart have been disrupted. (Ibid., 11) Yet it does not diminish the judgment of God anywhere; for He knows the profound depth of the wisdom and knowledge of God, and His judgments are inscrutable, as well as His ways are unsearchable.
29. They have not trodden on them, he says, the sons of those glorifying themselves, nor has the lion passed through them (Job XXVIII, 8). For who indeed could comprehend his ways, which have penetrated hidden things? From where, he says, has wisdom been discovered, or where is the place of understanding? Mortal man does not know its way, nor is it found among men. The deep has said: It is not in me; and the sea has said: It is not with me (Ibid. 12 ff.). It is not permissible for you to know, O man, the depths of wisdom; therefore it is written to you: Do not be high-minded, but fear (Rom. XI, 20). Why do you desire to investigate curiously what it is not advantageous for you to know, and what is not given for you to understand? Paul heard certain secrets of wisdom, which he was forbidden to disclose to others; and for this reason he was caught up into paradise, caught up even to the third heaven, to hear things that a person in the earthly realm could not hear (2 Corinthians 12:3-4). If a person hears something, is it not allowed for them to speak, just as they inquire about what they have not heard? The plans of this emperor on earth are not allowed for you to know, and yet you desire to know divine things; it is not permitted for you to investigate curiously what happens on earth, and you curiously inquire about what happens above the heavens. Why do you argue about where Wisdom is born? Human beings do not know its path, nor is perfect Wisdom found among mortals. It was not in Moses, nor in Aaron, nor in Joshua. It was not even in David himself who said: You have revealed to me the uncertain and hidden things of your wisdom (Psalm 50:8). For he himself said in another place: I have become like a beast before you (Psalm 72:23). It is beyond you, O man, to know the height of Wisdom; it is enough for you to believe. For if you do not believe, he says, neither will you understand (Isaiah 7:9). You cannot know the abyss, you cannot grasp the abyss, how will you comprehend the depth of Wisdom? The abyss has said: It is not in me; and can you say that Wisdom is in you?
30. Therefore, the abyss said: It is not in me; because the Lord himself said: You will not abandon my soul in hell (Psalms 15:10). And the Apostle said: Who descended into the abyss? that is, to bring Christ out of the dead (Romans 10:7). Therefore, if the abyss is asked: Where is Wisdom? It answers: It is not in me, because it has risen. The sea is asked: Where is Wisdom? It says: It is not with me, because it has trampled upon me, nor could my waves disturb it. And therefore, in this current age, do not seek that perfect Wisdom of God in this world; for the world did not know it. But if you wish to find it, tread upon the waves of this world, as Peter did, and walk upon the waters of this age, and Wisdom will stretch out its right hand to you, as it did to Peter; for there was no one whom the waves of this age did not disturb. They disturbed Abraham, they disturbed Moses, they disturbed Peter. Moses crossed the sea and led the army on foot through the sea, but he himself was troubled beforehand. Peter walked on the water, but he was submerged in body because he stumbled on the path of weak faith. Therefore, do not seek Wisdom in the sea; for the Lord Jesus did not say that he would be with the sea, but with his apostles; so that they may know him to some extent, to whom he said: Behold, I am with you until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). Blessed are those with whom he is, may he also be with us. But we have the sea with us, Peter with Christ, because he himself also walked on the sea. For us, gold and silver are dear to the heart, but wisdom is above gold, it is not in gold. Therefore, whoever desired to have Wisdom, said: I have no silver or gold; but what I have, I give to you: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk (Acts 3:6). Because he did not have gold, he had the grace of pious action in the name of Christ. And this is said to you: Draw wisdom into your innermost being (Job XXVIII, 18); and further: It is hidden, he says, from all humans, and is concealed from the birds of the sky (Ibid. 21). Neither humans nor angels knew where it was, for they are themselves birds of the sky, of whom it is said: And I saw an angel flying through the sky (Apoc. XIV, 6).
31. No one could know Wisdom; for no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. Therefore, He Himself revealed to John with whom Wisdom was; and for this reason, he said, not as his own, but what Wisdom had infused in him: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God (John 1:1). Wisdom does not know destruction, it does not know wickedness. For destruction could not hold it, who said: Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? (I Cor. XV, 55) Evil does not know it, for it is written: The wicked will seek me, and will not find me (Prov. I, 28). They may say: We have heard of his glory. Only God knows it, for God says: He has established its way perfectly; He alone knows its place (Job XXVIII, 23). That it may be the dwelling place of Wisdom, listen to its disciple saying: The Only Begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made it known (John I, 18). For the Son acknowledges the Father, for he himself says: Just as the Father acknowledged me, so I acknowledge the Father (John 10:15). There is an equal measure of knowledge where there is a unity of power. Therefore, the Father, who made all things, knows the weight of the winds and the measure of the waters (Job 28:25). He himself saw Wisdom and proclaimed it through his prophets, for the Father proclaimed Wisdom and investigated it; just as the Son also proclaimed the Father, who misses nothing, and said: O man, what do you desire to know about the deep things of Wisdom, which are above you? To fear God is wisdom, but to abstain from evil is discipline. (Ibid., 28).
Book Two. On the Interrogation of David.