Chapter 13
[Proverbs 13:1] -- "A wise son is the instruction of a father," etc. There is such a great difference between the wise and the foolish man, that the latter, at some point, arrives to teach even the one who had taught him with the advantage of learning, while the former, when reproved, does not know how to listen.
[Proverbs 13:4] -- "And the sluggard desires and does not desire," etc. Rightly, the lazy person is marked by the term, who wants to reign with God but does not want to work for God. The rewards delight when they are promised; the struggles deter when they are commanded. Concerning this, James says, "A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways" (James 1). And the son of Sirach says, "Woe to the sinner who walks on two paths!" But those who carry out the Lord's commands do so because their soul is refreshed by the sweetness of heavenly things; according to him who beseeches the Lord, saying, "My soul will be satisfied as with fat and richness" (Psalm 62). Or certainly, the soul of the workers will be enriched, because those who toil with pious labor for the Lord will be rewarded with a heavenly and unfading recompense after their labors.
[Proverbs 13:7] -- "There is one who makes himself rich, yet has nothing," etc. He seemed rich to himself who was clothed in purple and fine linen and feasted sumptuously every day; but because he did not have God, he found in the end that nothing of what he had possessed existed. Hence it is said about such people, "They have slept their sleep, and none of the men of wealth found anything in their hands" (Psalm 75). Conversely, Lazarus appeared poor, lying at his gate, full of sores; but he was in many riches, possessing the virtue of humility, carrying the Creator of all riches, namely God, in his heart. "What true riches can accomplish and what true poverty can do," he clearly shows by saying:
[Proverbs 13:8] -- "The ransom of a man's life is his wealth," etc. Therefore, whoever wants his soul to be redeemed from future wrath should gather the riches of good works. For he who lacks these kinds of wealth cannot endure the rebuke of the strict judge. The Psalmist prays about this, saying: "Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger, nor chasten me in your wrath" (Psalm 38). Otherwise, the poor in spirit are not rebuked by the Lord there but receive the blessing of an eternal inheritance.
[Proverbs 13:9] -- "The light of the righteous rejoices," etc. The light of the righteous, which perpetually rejoices, is the hope of future things; the lamp of the impious, which suddenly goes out, is the happiness of this fleeting world. Among the proud, there are always quarrels, but those who act with counsel are governed by wisdom. Heretics always quarrel among themselves, and so do other reprobates, because, evidently, they do not know the unity of faith and truth. But the faithful, who continuously enjoy the counsel of divine words, are governed by the moderation of wisdom, which does not allow them to quarrel.
[Proverbs 13:11] -- "Wealth hastily gotten will dwindle," etc. Those who want to become rich fall into temptation, and they do not possess those very riches, which they either acquire or desire, forever. But whoever strives justly for the acquisition of the wealth of heavenly rewards will receive the multiple gifts of heavenly blessedness. About this, he aptly adds:
[Proverbs 13:12] -- "Hope deferred makes the heart sick," etc. For certainly, as long as the hope of eternal things is deferred, the soul of the faithful is afflicted, either because of the delay of the good things they love or because of the imposition of the evils they endure. But when what they desire comes, they easily forget what they have endured, because they begin to live forever with their Redeemer, whom they sought with their whole intention. He himself is the tree of life to those who embrace him.
[Proverbs 13:13] -- "He who disparages something," etc. He who disparages a good thing binds himself in the future because, by doing what he ought not to, he prepares a punishment for himself by which he may be bound. But even he who disparages an evil thing obliges himself in the future, not so that he may suffer punishment for such slander, but so that after the slander he may act more cautiously, for clearly, what he justly rebukes in others, he does not admit with impunity himself, as the Apostle shouts, "You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?" (Romans 2).
[Proverbs 13:13] -- "But he who fears the command," etc. It is better, therefore, for anyone to fear concerning his own weakness so that he may not transgress the divine commands, than to foolishly tear apart the errors of others with his mouth, as the Apostle says, "Even if a man be overtaken in a fault, you who are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering yourself, lest you also be tempted" (Galatians 6).
[Proverbs 13:16] -- "The shrewd man does everything with counsel," etc. Where he teaches that everything should be done with counsel, he understands more the divine counsel, which is clothed with sacred words, than the human counsel. For he is foolish who lives outside this counsel, even if he seems naturally shrewd and wise.
[Proverbs 13:17] -- "The messenger of the wicked falls into trouble." He refers to Arius and Sabellius, and other angels, that is, messengers of Satan, who, because they neglected the counsel of the divine Scriptures, fell into the trouble of hellish torments. "But the faithful envoy is health." That is, every Catholic preacher acquires eternal health for himself and his listeners.
[Proverbs 13:19] -- If desire is fulfilled, it delights the soul, etc. Every desire, whether good or bad, when it anticipates affection, delights the soul; but the foolish, who enjoy only carnal desires, detest those who, for the love of heavenly things, despise lower entertainments.
[Proverbs 13:20] -- He who walks with the wise will be wise, etc. To walk with the wise is to imitate the actions of the wise. Therefore, however simple and rustic one may be, who cannot comprehend the secrets of wisdom, if he nevertheless follows the examples of the wise by living, he will rightly be counted among the wise. But he who loves the foolish, not because of their nature, since they are men, but because of their foolishness, whether as mimes or actors, or such like, not to correct by instructing, but to make them worse by favoring: such a one, though he seems wise by wit and doctrine, will be held worthy of the mark and condemnation of fools.
[Proverbs 13:22] -- A good man leaves an inheritance to his children, etc. We often see good men die without children, indeed promising greater rewards from the Lord to those who have preferred the chastity of virginity to the procreation of children, yet also the substance of the just being taken by sinners. For the Apostle glories in those who received the seizure of their goods with joy. Hence, it must be understood spiritually that the good and just Lord, who, after his passion ascending into heaven, left the apostles and their successors as heirs of his doctrine, to whose faith a multitude of peoples were converted, who were the substance of the devil. For he entered the house of the same wicked adversary and, breaking him with greater strength, plundered his arms in which he trusted and distributed his spoils, as he testifies in the Gospel. Or certainly, the substance of the sinner was kept for the just when the kingdom of God was taken from the Jews and given to a nation producing its fruits.
[Proverbs 13:23] -- Many foods are in the fresh fields of the fathers, etc. He acts without proper judgment who is diligently occupied with amassing riches and does not himself dispense these accumulated riches to the poor for the redemption of his soul, but reserves them to be dispensed by others after him, as it is said in the superior verse by the letter: And the substance of the sinner is stored up for the just, especially when victuals abound for him from the right of paternal inheritance, and there is no necessity incumbent on him to gather any moneys. This is indeed what he says, Many foods are in the fresh fields of the fathers. But in the spiritual sense, there are many foods of heavenly nourishment in the sayings and examples of venerable fathers, and he acts without reason who eagerly reading, meditating, and expounding upon these, serves not his own salvation by this, but rather others, while he himself deviates from what he reads, either by evil deeds or by the impiety of heretical sense. Such a one, in the fresh fields of the fathers, that is, in the works or sayings of the fathers well cultivated by optimal institution, acquires support not for himself, but for others, those namely who reading his treatises find through them the spiritual sense, by which they are inwardly refreshed... The preceding verse was thus translated by ancient interpreters: Just men will enjoy riches for many years; but the wicked will perish quickly.
[Proverbs 13:24] -- He who spares the rod hates his son, etc. For both a good father teaches his son, and a catholic teacher instructs his disciple, lest he deflects to iniquity, solicitously.
[Proverbs 13:25] -- But the righteous eats and fills his soul, etc. The righteous receive the foods of wisdom, which are found to have sprung in the fresh fields of the fathers, that is, in the works and words of preceding just men, and they transfer these to the profit of their soul by living well. The belly of the wicked, that is, the capacity of the sense of heretics, is insatiable; for, as the Apostle says, Ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth (II Tim. III). Why, indeed, they do not deserve to be filled with knowledge, unless it is because, not being replenished with the foods of paternal instruction, they gather these for others without judgment?