Chapter X.
She protected him etc. In the preceding chapters he admonished rulers specifically to acquire wisdom, and this by reasons taken from the peril of the office of those whom he admonishes, namely in chapter six; secondly, by reasons taken from the example of him who admonishes, in chapters seven, eight, and nine. Here thirdly he exhorts them to the same by reasons taken from the many effects and benefits of wisdom, to which he urges them. Now wisdom is beneficent by advancing the wise, namely her friends, and by punishing the foolish, the adversaries of the wise. Therefore he treats first of the benefits pertaining to the advancement of the friends of God, namely in this chapter; secondly, of those pertaining principally to the punishment of adversaries, namely in chapter eleven and thereafter.
Thirdly he exhorts to acquiring wisdom by reasons taken from its effects, and first from the benefits pertaining to the advancement of the friends of God. In the first part he first sets forth the benefits conferred upon individual persons; secondly, the benefits bestowed upon one people: She protected the just people.
First, concerning the benefits conferred upon six individual persons.
In the first part he shows the benefits of wisdom in six individual persons among the ancient Patriarchs: first, in the person of Adam, when he says: She protected him, who was first etc.; secondly, in the person of Noah, there: From her when he departed; thirdly, in the person of Abraham: She also, in the conspiracy of pride; fourthly, in the person of Lot: She delivered the just man from those perishing; fifthly, in the person of Jacob: She moreover the fugitive etc.; sixthly, in the person of Joseph: She the just man who was sold.
In the first, concerning Adam, he shows the benefit first of grace, secondly of nature: And she brought him out etc.
(Verse 1.). She protected him. I have rightly said that through wisdom all were healed, which is evident through examples. She indeed, namely wisdom, him, namely Adam, who first, of all men, was formed by God, namely immediately; Job 10: "Your hands have made me" etc. The father of the world, that is, who was to be the father of the whole human race; Malachi 2: "Is there not one father of us all"? When he had been created alone, namely before the formation of the woman; Genesis 2: "It is not good for man to be alone." It should be noted that formed is said with respect to the body; hence Genesis 2: "God therefore formed man from the slime of the earth"; and created, with respect to the soul; Genesis 1: "God created man in his image and likeness" etc. When alone, I say, he had been created, she protected him, namely from sin in the earthly paradise in the state of innocence. "For he placed him in paradise, to work and to guard it," Genesis 2.
(Vers. 2.). And she led him out, namely, the woman having already been made, him who had become a transgressor, Genesis 3, from his transgression, namely through the infusion of penitence and the remission of fault. And it should be noted that here the penitence of Adam is expressed more explicitly than elsewhere.
And she led him out of the slime of the earth, namely on the part of the body: Ecclesiasticus 17: "God created man from the earth." And gave him power, that is, authority, to contain all things, by ruling all things and having dominion over all, and this on the part of the soul, namely through reason, according to that passage in Genesis 1: "Have dominion over the fish of the sea," etc.; likewise in the Psalm: "You have subjected all things under his feet."
From this, etc. Here he shows the benefit of wisdom specially bestowed upon Noah and upon those who were with him in the ark, when it delivered him from the flood and destroyed the wicked. And first he touches upon the first cause of the destruction of the wicked; second, the first cause of the deliverance of the good, at the passage: On account of which, etc.
(Vers. 3.). He says therefore: From this, namely wisdom, when he departed: Proverbs 1: "Fools despise wisdom and doctrine"; for by this, that one departs from wisdom, one departs from God: above, chapter 1: "Perverse thoughts separate from God": the unjust one, namely Cain, who is called unjust antonomastically, because he was the head and exemplar of the unjust: in his wrath, by which he was wrathful against his brother Abel: Genesis 4: "Why are you wrathful," etc. Through the wrath of murder, that is, which wrath was spiritual murder, according to that passage in 1 John 3: "He who hates his brother is a murderer"; or transitively, so that the sense would be: Through the wrath of murder, that is, which was the cause of corporeal murder: whence Genesis 4: "Cain rose up against Abel his brother and slew him." Brotherhood perished, that is, the fellowship of brotherhood, Abel having died corporally and Cain spiritually.
(Vers. 4.). On account of which etc., namely sin: for that sin was the first cause of the corruption of Cain's posterity, from which corruption spread even to a great part of Seth's posterity: and that was fulfilled in Genesis 6, where it says: "All flesh had corrupted its way." When the water destroyed the earth, destroying, namely, earthly man from the surface of the earth: Genesis 6: "I will destroy man, whom I created, from the face of the earth." For all perished who were written in the earth, namely the wicked, of whom Jeremiah 17: "Those who depart from you shall be written in the earth"; destroying also all flesh living on the earth according to Genesis 7: "All flesh was consumed that moved upon the earth." Wisdom healed again, namely the world, just as she had previously healed Adam: she healed, I say, the world, namely by purging it of wicked men: through a contemptible wood "that is, through the ark," contemptible in its material and despised by those who believed it was being built in vain the just one, "namely Noah," of whom Genesis 6: "Noah was a just man" etc.: governing, namely delivering him from drowning amid the floods of waters: 2 Peter 2: "He preserved Noah, the eighth, a preacher of justice, bringing a flood upon the world." Now that wood signified the cross, because it is contemptible to unbelievers, although to the faithful it is venerable; whence 1 Corinthians 1: "For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing" etc.: likewise in the same place: "We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews indeed a stumbling block" etc.
She also in the agreement etc. Here he touches upon the benefit of wisdom conferred in the person of Abraham, first with respect to himself: second, in his posterity: And in his children etc.
(Verse 5). He says therefore: This one, namely wisdom, and, also, when the nations, that is, the people of that time persisting in the vice of their birth, had exalted themselves, that is, had carried themselves beyond their measure by elation of heart and striving of work, against which it is said in the Psalm: "Lord, my heart is not exalted," etc. In the consent of pride, that is, coming from pride, by which consent, or which pride, they wished to build a tower reaching up to heaven and to make their name famous: both of which were pride, Genesis eleven. When, I say, the nations had exalted themselves etc.; she knew, namely wisdom, by approving and choosing and separating from the wicked: Second Timothy two: "The Lord knows who are his"; on the contrary, to the wicked it is said, Matthew seven: "I never knew you": the just one, namely Abraham, who is called the just one par excellence. And she preserved him without blame before God, "in the midst of a depraved and perverse nation," which was difficult: Luke one: "They were both without blame." And in his children, that is, his descendants, she kept strong mercy, namely by multiplying them out of his mercy and strongly defending them from adversaries and finally conferring upon them the land of promise, as he had promised, Genesis thirteen and fifteen and seventeen.
This one the just from the perishing etc. Here he shows the benefit of wisdom conferred in the person of Lot, who was freed from the destruction of Sodom, and first he touches on the liberation of Lot: second, the punishment of the others: When there descended etc.; third, the equity of the punishment: For wisdom.
(Verse 6). This one, namely wisdom, the just one, "namely Lot," as the Gloss says; likewise Second Peter two says of him: "In sight and hearing he was just": from the perishing impious, namely from the company of the perishing impious, that is, of the Sodomites: she freed him as he fled, both from the fellowship of guilt, according to that passage in the same place: "He rescued the just Lot, oppressed by the injury and wanton conduct of the wicked": and from the fellowship of punishment: concerning both liberations, it is found in Genesis nineteen. When fire descended, from heaven, not sent from the earth; in the same place: "The Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah sulphur and fire" etc.; upon the Pentapolis: the Gloss: "That is, upon the region of the five cities," namely Sodom, Gomorrah, Segor, Seboim, and Adamah.
(Vers. 7.). To whom, namely those perishing, as a testimony of wickedness, namely of burning and foul lust, smoking, that is, emitting smoke from itself; whence in the Psalm: "Smoke ascended in his wrath": the desolate land stands, namely desolate of plants and trees: Job twenty-eight: "The land from which bread arose in its place was consumed by fire": likewise in the Psalm: "A fruitful land into saltness, from the wickedness of those dwelling in it." And at a certain, namely determined, time, trees bearing fruit, useless, as is said, because it is reported that fruits grow there outwardly beautiful, but inwardly ashy and full of cinders: the Gloss: "They show that without the fruit of penance, damned souls will burn in hell for eternity." And a figure, that is, a statue, of salt, for seasoning all who hear and see with the salt of wisdom against the corruption of carnal concupiscence or foolishness: a figure, I say, standing as a memorial, that is, a remembrance: Luke seventeen: "Remember the wife of Lot"; a memorial,
I say, of an unbelieving soul, that is, of the unbelief of Lot's wife, who looked back, refusing to believe the Angel who forbade it, as is evident in Genesis nineteen.
It should be noted, moreover, that the desolate land testifies to their uselessness for good works; the smoke, their blinding by carnal concupiscence; the useless fruits, their evil manner of life; the statue of salt, their dissolution and corrupting putrefaction through carnal concupiscence.
(Vers. 8.). For wisdom etc., as if to say: and deservedly they were thus punished: for passing over wisdom, that is, the Sodomites casting it aside, and therefore wretched; whence above in chapter three: "He who casts aside wisdom and discipline is wretched": therefore also they perished, according to that passage in Baruch three: "Because they did not have wisdom, they perished on account of their foolishness": nor did they only perish because they passed over wisdom, but they also left a memorial of their foolishness. And this is what he adds: Not only etc. Passing over wisdom, I say, not only did they fall into this, that they should be ignorant, namely with the ignorance of which First Corinthians fourteen says: "If anyone is ignorant, he shall be ignored": of good things, namely those pertaining to their own life and salvation. But also of their foolishness, because "they were compared to foolish beasts and made like unto them": they left a memorial to men, as regards evil fame, namely thus, so that in those things in which they sinned, that is, so that in those sins which they committed, they could not even be hidden, because they did not wish to be hidden, but sinned publicly: Isaiah three: "They proclaimed their sin as Sodom and did not hide it." And therefore the Lord willed that their sins be made known to the whole world through public punishment.
Sin lies hidden by the cunning of sinning: 2 Kings 12: "You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in the sight of all Israel." By the pretense of holiness: Matthew 23: "You are like whitewashed sepulchres," etc. Of dignity or of prelacy by the authority, according to that saying of Gregory: "No one does more harm in the Church than he who, acting perversely, holds the name or rank of holiness; for no one presumes to rebuke such a one, and the fault spreads powerfully as an example, when the sinner is honored out of reverence for his rank."
(Verse 9.). But Wisdom, as if to say: just as those unjust ones were punished for their contempt of wisdom: but, meaning on the contrary, wisdom those who her, namely wisdom, observe, that is, who diligently keep her in heart, word, and deed: delivered from sorrows, namely of eternal punishments, concerning which Isaiah 50 says: "You shall sleep in sorrows"; likewise in the Psalm: "The sorrows of death surrounded me."
But she [conducted] the fugitive etc. Here he touches upon the manifold benefit of wisdom bestowed upon the person of Jacob, of which the first was his advancement in good: the second, his preservation from evil: Against the fraud of those who encompassed him: the third, assistance in triumph: And a contest.
(Vers. 10.). She, namely wisdom, the fugitive from the wrath of his brother, namely the one fleeing and turning away from the wrath of his brother, or from his angered brother: Genesis twenty-seven: "Behold, Esau your brother threatens to kill you. Now therefore, my son, hear my voice, and arise and flee to Laban, my brother." The just one, namely Jacob, according to that passage in Genesis thirty: "My justice shall answer for me tomorrow": she guided through straight paths: The Gloss: "Through Mesopotamia": Deuteronomy thirty-two: "The Lord alone was his guide." Straight, he says, because "the path of the just is straight," as is found in Isaiah twenty-six. And she showed him, namely on the way through an imaginative vision, the kingdom of God, because "he saw a ladder reaching up to heaven," Genesis twenty-eight. But the devil shows the kingdom of the world: whence Matthew four: "He showed him all the kingdoms of the world." And she gave him the knowledge of the saints, that is, the understanding of sacred things, because "understanding is needed in a vision," as is found in Daniel ten: of sacred things, I say, which he had seen, she gave him understanding, that is, so that he might understand what the ladder which he had seen signified, and the ascent and descent of the Angels. For the ladder is obedience, through which the Angels ascend to attend upon God and descend to minister to us: Daniel seven: "Thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before him." She made him honorable: The Gloss: "That is, she enriched him," according to that passage in Ecclesiasticus eleven: "It is easy in the eyes of the Lord to suddenly make a poor man honorable": and he speaks according to human custom, which is accustomed to regard the wealthy as honorable persons. In his labors, that is, on account of his labors, not through injustice and plunder, as many enrich themselves. But such riches do not make one honorable nor blessed, but rather one's own labors, or riches acquired from just labors: in the Psalm: "For you shall eat the labors of your hands, blessed are you," etc. And she brought to completion, that is, she led to the desired end, namely by bringing him back to his father in the land of Canaan: his labors: The Gloss: "Which he endured in tending sheep," concerning which, Genesis thirty-one: "Day and night I was scorched by heat and frost."
She the fugitive etc. From this place up to: In the fraud of those circumventing, there is touched upon the manifold benefit that the Lord bestows upon His Saints, of which the first is justification at the beginning of their conversion: Romans 8: "Those whom He called, them He also justified": and this is touched upon when it says: The just one. The second is guidance in the progress of one's way of life: She guided him etc.: in the Psalm: "Your good Spirit will guide me into the right land." The third is the showing of the kingdom in grace or in the secret of contemplation: She showed him: Exodus 33: "I will show you all good." The fourth, instruction in the knowledge of the divine will: And she gave him the knowledge of holy things: Baruch 4: "Blessed are we, O Israel, for the things that are pleasing to God are made known to us." The fifth is ennoblement, that is, enrichment in the abundance of merit and virtue: She enriched him etc.: Job 5: "You shall enter the grave in abundance, as a heap of wheat is brought in at its time." The sixth, completion in reward: And she completed etc.; above in chapter four: "Being made perfect in a short time, he fulfilled long times, for his soul was pleasing to God": likewise above in chapter three: "The fruit of good labors is glorious."