But the just man, etc. Here he sets forth a comparative commendation of the just with respect to the state of death: and first it is shown here that the hastening of temporal death is not harmful to the Saints: second, the reason for the hastening is added, at: Pleasing to God: third, the foolish opinion of the people looking on: But the peoples seeing.
(Vers. 7.). But the just man, etc., as if to say: thus it is with the wicked: but, standing for however: if the just man shall have been overtaken by death, that is, prevented by death hastened before its time, according to that passage in Isaiah thirty-eight: "While I was yet beginning, he cut me off." He well said: overtaken, because the just man cannot die by sudden death, that is, by unforeseen death, because it is said in the Psalm concerning the person of the just man: "I foresaw the Lord in my sight always," etc.: likewise: "My soul is in my hands always," as if to say: I am prepared to render it up, whenever it shall please God that I die. The just man, I say, if he shall have been overtaken, shall be in refreshment, namely of eternal rest: the Psalm: "We passed through fire and water, and you led us out into refreshment."
(Vers. 8. 9.). For old age, etc., as if to say: nor does the being overtaken in age cause harm: for venerable old age, etc.: the Gloss: "Not the age of the body, but the maturity of life and the uprightness of morals is praised "; venerable, I say, that is, worthy of veneration before God and the Angels and just men: is not of long duration, by a multitude of days: Job thirty-two: "The wise are not long-lived"; nor reckoned by the number of years, that is, nor by a multitude of years. "For a child of a hundred years shall die, and a sinner of a hundred years shall be accursed," Isaiah sixty-five. For gray hairs are the understanding of a man, that is, in place of gray hairs: the Gloss: "As if to say: he is well gray-haired who is well endowed with understanding," according to that passage in Daniel thirteen: "God has given you the honor of old age," that is, discretion and wisdom, which is wont to be in the elderly, according to that passage in Job twelve: "In the ancients is wisdom, and in length of time prudence"; likewise Sirach twenty-five: "The crown of the aged is great experience."
And the age of old age, that is, supplying the place of age, an unspotted life, " as if to say: well is the old man who is clean and simple": Proverbs 16: "Old age is a crown of dignity, which shall be found in the ways of justice".
Pleasing God etc. Here is set forth a manifold reason for the hastening of death, of which the first is the dignity of the just: second, the usefulness of death: He was snatched away etc.: third, the dangerousness of life: Fascination etc.; fourth, the opportuneness of time: Being made perfect etc.; fifth, the good pleasure of God's will: Pleasing etc.
(Vers. 10.). Pleasing God, namely through true faith, according to that passage in Hebrews 11: "Without faith it is impossible to please God": he was made beloved, on account of perfect love, according to that passage in Proverbs 8: "I love those who love me": and living, namely through grace, not dying through sin; among sinners, namely undefiled, which is a very great thing, since it is written in the Psalm: "With the perverse you shall be perverted"; but the just man is as a lily among thorns, because he neither loses the brightness of his purity nor the fragrance of his good name: Song of Songs 2: "As the lily among thorns" etc. He was taken away, from the exile of this world to the heavenly homeland, from death to life, from struggle to the crown.
It should be noted that the transfer is manifold: the first, from sin to grace: 1 John 3: "We know that we have been transferred from death," namely of sin, "to life," of grace, "because we love the brethren." The second, from imperfect grace to perfect grace: 2 Corinthians 3: "We are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord." The third, from perfect grace to glory: of which it speaks here: He was taken away.
(Vers. 11.). He was snatched away, as if to say: he was not only taken away, but snatched away, because he died quickly and was taken up as if by violence beyond nature's due course. Now there is a rapture of the Saints in their life: whence Second Corinthians twelve: "I know a man fourteen years ago caught up" etc.; and in death, concerning which it is said here: He was snatched away etc.; and after death, concerning which First Thessalonians four: "We shall be caught up with them in the clouds to meet Christ in the air." He was snatched away, I say, lest malice, that is, open iniquity, should alter his understanding, by turning him away from the truth and sincerity of faith; or lest deceit, that is, feigned righteousness, concerning which Augustine says: "Feigned righteousness is not righteousness, but a twofold iniquity, because it is both iniquity and pretense." Lest deceit, I say, should deceive, that is, corrupt, his soul, namely by turning his affection away from the love of God: Second Corinthians eleven: "I fear lest, as the serpent seduced Eve by his cunning, so your senses should be corrupted." (Vers. 12.). For the bewitching etc., as if to say: it was indeed necessary for him that he should be thus snatched away etc.; for the bewitching of vanity, from without, that is, trifling and flattering praise, according to which malicious men are said to bewitch children by praising them, obscures good things, namely those of the just, even if it does not destroy them; obscures, I say, because it causes the defects and imperfections of those very goods not to be seen, and through this causes pride in them; Galatians three: "O foolish Galatians! who has bewitched you" etc.; First Corinthians fifteen: "Evil communications corrupt good manners." And the inconstancy of concupiscence, from within, namely of the concupiscible appetite, which makes a man inconstant: James one: "A double-minded man," namely one who partly follows reason, partly sensuality, "is inconstant in all his ways." The inconstancy, I say, of concupiscence, that is, of the concupiscible appetite, perverts, namely from good to evil, the sense that is without malice, that is, one previously good and simple: James one: "Every man is tempted by his own concupiscence, drawn away and enticed."
(Vers. 13.). Being made perfect in a short time, that is, perfected in grace in a brief span of time: Isaiah ten: "A short consummation shall overflow with justice"; he fulfilled a long time, namely by the fulfillment of merit, because he acquired in a short time the merit that others acquire over many ages; or by the fulfillment of reward, because he attained eternity, which in its perfection surpasses many ages.
(Vers. 14. 15.). For his soul was pleasing to God: behold, the cause of consummation, namely divine grace and love. Pleasing, I say, through faith of heart inwardly and gentleness of conduct outwardly: Sirach 1: "Faith and gentleness are well-pleasing to God." Therefore he hastened to lead him out from the midst of iniquities, that is, from the world, which is full of iniquity: 1 John 5: "The whole world is set in wickedness."
But the peoples: Gloss: "The persecutors"; seeing, "the punishment," and not understanding, "the future glory," nor laying up in their hearts, that is, inwardly in the heart, although they sometimes hear it preached: Isaiah 57: "The just man perishes, and there is no one who considers it"; such things, namely, which follow: above in chapter 3: "They seemed in the eyes of the foolish to die, but they are in peace."
Because the grace of God, namely for working well: 1 Corinthians 15: "Not I, but the grace of God with me": and mercy is upon his holy ones, for delivering from evils: Sirach last chapter: "You have delivered me according to the multitude of the mercy of your name": and regard is upon his elect, namely for attaining the reward: Gloss: "That is, condign retribution." And note that they are called holy through present justice; elect, through eternal predestination, according to that text in Ephesians 1: "He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and immaculate in his sight in charity."
Third, regarding the state after death in a fourfold manner.
But he condemns etc. Here is set forth the comparative commendation of the just with regard to the state after death: and first, in comparison with the impious still living: second, in comparison with those dying: And they shall be after these things etc.: third, of the dead: Because he shall break etc.; fourth, of those rising: They shall come in the thoughts of their sins etc.
In the first part is touched upon first the condemnation of the impious by the just: second, the reason for the condemnation: For they shall see the end of the wise man.
(Vers. 16.). But the just man who is dead condemns the living impious: Gloss: "The martyr his persecutors," namely by comparison of a better deed, as the Ninevites, Matthew 12. And youth more quickly consummated, namely of the just man, condemns the long life of the unjust: Gloss: "That is, of the persecutor," because he did more good in a short time than that one in a long time, whence he shall be judged more strictly: Apocalypse 2: "I gave her time to do penance, and she does not wish to repent" etc.
(Vers. 17.). They shall see etc. Here is set forth a twofold reason for the aforesaid condemnation, namely ignorance and contempt. The first he sets forth saying: For they shall see, namely the impious, the end, "that is, death," as the Gloss says. Of the wise man: the Gloss: "That is, of the Martyr": whence concerning the Martyr is read that passage of Sirach fourteen: "Blessed is the man who shall abide in wisdom." And they shall not understand what God has purposed concerning him, "that is, what He has purposed to give him in the future, according to the Gloss, eternal life"; Proverbs twenty-eight: "Evil men do not consider judgment." And why the Lord has fortified him, namely in the present life: the Gloss: "With the arms of faith," according to that passage in Ephesians six: "In all things taking up the shield of faith"; likewise: "Put on the armor of God."
(Vers. 18.). Then he sets forth the second reason saying: They shall see him, as if to say: and because they do not understand these things, they shall see him, the Gloss: "Die"; and they shall despise him, whence below in the fifth chapter: "These are they whom we once held in derision" etc.; likewise Job twelve: "The simplicity of the just man is laughed to scorn." Thus the Jews despised Christ in His dying.
But them, namely the impious, the Lord shall deride: the Gloss: "At the judgment," that is, He shall judge them worthy of derision as fools: Psalm: "He who dwells in heaven shall deride them" etc. Not only at the general judgment, but also at the particular judgment, that is, at death: whence Proverbs one: "I also will laugh at your destruction" etc.
(Vers. 19.). And after these things they shall be, namely after the persecution of the good and the Lord's derision, that is, after they have afflicted the good in the present life, and they themselves have been derided by God at death: they shall be falling, that is, falling downward through the fall of death into hell: Psalm: "Even as the green herbs they shall quickly fall." Without honor, that is, of the society of the blessed: and in reproach, namely of the confusion of the reprobate: among the dead: the Gloss: "The damned"; forever, that is, without end: Jeremiah twenty-three: "I will give you over to everlasting reproach and to perpetual shame, which shall never be blotted out by oblivion."
For He shall burst them etc. Here is touched upon the commendation of the just in comparison with the impious dead; and first is touched upon the separation from the body: second, the uprooting from the world: And He shall shake them: third, the exclusion from glory : And even to the highest, or the supreme: fourth, the thrusting down into punishment: And they shall be groaning: fifth, the blotting out from the memory of men: And their memory shall perish, or shall perish.
(Vers. 19.). There follows therefore: For he shall break etc. I have rightly said that they shall be falling etc., for he shall break them, "namely the Lord," according to the Gloss: Hosea thirteen: "I will rend the inner parts of their liver." Them, I say, puffed up, with the wind of pride: First Corinthians five: "And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned." Without voice, "of excuse"; Matthew twenty-two: "But he was struck dumb." And he shall move them from their foundations: Gloss: "He shall overturn their life, which they thought to be stable": Job twenty-two: "Who were taken away before their time, and a flood overturned their foundation." And they shall be laid waste even to the uttermost, that is, to such an extent that they shall lose the highest place, that is, even to this, that they shall be excluded from the loftiness of glory, as the foolish virgins, of whom it is read that "the door was shut," Matthew twenty-five. And they shall be laid waste even to the highest degree, that is, they shall be punished until they pay the last farthing, that is, the penalty for every sin, both great and small: Matthew five: "You shall not go out from there until you pay the last farthing." The first exposition, however, accords more with the aforesaid division. And they shall be groaning: Gloss: "In punishments: because they shall be lifted up by no consolation." And their memory, not any whatsoever, but of happy remembrance, shall perish, before God and men, according to that verse of the Psalm: "The face of the Lord is upon those who do evil, to destroy their memory from the earth."
(Vers. 20.). They shall come at last, namely at the end of the world: whence the Gloss: "To judgment"; for then they shall go out from hell. They shall come, I say, in the thought of their sins, their conscience gnawing at them, fearful, on account of the punishment to be inflicted: below in chapter five: "Seeing this, they shall be troubled with terrible fear." And they shall convict them: Gloss: "Into eternal fire"; from the opposite side: Gloss: "Accusing them," as an adversary accuses his adversary; their own iniquities, that is, sins perpetrated by them in heart, mouth, or deed; Jeremiah two: "Your own wickedness shall reprove you." Sins, moreover, are said to accuse the reprobate, because they shall be the matter of their accusation and damnation: Romans two: "Of thoughts among themselves accusing, or also defending" etc.