CHAPTER 11
11:1. Send your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it. He encourages to mercy since it must be given to all that seek wisdom, and work well. For just as he sows over the well-watered fields and awaits the produce of his seed, so too he who is generous to the needy does not sow the grain of his seed, but bread itself. And he waits for it to grow into his future profit; and when the day of judgement comes much more will be found to have grown than was at first sown. Differently: in each and every man you can see this water, about which is said, "rivers flow from his stomach, the waters of life", lest it should trouble you to display the bread of life, the bread of reasoning, and of speech. For if you do this many times you will find that you have not sown the seeds of doctrine in vain. I think that this is what is written in Isaiah too: "blessed is he who sows across the water, where the ox and ass trample". This is also because that teacher (about whom we have already spoken), is held to be worthy of blessing, because he sows across the well-watered hearts of his listeners, the hearts of the Jews, as those of the gentiles in the gathered congregation.
11:2. Give a portion to seven, and also to eight; for you do not know what evil shall be upon the earth. And in Ezekiel there are found seven or eight steps leading up to the temple. And after the 'ethical' Psalm, that is one hundred and eighteen, all the psalms are of fifteen steps by which we are first taught the law, and when the seventh is finished, we then climb to the Gospel through the 'eight steps'. Therefore it is taught that we should believe with equal respect in each, the same for the old as for the new. The Jews dedicated their seventh part, believing in the Sabbath, but did not dedicate that eighth, denying the resurrection on the day of the Lord. On the other hand, heretics, Marcion and Manichaeus and all who rip up the ancient law with their savage mouths, dedicate their eighth part, taking up the Gospel. But they do not save as holy the seventh, spurning the old law. For we are not able to understand the worthy crucifixions, the worthy punishments already in mind, which are reserved for those who are moved to wickedness on earth, that is for the Jews and the heretics, and for those denying the other of the two. The Hebrews understand this passage in this way: keep both the Sabbath and the rite of circumcision, for if you do not adhere to these wickedness will come over you unexpectedly.
11:3. If the clouds are full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth: and if the tree falls toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it shall be. Keep the commandments that have been taught to you above so that the clouds above you will break open in rain. For wherever you have made your home and seat for the future, whether to the east or facing the north, when you die you will remain there. Differently: as I have said above 'send your bread over the water and divide it to all who ask'. Since when the clouds are full they pour their riches down on mortals, and you are as a tree: however aged you may be, you will not live forever, but one day suddenly struck by the storm of death like a storm of winds, there where you fall you will lie forever. The time of your end will come whether you may be stiff and savage, or mild and merciful. Differently: God is addressed in the Psalms: "you are truth up to the clouds", and in Isaiah God warns the sinner of the vineyard, "I will command the clouds not to rain down". Therefore the clouds are as prophets or holy men, who have amassed many talents in their mind, so that he can rain his teachings of doctrine down on others and say, "their speech should be awaited just as rain, and they will pour out rain across the earth", to which is replied, "let the earth hear the words of my mouth". But this follows: "and if a tree falls to the east, or to the north, in the place where it falls, there it will remain." We can take the example of the book of Hebrews, in which is written, "God will come to Teyma", which some interpreters have taken to mean that God will come from the south, and when I come to think about it the south is always used in a good context. This can be seen in Song of Songs: "arise oh north" that is 'return' and 'go away'; "and come O south wind". Therefore a tree, if in this life it falls and is cut in its state of mortality, either must sin before while it stands and is then placed in the north afterwards, or if the south winds takes away all its worthy fruit, it will lie wounded in the south. The text does not mean any tree, but only if it lies to the north or south. This means the same as that which is written: "I will say to the north wind, come, and to the south wind, do not hold back". Nowhere teaches about the south wind and the east wind together, saying that they blow, since it is fitting for them to be among those regions, because they are blown afterwards to the south and east. Therefore it blows from the north to the south and the south wind blows its inhabitants to the east. And they are not able to blow out if they remain in their ancient palaces.
11:4. He that observes the wind shall not sow; and he that regards the clouds shall not reap. He who considers what is good for him and does not give out to all who ask him, often destroys what he ought to receive. Differently: he who proclaims the word of God at the time when the people listen freely and a second wind of rumour comes, he is a negligent and lazy farmer. But favourably or not in his career he must proclaim the word of God; and he must not think of the storm of adverse clouds in his time of faith. This is written in Proverbs: "just as the rains are heavy and unyielding, so are they who leave wisdom and praise impiety". Therefore you must sow your seeds in the middle of a storm without thinking of the clouds and without fearing the winds. And you must not say, 'that time was convenient, this of no use', when we do not know which way and which will is the one spirit of giving.
11:5. As you do not know what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so you know not the works of God who makes all. Just as you do not know the way of the spirit and of the soul entering a child, and are unknowing of the types of bone and veins in the stomach of a pregnant woman. It is hard to know how the human body is formed from the simplest elements into the many varied forms and limbs, and from the very same seed, one makes soft our hair, another makes our bones hard; one connects the veins, another links the nerves together. Thus you cannot know the work of God, who has made all things. From this he teaches that the variety of things in the world must not be feared, and you must not fear the winds and the clouds, which as we have mentioned above must be judged. But although the sower ought to reap in the course of his career, he ought to save the outcome for the judgement of the Lord.
11:6-8. In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening withhold not your hand: for you know not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good. Truly the light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the sun: But if a man lives many years, and rejoices in them all; yet let him remember the days of darkness; for they shall be many. All that which comes is vanity. Do not choose which good deeds you do, but once you have started doing good, never stop. The evening will reveal the justice of the morning, and the sunrise will collect the mercy of the evening. For it is uncertain which work pleases God more, and by what means you will obtain the fruit of righteousness. But it can happen that not one but each one will please God. Another meaning could be that both in childhood and in old-age you will have equal work. Do not say therefore, "I worked while I was able, I ought to rest in old-age", for you do not know whether you please God more in youth or in age. And the thrift of youth too is of no use if old-age is taken up by indulgence. For the righteous has erred, not even his former virtues can free him from death. And if you always do well according to each interpretation and work equal amounts in each age, you will see God the Father, the sweetest light; you will see Christ, the sun of righteousness. More precisely if you live for many years and always have good things or do good deeds, you will still know that you are going to die, and the coming of darkness will continually surround you: you will despise the present things as if they were transient, frail and failing. Symmachus has interpreted the end of this idea in this way: if a man lives for many years and if he has been happy in all this he ought to remember the days of darkness, since they will be many, in which all will cease. Differently: in another place in the Scripture God promises, saying, "I will give you timely rain and rain that is late". I will irrigate you with rain: the Old and the New Testament. He warns about this here so that we may read about the ancient law, lest we hate the Gospel, and in this way ask about the spiritual understanding in the old text; lest we think that what we read in the Gospels and apostles is only to be taken at face value. For we do not know when more knowledge and grace is divested to us by God, and he who is happy, who joined both together to make it like one. For he who has followed this will see the light, will see Christ, the light of justice. And if he lives for several years and with knowledge of the Scriptures he will know the greatest happiness and enjoyment, and he is forced more to this toil by the memory of his future judgement. Since the time of eternal darkness will come, and perpetual punishments will be in stone for those who have not sown in the morning and in the evening, and joined both in vain; they have not seen the light or the sun, whence the light itself comes.
11:9-10. Rejoice, O young man, in your youth; and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes: but know, that for all these things God will bring you into judgement. Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity.