Proverbs 22 · The Lantern

A Good Name

A name is chosen over great riches; good grace over silver and gold.

Rich and poor meet together; the LORD is the maker of them all.

WE READ IN SOLOMON: “THE RICH AND THE POOR HAVE MET TOGETHER; THE LORD MADE BOTH OF THEM”. HOW THEN IS THERE NO RESPECT OF PERSONS WITH GOD? — Far be this wicked claim from the minds of the faithful.

I beseech you, beloved brethren, be eager to engage in divine reading whatever hours you can. Moreover, since what a person procures in this life by reading or good works will be the food of his soul forever, let no one try to excuse himself by saying he has not learned letters at all.

The rich and the poor meet together, etc. Do not despise the rich because of their wealth and honors, nor the poor because of their poverty, but revere in each the merit that is the work of God, for they are made in the image and likeness of God.

A shrewd man sees evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished.

The heel of humility is the fear of the LORD — riches and honor and life.

Thorns and snares are in the way of the crooked; one who keeps his soul stays far from them.

Train up a young man according to his way; even when he grows old he will not turn from it.

A rich man rules over the poor, and a borrower is servant to a lending man.

One who sows injustice will reap iniquity, and the rod of his fury will fail.

One good of eye — he will be blessed, for he gives of his bread to the poor.

Drive out a scoffer and discord goes out, and quarreling and dishonor cease.

One who loves purity of heart — the grace of his lips — the king is his friend.

The eyes of the LORD guard knowledge, and he overturns the words of the treacherous.

The sluggard says, “A lion is outside! I will be murdered in the midst of the open places!”

The mouth of strange women is a deep pit; one cursed by the LORD will fall there.

Folly is bound in the heart of a young man; the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.

One who oppresses the poor to increase for himself, and one who gives to the rich — only to want.

Thirty Sayings of the Wise

Saying 1

Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise, and set your heart to my knowledge,

for it is pleasant if you keep them in your belly; let them be established together on your lips.

That your trust may be in the LORD, I have made them known to you today, even to you.

Have I not written for you thirty sayings, in counsels and knowledge,

Since Solomon urges that "these things which we read be written on the heart in threefold manner," that also, besides those things which we have said, which occurs to my heart, I shall bring forth to your ears, and do you that which is written, that while one speaks the rest may examine.

There are three kinds of spiritual knowledge—tropological, allegorical, anagogical—of which we read as follows in Proverbs: "But you describe these things to yourself in three ways according to the largeness of your heart."

Philosophical knowledge is a certain knowledge of truth as investigable. Concerning this knowledge it is said in Proverbs: "Behold, I have described it for you in a threefold manner, in thoughts and knowledge, that I might show you the firmness and the words of truth." That word can be the word of Solomon and the word of God. I say that it can be the word of God.

to make known to you the certainty of sayings of truth, to return sayings of truth to those who send you?

Saying 2

Do not rob the poor because he is poor, and do not crush the afflicted in the gate,

for the LORD will contend their contention, and will rob of life those who rob them.

Saying 3

Do not befriend a master of anger, and do not go with a man of rages,

A secluded and remote habitation also contributes to the removal of distraction from the soul. Living among those who are unscrupulous and disdainful in their attitude toward an exact observance of the commandments is dangerous, as is shown by the following words of Solomon: "Do not be a friend to an angry man, and do not walk with a furious man, lest perhaps you learn his ways…

Do not be friends with an irascible man, etc. And although this can generally be taken of any irascible or raging person, yet nothing hinders from understanding it of those who raged with mad minds against the Saviour and His disciples; from whose friendship and company all believing in Him, caring for their salvation, were banned, so that also being neighbors to the wicked the…

lest you learn his paths and take a snare for your soul.

Saying 4

Do not be among those who strike hands, among those who go surety for debts.

If you have nothing to repay, why should he take your bed from under you?

Saying 5

Do not move an ancient boundary that your fathers made.

This, however, is plain, that many examples have been brought forth either by the apostles or by the evangelists, and inserted into the New Testament, which we have never read in these Scriptures that we hold as canonical, but which are nevertheless found in the apocrypha, and are evidently shown to have been taken from them.

We do not permit the faith or the symbol of the faith defined by our holy fathers assembled in their day in Nicea to be shaken by anyone, and we do not trust ourselves or others to change a word of what was laid down there, or to depart from a single syllable of it. For we remember the one who said, "Do not alter the everlasting boundaries which your fathers set."

He has revealed to us what it was expedient for us to know, whereas that which we were unable to bear he has withheld. With these things let us be content, and in them let us abide, and let us not step over the ancient bounds or pass beyond the divine tradition.

Saying 6

Have you seen a man skilled in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.