1 She preserved the first formed father of the world, that was created alone, and brought him out of his fall,
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 It must be understood that, according to the book of Wisdom, Adam was released from his crime. That book does not say this as an accomplished fact, but predicted it as future, though using the past tense.
Rabanus Maurus · AD 856 By the goodness of the Creator, the first man was created and placed in paradise, and by the order of his Maker, he was set above all living creatures, so that Scripture relates that after all the creatures of the earth and all the birds of the sky were formed, God brought them to Adam to see what he would call them, and Adam named all the animals, all the birds of the sky, and…
Bonaventure · AD 1257 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.
2 And gave him power to rule all things.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Man was indeed made in the image of God, and as it is written elsewhere, He gave him the power of containing all things: everything was under him, but above him was the One who made all things.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 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.
3 But when the unrighteous went away from her in his anger, he perished also in the fury with which he murdered his brother.
Rabanus Maurus · AD 856 He denotes the first offspring of Adam, that is, Cain, who through the wickedness of envy departed from God and unjustly killed his brother Abel, bringing about his own destruction.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 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.
4 For whose cause the earth being drowned with the flood, wisdom again preserved it, and directed the course of the righteous in a piece of wood of small value.
Rabanus Maurus · AD 856 But in a higher sense, wisdom, governing the righteous through a humble piece of wood, restored the human race, when through the passion of Christ's cross it erased the sin of the whole world and led the chosen to the entrance of the heavenly kingdom. But again, after the cleansing of the flood, it then adds what wisdom accomplished as a wondrous work:
Bonaventure · AD 1257 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…
5 Moreover, the nations in their wicked conspiracy being confounded, she found out the righteous, and preserved him blameless to God, and kept him strong against his tender compassion toward his son.
Rabanus Maurus · AD 856 After the Devil, through pride, deceived the human race in the building of the tower, so that by this transgression the unity of the common language was lost, again the wisdom of God united the offspring of Abraham in the truth of his faith, giving him a law and worship in which they might prove themselves to be true worshipers of the one God.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 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.
6 When the ungodly perished, she delivered the righteous man, who fled from the fire which fell down upon the five cities.
Rabanus Maurus · AD 856 This opinion was in a certain way explained by the blessed Peter in his Epistle concerning the justice of God, writing thus: "He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and he rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the evil conduct of the lawless.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 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; third, the equity of the punishment.
7 Of whose wickedness even to this day the waste land that smokes is a testimony, and plants bearing fruit that never come to ripeness: and a standing pillar of salt is a monument of an unbelieving soul.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 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 l…
8 For regarding not wisdom, they got not only this hurt, that they knew not the things which were good; but also left behind them to the world a memorial of their foolishness: so that in the things in which they offended they could not so much as be hid.
Cassiodorus · AD 585 "They will see the death of the wise. The foolish and the senseless will perish as well, and they will leave their riches to others." He thus arrives at the second way of teaching when he says that the sinners of this world will die along with the wise and that their riches, which they loved exceedingly, will be given as an inheritance not to their own but to strangers, which h…
Bonaventure · AD 1257 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…
9 But wisdom delivered from pain those that attended upon her.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 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 sor…
10 When the righteous fled from his brother’s wrath she guided him in right paths, showed him the kingdom of God, and gave him knowledge of holy things, made him rich in his travels, and multiplied the fruit of his labors.
Rabanus Maurus · AD 856 This passage, although it may seem to pertain specifically to the patriarch Jacob according to the historical account, who, fleeing his brother Esau, went to his uncle Laban in Mesopotamia, where on the journey he saw in a dream a ladder set up, and the angels of God descending and ascending on it, and the Lord leaning on the ladder, saying to him: I am the Lord, the God of Abr…
Bonaventure · AD 1257 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: the third, assistance in triumph.
11 In the greed of such as oppressed him she stood by him, and made him rich.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 In the fraud of those circumventing him, that is, of those wishing to circumvent him, "Laban and his sons," as the Gloss says: she stood by him, namely by guarding him, lest he be deceived or harmed: Genesis 31: "Your father has circumvented me and changed my wages ten times." And she made him honorable, the Lord, that is, wealthy: Genesis 31: "Jacob has taken away all that was…
12 She defended him from his enemies, and kept him safe from those that lay in wait, and in a fierce conflict she gave him the victory; that he might know that goodness is stronger than all.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 She guarded him from enemies, namely from Laban and his sons who were pursuing him and wishing to despoil him: Genesis thirty-one: "Unless the God of my father had been with me, perhaps you would have sent me away empty." And from deceivers she protected him, namely from Esau and his men, who perhaps intended to seize him when they were coming to meet him.
13 When the righteous was sold, she forsook him not, but delivered him from sin: she went down with him into the pit,
Rabanus Maurus · AD 856 The story of the patriarch Joseph seems to recount both his slanders and later happiness, who, having been sold by his brothers, was brought to Egypt, and there, because of the accusation of his master's wife, was sent to prison, therefore, due to his interpretation of dreams, he was brought out by order of Pharaoh and made ruler of Egypt.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 She the just one who was sold. Here he shows the benefit of wisdom bestowed upon the person of Joseph, and first in his deliverance: second, in the exaltation of the one delivered.
14 And left him not in bonds, till she brought him the scepter of the kingdom, and power against those that oppressed him: as for them that had accused him, she showed them to be liars, and gave him perpetual glory.
Quodvultdeus · AD 450 Joseph is put in prison. Our Joseph, the Christ, as Isaiah says, "was numbered among the wicked." The innocent man is led among the guilty by the wisdom of God, which "descended with him," as it was written, "into the pit and did not abandon him in chains." Our Joseph, Christ, exclaims, "I have become like a man without strength, free among the dead." What follows—that is, that…
Bonaventure · AD 1257 And in the chains of the prison she did not abandon him, because through the wise interpretation of dreams she freed him from his chains, Genesis forty-one.
15 She delivered the righteous people and blameless seed from the nation that oppressed them.
Rabanus Maurus · AD 856 He calls a just people and a seed without complaint the people of Israel, who, descending from the seed of the patriarchs, became worshippers of the one God, but were oppressed by the Egyptians and other nations.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 She delivered a just people. After he has shown the benefits of wisdom conferred upon individual persons, here he shows the benefit bestowed upon one people: and first the general benefit is touched upon, second the special benefit, third the thanksgiving for both.
16 She entered into the soul of the servant of the Lord, and withstood fearsome kings in wonders and signs;
Fulgentius of Ruspe · AD 533 We read that it is written of wisdom, "Its memory is immortal, by the fact that it is recognized by God and by human beings." How can it be recognized by human beings if it is not interior to them, but exterior? It cannot be recognized if it does not enter the soul of the person.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 She entered etc. Here he touches upon special benefits, first those done in Egypt: secondly, after the departure from Egypt: thirdly, in the departure itself.
17 Rendered to the righteous a reward of their labors, guided them in a marvelous way, and was to them for a cover by day, and a light of stars in the night season;
Quodvultdeus · AD 450 God gives to Moses the following instructions for the celebration of the Passover—that is, of that passage that represents all of the action of our faith and the mystery of the passion of the Lord.
Dhuoda of Septimania · AD 844 If you love God with your whole heart and meditate on the books of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, committing yourself to doing what you have read, then the spirit of wisdom will rest on you.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 And she rendered to the just: Gloss: "Of the Israelite people": the reward of their labors: Gloss: "The promised land," which he had previously promised to them: Genesis 12: "To your seed I will give this land." And she led them, namely to the aforesaid land, by a wonderful way: Gloss: "Through the desert": in the Psalm: "In a desert land, pathless and waterless." This way, mor…
18 Brought them through the Red Sea, and led them through much water:
Bonaventure · AD 1257 And she brought them across etc., namely in the departure from Egypt, through the Red Sea: Exodus fourteen: "The water was divided, and the children of Israel entered through the midst of the dry sea." Now it is called the Red Sea from the color which it derives from the adjacent red earth.
19 But she drowned their enemies, and cast them up out of the bottom of the deep.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 But their enemies, namely the Egyptians, she submerged in the sea: Exodus fifteen: "The chariots of Pharaoh and his army he cast into the sea": likewise: "They sank as lead," etc.
20 Therefore the righteous plundered the ungodly, and praised your holy name, O Lord, and magnified with one accord your hand, that fought for them.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 And they sang forth, that is, they sang devoutly, namely after the crossing of the Red Sea: O Lord, thy holy name: Exodus fifteen: "Let us sing to the Lord, etc., the Lord is as a man of war, almighty is his name": thus they sang forth for their deliverance.
21 For wisdom opened the mouth of the mute, and made the tongues of them that cannot speak eloquent.
Fulgentius of Ruspe · AD 533 It is written that "wisdom opened the mouth of the mute and loosed the tongues of infants." Wisdom indeed opened the mouths of the mute, so the incredulous might believe, and loosed the tongues of infants, so that they might preach what they believed.
Rabanus Maurus · AD 856 It is clear that without the wisdom of God, the human mind can neither conceive anything worthy nor utter anything fitting; therefore, sober understanding and the ability of sound speech must be sought from Him alone, since all things are from Him, through Him, and in Him.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 Because wisdom etc., as if to say: and rightly did they sing and praise etc.: because wisdom, namely delivering them, opened, namely unto the praise of the divine name, the mouth of the mute, previously struck dumb by fear; Exodus 14: "The children of Israel saw the Egyptians behind them and feared greatly." And the tongues of infants, that is, of those unable to speak, she mad…