1 For the ungodly said, reasoning with themselves, but not aright, Our life is short and tedious, and in the death of a man there is no remedy: neither was there any man known to have returned from the grave.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "They are corrupt, they do abominable things, no one does what is right." Listen to these corrupt people. They in fact "have spoken among themselves, reasoning unsoundly." Corruption begins with bad faith. From there it passes to depraved habits, later leading to the most violent injustice. This is, in general, the ladder one climbs.
Rabanus Maurus · AD 856 This is the voice of the lost, who, like brute animals, look only at the present and do not think about the future, nor do they have any hope of eternal rest after the end of this life, about whom it is said by the psalmist: Man, when he was in honor, did not understand; he was compared to the senseless beasts, and became like them (Ps. 49:20).
Bonaventure · AD 1257 Second, concerning the justice of man toward his neighbor, the treatment is twofold. For they said etc. Above he treated of the justice of man toward God: here principally of the justice of man toward his neighbor: and first, by drawing back from the likeness of the unjust, namely in this chapter: second, by urging toward the likeness of the just, namely in the third chapter.
2 For we are born at all adventure: and we shall be hereafter as though we had never been: for the breath in our nostrils is as smoke, and a little spark in the moving of our heart:
Bonaventure · AD 1257 Because we are born from nothing, etc. Here is set forth the motivating cause on the part of nature: and first, from the consideration of human origin; second, from the consideration of composition, at: Because smoke: third, from the consideration of dissolution: Which being extinguished. (Verse 2).
3 Which being extinguished, our body shall be turned into ashes, and our spirit shall vanish as the soft air,
Bonaventure · AD 1257 There follows: Because extinguished etc. I rightly said that the soul is compared to a spark, because it is quickly extinguished, because our body will be extinguished ash, namely after the extinguishing of the soul, which according to the unbelievers is extinguished in death. But the truer reading is: Which having been extinguished etc.
4 And our name shall be forgotten in time, and no man shall have our works in remembrance, and our life shall pass away as the trace of a cloud, and shall be dispersed as a mist, that is driven away with the beams of the sun, and overcome with its heat.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 And our name, etc. Here is shown the motive cause on the part of fame or name: first the abolition of fame is touched upon; second, the reason for the abolition, at: For the passing of a shadow. (Vers. 4.).
5 For our time is a very shadow that passes away; and after our end there is no returning: for it is fast sealed, so that no man comes again.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 (Verse 5). For remembering, however, two things are required, namely a strong impression and frequent repetition, and he excludes both when he adds: For shadows etc.; the passing of a shadow, on account of the swiftness of passing, 1 Chronicles twenty-nine: "Our days are like a shadow upon the earth, and there is no delay"; a shadow, I say, of passing is our time, that is, what…
6 Come on therefore, let us enjoy the good things that are present: and let us speedily use the creatures like as in youth.
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 Come, therefore, let us enjoy the good things that are, and make use of the creatures as in our youth, quickly. Let us fill ourselves with precious wine and ointments, and let not the flower of the time pass by us. Let us crown ourselves with roses before they wither. Let no meadow be untouched by our luxury: let us everywhere leave signs of our joy (Wisdom 2:8 et seq.).
Bonaventure · AD 1257 Come therefore etc. Here he describes the unjust life, and first is touched upon the concord of the unjust and their mutual exhortation to the dissolution of their own life; second, the oppression of the just, at: Let us oppress etc.
7 Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and ointments: and let no flower of the spring pass by us:
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 But the luxurious say: Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and perfumes. For they anoint themselves with perfumes, who seek the pleasure of bodily fragrance. Yet those perfumes are accustomed to stir up the allure of lust.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 With costly wine, inwardly as regards taste, arousing warmth from within; and with ointments, outwardly as regards touch, arousing warmth from without: let us fill ourselves, through superfluous and immoderate use; Amos 6: "Drinking wine in bowls and anointed with the finest ointment" etc.
8 Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds, before they be withered:
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 May it therefore never happen that we say to you, Live as you like! Don't worry! God will never condemn anyone—it is enough that you keep the Christian faith. He redeemed you, he shed his blood for you—he will not damn you. If the desire to go and enjoy a show comes over you, do that too! After all, what is so bad about that?
Bonaventure · AD 1257 Let us crown ourselves with roses before they wither: Isaiah 40: "The flower has fallen"; and chapter 28: "Woe to the falling flower"! Let us crown ourselves with roses, for delight as regards smell: but "woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim"; Isaiah 28.
9 Let none of us go without his part of our voluptuousness: let us leave tokens of our joyfulness in every place: for this is our portion, and our lot is this.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 Let no meadow be that our wantonness does not pass through, that is, no pleasant place: this is said as regards the universality of place: Jeremiah 2: "On every high hill and under every leafy tree you lay down, O harlot." Let none of us, this is said as regards the universality of persons.
10 Let us oppress the poor righteous man, let us not spare the widow, nor reverence the ancient gray hairs of the aged.
Rabanus Maurus · AD 856 Although these things may generally pertain to those who, despising God, spare neither sex nor age, but through injustice and greed wish to oppress all, nevertheless, in a deeper sense, they can be applied to the treacherous persecutors of Christians and to heretics, who burden the poor people of the Church with their wickedness and persecutions, and that widow of whom it is wr…
Bonaventure · AD 1257 Let us oppress the just poor man etc. Here he describes the unjust life as regards the oppression of the good, first, because they oppress without reverence for the person: second, because without fear of justice, at the words: But let our strength etc. (Vers. 10. 11.).
11 Let our strength be the law of justice: for that which is feeble is found to be nothing worth.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 But let our strength be the law of injustice, that is, let us consider everything lawful, whatever we are able to do: Habakkuk 1: "Judgment has arisen and contention is more powerful." Or: of justice: whence the interlinear gloss: "As if we should have strength in place of justice," that is, what we cannot do through justice, let us do through violence.
12 Therefore let us lie in wait for the righteous; because he is not for our turn, and he is clean contrary to our doings: he upbraids us with our offending the law, and objects to our infamy the transgressings of our education.
Ambrose of Milan · AD 397 Therefore, in this psalm, the Lord reproaches the Jews, saying, 'I am poor because of you, I am in pain for you, and yet you raised impious hands against me, saying: Let us kill the righteous one, for he is useless to us' (Wis. 2:12). Let us put wood into his bread (Jeremiah 11:19). He spoke well of bread in place of his flesh.
Rabanus Maurus · AD 856 The dishonest Jews were then planning to bypass righteousness, when, confronted by the words of the Gospel, they were admonished through Christ to abandon their former filth of vices and to follow the truth of God's commandments. But where they ought to have hoped for the cause of salvation, taking grave offense, they considered killing him as if he were a blasphemer.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 Specifically, the persecution of Christ is described, first with regard to the threefold cause. Let us therefore beset the just man etc. Here he specifically describes the persecution of Christ, and first he touches upon the cause; second, the end, at: Let us see therefore, if his words etc.; third, the manner, at: With insult and torment etc.
13 He professes to have the knowledge of God: and he calls himself the child of the Lord.
Hilary of Poitiers · AD 367 We see that all the powerful manifestations of God's judgments ring out through the words of the prophets, which, it seems to me, are here called cascades. "Deep calls unto deep, in the roar of the cascades." After the preaching of the prophets came the judgments of God, as though echoing back to the voice that had predicted their coming.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 (Vers. 13.). He professes to have the knowledge of God: The Gloss: "That is, to know all things as God," and this with respect to essence.
14 He was made to reprove our thoughts.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 He has become for us an exposer. Here is set forth the moving cause on the part of thoughts, and first is touched upon the manifestation of the thoughts of the Jews through Christ; second, the effect of the manifestation, caused not on the part of Christ, but on the part of the Jews, namely their envy, at: He is grievous etc. (Verse 14.).
15 He is grievous to us even to see: for his life is not like other men’s, his ways are of another fashion.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 If you … want to love the beauty of the house of God and the place where his glory dwells, seek vessels for noble use. And do not say, "I looked for them but did not find them." If you have sought and have not found them, it means that you have not sought. The similar tends toward the similar, the dissimilar flees the dissimilar.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 (Verse 15.). He is grievous for us even to behold, namely on account of the manifestation of their sins; Augustine: "To sick eyes the light is hateful"; John 3: "He who does evil hates the light." But this, that they could not bear to see him, was a sign of envy; whence 1 Kings 18: "Saul did not look upon David with favorable eyes," namely because he envied him.
16 We are esteemed of him as counterfeits: he abstains from our ways as from obscenity: he pronounces the end of the just to be blessed, and makes his boast that God is his father.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 As triflers etc. Here is touched upon the moving cause on the part of speech, and first is set forth their reprobation; second, the approbation of others, at: And he prefers the last things etc.; third, his self-commendation, at: And he boasts that he has God for a father. (Vers. 16.).
17 Let us see if his words be true: and let us prove what shall happen in the end of him.
Quodvultdeus · AD 450 Joseph is sent by his father to visit his brothers and the sheep. Our Joseph, as well, Christ the Lord, says, "I have been sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." It is said, "The brothers hated Joseph because of his dreams." And our Joseph, too—Christ—cried out concerning his brothers the Jews, "They hated me without reason." Seeing Joseph, the brothers said, "Her…
Rabanus Maurus · AD 856 They are clearly described in the Gospel, where the chief priests and Pharisees took counsel on how they might deliver Jesus to death, and when he was placed on the cross, the chief priests with the scribes and elders, mocking, said: He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he is the King of Israel, let him come down from the cross, and we will believe him.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 Second, the persecution of Christ is described with regard to its purpose. Let us see therefore, if the words etc. Here in the person of the Jews he first touches upon the purpose of the persecution of Christ, which was that they wanted to know the truth about Christ; second, it is added how they could know this, at the words: For if he is the true Son of God, etc. (Vers. 17.
18 For if the just man be the son of God, he will help him, and deliver him from the hand of his enemies.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 For if he is the true Son of God, as he foretold, not through the grace of adoption, as we are, but through the natural property of eternal generation: he will receive him, namely in glory: Isaiah forty-two: "Behold, my servant, I will receive him." And he will deliver him, namely from punishment: and this is what follows: From the hands of adversaries, that is, of those who cr…
19 Let us examine him with despitefulness and torture, that we may know his meekness, and prove his patience.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 Third, the persecution of Christ is described with respect to the special mode of oppression. Let us examine him with insult and torment, etc. Here he touches upon the special mode of oppression, and first, with respect to those things disposing toward death: second, with respect to death itself: By a most shameful death, etc. (Vers. 19. 20.).
20 Let us condemn him with a shameful death: for by his own saying he shall be respected.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 My Lord Jesus Christ, when he assumed the flesh of the Virgin for our salvation, was surely glorified, because "he came to seek what was lost," though he was not "glorified gloriously." In fact, it is said precisely of him, "We saw him, and he had neither beauty nor splendor, and his face was more to be despised than all the sons of mortals." He was glorified also when he went…
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 "Since, when he sees the death of the wise, he will not see death." He who has wearied himself endlessly and will live to the very end, "will not see death, when he sees the death of the wise." What do these words mean? He will not understand what death is when he sees the wise die.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 By a most shameful death: The Gloss: "That is, by the death of the cross, which up to the passion of Christ was the punishment of the guilty, but now is the trophy of victory and the glory of the Church"; Augustine: "The cross passed from the punishments of robbers to the foreheads of emperors." And because the death of the cross was most shameful, therefore to show the usefuln…
21 Such things they did imagine, and were deceived: for their own wickedness has blinded them.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Because Jesus was crucified and not freed, they believed he was not the Son of God. Thus, insulting him as he hung on the cross, they shook their heads, saying, "If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. He saved others, but he cannot save himself." With these words, as one reads in the book of Wisdom, "they thought thus but were mistaken.
Rabanus Maurus · AD 856 Therefore, they were not able to grasp the mystery of God's counsel, envious and deceitful, "for wisdom will not enter a deceitful soul" (Wis. 1:4); nor could they understand that the death of Christ is the honor and salvation of holy souls, because through it they hope for the reward of justice, and receive entrance into the heavenly kingdom.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 These things they thought, and they erred. Here he shows that the life of such men is to be shunned as erroneous; and first he touches upon the meritorious cause of their error; second, the matter of their error: And they knew not, etc.; third, the author of their error: But by the envy of the devil, etc. (Vers. 21.).
22 As for the mysteries of God, they knew them not: neither hoped they for the wages of righteousness, nor discerned a reward for blameless souls.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 Though such a great light had arisen, and though the Logos had been made manifest, declaring, "Here is a man whose name is Orient," they did not see the light, because "their wickedness blinded them, and they did not know the mysteries of God." Something paradoxical took place with that people and with the pagan nations.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 And they knew not the mysteries of God, that is, the sacred and secret counsels and dispositions concerning the passion and resurrection of Christ; Ephesians three: "The mystery was made known to me, which in other generations was not known." Nor did they hope for the reward of justice; the Gloss: "That is, of the death of Christ," namely his exaltation through death, concernin…
23 For God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of his own eternity.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 If, because of the sorrows the soul has conceived by its love of the world, we are not yet able to taste how sweet the Lord is, let us at least believe what the divine authority wanted said in the holy Scriptures regarding his Son, "born," as the apostle says, "of the seed of David according to the flesh." In fact, as it is written in the Gospel, "Everything was made through hi…
Rabanus Maurus · AD 856 By this statement, the error of the Manichaeans is refuted, who introduced two natures and substances, that is, good and evil: because our Creator is not the author of our downfall, and as far as the truth of nature is concerned, we were created immortal by Him.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 And rightly I said: Honor, because God created man imperishable, that is, having the power not to die, on the part of the body: and to the image, namely on the part of the soul; Genesis 1: "Let us make man to our image and likeness"; to the image, namely in natural endowments: of his likeness, namely in gratuitous gifts: or: to the image, in the cognitive power: to the likeness…
24 Nevertheless through envy of the devil came death into the world: and they that do hold of his side do find it.
Clement of Rome · AD 99 Every kind of honour and happiness was bestowed upon you, and then was fulfilled that which is written, "My beloved ate and drank, and was enlarged and became fat, and kicked." [Deuteronomy 32:15] Hence flowed emulation and envy, strife and sedition, persecution and disorder, war and captivity.
John Cassian · AD 435 We must be convinced that the evil of envy is healed with more difficulty than the other vices. In fact, I would dare to say that if someone allows himself to be taken in only once by the plague of that poison, he will be without remedy.
Bonaventure · AD 1257 But by the envy of the devil, who envied the happiness of the first parents, death entered into the world. Against this: Romans 5: "By one man sin entered, and by sin death." It must be said that death entered through the devil suggesting and through man consenting.