Chapter 10
By Wisdom, that is, by Christ, all those who have pleased God are made holy. That the Wisdom of God always remains with the Father before the ages, through whom in the law, and before the law, and in the Gospel, all things have been ordered.
10:1 This preserved the first-created father of the world, when he was created alone, and delivered him from his own transgression; 10:2 and gave him strength to rule over all things.
RABANUS. 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 all the beasts of the earth (Gen. 11). But when, because of the transgression of the command, he was cast out of paradise and plunged into the misery of this world, he was again restored through divine wisdom, through which he was first created, that is, Christ; and this is the sign of the great mercy of almighty God, that He decided to restore the man who, having been deceived by another’s persuasion, fell into sin, so that His work would not perish, which from the beginning He had made in His own image and likeness. For He made the nations of the world able to be healed (Wis. 1), and He who did not do evil, lest His work should become worthless, that is, lest His work in man should utterly perish. [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD
10:3 But when the unjust one departed from her in his anger, he perished together with murderous wrath;
RABANUS. 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. When the punishment for this crime was exacted in the flood and the generation of Cain was destroyed, divine wisdom again, through the construction of the ark, preserved Noah, descending from the line of Seth, together with his sons, for the restoration of the world, as the following statement demonstrates: [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD
10:4 because of whom wisdom again saved the earth that was being flooded, steering the righteous man by means of a lowly piece of wood.
RABANUS. 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: [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD
10:5 She also, when nations were confused in the agreement of wickedness, knew the righteous man and preserved him blameless before God, and kept him strong against the feelings of his child.
RABANUS. 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. From his seed also, producing the redemption of the human race, He blessed in him all the nations of the earth, and therefore what the pride of the Devil had confounded, the humility of Christ, through His grace, reunited in the knowledge and speech of all languages. [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD
10:6 This same one delivered the righteous man, when the ungodly were being destroyed, who had fled the fire that came down upon Pentapolis; 10:7 of which still there stands, as a witness to wickedness, a smoking wasteland, and plants bearing fruit in unseasonable times, a standing pillar of salt, a memorial of an unbelieving soul. 10:8 For those who passed by wisdom were not only harmed by not knowing the good, but also left behind in life a memorial of madness, so that in the very things in which they stumbled they might not be able even to escape notice. 10:9 But wisdom rescued from troubles those who served her.
RABANUS. 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. For that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard. The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,” etc. (2 Peter 2:6-9) The story is well known, how God sent fire upon Pentapolis and justly condemned the sinful cities, turning the most fertile land into a wilderness, so that it no longer yields any fruit, showing that the souls damned in hell will burn forever without the fruit of repentance. For when Lot fled from there and headed for the mountains, his wife, because she looked back and did not persevere in her begun journey, is said to have been turned into a pillar of salt. This mystically warns us that those who have been regenerated by the grace of God and called to eternal life should not look back to the old way of life, nor remain foolishly midway. The fact that Lot’s wife looked back and remained, and was turned into salt, serves as an example for the seasoning of the faithful, by which others may be salted; for Christ did not keep this silent, saying, “Remember Lot’s wife,” (Luke 17:32) namely, that he might season us as with salt, so that we might not neglect as fools, but be wise and beware. This, too, she admonished when she was turned into a pillar of salt. But the wisdom of God frees those who observe Him from all sorrows and preserves them perpetually in the peace of eternal rest. [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD
10:10 This one guided the righteous man, a fugitive from his brother’s wrath, in straight paths; she showed him the kingdom of God and gave him knowledge of holy things; she prospered him in labors and multiplied his pains; 10:11 when those who prevailed over him were greedy, she stood by him and enriched him; 10:12 she protected him from enemies, and secured him against those lying in wait, and awarded him a strong contest, so that he might know that godliness is stronger than all.
RABANUS. 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 Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac; the land on which you sleep I will give to you and to your descendants (Gen. 28:13), and upon arriving in Mesopotamia, he took Leah and Rachel, the daughters of his uncle, as wives, for whom he also tended his sheep for a very long time. But although that man tried to deprive him of his wages through deceit, he was kept unharmed by the wisdom of God, and returned to his homeland enriched with great wealth. More generally, however, according to the allegorical interpretation, it pertains to the holy martyrs, whom the divine wisdom, namely Christ our Lord, by His mercy delivered from all persecutions of their enemies, and protected them unblemished from their snares, strengthening them by the grace of the Holy Spirit and the hope of future reward, and finally, with all their enemies defeated, led them as most blessed victors to the eternal kingdom, so that there they might forever sing praises to Him, by whose help they knew themselves to have been preserved and saved. [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD
10:13 This one did not abandon the righteous man when he was sold, but delivered him from sin; 10:14 she went down with him into a pit and did not leave him in bonds, until she brought him scepters of kingship and authority over those who ruled over him; and she showed as false those who had slandered him and gave him everlasting glory.
RABANUS. 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. But just as the wisdom of God delivered him from the hands of his enemies and made him lord of the land, so also, in a special way, He rescued the holy martyrs from the punishments of their persecutors and exalted them in the heavenly kingdom, where, enjoying eternal glory, they will come as judges with Christ over their enemies, so that they may assign to them eternal punishments for their crimes and lies. [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD
Just as he led the people of Israel out of Egypt, according to whose example he freed the holy martyrs from the persecutions of the world.
10:15 This one delivered a holy people and blameless seed from a nation of oppressors; 10:16 she entered the soul of the Lord’s servant and stood against dreadful kings with wonders and signs. 10:17 She gave to the holy ones the reward of their labors, guided them by a wondrous way, and became for them a shelter by day and a blaze of stars by night. 10:18 She brought them through the Red Sea and led them across much water; 10:19 but she overwhelmed their enemies and brought them up from the depth of the abyss. 10:20 Therefore the righteous plundered the ungodly and sang, O Lord, the name of your holy one, and praised with one accord your defending hand;
RABANUS. 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. Through the leadership of Moses and Aaron, they were delivered from there and exalted by the wonders of God, that is, by the crossing of the Red Sea, by the protection of the cloud by day, the brilliance of fire by night, and by the other miracles that were abundantly performed among them in the desert. Mystically, however, the Lord delivers his chosen ones from the hands of their persecutors, and through the flashing of miracles terrifies their adversaries, and gives his servants wisdom which none of their adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. Therefore, even before kings and powers of this world, they stand unafraid, confidently speaking the word of God, and through the suffering of the martyrs, they attain the rewards of the heavenly kingdom, where perpetually and without end they sing worthy praises to their King and Deliverer. [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD
10:21 for wisdom opened the mouths of the mute and made the tongues of infants speak clearly.
RABANUS. 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. [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD