Chapter 4
4:1 Better than childlessness with virtue; for immortality is in her memory, because she is known both by God and by men; 4:2 and when present, they imitate her, and when gone, they long for her; and in the age she, crowned, proceeds in triumph, having conquered the contest of undefiled rewards.
RABANUS. Just as he previously criticized the lead heretics and their schismatic followers, so now he praises the Catholics and their disciples, whose faith is pure, and whose doctrine is simple and eternal; therefore, they are worthy of remembrance, because their generation is approved by the Lord and honorably accepted among men. In this present life, this produces fruit through sacred examples of good works, and when transferred to the heavenly kingdom, it leaves a worthy remembrance of itself to generations to come, nor will there be any sorrow for the completed struggle, when the greatness of persecutions is surpassed by the reward. [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD
4:3 But a numerous offspring of the ungodly will be of no use, and from bastard shoots it will not strike root deep, nor establish a secure foundation;
RABANUS. For he alternates, speaking of Catholics and heretics, so that he may show the praiseworthy wisdom of the former and demonstrate the blameworthy cunning of the latter. Indeed, the diverse and various doctrine of the heretics will not be useful, but harmful; nor do their redundant arguments, which indicate spurious offspring, have the root of truth, therefore they do not have the foundation of strength, but when touched by the wind of persecutions or the test of strict judgment, they quickly fall from their firmness. [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD
4:4 for even if for a time it sprout in the branches, standing insecurely it will be shaken by the wind and uprooted by the violence of winds. 4:5 Its branches will be broken off before their time, and their fruit useless, unripe for eating and fit for nothing;
RABANUS. He names branches as the sayings of perverse scriptures, and the fruits as the meanings of those sayings; by winds, he also signifies either the troubles of persecutions or the debates of judgment: because just as fragile branches are broken by the wind, so their imperfect sayings, when struck by any hardship or debate, are easily broken, and their fruits are useless and bitter, because the meanings of their words are depraved and poisonous, and therefore suited to no usefulness. [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD
4:6 for children born from unlawful unions are witnesses of wickedness against their parents at their examination.
RABANUS. He calls the sons of the wicked either disciples or works, because just as the followers of heretics are, on the day of judgment, an increase of sorrow for those who have been led astray by false doctrines, so evil works, at the time of the final examination, are proof of their wickedness, for which reason they are deservedly condemned. [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD
That the souls of the righteous after death will be in refreshment, and their passing should not be mourned.
4:7 But the righteous, if he is overtaken by death, will be at rest;
RABANUS. Having previously spoken about the destruction of the wicked, he now afterward explains the rest of the good, because after the end of the present life, which is common to both good and bad, the just will then begin to live better, when they seem to be utterly destroyed by the wicked, since eternal rest will then be given to them, when perpetual punishment follows for these. [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD
4:8 for honorable old age is not the length of time, nor is it measured by number of years; 4:9 but gray hair is wisdom for men, and the age of old age is a blameless life.
RABANUS. He shows what should be sought in old age, because it is not the age of the body, but the maturity of the mind and the uprightness of character that are praised in it. Therefore, in the Book of Numbers, the Lord commanded Moses to choose seventy elders, whom He Himself knew to be elders, so that He might appoint them as teachers and judges of the people. (Num. 11:16-17) And Paul, writing to Timothy, says: Let no one despise your youth; but be an example to the faithful in word, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. (1 Tim. 4:12) [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD
4:10 Having become pleasing to God, he was loved and, while living among sinners, was taken away; 4:11 he was snatched away, lest evil change his understanding or deceit deceive his soul;
RABANUS. God does not therefore take a man whom He loves out of this world because He cannot keep him, living among sinners, free from sin; He who, sending His disciples as lambs among wolves, praised them to the Father, saying: I do not pray that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from evil (Jn. 17:15); but rather, so that He may observe the order of His judgment: those whom He foreknew and predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, He calls, justifies, magnifies, and glorifies; but the rest, on account of their iniquity, He condemns by His just judgment. Concerning this, the Apostle Peter says: God knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation, but to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment (2 Peter 2:9). [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD
ANASTASIUS. But it also benefits many of the righteous that they live for only a short time, as Solomon once said: He who was pleasing to God was made beloved, and living among sinners, he was taken away; he was snatched away so that wickedness might not alter his understanding, or deceit might not beguile his soul. For the fascination of frivolity obscures good things, and the instability of desire perverts the mind without malice. Perfected in a short time, he fulfilled many years; for his soul was pleasing to God, and therefore He hastened to remove him from the midst of iniquity. (Wis. 4:10-14) [Anastasius of Sanai, PL 89, Questions 18] 620-700AD
4:12 for the bewitching power of wickedness obscures what is good, and the wandering of desire corrupts an innocent mind.
RABANUS. By this statement, although generally the immorality of the wicked is denoted, more clearly, however, the cunning of heretics is reproved in it, which, by depraved doctrines and harmful desire, turns the mind of man away from the path of truth; for it fascinates, that is, it burdens, whoever hinders by flattering or deceives by praising. We read in the Apostle: You were running well; who has fascinated you? (Gal. 3:1). And in Proverbs: The gift of the envious torments the eyes. (Sir. 18:18) He who is envious among us is more significantly called a fascinator among the Greeks. In these examples, we are taught that either the envious person is tormented by another’s happiness, or he in whom there are some good things is harmed by another who fascinates or envies. For the envy of heretics, which is accustomed to offer mere plays, not the foundation of truth, often obscures the good things of mortality in the simple, as in that saying: Evil communications corrupt good manners (1 Cor. 15:33). Therefore Wisdom forbids having fellowship with such people, saying in Proverbs: Do not eat with an envious man, nor desire his foods, for he estimates what he does not know as the likeness of a diviner and a soothsayer. Eat and drink, he will say to you, but his heart is not with you. The foods which you have eaten you will vomit up, and you will lose your beautiful words (Prov. 23:6-8). [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD
4:13 Having been made perfect in a short time, he fulfilled many years, 4:14 for his soul was pleasing to the Lord; therefore he rushed away from the midst of wickedness. But the peoples, seeing and not understanding, nor laying such a thing to heart,
RABANUS. Just as in the previous verse he exposed the deceit of the heretics, so now in the following he expresses the glory of the martyrs, who, although they spent their admirable lives in a short time through the tortures of their persecutors, nevertheless that very death is reckoned to them as a long life, because it brought them eternal life. Indeed, their Creator, loving them, separated them from the company of the wicked, and led them out from the oppression of this present life, so that in the heavenly kingdom he might hide them in the secret of his face, from the disturbance of men, and protect them in his tabernacle from the contradiction of tongues. [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD
4:15 that grace and mercy are with his elect and visitation with his holy ones.
RABANUS. Therefore, the persecutors of the martyrs could by no means recognize the future glory that followed them, but thought that they would perish together with the torments of their bodies, and that they could not receive the blessedness of eternal life after death; but everything happens differently for each side, because just as life and victory will follow the good after death, so also death and perpetual damnation will follow the wicked after temporal life. [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD
4:16 But the righteous who has died will condemn the living ungodly, and youth brought quickly to completion the long old age of an unrighteous man.
RABANUS. It is clear indeed that the martyrs of Christ will be judges of their persecutors after death, just as in the Apocalypse, in the condemnation of Babylon, the divine voice shows, saying: Come out of her, my people, so that you do not partake in her sins, and so that you do not receive of her plagues, for her sins have reached up to heaven, and the Lord has remembered her iniquities. Render to her as she herself rendered, and double the double according to her works. In the cup which she mixed, mix for her double; as much as she glorified herself and lived in luxury, give her that much torment and grief, because in her heart she says: I sit as a queen, and am no widow, and will never see mourning. Therefore in one day her plagues will come, death and mourning and famine, and she will be burned with fire (Rev. 18:4-8). [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD
4:17 For they will see the end of the wise man and will not understand what the Lord purposed concerning him and to what end the Lord had safeguarded him. 4:18 They will see and scorn, but the Lord will laugh them to scorn 4:19 and after this they will become an object of dishonor and a reproach among the dead forever, because he will dash them down speechless, face down, and shake them from their foundations, and they will be utterly laid waste and be in pain, and their memory will perish.
RABANUS. For the persecutors of the Church of Christ, as we have said, believed that the end of the martyrs was destruction, and therefore they despised the steadfastness of their faith. But the Lord will mock them, when He shows them that what they hoped would benefit them has completely harmed them; for when they wished to defend the false deities of their gods against the followers of Christ, they delivered themselves into perpetual damnation. [Verse 19] For the Lord will overthrow them, swollen with pride, without a word of excuse, so that they will then be in all things inexcusable, because although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or give thanks; but they became fruitless in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools; and they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds and serpents and four-footed animals. Therefore God gave them up to shameful passions, and to a debased mind, to do things that are not fitting, filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, fornication, greed, malice, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malevolence, whisperers, slanderers, hateful to God, rude, proud, arrogant, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, senseless, untrustworthy, without affection, without covenant, without mercy; who, although they knew the justice of God, did not understand that those who do such things are worthy of death (Rom. 1:22-32); and He will shake them from their foundations, because He will utterly overthrow the state of their life, and they will be desolate even to the utmost; for never after this will they be relieved by any comfort, but they will be groaning in torments, and their memory will perish forever. [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD
4:20 They will come in the reckoning of their sins as cowards, and their lawless deeds will convict them to their face.
RABANUS. Therefore, the wicked will come into judgment, timid because of the conscience of their sins, for their thoughts accuse them for the evil deeds they have previously committed, nor is any place given for defense, where there is no fruit of good works in the conscience. [Rabanus Maurus, Commentary on Wisdom, PL 109] 780-856AD