The Unjust Hatred of the Wicked

The world came into being in six days. He who does not surpass it is under necessity. This number is perfect. What he says is this: he who is contained by the world and its parts and thus lives is necessarily under necessity. But when he surpasses the world and ascends above it, in the seventh he sabbaths from the works of the world. And becoming in the seventh—which is led, pure, and left to the people of God—he becomes blameless.

To sin against this is to approach it and act it out. If, for instance, he says, 'It is good for a man not to touch a woman,' this does not mean that to touch a woman's body with evil is the only thing. 'Bring me out of my necessities' (Psalm 143:7). Since we have given to your judgment, look at what appears to me; I say, 'Bring me out of my necessities,' so that I may not be compelled by sin and become loose toward virtue. Then you bring me out of these, if you will give me forgiveness of sins. This too can be understood: the coming punishments, the additional and distressing necessities.

The afflictions of my heart have been enlarged (Psalm 137:7). Often regarding different readings we do not doubt. Now it is necessary to know that they 'were enlarged' and not 'were multiplied'; for he who is afflicted in heart is no longer serious but also foolish. It is not permitted to take the things before this verse and after it as foolish for him who says these things, he who has his eyes always toward the Lord. 'See my lowliness and my labor, and forgive all my sins' (Psalm 143:7).

He labors in this world, having reached a peak, 'the body of lowliness.' Along with this evil, it happens to be humbled; for often affliction is called humbling according to: 'You humbled us in a place of affliction' (Psalm 143:12). When we have come into the place of affliction, we were humbled. And it is possible also to say that: when the eyes...

He always had the Lord before him, seeing Him, and then he saw himself humble, even if he is righteous, just as they say concerning Abraham: not always did he see himself as 'earth and ash' (Gen 18:27), but when 'he began to speak toward the Lord.'

'Behold my enemies, for they have multiplied and unjust hatred has hated me' (Ps 35:19). Unjust hatred is hated by one who hates for no other reason than that he is zealous. In this way, indeed, the disciples of Jesus were hated. Concerning these things he teaches to send up a prayer: 'Pray for those hating you, love those hating you' (Matt 5:44). It is not we who hate anyone; for it has been said: 'Do not hate any man, love every man' (Lev 19:18). But they hate.

And it is not our sin to be hated by some, but rather an accident, when we provide no pretext of hatred. Therefore he says: 'Behold my enemies, for they have multiplied and unjust hatred has hated me' (Ps 35:19). They do not hate me with righteous hatred. They hated me as an unrighteous man, as a covetous man. And since they hate me having nothing of these things, they hate me unjustly.

And such people multiply; for if the righteous man is hated because of virtue, he possesses all the virtues according to the many things said concerning the sequence of virtues. The unrighteous hate the righteous, the intemperate the self-controlled, the arrogant the humble, and in every way those in wickedness hate the righteous. The righteous man, therefore, is one, even if he has all the virtues; for wickedness divides those having them, for it is not possible to have all the wickednesses at once. Therefore the coward cannot be bold, the superstitious cannot be impious, the rogue cannot be foolish.

In one way, Egypt hated Joseph, making him a prisoner and a captive to be tested as an evildoer. This hatred was unjust. Jezebel against Naboth worked out death, and it was this hatred that was unjust. And Herodias, the wife of Herod, worked out death against John, showing pity, as much as was in her. Of those, therefore, unjustly...