Instruction vs Wrathful Punishment

To say entirely that this is erring, unless we knew the straight path? For this reason, therefore, it is 'for the remembrance in the Sabbath' (Ps 94:11). And since keeping the Sabbath is to spend time in virtue and to live pleasingly to God and to serve by doing what God wills, human life began from virtue; but this does not appear in the more bodily life; for virtue is something to be taken up by those with bodies, it is something to be taught. Therefore, the one becoming in the good is remembered.

But what is the thirty-seven? It is not something one can impose on everyone. Now, someone might say this: that the thirty-seven is composed of two holy numbers; for the three is indeed praised in the Scripture. But, neglecting the tithes, it brings only one of the fruits of the holy earth; for 'one hundred, and sixty, and thirty.' And so that we may not always say the same things, it is sufficient to say everything in all things: that the number three is holy, whether it is taken in units, or in tens, or in hundreds. And the seven is also holy; for often regarding this it has been said that it is incorruptible, it is a virgin, it is without seed, it is without womb. 'Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath' (Ps 119:125). One does not avoid being rebuked or disciplined at all, but in anger and wrath. Yet it is possible for someone to be disciplined logically and systematically, according to what is signified by the holy one praying—or rather praising and blessing—saying: 'Blessed is the man whom you will discipline, Lord, and from your law you will teach him' (Ps 119:99). He showed that this discipline happens through instruction.

And often there is also rebuke and discipline through anger and wrath, through harsh things, through bitter things. And often there is rebuke when the one in whom the error is, is shown by word to the responsible party; for it says: 'Rebuke the wise, and he will love you' (Prov 9:8). The wise man rebukes the lesser wise man, the one being led in. And again: 'But all things being rebuked are made manifest by the visible light' (Eph 5:13). And many say such things about rebuke, that rebuke is like a syllogism of contradiction. Let us say, for instance, someone is in wickedness. The one dividing the wickedness from virtue, bringing a syllogistic argument and recognizing the good, takes the bad into mind. And this rebuke is not one happening in anger.

But it is in instruction; for the knowledge of opposites is one, if we know the good, we shall have knowledge of the evil. And from the Scriptures one can take examples: the Ninevites had become in much wickedness, as if 'their cry of wickedness had ascended' (Jonah 4:11) to God calling for punishment and retribution. But God sent a proclamation of repentance. They approached the proclamation. They were instructed and reproved, not in wrath or anger. For example, the Sodomites were reproved and instructed in wrath and anger. Therefore, He does not want to be reproved in this way, not even to be reproved properly while setting aside the alternative.

'For your arrows have struck me' (Psalm 69:4). Because of this, I avoid the reproof that is in wrath and the instruction that is in anger, since 'your arrows have struck into me' (Psalm 69:4). They gained knowledge of the punishments being brought against the uninstructed, against the unreprovable. Often, the arrows of divine instruction signify the punishments; as if Job, having become in many afflictions, says: 'The arrows of the Lord are in my body' (Job 6:4). That terrible pull, he said 'arrows of the Lord' finding itself in his body. And the paradoxical thing: providence is introduced through this word. These heavy things, such as arrows, signify to me: that unless by the judgment of God, these heavy things would have risen above me; 'for the arrows are of the Lord, whose wrath pours out my blood; when I begin to speak, they pierce me' (Psalm 7:13). And see, that the heavy thing and that evil pull, he said 'arrows of the Lord.' And again in the great Psalm 171 of Deuteronomy, God says: 'I will drink my arrows from blood, and my sword shall devour the blood of the wounded' (Deuteronomy 32:42). Often again the sword signifies punishment: 'for if,' he says, 'you will not wish nor listen, a sword shall fall upon you' (Deuteronomy 32:41). Such also is that which is said in Isaiah: 'My sword has become drunk in heaven' (Isaiah 34:6), instead of: the punishment has touched heavenly things. And if God subjected 'the angels who did not keep their own dominion' (Jude 1:6) to 'eternal chains,' the sword of God—that is, the punishing power—has become drunk, and in heaven. And perceive the same thing even here: if anyone thinks he has a citizenship in heaven, such that heaven is 'to recount the glory of God,' when he falls by an unexpected punishment, then in the...