The Right Hand and the Falling Enemy

Only those who fear, sleeping and drinking in the night, are affected; but the one surrounded by the truth of God is not struck by a flying arrow in the daytime. A heterodox word promises a flying arrow in the daytime.

But he who uses the truth does not fear being led astray by a deed in the darkness. A deed led astray in the darkness is every sin and every ignorance and the working of those evil spirits of error.

Along with these, he will not fear any accident, bearing all things tangibly and bravely, saying the same thing to Job: 'If we have received the good things from the hand of the Lord, shall we not receive the bad?' (Job 2:10). As it seemed good to the Lord, so it happened. For everything brought by the Lord is received as good, knowing that to those who love the Lord all things work together for good (Romans 8:28), even the painful and distressing things brought by temptation.

Therefore, it happens to conquer and to turn against them. For blessed is the man who endures temptation (James 1:12), who having been proved, shall receive the crown of life. He who is found in so many uprightnesses does not even fear the devil transforming himself into an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14). A midday demon is promised a full-strength light through philosophy and empty deception; this very thing is entirely a midday demon.

Not he alone, but also his servants, transforming themselves into servants of righteousness, are midday demons. But even if each one pretends to be such a midday demon, those who pretend will not remain, when the light of the ungodly is extinguished, when Christ has come to enlighten the hidden things of darkness and to reveal the counsels of the hearts (Ps 90:7–9).

He who is upright in practical matters and in the knowledge of the truth holds many who attack treacherously in his hands, but he surrounds all of them, having put on the armor of God. Since fewer attack the moral matters on the left, while many are on the right regarding the spiritual, thousands fall from the bench of the perfect, ten thousands falling from his right. The bench, being said in opposition to the right, implies the notion of the left and the ill-named. Similar to these is also in Deuteronomy...

It is called rightly regarding those who uphold the law: 'If he will pursue a thousand, two thousand shall flee before him' (Ps 64:7). And Paul, not having been perfected, fights against the adversaries through the ships of righteousness of the right and the left, predicting a thousand falling from his left and ten thousand from his right.

And in Ecclesiastes, in praise of the right, it is said thus: 'The heart of the wise is at his right hand, but the heart of a fool is at his left' (Eccl 7:4). The wise man, having his mind upon the intelligible and spiritual things, is called right because the precious things are on the right; but he who lacks understanding regarding sensible and material things is second and on the left.

And the falling thousand and ten thousand do not approach the righteous to harm him; for it is written, 'They shall not approach you' (Ps 91:7). For when the zealous one intends to approach, the phalanx of the adversaries falls. For it is said, 'As they approach to devour my flesh, those who afflict me and my enemies themselves have stumbled and fallen' (Ps 27:2).

These things are fulfilled symbolically in the Gospels; for how closely did those who had come to seize Him dare to approach Jesus, when He said, 'Whom are you seeking?' and they answered, 'Jesus of Nazareth,' and He, Jesus, said, 'I am,' and they went backward and fell to the ground (John 18:4-6).

Besides these things being fulfilled (I am indeed saying regarding the falling thousand and ten thousand of the enemies not approaching the righteous), he will understand with the eyes of his mind, being guarded by that which has been made upright for him by the truth, the things that have been made upright for him, and he will see also the retribution of sinners; having said these things about them, he immediately confesses Him, the Cause of all existing goods. Because of this he says: 'O Lord, all these things have been made upright for me, since no one else but You have established my hope.' For if in the things above it is said, 'God is my refuge and I hope in Him' (Ps 91:2), and 'Under the wings of God, you hope' (Ps 91:4).

He says 'Perceptions and thus'; since the circumstances of both the unrighteous and the righteous fall together in common, and he is named because of the things that have fallen upon him, the words set forth are not regarding these evils. For a bodily scourge has often struck the tent, that is, the body of the righteous; for 'we were being tested, we were being scourged,' says Paul (1 Cor 11:30). And the Savior Himself also...