Exposition of Proverbs

He shall hold mastery over the masters of folly. If everyone doing sin is a slave to sin, everyone turning from evil and having mastered demons through virtues has held mastery over the masters of folly.

Such a person becomes a steward of God's mysteries, giving spiritual knowledge to each brother according to the proportion of his state, watering the Corinthian with milk 1 Cor 3:2 and feeding the Ephesian with firmer food Eph 4:14, discussing height, length, breadth, and depth; and through these dimensions, signifying the division of the logical nature, which contains the discourses concerning the judgment and providence of God, being most profound and fleeing the human condition.

Thus also Joshua, son of Nun, divided the land of promise to the twelve tribes, which is a symbol of the knowledge of God and of those who come from Him. However, it must be known that the discourses concerning the incarnation of Christ and His presence in the land of Judah are reserved for knowledge; for in this lot Christ is born. I think the discourses concerning providence are fitting for the state of the hidden Judah and Benjamin; therefore, I consider the names to be distinctions of different and pure states, if Judah is interpreted as confessing, and Benjamin as a son of days or a son of the right hand.

An evil man obeys the lawless tongue, but a righteous man does not: This one obeys the lawless tongues, he who receives from them the thoughts of the unrighteous and hastens to act according to them; whereas the righteous is said not to pay attention, that is, not to nourish them more within himself.

To the faithful belongs the whole world of things: The faithful, he says, will see the words of this world, which he has figuratively gathered as wealth of the mind; but the unfaithful will not even know the meaning of a chance matter because of the impurity of his soul. For knowledge of God is wealth of the soul, as Paul teaches through which he writes, 'You have been enriched in everything' 2 Cor 8:7, in all knowledge and all wisdom. And if anyone wishes to show that this is not the meaning of this proverb, let him say where those who passed through the wilderness were impoverished in things, in goat-skins, being poorly fed, afflicted, and lacking; how then also the unfaithful will not have...

Indeed, many unfaithful people are clothed in wealth; I say many kings and rulers of this world. It is not fitting for a foolish man to have faithful lips: For what participation is there in righteousness and unrighteousness? Or what fellowship is there between light and darkness? He who hides an injustice seeks friendship: For through righteousness we hide unrighteousness, and through self-control we hide intemperance, and again through love we hide hatred, and through freedom from love of money we hide greed; moreover, through humility we hide pride, and through gentleness we hide insolence, seeking the spiritual friendship, which signifies the holy knowledge. And according to Paul, some of the saints are said to be fellow-citizens and inhabitants of Jerusalem, having been built up upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.

He who gives evil instead of good: If he who gives evil instead of evil is lawless, how much more lawless is he who gives evil instead of good; such a person became, according to the wilderness, toward God, the Israel, toward whom Moses says in Deuteronomy: 'O crooked and perverse generation, do you repay the Lord thus?' (Deuteronomy 32:5). A beginning of justice gives authority: Knowledge follows righteousness, but wickedness precedes ignorance.

He who judges the unrighteous to be righteous, and the righteous to be unrighteous: He who says the bitter is sweet and the sweet is bitter, and calls the light darkness and the darkness light, is like this one. Why did wealth exist for the foolish? The things concerning his daily needs are a foolishness for the foolish; for because of these, having become heartless, he is unable to acquire wisdom. And he who is crooked in learning: He who is crooked in learning, that the Lord opposes the proud (James 4:6), will fall into evils.

Let brothers be useful in necessities: If the sons of Christ are brothers to one another, and the angels and the righteous men are Christ's sons, then the angels and the holy men are brothers to one another, being born to the adoption by the Spirit. For this very reason they are born: For this very reason they are born of wisdom, so that they might lead men from wickedness to virtue, and from ignorance to the knowledge of God; even as the whole creation groans and co-suffers with us (Romans 8:22), having been subjected to futility not willingly. A man who is changeable of tongue will fall into evils.