Crowds outside the house; dark saying; Psalm 32 bones (Prov 1)
…very wisely written, because the crowds could not come to him, but only those who separated themselves from the crowds crowds — his disciples — who could speak freely enough to enter Jesus house. There, not as people outside but able to be inside, they come to the teacher and ask to learn the inner sense of the parables. Because they could follow him as he went into the house, he answered Explain the parable to us with what he said.
Jesus does not only leave his house so that, standing outside, he may speak parables to those outside; he also sits beside the sea, hinting that the crowds and the outsiders are not far from the sea waves and its salt water. Watch this: many crowds gathered to Jesus who had left the house and sat by the sea; yet it is no longer many crowds, but the few who travel the narrow, hard road and find the way that leads to life — disciples — who enter to him into the house.
Testing what fits a gospel word as far as I can, and Jesus purpose when he stepped into the boat and spoke in parables to the whole crowd on the shore, I say: perhaps the Word, not having planted a foot and not standing, but being in sea water, speaks as he is carried on what can, as far as possible, stand on water — and that is called a boat. Do not be surprised if such thoughts are brought in with more beauty, so that the outsider and the crowd will not think there is no hidden mind at all, dense and elegant, stored for the gospel disposition; for that too was a work of the grace that manages God Word.
I also try to hear more deeply: The disciples came and said, Why do you speak to them in parables? and Leaving the crowds he came into his house; and his disciples came saying, Explain the parable to us. Crowds who hear a parable never even pause over it as needing explanation. Disciples see that he speaks in parables to crowds because they are outside; they follow Jesus as he leaves the crowds; they see they can learn the parables nowhere else than by entering Jesus house; so they enter, come to him, and say, Explain to us the parable we want to learn. That is the parable.
Next is the dark saying. In the Scriptures some things are said so deliberately dark that no one can catch even a casual sense in them without much hard examination — muddled in phrasing, in thought, and in how the wording is put together. I take that to be what a book calls a dark saying. An example from the Psalms, from Psalm 32: Because I was silent, my bones grew old, and what follows. Of ordinary thought you can grasp the letter, as we will show; of a dark saying, not even that. Compare Isaiah: Woe, wings of a land of ships beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, sending hostages by sea and papyrus letters on the water. Clarifying each of these and lighting its darkness by interpretation is not for this moment, lest we digress too far. It is enough to clarify the psalm saying somehow. As long as I cried out hymning God and spoke of God all day, nothing in me grew old; I was being made new. But when I fell idle from theology and was silent, oldness sank as far as my bones and what seemed firmest in me. Then followed Your hand heavy on me night and day, and so from earlier oversight your weighted hand was turned into my misery. I deserved it: a thorn was fixed in me when cares, or wealth, or life pleasures held me. That the prophet meant this is clear from what follows: I made known my sin, and so on. After that we can ask what the sayings of the wise are, then what riddles are — sayings of which wise men the hearer becomes wiser than himself. Are they only of the wise according to God and
Greek
πάνυ συνετῶς ἀναγεγραμμένῳ ἐπὶ μὴ οἷόν τε ἦν τοὺς ὄχλους αὐτῷ συνελθεῖν, ἀλλὰ μόνους τοὺς διαφέροντας παρὰ τοὺς ὄχλους, οἵτινες ἦσαν μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ δυνάμενοι παῤῥησίαν ἔχειν πρὸς τὸ εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ. Ἐκεῖ, οὐχ ὡς οἱ ὄντες ἔξω, ἀλλὰ χωρήσαντες τὸ γενέσθαι ἔσω, προσελθόντες τῷ διδασκάλῳ, τὸν ἔσω νοῦν ἀξιοῦσι τῶν παραβολῶν μαθεῖν. Καὶ ἐπείπερ ἐχώρησαν αὐ τῷ ἀκολουθῆσαι εἰσιόντι εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν, διὰ τοῦτο ἀπο κριθεὶς πρὸς τὸ, Φράσον ἡμῖν τὴν παραβολὴν, εἶ πεν ἃ εἶπεν. Οὐ μόνον δὲ ἐξέρχεται τῆς οἰκίας αὑ τοῦ ὁ Ἰησοῦς, ἵνα τοῖς ἔξω ἔξω γενόμενος λαλήσῃ τὰς παραβολὰς, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρὰ τὴν θάλασσαν καθ ίζεται, αἰνισσόμενος, ὅτι οἱ ὄχλοι καὶ οἱ ἔξω τῶν τῆς θαλάσσης κυμάτων, καὶ τοῦ ἁλμυροῦ ὕδατος αὐτῆς, οὐκ εἰσὶ μακράν. Παρατήρει δὲ, ὅτι πρὸς μὲν τὸν ἐξελθόντα τῆς οἰκίας καὶ καθήμενον παρὰ τὴν θάλασ σαν Ἰησοῦν συνήχθησαν ὄχλοι πολλοί· οὐκ ἔτι δὲ ὄχλοι πολλοὶ, ἀλλ' οἱ τὴν στενὴν καὶ τεθλιμμένην ὁδεύοντες ὀλίγοι, καὶ εὑρίσκοντες τὴν ἐπάγουσαν εἰς τὴν ζωὴν ὁδὸν μαθηταὶ εἰσέρχονται πρὸς αὐτὸν εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν. Λόγῳ τοίνυν τὸ πρέπον εὐαγγελικῷ κατὰ δύναμιν ἐξετάζων, καὶ τῷ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ βουλήματι ἐμ βάντος εἰς τὸ πλοῖον, καὶ λέγοντος παντὶ τῷ ὄχλῳ τῷ παρὰ τὸν αἰγιαλὸν ἐν παραβολαῖς, φημὶ, μήποτε ὁ λόγος τοῖς ὄχλοις οὐ βεβηκὼς, οὐδὲ ἑστὼς, ἀλλ' ἐν ὕδατι θαλάσσης τυγχάνων, λαλεῖ ὀχούμενος ἐπὶ τοῦ, ὡς οἷόν τε ἐστὶ, δυναμένου βεβηκέναι ἐπὶ ὕδατος· ὅπερ πλοῖον εἴρηται. Μὴ θαυμάσῃς δὲ, εἰ τὰ τοιαῦτα νοήματα ὡραιότερον ἐνήνεκται, ὡς ἂν τὸν ἔξω καὶ τὸν ὄχλον μὴ νομίσαι, μηδὲ νοῦν τινα εἶναι κεκρυμ μένον καὶ ἐχόμενον πυκνῆς γλαφυρότητος τὸν τῇ εὐαγγελικῇ διαθέσει ἀποκείμενον· καὶ γὰρ ἦν τῆς οἰκονομούσης χάριτος τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγον, ἔργον. Ἐγὼ δὲ καὶ τὸ, Προσελθόντες οἱ μαθηταὶ εἶπον αὐτῷ· ∆ιὰ τί ἐν παραβολαῖς λαλεῖς αὐτοῖς; καὶ τὸ, Ἀφεὶς τοὺς ὄχλους ἦλθεν εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν αὑτοῦ· καὶ προσῆλθον αὐτῷ οἱ μαθηταὶ αὐτοῦ λέγοντες· Φράσον ἡμῖν τὴν παραβολὴν, βαθύτερον ἀκούειν πειρῶμαι. Ἀεὶ γὰρ οἱ μὲν ὄχλοι, ἐὰν ἀκούωσι παρα βολῆς, οὐδὲ ἐφιστᾶσιν αὐτῇ δεομένῃ ἐξηγήσεως· οἱ δὲ μαθηταὶ θεωροῦντες, ὅτι ἐν παραβολαῖς τοῖς ὄχλοις λαλεῖ, διὰ τὸ εἶναι αὐτοὺς ἔξω, ἀφιέντι τοὺς ὄχλους τῷ Ἰησοῦ ἕπονται, καὶ ἰδόντες, ὅτι οὐκ ἀλλαχοῦ δύ νανται μανθάνειν τὰ τῶν παραβολῶν ἢ εἰσελθόντες εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, καὶ εἰσέρχονται πρὸς αὐ τὸν, καὶ προσελθόντες αὐτῷ, φασί· Φράσον ἡμῖν τὴν παραβολὴν, περὶ ἧς μαθεῖν βούλονται. Ἀλλὰ τοι αύτη μὲν ἡ παραβολή. Ἑξῆς δέ ἐστιν ὁ σκοτεινὸς λόγος. Ἔστι τοίνυν ἐν ταῖς Γραφαῖς τινα τοσοῦτον ἐπίτηδες σκοτεινῶς εἰ ρημένα, ὥστε μηδὲ τὸ τυχὸν ἐκλαβεῖν ἄν τινα ἐν αὐ τοῖς χωρὶς πολλῆς καὶ μεγάλης ἐξετάσεως συγκε χυμένης καὶ κατὰ τὴν φράσιν, καὶ κατὰ τὸ διανόημα, 13.24 καὶ κατὰ τὴν σύνθεσιν τῆς λέξεως· ἅπερ νομίζω εἶ ναι τὸν λεγόμενον ἐν βίβλῳ σκοτεινὸν λόγον. Παρά δειγμα τῶν τοιούτων ἐκθήσομαι ἀπὸ Ψαλμῶν ἐκ τοῦ λαʹ ψαλμοῦ τὰ οὕτω λελεγμένα· Ὅτι ἐσίγησα, ἐπα λαιώθη τὰ ὀστᾶ μου, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Καὶ ἁπλῶς τοῦ μὲν νοήματος νοῆσαι ἔστι τὸ ῥητὸν, ὡς δείξομεν· τοῦ δὲ σκοτεινοῦ λόγου, οὐδὲ τὸ τοιοῦτον· οἷον κἀκεῖνο ἐν Ἡσαΐᾳ· Οὐαὶ γῆς πλοίων πτέρυγες, ἐπέκεινα ποταμῶν Αἰθιοπίας, ἀποστέλλων ἐν θαλάσσῃ ὅμηρα καὶ ἐπιστολὰς βυβλίνας ἐπάνω τοῦ ὕδα τος. Ἕκαστον δὲ τούτων σαφηνίσαι καὶ νοῆσαι φω τίζοντα τῇ διηγήσει τὸ σκοτεινὸν αὐτοῦ οὐ τοῦ παρ όντος ἐστὶ καιροῦ, ἵνα μὴ πολλὰς καὶ ἀκαίρους ποιώμεθα παρεκβάσεις. Ἀρκεῖ δὲ μόνον τὸ ἀπὸ τοῦ ψαλμοῦ οὕτω πως σαφηνίσαι λεγόμενον. Ὅσον γὰρ ἐκεκράγειν ὑμνῶν τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ δι' ὅλης τῆς ἡμέρας θεολογῶν, οὐδέν μου ἐπαλαιοῦτο, ἀλλ' ὅσον ἀνεκαι νούμην. Ὅτε δὲ ἀργήσας ἀπὸ τοῦ λέγειν τὰ τῆς θεο λογίας ἐσιώπησα, τότε ἡ παλαιότης εἰσέδυ μέχρι τῶν ὀστέων μου, καὶ τῶν δοκούντων ἐν ἐμοὶ στεῤῥο τάτων. Καὶ τούτοις ἠκολούθησε τὸ βαρεῖαν γενέσθαι τὴν χεῖρά σου νυκτὸς καὶ ἡμέρας κατ' ἐμοῦ, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀπὸ τῆς προτέρας ἐπισκοπῆς ἐστράφη εἰς τὴν ἐμὴν ταλαιπωρίαν ἡ βαρυνομένη σου χεὶρ κατ' ἐμοῦ. Καὶ ἀξίως γε ταῦτα πέπονθα, παγείσης μοι ἀκάν θης, ἡνίκα ἐκρατήθην ὑπὸ μεριμνῶν, ἢ καὶ πλού του, καὶ ἡδονῶν βιωτικῶν. Ὅτι δὲ τοιαῦτά τινα τῷ Προφήτῃ ἐν τούτοις νενόηται, δῆλον ἐκ τοῦ ἐπιφέ ρεσθαι τούτοις τὸ, Τὴν ἁμαρτίαν μου ἐγνώρισα, καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. Μετὰ ταῦτα ἔστιν ἰδεῖν τίνες αἱ ῥήσεις τῶν σο φῶν· εἶτα τίνα τὰ αἰνίγματα· ποίων σοφῶν ῥήσεις ὁ τῶνδε ἀκούσας σοφὸς, καὶ διὰ τὸ ἀκηκοέναι αὐτῶν ἑαυτοῦ γενόμενος σοφώτερος. Ἆρα γὰρ μόνων τῶν κατὰ Θεὸν καὶ
About this text
Origen of Alexandria, Fragmenta ex commentariis in Proverbia (Greek).
Original English Translation of Origen’s Fragmenta ex commentariis in Proverbia — new OET from PG 13 Greek.
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG 13 (Khazarzar) (Greek)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.