Wisdom — Chapter 1

LOVE JUSTICE, YOU WHO JUDGE THE EARTH. Lapide addresses kings, princes, judges, and all rulers. \"Love justice\" (diligite) in Hebrew carries force and emphasis: to love ardently, with fire, not merely to hold justice grudgingly. Justice is the virtue that renders to each his due; it is the foundation and pillar of the commonwealth (Aristotle, Ethics V; Philo). Without justice, society collapses into schism, war, and ruin. As Solomon says (Prov 29:4), \"A just king strengthens the land.\" The synecdoche \"who judge the earth\" (i.e., who rule provinces and cities) takes a part for the whole: ruling = judging. Justice shines among the virtues as the evening star among the stars (Aristotle). Without justice, kingdoms are but great robberies (Augustine, De Civitate IV.4). — HAVE RIGHT THOUGHTS OF THE LORD, IN GOODNESS: Four senses: (1) Form true and orthodox judgment about God — that He is holy, just, provident, powerful, and avenging, not the idle deity of the Epicureans. (2) With uprightness and virtue (bonitas = probitas, honestas), serving God with virtuous conduct. (3) With benevolence and beneficence — God is supremely kind and beneficent to all; kings should imitate this benevolence in governing. (4) Knowing God as the supreme, immense, and universal Good, as Dionysius the Areopagite expounds at length in De Divinis Nominibus. — AND IN SIMPLICITY OF HEART SEEK HIM: Four senses: (1) Simplicity opposed to duplicity and hypocrisy — seek God with a sincere and undivided heart, not with a double mind (cf. James 1:8). (2) Opposed to curiosity — do not pry into divine mysteries but simply believe what faith and the Church teach. (3) Opposed to corruption or admixture — purity of heart (Blessed are the pure of heart, Matt 5:8). (4) Opposed to incompleteness — seek God with the whole heart, wholly, not halfheartedly; this is accomplished through full charity. SS. Jerome, Gregory, Ambrose, Augustine, Bernard, and Dionysius Carthusian are cited on these senses.

FOR HE IS FOUND BY THOSE WHO DO NOT TEMPT HIM, AND HE SHOWS HIMSELF TO THOSE WHO HAVE FAITH IN HIM. Lapide explains three modes of tempting God: (1) Treating Him as a dead idol, worshipping externally while inwardly godless. (2) Denying His knowledge, providence, or justice — the error of the Epicureans and political atheists who deny divine providence and retribution. (3) Trusting in one's own ingenuity, wealth, or military strength rather than in God. God shows Himself to those who have faith in four ways: (1) In all creatures, which reflect their Creator (Ps 18; Rom 1:20). (2) In Sacred Scripture, especially this Book of Wisdom. (3) In the Church, through Apostles, Prophets, pastors, and doctors. (4) In prayer and the exercise of virtue, especially almsgiving — as Cornelius the centurion was illumined while in prayer (Acts 10). The second half of the verse (apparet eis qui fidem habent) corresponds in chiasm to \"simplicity of heart\" in v.1; faith corresponds to simplicity, not tempting corresponds to goodness.

FOR PERVERSE THOUGHTS SEPARATE FROM GOD, AND HIS POWER, WHEN PUT TO THE TEST, REBUKES THE UNWISE. \"Perverse thoughts\" means not mere first motions of temptation (which are not sins) but consented thoughts, which constitute mortal or venial sins by their gravity. Sin is what separates from God, since God is holiness itself. Evil thoughts are like sparks: unless extinguished at once by recourse to prayer and the rock of God's law, they kindle great fires of concupiscence, then of deeds. \"Probata autem virtus corripit insipientes\" — virtus here means not ethical virtue but God's power and potency (Greek: dynamis, as Lapide notes, correcting many commentators who misread the Greek). God's proven power, manifested through its effects and punishments in history, corrects the foolish who denied His providence. As a boy ignores his mother's warnings until she actually strikes him, so the impious ignore warnings until God's punishment falls upon them — then they learn to acknowledge divine providence (Bonav., Vatablus, Jansenius, Clarius).

FOR WISDOM WILL NOT ENTER INTO A MALICIOUS SOUL, NOR DWELL IN A BODY SUBJECT TO SIN. \"Malevolam animam\" — a soul disposed to ill-will, which is the root of all vices, opposed to the benevolence required in v.1. Wisdom (the Holy Spirit of Wisdom) cannot cohabit with malice and sin. As light and darkness cannot coexist, so Wisdom and sin cannot dwell together in the same soul. Three interpretations: (1) Wisdom = God's grace, which cannot enter or remain where mortal sin is not repented. (2) Wisdom = philosophy and true learning, which requires a calm and virtuous soul. (3) Wisdom = Christ Himself, who as Light came into the world but the darkness did not receive Him (John 1). Applied practically: the soul must be purged of sin through penance before Wisdom can take up her dwelling. Extended treatment from SS. Cyprian, Ambrose, Jerome, and Augustine on the incompatibility of wisdom and vice.

FOR THE HOLY SPIRIT OF DISCIPLINE WILL FLEE DECEIT, AND WILL WITHDRAW HIMSELF FROM THOUGHTS THAT ARE WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING, AND HE SHALL NOT ABIDE WHEN INIQUITY COMETH IN. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit \"of discipline\" (disciplinae) because He teaches, trains, and corrects — as a master disciplines a student (cf. Heb 12:6). Three ways the Spirit withdraws: (1) He flees the feigned and simulated — those who simulate piety while retaining sin and bad will. (2) He removes Himself from thoughts lacking understanding, i.e., from minds clouded by sin and passion so as to be incapable of sound judgment. (3) He is expelled when iniquity arrives — when a soul that had the Spirit falls into mortal sin, the Spirit withdraws, taking with Him gifts of grace and illumination. Lapide notes that the Spirit is not driven away against His will but freely departs, as a dove flees a troubled pool. Application: we must carefully watch our thoughts, especially impure and perverse ones, lest the Holy Spirit be driven out.

FOR THE SPIRIT OF WISDOM IS BENIGN, AND WILL NOT ACQUIT THE EVIL SPEAKER FROM HIS LIPS: FOR GOD IS WITNESS OF HIS REINS, AND A TRUE SEARCHER OF HIS HEART, AND A HEARER OF HIS TONGUE. God is simultaneously supremely benign (v.6a) and supremely just (v.6b): He is benign, but this very benignity demands that He not acquit slanderers and liars. Three things about which God demands account: (1) the reins (renes) — in Scripture the kidneys symbolize the seat of the deepest desires and concupiscences; God scrutinizes these hidden desires. (2) The heart — God scrutinizes the heart (Jer 17:10; Ps 7:10). (3) The tongue — God hears every word spoken, whether public or secret. Application: since God is witness of our innermost movements, no slander, calumny, or murmuring escapes His notice; even what we whisper privately will be demanded of us at the Last Judgment.

FOR THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD HATH FILLED THE WHOLE WORLD: AND THAT WHICH CONTAINETH ALL THINGS HATH KNOWLEDGE OF THE VOICE. The Spirit of the Lord fills the whole world by His essence, presence, and power — as God is omnipresent. Lapide notes this applies primarily to the Holy Spirit (as Acts 2 shows the Spirit filling all things), secondarily to the divine Word or Son. \"Hoc quod continet omnia\" — that which contains all things, i.e., God in His immensity, has knowledge of every voice, every word spoken: nothing can be concealed from Him. This is the theological basis for the warnings in vv.8-11 against evil speech: since the divine Spirit permeates all creation, every murmur, lie, and slander is heard by God.

THEREFORE HE THAT SPEAKETH UNJUST THINGS CANNOT BE HID, NEITHER SHALL THE CHASTISING JUDGMENT PASS HIM BY. Since the Spirit fills all things, the one who speaks iniquity cannot escape detection. \"The chastising judgment\" — God's corrective punishment — will overtake the evildoer, even if it is delayed. Lapide cites the all-seeing eye of God's jealous zeal (v.10) and applies this to rulers who think their unjust deeds or words are hidden: in the end, all will be exposed at judgment.

FOR INQUISITION SHALL BE MADE INTO THE THOUGHTS OF THE UNGODLY: AND THE HEARING OF HIS WORDS SHALL COME TO GOD, TO THE CHASTISING OF HIS INIQUITIES. At the Last Judgment, not only deeds but thoughts and words will be examined. Three objects of divine inquiry: thoughts (cogitatio), words (sermo), deeds (opera implied from context). The impious who murmur against God or speak slander will face a divine inquisition (interrogatio) of their very thoughts. This is a warning to examine one's own conscience — especially rulers who use unjust speech to oppress the innocent.

FOR THE EAR OF JEALOUSY HEARETH ALL THINGS, AND THE TUMULT OF MURMURING SHALL NOT BE HID. \"Auris zeli\" — the ear of divine jealousy or zeal. God is jealous (zelotes) in the sense that He cannot tolerates sin against His holiness and justice. The three sins warned against: murmuring (v.11a), detraction/slander (v.11b), lying (v.11c). Historical example: God's punishment of Israel's murmuring in the desert (Num 11, 14). The tumult of murmuring is never hidden from God — even secret complaints and discontent are known to Him.

KEEP YOURSELVES THEREFORE FROM MURMURING, WHICH PROFITETH NOTHING, AND REFRAIN YOUR TONGUE FROM DETRACTION, FOR AN OBSCURE SPEECH SHALL NOT GO FOR NOUGHT: AND THE MOUTH THAT BELIETH, KILLETH THE SOUL. Three evils to avoid: (1) Murmuring (murmuratio) — against God, against rulers, against neighbors; it profits nothing and wounds charity. (2) Detraction (detractio) — speaking evil of another's reputation. \"Obscure speech\" (sermo obscurus) means the word spoken in secret or darkly, which nevertheless has its full effect. (3) Lying — \"the mouth that lies kills the soul,\" since lying is against God who is Truth itself; the liar destroys in himself the image of God as Truth. Lapide cites Augustine extensively on the malice of lying, and applies this to specific kinds of detraction: backbiting, calumny, irony used to wound, and whispering.

DO NOT COURT DEATH BY THE ERRORS OF YOUR LIFE, NOR BRING ON DESTRUCTION BY THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS. \"Zelari mortem\" = to covet or seek death, i.e., to live in such a way as to freely acquire death — both spiritual (through sin) and eternal (through impenitence). The \"errors of your life\" are sins, which are deviations from the right path. The \"works of your hands\" are sinful deeds. Application: sin is a form of suicide of the soul; by sinning one acquires the death that God did not intend. Lapide notes that this verse is connected with the following (v.13), which gives the reason: God did not make death.

FOR GOD MADE NOT DEATH, NEITHER HATH HE PLEASURE IN THE DESTRUCTION OF THE LIVING. God is not the author or efficient cause of death. He created all things for existence and goodness. Death entered through the devil's envy (cf. v.24) and through man's free choice of sin. God is the \"Lord of life,\" not of death. \"Neither hath He pleasure in the destruction of the living\" — God does not delight in condemning sinners; He wills all to repent and live (Ezek 18:23; 1 Tim 2:4). Extended treatment from SS. Augustine, Athanasius, and John Chrysostom on God as the source of life, not death. Applied by Lapide to rebut Calvinist predestinarianism.

FOR HE CREATED ALL THINGS THAT THEY MIGHT BE: AND HE MADE THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD FOR HEALTH: AND THERE IS NO POISON OF DESTRUCTION IN THEM, NOR KINGDOM OF HELL UPON EARTH. God created all things for being (existence), not for non-being (death). \"Sanabiles\" — wholesome or curable; the nations (gentes) were made in a condition capable of salvation and healing. No earthly creature was created by God with a destructive poison; all things in their original nature are good. \"Nec inferorum regnum in terra\" — there is no kingdom of hell upon earth as part of the original divine order; hell entered through the devil's fall and man's sin. This is the theological foundation for universal salvific will. Lapide refutes Manichaean dualism and defends the universal goodness of creation.

FOR JUSTICE IS PERPETUAL AND IMMORTAL. \"Justitia\" here = God's righteousness and justice, which is eternal and indestructible; also the justice (righteousness) of the soul of the just man, made immortal through participation in divine justice. Justice cannot die because it is rooted in God who is eternal. Applied to Christ as the eternal Justice incarnate, and to the immortality of the souls of the just who share in His righteousness. Lapide notes that this verse is the theological culmination of the chapter: since justice is immortal, those who pursue justice participate in immortality.

BUT THE UNGODLY WITH WORKS AND WORDS HAVE CALLED IT TO THEM: AND ESTEEMING IT THEIR FRIEND HAVE FALLEN AWAY, AND HAVE MADE A COVENANT WITH IT: BECAUSE THEY ARE WORTHY TO BE OF THE PART THEREOF. The impious summon death upon themselves by their sinful deeds (hands) and evil words (mouth) — thus inverting the command of v.1 to love justice. They esteem death a friend or ally — specifically: those who persecute the just think they can use death as a weapon against the just. But in doing so they make a pact with death, which will eventually claim them eternally. \"Digni sunt qui sint ex parte illius\" = they are worthy to take part in death's side, to be companions of death — receiving its eternal consequences in hell. This closing verse connects back to the beginning of the chapter: justice is immortal (v.15), but those who reject justice align themselves with death.