Commentary on Ecclesiastes 1 part 8/10

For it is called 'vain' not as being reviled, but only in comparison with the things that surpass it.

Such things, then, were said at the beginning of the book;

and at that time we used such illustrations as: that a torch and a lamp give light;

but in comparison with the sun and that solar light, this light is vain—not blamed, but inferior.

Indeed, then, some wish to hold concerning virtue the very things which they also conceive concerning wickedness;

for it has been said concerning wickedness that neither was it from the beginning, nor shall it be unto the age.

For it has been said concerning idolatry and fornication, but by synecdoche this is understood concerning all wickedness.

And it is said that iniquity lied to itself.

But this 'lying', in the sense in which we say that land has lied, or grain, or the vine.

And some—those who hold to the notion of the soul's co-sowing—say that virtue is of this kind:

it does not subsist apart from the one who is active in it.

But this is false; for it is in God, and from thence we draw it.

Even if, then, we should fall away, the good is in God.

But evil, if no one is active in it, no longer exists;

and indeed concerning that very author of evil himself, named with the article as the source of all evils.

For he is called both 'the wicked one' and 'the enemy' and 'death' and 'the sinner'.

Indeed it is said: 'Break the arm of the sinner and wicked one'—break his work, which is called an 'arm'; then immediately it says:

'His sin shall be sought out, and shall not be found because of itself.'

By itself it is not found;

for it is not among the things that subsist; it is an accident, capable of being cast off.

There is an inseparable accident;

but none of the inseparable things is a later accretion, since neither is any of them cast off.

Thus nothing that has often supervened remains permanently.

And what of affliction? It remains inseparable.

Yet it was not always inseparable, but only from the time when it was made firm, from the time when it acquired an abiding habit.

'Rejoice, therefore, O young man, in your youth.'

From here on he directs his words to the young man.

But if the words are addressed to a young man, let us not look around for the outward features of the body.

For commandments, prohibitions, and exhortations are given in an impersonal manner.

And people say, in other discussions, that commands are given in one way to females and in another way to males, among the Hebrews and among the Egyptians.

But among us the grammatical person makes no such distinction.

If I say 'rejoice,' it is not said one way to the female and another way to the man.

So too I say 'young man,' and I am speaking of the customary usage of such expressions.

If one mentions men and women together, one concludes the statement in the masculine.

We say that there are present men and women who will listen (masculine 'listeners'), not who will listen (feminine 'listeners').

For it brings dishonour that the man should be assimilated to the woman, whereas that the woman be assigned to the man rather brings praise.

And moreover the man's capability takes precedence over the woman's.

And further, if the woman herself is joined in wedlock to the man, they are one body, and the man is not assigned to the body of the woman, but the woman to that of the man.

If, then, he says 'rejoice, O young man,' we are looking to the stage of life.

For the woman too is included together in the address.

And on the literal level too one can say this, that 'O young man, from the time when you took the beginning of knowing in what things you ought to rejoice, rejoice.'

Do not do this at one time and not at another.

Just as, if I say to the self-controlled man 'be self-controlled,' I do not mean 'do it at one time and not at another.'

And 'pursue what is just, justly.'

I have often said that to cease from things worthy of praise brings blame.

And on the anagogical level much more so.

For there are young men who become strong from having the word of God, and who become mighty against the evil one.

So John indeed writes and says, 'I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome.'

And surely he does not write to one bodily stage of life, but to the youthful soul that has put on the new man.

Concerning which young man it is said:

'A young man with a holy one, and straight is his way.'

For if he is with a holy one, that is, with virtue, this man has a straight way; he does not have a crooked way, such as those had to whom the word was directed: 'O you who forsake straight ways, whose ways are rough and crooked.'

'And let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth.'

Let your heart cheer you, not the things outside.

It has often been said by us concerning the difference between well-being (eudaimonia) and blessedness, that some place well-being in that which is made complete out of the three kinds of goods.

But wealth does not make one good; it does not truly produce a good man; nor does being healthy in body, nor having rank and a bit of glory.

But to possess virtue of soul brings gladness.

This, then, is the meaning of 'let your heart cheer you,' not the outward things, not the things concerning the body.

Do not think great things upon these, nor be eager to hunt after them.

'And walk in your ways blameless.'

Walk in those straight ways which I just now spoke of.

For the virtues, and the activities that accord with them, and the contemplations of the truth, are good and straight ways.

So, for instance, Paul says to Elymas the magician, who had perverted the proconsul:

'Will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord?' — not that those ways are being perverted in themselves, but insofar as it lay with that man, he was perverting them.

As if one were to try to persuade a young man, saying that one ought not to be self-controlled, and were to bring reproaches against self-control — for he does not thereby make it blameworthy.

Some, indeed, plead the cause of injustice.

But those who plead the cause of it slander righteousness.

Therefore let your heart cheer you, not the things of chance, not the things of the body.

Then you will have blameless ways, so as even to attain blessedness:

'Blameless in the way,' and 'he who walks blameless and works righteousness.'

And observe that the word 'walk' is not set down in vain.

For he could also have said 'stand blameless' and 'sit blameless.'

But walking signifies progress.

Walk, then, blameless; having begun, accomplish the way together with the blameless one.

Such too is what is written by Paul:

'We walked in newness of life,' so that we might make progress in the newness of life.

Having stripped off the garment of the old life, the old man, we shall put on the new.

We have a new life; we make progress in it; unless, having once tasted of it, we rein ourselves back.

'And in the sight of your eyes.'

When your heart cheers you, you also have your eyes seeing rightly.

You do not busy yourself with another's beauty; you turn your eye away from a harlot woman; you do not look upon a woman for shameful desire.

And you have the sight of your eyes blameless.

But if you also take the enlightened eyes of the understanding, which are called the eyes of the heart, then far more is the blamelessness established.

And know that in all these things God will bring you into judgement; and put away anger from your heart, and remove wickedness from your flesh.

Do the things I command you, with the knowledge that in all these things God will bring you into judgement.

The judgement metes out punishment to the base, but to the diligent, promise and good things.

Since you do not depart from life unrewarded if you walk blameless in your ways and rejoice in the days of your youth — be diligent!

For God will bring you into judgement concerning these things.

If the things concerning which the judgement upon him took place were base, punishment would be to be expected.

But since they are good — for the ways are pursuits and actions and divine thoughts — if you walk thus blameless, you do not depart from life unrewarded.

For God brings you in these things into judgement.

'And put away anger from your heart.'

Anger is not a virtue of the heart, but of the spirited part.

Do not misuse your reasoning faculty and your mind for anger, but, even if at some time this movement should arise in the spirited part, restrain it by your heart.

In this way it departs from your heart, no longer touching it.

The soul is threefold in its powers, as many have said.

We possess various senses.

And just as it is impossible to see by hearing, nor to touch or to smell by thought, so likewise we appear, according to the inner man and the soul itself, to possess these very things.

We have a spirited power, and also a rational and an appetitive one.

How so? That the rational power is distinct from the spirited and the appetitive—consider this from the irrational animals.

The irrational animals have a spirited power and spiritedness, and an appetitive power and appetite, but they do not have reason.

For since they do not have reason, it is clear that they do not have a rational faculty; they do not have a mind.

And in Scripture the mind is continually signified by the name of the heart.

So this is what he means: even if at some time you are angered, do not carry the anger over into the heart, lest the anger become a settled disposition.

And even if you have a desire that has suddenly arisen in the appetitive part, do not transfer it into the mind and the rational faculty;

for it will become a settled disposition, and no longer a mere passion or pre-passion, but vice.

And put away wickedness from your flesh.

And from your flesh put away wickedness.

Now vice seems to belong to desire—namely, licentiousness;

so put this away from your flesh.

If anger departs from your heart, you do not commit wickedness through the members and the body;

for the angry man often strikes, and assaults, and even kills.

So when anger departs from your heart, the evils that come about through deeds also pass away.

For youth and folly are vanity;

and remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of your evil come.

If the young man does not walk blameless in the ways, nor do the other things which he was commanded to do, he is in ignorance.

It has indeed been said also in the Proverbs by this same wise man:

Folly is kindled in the heart of a young man.

Ignorance grows up alongside youth.

Unless, then, one surpasses the impulse of youth and, while yet in youth, conducts himself with the gravity of an old man, he has much ignorance.

That it may give cunning to the simple, and to the young child perception and understanding.

If perception and understanding are given to the young child by wisdom, it is clear that he has cast off ignorance.

When he does not have knowledge, he is in senselessness.

For this reason also in the Psalms he attached such things to youth:

Remember not the sins of my youth and my ignorances.

See that youth is especially receptive of these things and possesses them.

For this reason, rejoice, that you may not have folly;

for this reason, walk, that you may not have vanity and wickedness of the flesh.

So in the day of your youth, remember who created you.

But God does not create the things of vice;

for this reason consider that he created you in youth, not that you might have ignorance, nor that you might be foolish, nor that you might be without knowledge, but that, being receptive of knowledge, you might take it up.

Until the days of your evil come.

If he speaks of that vice which is opposed to virtue and brings reproach upon the one who possesses it, he says:

Until the days of your evil come—that is, so long as you are receptive of both virtue and vice, do not look forward to vice, do not prepare yourself ready for it.

For when you have virtue, vice has no place in you.

In very young infants there is the potentiality for both, both virtue and vice;

but in those who have passed beyond the young age—that of complete infancy—there is no vice, inasmuch as virtue is present in that soul.

Both the infant is free from vice and the earnest man, yet they are outside vice in different ways.

For the earnest man is so by having a disposition contrary to vice—and this is practical virtue, virtue simply speaking;

and contraries cannot coexist—whereas in the infant the absence of vice is not a disposition, but a mere negation of vice.

If, then, he calls vice this worst habit, then: until the days of your evil come, do the things commanded you, walk blameless.

'Until they come'—as though they came of necessity? No, but because we ourselves draw vice upon us.

If I say that, so long as the body of the animal is healthy, sickness does not come, I am surely not saying it is a matter of necessity.

Again I say that, so long as one is an infant, knowledge does not come to him.

For it is not age that hinders sickness or health, but the statement of one or the other of the contraries.

But if by vice he means what he calls maltreatment—and maltreatment can also be chastisement—then: before the chastisement, the evil, comes, do what I tell you, so that when the punishing maltreatment comes, it may not find you liable.

'Before the chastisement comes'—God brings punishment upon men not at random, but when he judges it profitable to inflict it;

for the Lord is a righteous judge, strong and longsuffering, not bringing wrath every day;

if you do not turn back, he will whet his sword.

Since God is a righteous judge, how is it that men who have sinned do not fall under punishment and recompense? Is it perhaps out of weakness that he has not brought it? No;

he is strong and was able to punish on the spot, but together with his strength he is also longsuffering and does not bring wrath every day;

upon one he brings it, upon another he does not, for reasons most profound which he himself knows.

So when, because he does not bring wrath every day, men despise the threat—since the deeds of vice escape notice, so that in the end there comes a need for punishment—then, if they do not turn back, for whom he was longsuffering, he will whet his sword.

This is the evil that comes—not the worst habit, but the punishing kind, being a most severe maltreatment.

So in the time of judgment, at each appointed time, he judges all.

Of judgment—and at another time a day of wrath and a day of recompense.

Until this evil comes, while the evil has not yet come, repent.

The Lord is not slow concerning the promise, as some count slowness, but is longsuffering toward them, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

Since, therefore, a postponement for repentance has been granted you, repent before the evil comes.

And years will come upon you in which you will say:

I have no pleasure in them.

Before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain.

If the maltreating evil comes, years set in during which you have no pleasure in them.

And no one wishes to be chastised.

When the years of the promises come to pass, the diligent have their will set upon them; for they wish to enjoy the promises, having accomplished the works that bring them about.

They wish to enjoy the promises, having performed the works that bring them to pass.

For example, those who love pleasure and who accept only these sensible things for their own sake have no will set upon a time of famine, but rather upon a season of plenty.

The will of the righteous man, then, is set upon those seasons when the recompenses are made.

The word 'will' is written in Isaiah:

'They shall will it,' he says, 'if the evildoers become consumed by fire.'

Surely the one who wills it, when wrath is impending, does not himself become consumed by fire? In that season he has his own will.

'Until the sun and the light and the moon and the stars be not darkened.'

It is also possible to take the passage literally, of the time and the years in which the sinner has no will;

this shall come to pass when heaven and earth pass away.

And when heaven and earth pass away, the sun, he says, shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light.

But it is also possible to understand it in this way:

As long as we are in this present life and possess our free will unhindered, we are able to be illumined by the Sun of righteousness and by the true Light, and by the moon and the stars.

The moon we understand more allegorically as the mind of the Church;

and in relation to the Sun of righteousness, the moon can be said to be the teaching that is able to give light here below.

And correspondingly, understand the stars as the ministers of the divine gift, the angels, through whom God speaks his own word.

They are darkened, then—that is, in relation to you;

for the sun is not once and for all extinguished.

And just as in the night the sun seems to us to be darkened, though it itself suffers nothing of the kind but has merely gone far from us, beyond our sight, so too the Sun of righteousness is darkened to those who are no longer worthy to be illumined by him.

'And the clouds return after the rain.'

The clouds have often been said to be those who minister the spiritual rain, whether men or angels.

But they turn back after the rain; they no longer minister the rain;

for it is no longer profitable at that time for the rain to come down.

You have an apostolic saying of this kind:

He counsels men to be diligent, to take care for virtue and divine understanding, and to abstain from what is opposed to these;

and he takes such an example, saying this: that as long as the divine teaching is present, one must give heed and take up virtue and depart from evil.

'For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and brings forth herbs fit for those for whom it is also tilled, receives blessing from God;

but that which brings forth thorns and thistles is rejected, and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.'

'But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, things that accompany salvation'—that is to say:

having used the rain rightly and been watered, you brought forth the things you ought, which he has called the herb of salvation.

They no longer minister the rain to you;

for it is no longer profitable to you that this should happen;

you have lying within you the seeds of the thorns and thistles.

The passions turn into vices and settled dispositions.

If, then, we are such as to be approved earth, bringing forth fit herbs, the clouds pour down the rain that makes the spiritual herbs grow.

The ministering angels—are they not all ministering spirits sent forth for service on behalf of those who are to inherit salvation? And men too minister the divine rain, and these are commanded to rain down righteousness, not to rain down water, not to pour down a downpour.

'In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble.'

The word 'house' is used in the God-inspired oracles for various things.

For when it says that the one who has heard the words of Jesus and turned them into deeds builds his own house upon the rock, it calls the man's conduct and his life—both practical and contemplative—the house of the one who has thus acted.

And when it says 'the houses of the lawless shall owe cleansing, but the houses of the righteous are acceptable,' it names lives and conducts as houses.

And since the midwives feared God, they made themselves houses; having feared him with that fear, they had both a house and a stronghold;

for the fear of the Lord is the stronghold of the holy man.

But by the word 'house' there is often signified the place about the earth;

for when it says that 'in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of earthenware, and if anyone, he says, purge himself from these—the vessels unto dishonour—he shall be a vessel unto honour, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work,' this then is what it means:

In the world there are diligent men;

and these are vessels of gold and silver.

And all those who purify their own mind and labour through the refining fire are vessels of gold—those who direct their diligence toward things intelligible, those who are sharpened upon things above the world.

But vessels of silver are those who minister the word;

for it has often been shown that the word is represented by the name of silver.

And I speak from an apostolic saying clearly expressed, that this riddle may be made plain:

'The Spirit gives a word of wisdom and a word of knowledge.'

And you have this distinction:

He who has a word of wisdom and a word of knowledge both thinks rightly and contemplates matters of understanding, and is able to speak of them in a teacherly way;

for there are those who have a word of knowledge but are not competent to teach;

and there are those who in truth have precise understanding and unfailing knowledge, but are not of such a kind as to transfer what they have understood to others in a teacherly manner.

There are, then, those who have an exact mind and for this reason are vessels of gold, but are not of such a kind as to minister to others the things they have understood;

and others are vessels of silver, being able to make plain by word the things they have understood and the things they read.

And there are other vessels, of wood and of earthenware;

and of these some are unto honour, others unto dishonour.

The vessels of gold and silver are honourable, but those of wood and earthenware are of dishonour.

The wooden ones can be consumed by fire, while the earthen ones are such as to be shattered.

But he does not here introduce natures that are unchangeable, as the myth of the heretics would have it.

At any rate he has added that if anyone purge himself from these—clearly the vessels of dishonour—he shall be a vessel unto honour to the Master, ready for every good work;

so that one becomes an honourable or a dishonourable vessel by his own doing.

There is, at any rate, also a falling away that takes place, from things honourable to what is dishonourable;

for it is said, at any rate, in the Lamentations of Jeremiah, when a great change had come over Israel from godliness to ungodliness, and from practical virtue to practical vice:

'The precious sons of Zion, valued as fine gold and silver, how are they counted as vessels of earthenware!'

You see that the precious things, made of gold and silver, were counted as earthenware.

Indeed, at any rate, the race of Israel too, when it disbelieved the Saviour, are shattered like the potter's vessels: 'Thou shalt shepherd them with a rod of iron;'

when they were sheep, they were golden, and were led by the shepherd's staff, but now they are under a rod of iron, and are shattered like the potter's vessels.

At any rate, there is also in Jeremiah something mystical laid down concerning such things:

the house of the potter; and going down he saw a vessel being fashioned, clay being shaped into a vessel.

And since it did not have the proper form of the precious vessel, it fell apart from his hands.

The potter let it fall apart, so that the potter might re-fashion it.

So then, when someone still has room for repentance, he is a vessel of clay able to be re-fashioned, to be transformed.

But when at last he attains firmness in a habit that is nearly unfailing or hard to alter, then at last he is a vessel of baked earthenware.

Then, after seeing in the house of the potter the fashioning of the vessel, the prophet takes an earthenware jar and shatters it.

'Thus will I destroy the pride of Jacob.'

Then at last they were rejected, then they were cast out.

And concerning this shattered earthenware vessel he says in Isaiah that it was so shattered that no part of it could be found in which one could take a little water or fire — that is, having become utterly useless, no longer able to receive even that little water, or the water for drinking, nor that fire which had brought it into an earthen state and to solidity.

Here, then, does he call the world or the Church a house? — For in this too there are the various vessels, some for honour and some for dishonour.

And that there are such people in the Church, the divine word declares:

'Remove the evil one from among yourselves' — vessels of dishonour ...

'Again there is heard among you fornication, and such fornication as is not even among the Gentiles, that a man should have his father's wife.'

And he commands that this man be cast out.

And the Church ... can be the great house, and the place upon the earth.

And the guardians of this house are those appointed to watch over it ... whether by teaching.

If you take it to mean the Church, [the guardians are] the teachers.

Angels too accompany these.

Concerning Peter, at any rate, they have said:

And the little ones in the Church have angels who continually behold the face of the Father.

But if the little ones do, how much more the perfect!

If these are shaken — an intensification of the wickedness of those being guarded has come about.

The guardians will forsake them, even if they were perfect men or angels.

'For come, let us also forsake it.'

as the Holy Spirit foretells and says:

'The daughter of Zion shall be left like a booth in a vineyard.'

There was a certain Jewish historian, Josephus.

In [describing] the divine signs that occurred after the Saviour was betrayed by the Jews, he set down also such a one as this, which he relates:

'Thirty strong men could scarcely shut [the gate], and bars were laid upon it that it might be secured when closed.'

'Suddenly,' he says, 'on one night the priests going about heard,' he says, 'a voice as of many saying:'

'And suddenly,' he says, 'the gates opened of their own accord.'

And this was [the fulfilment of] 'The daughter of Zion shall be left like a booth in a vineyard.'

And this above all came to pass when the Saviour forsook [them], saying:

'I have forsaken your house, abandoning my inheritance.'

'Behold, your house is left unto you' — the Saviour [says this] again to those same Jews.

This, then, is the shaking of the guardians of the house, the removal of the watchmen, the no longer surrounding of the house [with protection].

In what day, then? — ... of judgement ...

But if [it means] the place upon the earth, what then? — Again ... being handed over ...

'And the men of power shall be bent aside.'

'And the women who grind cease, because they have grown few.'

'And those who look through the windows shall be darkened.'

The men of power are these, who as it were like generals rule over the house, the rulers.

By 'bending aside' he does not mean their wickedness, but rather the removal from the office with which they had been entrusted.

The general is no longer a general, the horseman is no longer a horseman.

'And the women who grind ceased, because they had grown few.'

In every manner ... has [an] account ...

And her foods, when ...

Life ... and the world round about ...

'The women who grind ceased ...'

the women who grind being no longer [present] ... that it is not of God ...

At any rate he says in Jeremiah to the false prophets who mingle rational things with chaff:

'What is the chaff to the wheat? — says the Lord. Are not my words like wheat?' — The words of God are wheat.

Those who are able to divide them and grind them fine and prepare them, these are the men who grind, or the women who grind, that I may say it in the feminine according to the wording.

Those who divide the words of God in an ecclesiastical manner — which are wheat — make of them nourishing loaves and bring fine flour to the altar.

For there are also sacrifices offered by means of fine flour.

Those from among the heterodox, who divide the words of God not as they ought but erroneously and [drawing] them into impiety, grind badly.

Their flour is to be cast out, useful neither for sacrifice nor for food.

At any rate, in the prophet Hosea he says:

'Why have you passed over impiety in silence, and reaped her iniquities, and eaten lying fruit?' Then he says:

'They sowed things blasted by the wind, and this is the overthrow.'

'The sheaf had no strength to make flour.'

This [grain] is badly ground, contrary to [the work of] the woman who grinds [rightly].

In the same [passage], with respect to intelligible things also ...

that there are two in the field, one being taken and one being left.

And two women grinding, one is taken ...

These are the ones who sow ...

... having given to them ...

sowing, and from her ... they are left again ...

... in the same Scripture, and ...

It is released, as having sown things free from any corruption by the wind ...

Meal — not meal in the true sense ...

... to come into being and to be offered up as a sacrifice.

Concerning this vain fine flour Scripture speaks in Isaiah, saying:

'If you bring fine flour, it is vain; incense is an abomination to me.'

Nor does the incense have the fragrance proper to incense;

nor does the fine flour have anything useful, whether for being made into bread or for being offered up as a sacrifice.

These women who grind, then — the praiseworthy ones — have ceased from their labor;

for they no longer make the Scriptures clear, since the field has been drawn in and this present age has received its end.

The grinding women, then, have ceased, because they have been made few;

'As far as it lay with you, you have made them few, you have rendered them weak.'