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(VERSE 24) 'Therefore men shall fear Him, and none of those who seem to themselves to be wise shall dare to contemplate Him.' (75) Those who preach rightly but do not live rightly become the heralds of their own damnation. — In this place Elihu calls 'men' those who are strong toward understanding. And it is to be noted that he does not say: And the wise shall not dare to contemplate Him; but, 'Those who seem to themselves to be wise.' By which words he indeed intimates one who is skilled, but arrogant. Elihu therefore, while he perceives many things strongly, in the end of his discourse touched upon himself. For arrogant and learned men, when they do not live rightly, but are nevertheless compelled by the impulses of doctrine to speak right things, become in some manner the heralds of their own damnation, because while the things they [neglect] to do...
By spitting they betray their own preaching, and by their own words they cry out that they are condemned. Against such men it is well said through the Psalmist: 'They are turned aside like a deceitful bow' (Ps. 77:57). For a warped bow strikes the very one who bends it. Now in their utterances the tongues of the arrogant are like a warped bow, because while they speak words against pride, they fix arrows in their own authors. Hence with the greatest care one must take heed that wisdom, once received, while it illumines the darkness of ignorance, does not remove the light of humility, and so cease to be wisdom at all. For even though it shine with the power of eloquence, yet under the veil of pride it darkens the heart of the one who speaks. Some goods are supreme, others intermediate. For some goods are supreme, and others are intermediate.
For the supreme goods are faith, hope, and charity; and when these are truly possessed, they cannot be bent to evil. But the intermediate goods are prophecy, teaching, the power of healings, and the rest (1 Cor. 12:10), which are so placed between the two that sometimes through them the eternal homeland is sought, and sometimes indeed earthly glory. We call these virtues intermediate, therefore, because we bend them to whatever the mind desires. Once received, the soul can use them just as it uses earthly riches. For by earthly riches some grow proud in the display of glory, while others perform works of piety toward the need of their neighbors.
When, therefore, outward praise is sought through teaching and prophecy, it is as if the summit of earthly glory were being courted through bodily riches. But when teaching and prophecy are spent in the winning of souls, it is as if the riches received were being lavished upon needy brethren. Because, then, an incautious mind often draws far from the hand of the Giver through the very gifts in which it exults to receive, one must take vigilant care that vices first be subdued, and afterward the gifts be held under watchful circumspection. For if in them the mind incautiously abandons itself, it is not lifted up by their help, but rather, as though it were being rewarded for past labors, it is reprobated. Hence it also comes about that a virtue once received, while it is employed in the use of transitory praise, because it serves vice, is no longer a virtue.
For because the origin of virtue is humility, that virtue truly buds forth in us which endures in its own root, that is, in humility. And if it is cut off from this, doubtless it withers, because it loses the moisture of charity that vivifies it in its inmost parts. The wondrous humility of David in the highest things. Fighting his enemies, by pursuing humility he conquered himself. But because, through that which is said by Elihu, 'All who seem to themselves to be wise shall not be able to contemplate' (Job 37:24), the hidden pride of the heart is reproved, it is worthwhile to observe how great the gifts of virtues were that David had received, and how firmly amid them all he kept himself in humility (1 Sam. 17:56; 18:25).
For whom would it not have exalted to break the mouths of lions, to tear apart the arms of bears, to be chosen while his elder brothers were passed over, to be anointed to the helm of the kingdom while the king was rejected, to lay low with a single stone Goliath who was feared by all, to bring back—when the Philistines had been slain—the many foreskins set as a condition by the king, at last to receive the promised kingdom, and to possess the whole people of Israel without any opposition (2 Sam. 3:18)? And yet, when he brings back the ark of God into Jerusalem (ibid. 6:14), as if forgetful that he was set above all, mingled among the crowds he dances before the ark. And because it had been, as is believed, the custom of the common people to dance before the ark, the king whirls himself about with leaping in the divine service.
Behold, the one whom the Lord singularly set above all others despises himself by making himself equal to the least and by displaying lowly things. The power of the kingdom is not recalled to memory; he does not fear to become cheap in the eyes of his subjects by dancing; he does not recognize himself as set above the rest in honor before the ark of Him who had given the honor. Before God he did lowly, even extreme things, that from humility he might make solid those things which he had done bravely before men. What may be felt about his deeds by others, I do not know; for my part, I am more astonished at David dancing than at David fighting. For by fighting he subdued his enemies, but by dancing he conquered himself before the Lord. When Michal, the daughter of Saul—still mad with the swelling of royal lineage—despised him thus humbled, she said:
'How glorious was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself before the handmaids of his servants, and he was naked, as if one of the buffoons were stripped' (2 Sam. 6:20); at once he heard: 'As the Lord lives, I will play before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father.' And a little after he says: 'And I will play, and I will become viler than I have become, and I shall be humble in my own eyes' (ibid. 6:22). As if he plainly said: I desire to become cheap before men, because I seek to keep myself noble before the Lord through humility. Some, by thinking humbly of themselves, fear to be despised; others, by seeking to be despised, grow proud of their own humility.
But there are indeed some who think lowly things of themselves, because, placed in honors, they judge themselves to be nothing but dust and ashes; yet nevertheless they shun appearing despised before men, and against that which they think of themselves inwardly, they are cloaked outwardly, as it were, with a rigid comeliness. And there are some who seek to appear vile before men, and who, showing themselves abased, despise all that they are; yet nevertheless within themselves they swell inwardly, as though from the very merit of the vileness displayed, and they are the more exalted in heart, the more fully they suppress the exaltation in outward appearance. Both these battles of one and the same pride David detected with wondrous circumspection, and overcame with wondrous virtue.
For because, feeling lowly things about himself within, he does not seek honor outwardly, he intimates this, saying: 'I will play and become viler' (ibid. 6:22). And because, through the fact that he showed himself vile outwardly, he in no way swelled inwardly, he adds: 'And I shall be humble in my own eyes' (ibid. 6:22). As if he said: Such as I show myself outwardly by despising myself, such do I also regard myself within. What, then, shall those do whom teaching exalts, if David—who knew that the Redeemer would come from his own flesh, and by prophesying announced his joys—yet in himself pressed down the neck of his heart with the strong heel of discretion, saying, 'And I shall be humble in my own eyes'? They cannot contemplate the wisdom of God who seem wise to themselves. A praiseworthy foolishness is to be pursued.
Well, therefore, is it said through Elihu: 'Therefore men shall fear him, and all who seem to themselves to be wise shall not dare to contemplate him' (Job 37:24). For they cannot contemplate the wisdom of God who seem wise to themselves, because they are as far from his light as they are not humble within themselves; for while the swelling of pride grows in their minds, it closes off the keen edge of contemplation, and from that very thing whereby they esteem themselves to shine above others, they thereby deprive themselves of the light of truth. If, therefore, we desire to be truly wise and to contemplate wisdom itself, let us humbly acknowledge ourselves fools. Let us leave behind the harmful wisdom; let us learn the praiseworthy foolishness. For hence it is written: 'God has chosen the foolish things of the world, that he may confound the wise' (1 Cor. 1:27).
Hence again it is said: 'If anyone among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become foolish, that he may be wise' (1 Cor. 3:18). Hence the words of the Gospel history testify that Zacchaeus, since he could see nothing because of the crowd, climbed a sycamore tree that he might behold the Lord passing by. For the sycamore is called the 'foolish fig.' And so little Zacchaeus climbed the sycamore, and saw the Lord (Luke 19:4ff.), because those who humbly choose the foolishness of the world are they who subtly contemplate the wisdom of God. For the crowd hinders our littleness from seeing the Lord; because the tumult of secular cares presses down the infirmity of the human mind, lest it should reach toward the light of truth.
But prudently we climb the sycamore, and for this reason we hold in mind that foolishness which is divinely commanded. For what is more foolish in this world than not to seek what has been lost, to yield what one possesses to those who seize it, to render no injury for the injuries received—nay rather, to offer patience even to those who add further injuries? For the Lord bids us, as it were, to climb the sycamore when he says: 'From him who takes what is yours, do not ask it back' (Luke 6:30). And again: 'If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, offer him the other also' (Matt. 5:39). Through the sycamore the Lord is seen passing by, because through this wise foolishness, although not yet solidly as He is, yet already through the light of contemplation the wisdom of God is seen, as it were, in passing.
According to the words of Elihu, they cannot see Him who seem to themselves to be wise, because, caught up in seeing the Lord amid the exalted crowd of their own thoughts, they have not yet found the sycamore tree.