Cardinal Hugh of St-Cher (c. 1200–1263) was a prominent 13th-century French Dominican theologian, biblical scholar, and the first Dominican cardinal
(created in 1244). He is best known for creating the first systematic
verbal concordance of the Latin Vulgate Bible and for his extensive
biblical commentaries (postillae)
EXPOSITION OF CHAPTER 15
“He who fears God …”
This chapter is divided into four parts.
First, it shows by what means one arrives at wisdom—namely, through fear of God and justice.
Second, it shows what good things wisdom bestows upon those who embrace her, because she feeds, gives drink, strengthens, and honors them; this begins where it says, “She will feed him.”
Third, it shows who they are that do not come to wisdom—namely, the foolish and the lying—and also that wisdom ought not be preached to such people; this begins at “Men …”
Fourth and finally, it shows that sins or the moral nourishment of human beings are not to be imputed to God, who created them, but to human beings themselves, since they judge and choose to do good or evil by free will; this begins at “Do not say …”
Thus he says: “He who fears [the Lord] as a son will act”, that is, he will perform a work of humility. By contrast, through the opposite is understood pride, as in the Psalm: “O Lord my God, if I have done this,” that is, if I have committed pride.
And conversely it is read: “He who does this”, and “he who is continent in justice will lay hold of her.” That is, one who holds justice together with the other virtues—keeping justice in heart, word, and deed—will lay hold of her, namely wisdom, that is, he will firmly possess her in affection and understanding, as it is written: “I found him whom my soul loves; I held him and would not let him go” (Song of Songs 3).
Or again, he will lay hold of justice, that is, the fruit of justice, which is eternal life.
“And she will meet him as a mother”—that is, at death—“honored by her children.” Just as a mother honored by her children gently receives them, so justice or wisdom will gently receive the just person at death. Hence Jacob said: “My justice will answer for me tomorrow” (Genesis 30).
Justice or wisdom is called mother because she nourishes the just as sons. Or again, she will meet him already in the present life through the glory of conscience that follows works of justice. Indeed, she meets him as a mother honored by the multitude of good works, for the just person honors justice by multiplying works of justice.
“And like a woman, a virgin”, she will receive him as a spouse or as a son. Justice is called woman because of the fruitfulness of works, and virgin because of the integrity of intention and purity of mind which she bestows.
This may also be read thus: wisdom meets him by rewarding him; as a mother honored by her children through the learned instruction of word and example; and as a virgin woman, not departing from her purity, she receives him.
Thus kings and lawmakers decree just things; and in the future, reward and place are given, as it is written: “Amen, I say to you …” (Matthew 19), and again: “Well done, good and faithful servant …” (Matthew 25).
“And in the midst of the assembly she will open his mouth.”
That is, without respect of persons, like the tree of life in the midst of paradise. She opens his mouth so that he may speak great, profound, and open truths, as it is said: “Jesus opened his mouth and taught them” (Matthew 5), and “I will open my mouth in parables” (Psalm 77).
“And she will fill him with the Spirit of wisdom.”
She will clothe him with the robe of glory, and will adorn him with joy and exultation. She will heap treasures upon him abundantly, so that he may share with others, as it is written: “Let the mountains receive peace for the people, and the hills justice” (Psalm 71), and “May peace be within your strength” (Psalm 121).
And she will give him an eternal name, that he may be called a son of God forever, as it is written: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God” (Matthew 5), and again: “I will give them an everlasting name which shall not perish” (Isaiah 56).
Foolish men, that is, the wise of this world who are foolish before God, or heretics, Jews, and pagans, will not lay hold of her, namely wisdom, in the present life, because wisdom does not enter into a malicious soul nor dwell in a body enslaved to sin.
But men of understanding, those who have discernment—who sense the sweetness of paradise and the stench of hell—will meet her, that is, by obeying wisdom, or by receiving her honorably. And whoever thus meets her in life will be met by her in death, when she receives him in glory, as was said above: “She will meet him as a mother honored.” This is what is meant when it is said: “Whoever serves me, my Father will honor” (John 12).
Foolish men, as before, will not see her in the present by faith, nor in the future by vision—neither by knowledge of mysteries nor by enjoyment of eternal realities.
Wisdom is rightly called a virgin woman, because she softens and warms the soul and yet remains incorrupt. Hence it is written: “The king did not know her” (1 Kings 1), that is, he did not corrupt her.
“She will feed him” with the Body of Christ, who is the bread of life, and with the doctrine of the Word of God, which gives understanding to believers in the present life, and in the future with the bread of angels, that is, with the very enjoyment of God, of which it is said: “Blessed is he who eats bread in the kingdom of God” (Luke 14).
“And she will give him drink from the water of wisdom,” that is, the grace of the Holy Spirit, which extinguishes thirst and the inner vices of the heart, washes away the filth of sins, and confers eternal salvation, as it is written: “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give will have within him a spring of water leaping up to eternal life” (John 4).
“And he will be strengthened,” namely by that bread, that is, by God himself, “and will not be shaken,” that is, he will not yield to persecution, temptation, or heretical depravity, being strengthened by that bread, for “bread strengthens the heart of man” (Psalm 104).
“She will hold him,” that is, she will keep him in the unity of the Church with the other faithful. “And he will not be confounded,” that is, not with that final confusion of which Jeremiah speaks: “Let those who persecute me be confounded, but let not me be confounded” (Jeremiah 17). Nor will he be frustrated in his hope and desire, “for hope does not disappoint” (Romans 5), and “no one has hoped in the Lord and been confounded.”
“And she will exalt him,” before angels and men, here and in the future—here in merit and there in glory—because she causes him to reign and to preside.
But lying men, that is, heretics and all who despise the truth, of whom it is said: “You will destroy all who speak lies” (Psalm 5), will not remain mindful of her, because they do not love her, and therefore she quickly departs from their memory.
But truthful men, that is, Catholic men and all lovers of truth, will be found steadfast in believing, meditating, and acting, and will have success, that is, progress in virtues and merits in the present life, until the vision of God, either actively, until they behold God, or passively, until they are looked upon by God—now by the grace of liberation, and in the future by the glory of open manifestation.
“Praise is not fitting in the mouth of a sinner,” that is, preaching or jubilation that is pleasing to God or attractive to men, because such a person is not sent by the Lord. Hence it is said: “How shall they preach unless they are sent?” (Romans 10).
He says the contrary of what the Apostle says in Philippians 1: “Whether through truth or through pretense Christ is proclaimed, and in this I rejoice; yes, and I shall rejoice.” For Paul did not rejoice in the work of the preachers, but in the profit of the hearers. And indeed, such a one is not sent by God.
For “from God”, that is, sacred doctrine, is from God, because it is issued by God; and therefore whoever does not possess it is not sent by God. Or again, Wisdom proceeding, that is, the Son begotten from the Father, as was said above: “All wisdom is from the Lord God, and has been with him forever and is before all ages.”
He next proves that praise is not fitting in the mouth of a sinner. For wisdom, that is, for a wise man, the praise of preaching will stand firm: in the present life for the edification of one’s neighbor, and in the future for his glorification and testimony. And in the mouth of the faithful, that is, from faith and fidelity, praise will abound, that is, it will bear fruit abundantly.
And the Ruler, that is, the Lord, will give that praise or wisdom to him, that is, to the faithful. As Psalm 67 says: “The Lord will give the word to those who proclaim the Gospel with great power.” And Matthew 25 says: “To him who has, more shall be given, and he shall abound.”
Concerning this it is also said in Isaiah 55: “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there, but soak the earth and make it fruitful, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth: it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish what I will and prosper in the things for which I sent it.” And this is what is meant here when it is said: “In the mouth…”
“Do not say,” excusing yourself and casting your sin back upon God, as the first parents did, “Through God…” For every execrable error, that is, every detestable error, the Lord hates, and those who fear and love God hate it likewise. Hence it follows: “And it shall not be…”
That God hates certain things is shown in Proverbs 6: “Six things the Lord hates…” And below in Sirach 25: “Three kinds my soul hates…” Yet this must be reconciled with Wisdom 12: “You hate none of the things you have made.” The resolution is that God hates evil, and evil he did not make; good he made, and that he loves.
By calling error execrable, he indicates that error is manifold. For there is an error concerning knowledge, that is, a false opinion in a human being; this error is not execrable nor hateful to God so as to damn a man on its account. But there is another error concerning faith, namely infidelity, and this is execrable and hateful to God, of which it is said in Isaiah 19: “The Lord has mingled in her midst a spirit of dizziness, and they have made Egypt err in all her work.”
Thus there is a threefold error: the error of false opinion, the error of infidelity, and the error of perversity. Hence Boethius says: “Natural intention leads toward the light, yet from the same source manifold error arises.”
He next proves that human sins are not to be imputed to God, because human beings were made by him such that they can avoid sins if they will, and do good if they will. And this is what follows: “Since wisdom proceeds from God…” For God’s wisdom establishes praise, and in the faithful mouth it abounds, and the Lord gives it to him.
Therefore do not say, ‘Through God…’—“What he hates you have not done.” Nor say, “He himself implanted me.” For impious men are not necessary to him. He hates every execrable error.
God from the beginning, that is, from the sixth day after the beginning, hated it, and it shall not be lovable to those who fear God. From the beginning God constituted man, and left him in the hand of his own counsel.
He added commandments and precepts. “If you will keep the commandments, they will preserve you.” And if you will, in perpetuity, keep the faith that pleases him. “He has set before you water and fire; to whichever you wish, stretch out your hand.” Before man are life and death, good and evil. Whatever pleases him shall be given to him, because great is the wisdom of God, mighty in power, seeing all things without interruption. “The eyes of the Lord are upon those who fear him,” and he himself knows every work of man.
He commanded no one to act impiously, nor did he give permission to sin. Hence sins are not to be imputed to God but to man. God made you capable, but you became capable of sinning.
This is proven by what follows: “What he hates, do not do.” And if you do not do it, wisdom will not be absent but present to you. Hence above it is said: “My son, if you desire wisdom, keep the commandments, and God will bestow her upon you.”
“Do not say, ‘He implanted me,’” that is, he made me crooked and evil against what is plain and just. Or “he implanted me,” meaning he removed all good from me, as though smoothing me like a tablet is smoothed when letters are erased with the tail of a stylus. Or again, “he implanted me,” meaning he gently laid me flat into error, as it is said: “This man lays his head low.” Or again, “he implanted me,” meaning he set me on a flat plain so that I might run wherever I wished through the fields of license, as Psalm 80 says: “I let them go according to the desires of their heart; they walked in their own inventions.”
Or again, “he implanted me,” meaning he planed me down, that is, he made me flat and without virtues, so that I could neither advance nor resist sins. This exposition is the most proper, because “to implant” (implanare) is to plane. And truly God did not plane you down so that you would do evil.
For impious men are not necessary to him, as Job 13 says: “Does God need your lie, that you speak deceitfully for him?” Nor are even just men necessary to him in himself, since, as Lord of all our goods, he lacks nothing. Hence Job 22: “What advantage is it to God if you are just, or what do you give him if your life is blameless?”
Yet although impious men are not necessary to God in himself, they are nevertheless necessary to his Body, which is the Church. For as the file to iron, the flail to grain, the furnace to gold, so is the impious man to the just, as Augustine says. Hence “The elder shall serve the younger” (Genesis 25). And Diogenes says: “Every man has need either of a great friend or of a great enemy for his own safeguarding.”
This matter is treated more fully in Proverbs 17: “A wise servant will rule over foolish sons.”
“He constituted man,” that is, he established him in natural goods, and at the same time in gratuitous goods, according to one opinion. “And he left him in the hand of his own counsel,” that is, in the power or freedom of the will, so that he could sin or not sin if he willed.
Counsel, or free will, is the power of discerning what is good and what is evil, which exists in reason. Hence Boethius says: “Whatever can use reason naturally possesses judgment, by which it discerns what is to be sought and what avoided.” Free will is also the power of inclining oneself toward judgment freely; for judgment does not compel one to follow what has been judged, but advises or proposes it.
Thus Augustine says: “Free will is the faculty of reason and will,” that is, a free power of discerning and choosing. And when it is said, “He left him in the hand of his own counsel,” the removal of coercion from free will is indicated. Hence Augustine says: “Will is a movement of the soul, free and not forced.”
Sir 15:15 He added his commandments and precepts.
“He added commandments,” namely that man should not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and that he might eat of the others; or the commandments of nature, written in the heart, and the precepts of discipline, given in speech.
Sir 15:16 If thou wilt keep the commandments and perform acceptable fidelity for ever, they shall preserve thee.
“If you will…” that is, if you will by affection or by effect, or with the help of grace, keep them, “they will preserve you,” inwardly and outwardly, from the snares of demons and from sin.
And again: “If you will, in perpetuity,” that is, perseveringly, “keep the faith that pleases him,” in heart and in works, because “faith without works is dead” (James 2). Faith is called pleasing faith when it works through love, of which it is said: “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11).
Sir 15:17 He hath set water and fire before thee: stretch forth thy hand to which thou wilt.
“He has set before you water and fire,” that is, the refreshment of eternal life and the torment of Gehenna. “To whichever you wish, stretch forth your hand,” that is, by your will act so that you may burn or so that you may be refreshed.
Sir 15:18 Before man is life and death, good and evil, that which he shall choose shall be given him:
Before man are set life and death—life of glory and death of Gehenna—good and evil, good unto life, evil unto death. “Whatever pleases him shall be given to him.” Hence it is clear that it is from free will that a man sins and is damned. Thus Deuteronomy 30 says: “Consider that today I have set before you life and good, and on the other hand death and evil.” And Jeremiah 21: “I set before you the way of life and the way of death.”
Sir 15:19 For the wisdom of God is great, and he is strong in power, seeing all men without ceasing.
But lest someone think God acted foolishly in making man when he could have made him better, it follows: “For great is the wisdom of God,” because God made man such as he wished, and knew, and could. “Seeing all things without interruption,” that is, simultaneously and continuously. Hence Proverbs 16: “All the ways of man are open to his eyes.” And Boethius says: “The divine intellect anticipates all future things and draws them back into the present of its own knowledge.”
Sir 15:20 The eyes of the Lord are towards them that fear him, and he knoweth al the work of man.
“The eyes of the Lord are upon those who fear him,” as a mother’s eyes upon her child. And he himself knows every work of man, that is, the intention of works. “In every place the eyes of the Lord behold the good and the evil.”
“He commanded no one to act impiously,” though at times he commanded acts that were done impiously by the agent, as with Nebuchadnezzar, who was sent against Judah but acted wickedly beyond God’s command, as Isaiah 10 says: “Assyria is the rod of my anger… yet he does not so intend.”
Therefore he commanded no one to sin, even though he gave matter in which sin occurs. For there is no power to sin, but only a power in which one sins.
Thus sins are not from God but from those who imitate their fathers in infidelity toward God and uselessness toward neighbor—infidels lacking faith in heart, and useless men lacking faith in works.
CONTINUE
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