TRV
Bede
Late Patristic · AD 500–800 · 6,271 passages across 45 books
Commentary
Proverbs 23:9
Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
Do not speak in the ears of fools, etc. This is similar to that of the Gospel, Do not give what is holy to dogs, nor cast your pearls before swine, etc. (Matthew 7:6). Just as he previously admonished not to listen to the doctrines of heretics, so now he urges not to insert the secrets of truth into impure men, seduced by the love of vain glory.
Proverbs 23:10
Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
Do not touch the boundaries of the little ones, etc. He calls the Lord the near one of the little ones and orphans because, while in the flesh, he deigned to be a companion in faith more to the poor than the rich. Otherwise, the same Lord is of all, rich to all who call upon him. However, by the name of orphans and little ones, those can be fittingly designated about whom the Lord said: See that you do not despise one of these little ones who believe in me. For I say to you that their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven (Matthew 18). Whoever touches their fields and boundaries, that is, who harms their good conversation by disturbing them, will not evade the judgment of the Lord.
Proverbs 23:17
Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.
Do not let your heart envy sinners, etc. If throughout the whole day, that is, the whole time you dwell in the light of this world, you strive both to avoid the examples of sinners and to fear the Lord, you will have the hope of blessed reward at the last, that is, when you reach the end of this life, with him also attesting, who said: Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life (Revelation 2).
Proverbs 23:20
Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:
Do not be among winebibbers, etc. For to bring meats to be eaten, is in conversation of derogation, to repeatedly mention the vices of neighbors, about whose punishment it is immediately added:
Proverbs 23:21
For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
And dressed in rags will be the sluggard. For his death will find him despicable and devoid of all good works, as his languor occupied him here in seeking the crimes of another's life through slander.
Proverbs 23:25
Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.
Let your father and mother rejoice, etc. Let God the Father rejoice over your righteousness; let the Church, your mother, also rejoice; and let the priest who regenerated you through the grace of baptism, and who educated you from childhood, rejoice in your good works.
Proverbs 23:29
· 3 passages
Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
To whom wounds without cause? etc. Wounds without cause, because many, filled beyond measure with wine, have received wounds in their limbs out of fear, which they have endured for no cause; weakening of the eyes, because the immoderate drink of wine produces darkness to many physical sights and blindness of inner senses.
To whom quarreling? To whom a pitfall? Quarreling, because he who is rendered impotent of senses by drunkenness cannot maintain the harmony of peace; a pitfall, because he who cannot distinguish between good and bad, as if captivated in mind, does not tremble in falling into the mire of vices everywhere. And the drunkard often falls into that pitfall; about which it was premised: For a deep pit is the harlot; and a narrow well, the alien.
Woe to whom? Woe to whose father? He asks, while disputing, for what crimes of men the greatest punishment from the Lord is reserved. And he himself responds through reasoning, that without any doubt, it is to those who, through drunkenness, fall into excess. To whom, he says, is woe? To whose father is woe? Woe is named as eternal destruction. About which the Lord says: Woe to the one through whom scandal comes (Matt. XVIII). And this father of whom is woe imminent, he either names the man from whom someone receives the example of wicked deeds to sin externally, or certainly the devil, who pours the poison of pestilent suggestion into the heart internally. About whom it was said to the Jews: You are of your father the devil, and you wish to do your father's desires (John VIII).
Proverbs 23:30
· 2 passages
They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.
For those who tarry long over wine and go to seek mixed wine, etc. Symbol is a Greek name, and it means conference. There is a conference of words, as is usual in councils; there is also one of money or other things, as the present place teaches. Therefore, those who tarry long over wine indulge in speaking about the disgrace of another’s life. But to offer a potluck is like contributing words in a conversation of slander, just as everyone usually provides food for a meal. But those who indulge in drinks and give potlucks will be consumed, because, as it is written: Every slanderer will be uprooted.
Is it not to those who linger over wine? etc. He does not forbid drinking wine for need, but lingering in wine beyond time and usefulness, and competing to empty each other's chalices; according to Isaiah: Woe to you who are mighty to drink wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink (Isaiah V).
Proverbs 23:33
Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.
Your eyes will see strange women, etc. It is a customary and almost natural vice to follow feminine lust after the poison of drunkenness spreads in the heart, accompanied by wickedness and foulness of words.
Proverbs 23:34
Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.
And you will be like one sleeping in the midst of the sea, etc. He sleeps in the midst of the sea, who, placed in the temptations of this world, neglects to foresee the movements of impending vices, as if neglecting the impending heaps of waves, and like a sleeping helmsman loses the rudder, when the mind, to govern the ship of the body, loses its diligence.
Proverbs 23:35
They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.
And you will say, They struck me, but I was not hurt, etc. The voice of one beaten and sleeping is expressed. The mind, indeed, sleeping from the care of diligence, is struck and does not hurt, because just as it does not foresee impending evils, so it also does not recognize what it has committed. It is dragged and does not feel, because it is led by the allurements of vices, and yet does not awaken to its own guard. It indeed wishes to wake up, to find wines again, because although it is pressed from its own guard by the sleep of stupefaction, it nevertheless strives to wake up to the cares of the world, so that it is always intoxicated with pleasures. And while it sleeps for that in which it should have vigilantly watched, it seeks to watch for that for which it could have laudably slept.
Proverbs 24:1
Be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them.
Do not emulate evil men, etc. Do not desire to imitate those whom you see entangled in the vices I have mentioned, but rather strive to devote yourself to wisdom.
Proverbs 24:4
And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.
In doctrine, the storehouses will be filled, etc. The storehouses are the hearts of the righteous, which will be filled with the gifts of virtues only by the doctrine of wisdom.
Proverbs 24:5
A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength.
A wise man is strong, etc. Not everyone who is strong and wise, but everyone who is wise is to be called strong, because even if he is weak in body, if wisdom is present, he conquers all struggles of his adversary, that is, of the devil.
Proverbs 24:7
Wisdom is too high for a fool: he openeth not his mouth in the gate.
Wisdom is high for a fool, etc. A fool cannot attain wisdom. For it is high from him who lies in the depths of vices; who even if he thinks he has some knowledge now, at the gate of the city, that is, at the exit of this life, he will find that he knew nothing.
Proverbs 24:8
He that deviseth to do evil shall be called a mischievous person.
He who thinks to do evil, shall be called a fool. Do not think that he whom you see to be dull and slow-witted should be considered a fool, he clearly shows that he should be called a fool who even consents to the suggestions of sin in thought, even if he seems sharp in intellect; but not him who, although he appears dull in sense, resolved to obey the commands of God, which he could learn.
Proverbs 24:10
If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.
If you despair, being wearied in the day of distress, etc. Nothing is more detestable than despair, which those who have, lose the constancy of fortitude both in the general labors of this life and, which harms most, in the fight of faith.