Origen of Alexandria — Commentary on Scripture

The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;

He manifestly shows at once in the beginning of his Proverbs that he is establishing these foundations of true philosophy and an order of disciplines and institutions because the place of reason has not lain hidden or been rejected by him. First of all, he shows this by the very fact that he titled his book "Proverbs," which name indicates that something is being said openly but something else is being indicated inwardly. The common use of proverbs teaches this fact. John too in the Gospel writes that the Savior says, "I have spoken these things to you in proverbs; the hour will come when I will no longer speak to you in proverbs, but will proclaim to you openly about the Father." Meanwhile, these things have been said in the very inscription of the book.

Solomon, who seems to have served the will of the Holy Spirit in those three books, is called in Proverbs, "Solomon, the Son of David, who ruled in Israel." ... Therefore, in the first book, Proverbs, when he grounds us in moral disciplines, he is said to be "king" in "Israel"--but not yet in Jeruslem--because although we are said to be "Israel" because of our faith, nonetheless we have not yet arrived to that level so that we seem to have arrived at "the heavenly Jerusalem."

A proverb is a cryptic saying that has an indirect meaning. [Solomon] ruled in Israel, in order to understand wisdom and instruction. Wisdom is the spiritual knowledge pertaining to God, bodiless hosts and judgment; it also includes teaching about providence and unveils contemplation on the subjects of ethics, natural sciences and theology. Or rather, wisdom is the knowledge of both physical and spiritual worlds and of the judgment and providence pertaining to them. On the other hand, instruction is the disciplining of the passions of that passionate or unreasonable part of the soul. One who has advanced to the level of theology has learned wisdom.

Proverbs 1:5

A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

He who accepts the doctrines of wisdom, sometimes, in addition to the first doctrines because of which he is already wise, takes up second doctrines in reference to which he was not formerly wise, and [then] he will be wiser, just as also it is said, “For when a wise man has heard these things, he will be wiser.”

Proverbs 1:6

To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.

We must observe that not every time something is named “darkness” is it taken in a bad sense; there are times when it has also been used in a good sense. It is because the heterodox did not make this distinction that they accepted the most irreverent doctrines concerning the Creator and withdrew from him and abandoned themselves to the fictions of myths. We must now point out, therefore, how and when the term darkness is understood in a good sense.Darkness, storm clouds and thunderstorms are said to surround God in Exodus, and in Psalm 17 it says, God “made darkness his hiding place, his tent around him, dark water in the clouds of the air.” …
But if someone takes offense at such interpretations, let him be persuaded both from the dark sayings and the dark, hidden, invisible treasures given to Christ by God.

Proverbs 1:17

Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.

If then nets are not wrongfully stretched for birds, as it is said in Proverbs, but God justly leads men into the snare, as it is said, “You led us into the snare,” and if not even a sparrow, cheapest of birds, falls into the snare without the will of the Father (its fall into the snare being due to its failure to use properly the power of its wings given to it to soar), let us pray to do nothing to deserve being brought into temptation. By God’s righteous judgment, the wicked are delivered to uncleanness by God into the lusts of their own heart; or are delivered unto shameful affections; or, having not proved to have God in full knowledge, are delivered to a reprobate mind to do that which is disgraceful.

Proverbs 1:24 · 2 passages

Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;

How then is the heaven stretched forth? Wisdom stretches it forth. For it is clear that wisdom stretches it forth in the text: "Since I stretched forth words and you did not pay attention." He speaks of words being stretched forth; in this way the heaven is stretched forth.

If there is someone who meditates in the law of the Lord day and night, and if there is someone who is like the mouth of the just because he meditates on wisdom, he will be able to investigate diligently and find these things. If nonetheless he has rightly sought and by his seeking knocked on the door of wisdom, asking from God to open it for him, he also deserves to receive the Word of wisdom and the Word of knowledge through the Holy Spirit and to become a participant of that wisdom which said, "For I stretched out my words and you did not hear." And rightly he said that he "stretched out words" in his heart, to whom God had given, as we said above, "the breadth of the heart." For the heart is made broad of that man who can explain those things that have been said briefly in figurative language, taking assertions from the divine books with a broader teaching.

Proverbs 2:5

Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.

Solomon says, “You will find a divine sense.” For he knew that there were in us two kinds of senses, the one being mortal, corruptible and human, and the other immortal and intellectual, which here he calls “divine.” By this divine sense, therefore, not of the eyes but of a pure heart, that is, the mind, God can be seen by those who are worthy.

Proverbs 3:3

Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:

If you wish to fast according to the precept of the gospel, observe the evangelical laws on fasting in which the Savior commands this about fasting: “But if you fast, anoint your head and wash your face.” But if you ask how “to wash your face,” the apostle Paul teaches how “with uncovered face, you will contemplate the glory of the Lord and be transformed to this same image from glory to glory as by the Spirit of the Lord.” “Anoint even your head,” but take care that it not be with the oil of sin. For “the oil of the sinner will not anoint your head.” But “anoint your head” with the oil of exultation, “the oil of joy,” the oil of mercy, so that, according to the command of wisdom, “mercy and faith may not forsake you.”

Proverbs 3:18 · 3 passages

She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.

These things must be understood to be said figuratively; for Christ himself is called “the tree of life.” Just as by other things Christ is disclosed to be priest and victim and altar, and one understanding is not prevented by the other, and in their own passages each thing is perceived figuratively concerning him, so also now in the figures of mysteries a diversity of roles taken from one and the same thing will not get in our way.

I turn to the most wise Solomon as a witness when he said about wisdom, “The tree of life is for all who embrace it.” Therefore, if “wisdom is the tree of life,” without a doubt, there is another tree of prudence, another of knowledge and another of justice. For logically it is not said that only wisdom, of all the virtues, was worthy to be called “the tree of life” but that the other virtues by no means received names of a similar sort. Therefore, “the trees of the field will give their fruit.”

It is just this needful bread that seems to me to be otherwise termed in Scripture a “tree of life.” If a person stretches his hand to it and takes of it, he will live forever. And under a third name this tree is termed “wisdom of God.” In Solomon’s words: “She is a tree of life to all that take hold of her, and to those that lean on her as on the Lord she is safe.

Proverbs 3:19

The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.

You will find it said in Proverbs, “God by wisdom founded the earth, and by prudence he prepared the heaven.” Thus there is a certain prudence of God which one does not seek [except] in Christ Jesus. For all such [virtues], insofar as they are of God, are Christ: he is the wisdom of God, he is the power of God, he is the righteousness of God, he is sanctification, he is redemption. In this way he is the prudence of God. But though there is one substance, for differences in the aspects the names are many. You do not understand the same thing about Christ when you understand him as wisdom and when you understand him as righteousness. For when he is wisdom, you mean the knowledge of things divine and human, but when he is righteousness, he is that power which allots to every person according to worth. And when he is sanctification, he is what enables those faithful and dedicated to God to become holy. In this way also then you will understand him as prudence, when he is the knowledge of what is good and evil, and what is neither.

Proverbs 4:6 · 2 passages

Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee.

Therefore, in both these and in many other places, you will find that the divine Scripture avoids the word “love” and inserted “charity” and “affection.” Nonetheless, here and there he uses the proper word “love” and invites and stirs up souls to him, as when he speaks in Proverbs about Wisdom: “Fall in love with her and she will save you; embrace her and she will exalt you; honor her that she may embrace you.” But also in that book that is called the Wisdom of Solomon it has been written about Wisdom herself, “I have become a lover of her beauty.” But I think that he he has inserted the word “love” only where there seems to be no opportunity for misunderstanding. For what fickleness or shame could anyone detect in the love of wisdom or in him who professes that he is a lover of wisdom? For if he had said that Isaac had fallen in love with Rebekah or Jacob with Rachel, some shameful passion could have been understood through these words to have transpired among the holy people of God. This misunderstanding would especially be common among those who do not know how to ascend from the…

Therefore, in both these and in many other places, you will find that the divine Scripture avoids the word “love” and inserted “charity” and “affection.” Nonetheless, here and there he uses the proper word “love” and invites and stirs up souls to him, as when he speaks in Proverbs about Wisdom: “Fall in love with her and she will save you; embrace her and she will exalt you; honor her that she may embrace you.” But also in that book that is called the Wisdom of Solomon it has been written about Wisdom herself, “I have become a lover of her beauty.” But I think that he he has inserted the word “love” only where there seems to be no opportunity for misunderstanding. For what fickleness or shame could anyone detect in the love of wisdom or in him who professes that he is a lover of wisdom? For if he had said that Isaac had fallen in love with Rebekah or Jacob with Rachel, some shameful passion could have been understood through these words to have transpired among the holy people of God. This misunderstanding would especially be common among those who do not know how to ascend from the letter to the spirit.

Just as taste and sight are different perceptions so far as the body is concerned, so, in accordance with the divine perceptions mentioned by Solomon, the visual and contemplative power of the soul is one thing, but that which is capable of tasting and apprehending the quality of spiritual foods is another.And … the Lord is capable of being tasted, being food for the soul, insofar as he is the bread of life which came down from heaven, and is capable of being seen, insofar as he is wisdom, of whose beauty he confesses to be a lover who says, “I became a lover of her beauty,” and he commands us, “Love her, and she will preserve you.,” For this reason it is said in the Psalms, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.”

Proverbs 4:23 · 2 passages

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

We who knew these and similar sayings wish to observe this precept with the mystical meaning, namely, “Keep your heart with all diligence,” that nothing of a demoniacal nature may enter into our minds or any spirit of our adversaries turn our imagination whither it chooses. But we pray that the light of the knowledge of the glory of God may shine in our hearts, and that the Spirit of God may dwell in our imaginations, and lead them to contemplate the things of God; for “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”

The spring and source, then, of every sin are evil thoughts; for, unless these gained mastery, neither murders nor adulteries nor any other such thing would exist. Therefore, each person must keep his own heart with all watchfulness; for when the Lord comes in the day of judgment, “He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts.”

Proverbs 4:26

Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.

“Invite the poor,” he says, those who are poor in words, so that you can make them rich. Invite “the crippled,” those whose minds are injured, so that you can heal them. Invite “the lame,” those who limp in their reason, so that they can make “straight paths.” Invite the blind, who do not have the faculty of contemplation, so that they can see the true light.

Proverbs 5:4

But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.

"In the end," [Solomon] says, "you will find what seemed sweet in the beginning to be more bitter than gall and sharper than the edge of a sword." But the nature of righteousness is the opposite: In the beginning, it seems more bitter, but in the end, when it produces fruits of virtue, it is found to be sweeter than honey.