Psalms 37:1

Being human, we are all irked by the prosperity of the affluent, especially when they are dishonest. So from the outset he immediately gives this exhortation: Do not imitate evildoers, even if they are rich, nor lawbreakers, even if from their wickedness they amass wealth. Why not? Because … though flourishing for a time, such people have a rapid end. He did well to compare them with flowers: they also delight the eye for a time but are unable to bear the heat and dry up at once.

(Verse 1) He says, 'Do not envy among the envious, nor have you imitated those who do evil.' First, let us learn what it means to imitate; the power of this word is less in Latin than in Greek. For we read both good imitation and bad imitation. Finally, the Apostle says, 'It is good to imitate good always' (Galatians 4:18). And he himself said above, 'They envy you not well, but they want to exclude you so that you may imitate them' (Ibid., 17). And again, he says: Covet earnestly the best gifts (I Cor. XII, 31). And to the Romans, you have. Therefore I say, have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid; but their fall is the salvation of the Gentiles, that they may be provoked to emulation (Rom. XI, 11). And further: For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office, if by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them (Ibid., 13); that is, I may provoke my flesh. Finally, the Greek has jealousy. For even here: do not be jealous of those who do evil; do not envy those who commit lawlessness; that is, do not stir up the wicked to jealousy, because they strive not for good, but for evil.

What is it to stir up jealousy? For example, if we are able, let's open it up. There are certain intemperate women who disturb the hearts of other men's wives: when they have subjected them to their custom and shame, not satisfied to keep their own mistake a secret, they strive to publicly flaunt their disgrace before their spouses; so as to stir them up and inflame them with jealousy, seizing a certain triumph from the pain of their proven minds and the agitation. Not able to tolerate the shame of their husband's infidelity, they dissolve the bonds of marriage with satisfaction, or they argue in daily quarrels; and from competition comes discord, from disagreement comes division, whereby the entire household is disturbed. Therefore, learn from the example of a brazen woman, those are the most wicked and detestable tricks, to move one's soul with wicked jealousy: and know that jealousy is one thing, but envy is another. For this is a perverse emulation, which enters into the affection of good things: whereby also the Jew erred, who by a false and evil emulation departed from the right way of Evangelical discipline, as the Apostle says of himself (Phil. III, 6), that he persecuted the Church of Christ according to the emulation of the Law.

Therefore, although our God was frequently offended by the ungrateful desires and complaints of the Jews, he nevertheless did not abandon the people he had once chosen and elected for himself; but the insolent harlot, the Synagogue, began to provoke him to bitter jealousy, mingling herself in the sacrileges of transgression. Finally, she said to the priest Aaron: Make gods for us to worship (Exodus 32:1); and they began to worship the head of a calf. And through a great song Moses, the Lord spoke in his mouth, saying: They have provoked me to jealousy with that which is not God, they have angered me with their vanities: and I will provoke them to jealousy with those which are not a people, I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation (Deut. XXXII, 21). Behold, how the Lord condemns the harlotry of the Synagogue, in order to turn their craftiness against them; and those who had been chosen by their Lord God, they refuted with grave sacrilege, choosing gods for themselves to worship: assuming for themselves the Church of the profane, which the people of the Jews, without Law and without grace, would lament over; and to that extent, they would be more provoked to jealousy by their actions being considered more base. Before, when that people did not have the Law, they only considered themselves chosen by the Lord. But when he noticed that a people gathered from the nations, who claimed the Law of the Lord, the oracles of the prophets, and the new Testament of the Lord, then he began to be tormented with excessive affection, after he realized that he had been rejected. Lastly, if he sees the ceremonies of the Gentiles, he is not moved; if he hears of the progress of the Church, he is tormented and tortured by miserable envy. Therefore, it is accomplished in Judea: And I will provoke them to jealousy in a nation that is not a nation.

Moreover, the more severe torture is added to this distress, namely, that sinners from among the gentiles themselves seem to be preferred, who do not even elevate the name of any tribe or nation. For every congregation is accustomed to claim the name of its own region, like the Egyptians, Ethiopians, Syrians, Jews, Arabs, who prefer the name of their own province or territory: we, being gathered from diverse peoples, cannot claim the name of a single nation; and therefore, because we did not have a name on earth, we received one from heaven, that we should be called the people of Christ. But the Gentile thinks this is foolishness, while the Jew thinks it is disgraceful. Therefore, it is true what is written, that God has avenged His own insult by seeking a Church for Himself from a non-nation, and by preferring it to a foolish nation, an ancient and royal people. And what is that foolish nation that has been preferred? Listen to him who says: 'For God has chosen the foolish of the world to put to shame the wise' (1 Corinthians 1:27). And again: 'If any among you seems to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise' (1 Corinthians 3:18). Therefore, the Lord did not bring about a sharing of envy, in order that it might not be in the form of imitation, but rather in the punishment of wickedness.

Finally, the Latin interpreter, wishing to make a distinction between the emulation of virtue and the emulation of offense, says: Are we emulating the Lord? (I Cor. X, 20) ? That is, are we causing offense to the Lord through our emulation, by consuming things that have been sacrificed to idols; just as the Jews, when they sacrificed to idols, provoked Him? But if the intention of stirring up emulation offends among humans, and often the person who is provoked is found to be superior, it is known that the incentive of emulation is for the sake of deception; it is foolishness to provoke divine majesty and to incur the offense of emulation, when there is no difficulty in seeking revenge.

Therefore, we ought not to provide malicious opponents with stings to attack us, who, even when unprovoked, are incited by the goads of envy to harm us. Just as Cain killed his brother because his sacrifice was more acceptable than what Cain himself thought should have been offered. In this, Abel did not provoke Cain, but Cain, driven by wicked parricide, pursued the grace of preeminence. For Cain did not desire to overshadow his brother's sacrifice, but rather to preserve the discipline of sacrifice, so that he would not delay offering the first fruits through any laziness, nor violate them by appropriating them for his own use. Saul also attempted to kill David, the prophet and savior of the Israelites, who was exalted above himself in the conversation of young girls, with treacherous plots and a prepared spear; and he had almost shed the innocent blood of his own kin, if David had not evaded the blow with a twist of his bent body. How wicked was it, then, if the young girls said: 'Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands' (1 Samuel 18:7)? And how cruel was the envy of King Saul, who turned the innocent mistake of words into the destruction of the innocent!

'Nor should you, he says, have been jealous of those who do evil. He did not repeat what he had said, but changed it: it is one thing to be covetous, another to be jealous: covetousness has cunning, jealousy has simplicity. But even prudence itself must be simple and cautious, so that it knows what to beware of. For it was not said in vain: Be wise as serpents, and simple as doves (Matt. X, 16). Therefore, spiritual wisdom should be cautious, preserving salvation, unaware of deceit.' Spiritual simplicity must exist. However, it seems that Scripture has also made a distinction between emulation in another place, as it says: 'And Ephraim's envy shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off. Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim' (Isaiah 11:13). But elsewhere you have: 'Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church' (1 Corinthians 14:12). It uses 'emulators' for good things and imitators of good things, and 'emulator' for the crooked and envious.

(Verse 2) First, do not provoke the wicked to the malice of envy; secondly, do not imitate those who do evil. For often, when the righteous see that some have sought wealth by deceit and cunning, and have attained to honors, they desire to follow their ways with deformed envy; so that they may attain wealth and honors by similar means, or defraud young girls in contracting marriage. For what profit is it, when wealth itself and all secular glory quickly wither like hay, and like the flowers of herbs they fade away in their very beauty? All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man is like the flower of the grass. Therefore, do not greatly desire things that cannot last forever, do not be envious and deceitful; do not be contentious and argumentative in zeal. Hence, the Eagle said: Do not contend with the wicked. Symmachus said: Do not strive. Also, do not be an imitator of wickedness and deceit; but be an imitator of the apostolic doctrine, the prophetic grace, and the virtue of the saints; so that you may bear fruit and store up a harvest of goodness, like Joseph, who by the abundance of grain excluded the hunger of prolonged barrenness: like Habakkuk, who, by bringing a meal to the reapers, was lifted up by an angel and travelled along an aerial path, and upon returning to the earth, amidst the fierce roars of lions, served a sweet feast to the godly prophet.

Not infrequently good people, seeing others arrive at riches and honors by fraud and trickery, become green with jealousy and want to imitate them. They, too, are tempted to attain riches and fame by similar tricks and malpractices.… Do not be an imitator of wrongdoing and fraud. Rather, be an imitator of apostolic doctrine, of prophetic grace and of the virtue of the saints. Then you will bear fruit and reap the harvest of your good deeds.

"Be not envious because of evil-doers, neither be envious against the workers of iniquity" [Psalm 37:1]. "For they shall soon wither like the grass, and shall fade like the herbs of the meadow" [Psalm 37:2]. That which to you seems long, is "soon" in the sight of God. Conform you yourself to God; and it will be "soon" to you. That which he here calls "grass," that we understand by the "herbs of the meadow." They are some worthless things, occupying the surface only of the ground, they have no depth of root. In the winter then they are green; but when the summer sun shall begin to scorch, they will wither away. For now it is the season of winter. Your glory does not as yet appear. But if your love has but a deep root, like that of many trees during winter, the frost passes away, the summer (that is, the Day of Judgment) will come; then will the greenness of the grass wither away. Then will the glory of the trees appear. "For you" (says the Apostle) "are dead," [Colossians 3:3] even as trees seem to be in winter, as it were dead, as it were withered. What is our hope then, if we are dead? The root is within; where our root is, there is our life also, for there our love is fixed. "And your life is hid with Christ in God." [Colossians 3:3] When shall he wither who is thus rooted? But when will our spring be? When our summer? When will the honour of foliage clothe us around, and the fullness of fruit make us rich? When shall this come to pass? Hear what follows: "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him in glory." And what then shall we do now? "Be not envious because of the evil-doers, neither be envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon wither like the grass, and fade like the herb of the meadow."