Provérbios 4
Origen of Alexandria · Comentário Patrístico (catena)
Provérbios 4:6
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. — COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS, PROLOGUE
Provérbios 4:6
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." — COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 20:405-6
Provérbios 4:23
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." — AGAINST CELSUS 4:95
Provérbios 4:23
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." — COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 11:15
Provérbios 4:26
"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. — FRAGMENTS ON LUKE 209 (LK 14:12-14)