Here in this imperfect state, no person can claim to be sinless, but the just man, walking by the rule of God’s Word may have the comfort of a good conscience, and his children will fare the better for his sake. This is a challenge to any man in the world to prove himself sinless. Only saints in heaven, who “have seen Him as He is” and been made like Him, can say it. Through the believer, through the work of the Sprit, is pure from the sins of many others, yet each one still has sins that easily beset him-sins of omission and sins of commission which they have to continually confess in order to maintain unbroken fellowship with Christ. Against wine and strong drink. We should avoid contentions. The sluggard. The righteous man. Weights and measures. Tale-bearers. The wicked son. The wise king. The glory of young men. The beauty of old men. The benefit of correction. 20:1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise. It seems hard to believe that men of the greatest abilities, as well as the ignorant, should render themselves fools and madmen, merely for the taste or excitement produced by strong liquors. Verse 1. Wine is a mocker — It deceives by its fragrance, intoxicates by its strength, and renders the intoxicated ridiculous. Strong drink —shechar, any strong fermented liquor, whether of the vine, date, or palm species. 20:1 It is agreeable, therefore, to right reason, to drink on account of the cold of winter, till the numbness is dispelled from those who are subject to feel it; and on other occasions as a medicine for the intestines. For, as we are to use food to satisfy hunger, so also are we to use drink to satisfy thirst, taking the most careful precautions against a slip: “for the introduction of wine is perilous.” And thus shall our soul be pure, and dry, and luminous; and the soul itself is wisest and best when dry. St. Clement of Alexandria: Instructor 2:2. 20:1 He that eateth the Heavenly Bread, becomes Heavenly without doubt! Wine teaches us, in that it makes him that is familiar therewith like itself: for it hates much him that is fond of it, and is intoxicating and maddening, and a mocker to him! St. Ephraim the Syrian: Hymns on the Nativity 3. 20:2 The fear of a king is as the roaring of a lion: whoso provokes him to anger sinns against his own soul. How formidable kings are to those who provoke them! how much more foolish then is it to provoke the King of kings! Verse 2. The fear of a king— Almost the same with chap. 19:12, which see. 20:3 It is an honor for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling. vs. 3: To engage in quarrels is the greatest folly that can be. Yield, and even give up just demands, for peace’ sake. Verse 3. It is an honoer for a man — The same sentiment as chap. 19:11. 20:4 The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg in harvest, and have nothing. vs. 4: He who labors and endures hardship in his seed-time for eternity, will be properly diligent as to his earthly business. Verse 4. The sluggard will not plough — For other parts of this character, see the preceding chapter. It is seldom that there is a season of very cold weather in Palestine; very cold days sometimes occur, with wind, rain, and sleet. They begin their ploughing in the latter end of September, and sow their early wheat by the middle of October. And this is often the case in England itself. The meaning of the proverb is: the slothful man, under the pretense of unfavorable weather, neglects cultivating his land till the proper time is elapsed. 20:5 Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out. https://coptic-treasures.com/ Proverbs 20 2 vs. 5: Though many capable of giving wise counsel are silent, yet something may be drawn from them, which will reward those who obtain it. Verse 5. Counsel in the heart of man — Men of the deepest and most comprehensive minds are rarely apt, unsolicited, to join in any discourse, in which they might appear even to the greatest advantage; but a man of understanding will elicit this, by questions framed for the purpose, and thus pump up the salubrious waters from the deep and capacious well. The metaphor is fine and expressive. 20:6 Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find? vs. 6: It is hard to find those that have done, and will do more good than they speak, or care to hear spoken of. Verse 6. Most men will proclaim — “Many men merciful ben clepid: a feithful man forsoth, who schal finde?” Old MS. Bible. “A great thing is man”; why? “and an honorable thing is a merciful man.” (Proverbs 20:6, LXX.) For this is the true character of man, to be merciful, yea rather the character of God, to show mercy. St. John Chrysostom: Homilies on Philippians, 1. For let us consider what is man? The Heathens say that he is a rational animal, mortal, capable of intelligence and knowledge. But let us not take our definition from them, but whence? From the sacred writings. Where then has the Scripture given a definition of man? Hear its words. “There was a man perfect and upright, one that feared God, and eschewed evil.” (Job 1:2.) This was indeed a man! Again, another says, “Man is great, and the merciful man is precious.” (Proverbs 20:6, Sept.) Those who answer not to this description, though they partake of mind, and are never so capable of knowledge, the Scripture refuses to acknowledge them as men, but calls them dogs, and horses, and serpents, and foxes, and wolves, and if there be any animals more contemptible. If such then is man, he that liveth in pleasure is not a man; for how can he be, who never thinks of anything that he ought? St. John Chrysostom: Homilies on 1 Timothy, hom. 13. 20:7 The just man walks in his integrity: his children are blessed after him. vs. 7: A good man is not liable to uneasiness in contriving what he shall do, or in reflecting on what he has done, as those who walk in deceit. And his family fare better for his sake. 20:7 That inheritance is placed in security which is kept under the guardianship of God. This is to provide for one’s dear pledges for the coming time; this is with paternal affection to take care for one’s future heirs, according to the faith of the Holy Scripture, which says: “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed wanting bread. All the day long he is merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.” And again: “He who walketh without reproach in his integrity shall leave blessed children after him.” Therefore you are an unfair and traitorous father, unless you faithfully consult for your children, unless yon look forward to preserve them in religion and true piety. You who are careful rather for their earthly than for their heavenly estate, rather to commend your children to the devil than to Christ, are sinning twice, and allowing a double and twofold crime, both in not providing for your children the aid of God their Father, and in teaching your children to love their property more than Christ. St. Cyprian: Treatise Viii On Works And Alms, 13. 20:8 A king that sitts in the throne of judgment scatters away all evil with his eyes. vs. 8: If great men are good men, they may do much good, and prevent very much evil. A king that sitteth in the throne of judgment — Kings should see to the administration of the laws, as well as of the state transactions, of their kingdom. In the British constitution there is a court for the king, called the King’s Bench, where he should sit, and where he is always supposed to be sitting. The eyes-the presence, of the monarch in such a place, scatter evil-he sees into the case himself, and gives right judgment, for he can have no self-interest. Corrupt judges, and falsifying counsellors, cannot stand before him; and the villain is too deeply struck with the majesty and state of the monarch, to face out iniquity before him. 20:9 Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin? vs. 9: Some can say, Through grace, we are cleaner than we have been; but it was the work of the Holy Spirit. Verse 9. Who can say, I have made any heart clean — No man. But thousands can testify that the blood of Jesus Christ has cleansed them from all unrighteousness. And he is pure from his sin, who is justified freely through the redemption that is in Jesus. https://coptic-treasures.com/ Proverbs 20 3 20:8,9 “When, therefore, the righteous King shall sit upon His throne, . . . who will boast that he has a pure heart? or who will boldly say that he is pure from sin?” Except perhaps those who wish to boast of their own righteousness, and not glory in the mercy of the Judge Himself. St. Augustine: On Man’s Perfection in Righteousness, 33. Let us not therefore give up in despair; for to fall is not so grievous, as to lie where we have fallen; nor to be wounded so dreadful, as after wounds to refuse healing. “For who shall boast that he has his heart chaste? or who shall say confidently that he is pure from sin?” (Proverbs 20:9. Sept.) These things I say not to make you more negligent, but to prevent your despairing. St. John Chrysostom: Commentary on 1 Corinthians 3:11. 20:9 Nor let any one so flatter himself with the notion of a pure and immaculate heart, as, in dependence on his own innocence, to think that the medicine needs not to be applied to his wounds; since it is written, ‘Who shall boast that he hath a clean heart, or who shall boast that he is pure from sins?’ St. Augustine: Against Two Letters of the Pelagians, 4:27 (10). 20:9 Nor let any one so flatter himself with the notion of a pure and immaculate heart, as, in dependence on his own innocence, to think that the medicine needs not to be applied to his wounds; since it is written, “Who shall boast that he hath a clean heart, or who shall boast that he is pure from sins?” And again, in his epistle, John lays it down, and says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” But if no one can be without sin, and whoever should say that he is without fault is either proud or foolish, how needful, how kind is the divine mercy, which, knowing that there are still found some wounds in those that have been healed, even after their healing, has given wholesome remedies for the curing and healing of their wounds anew! St. Cyprian: Treatise Viii On Works And Alms, 3. 20:9 What now shall I say concerning the very carefulness and watchfulness against sin? “Who shall boast that he hath a chaste heart? or who shall boast that he is clean from sin?” Holy virginity is indeed inviolate from the mother’s womb; but “no one,” saith he, “is clean in Thy sight, not even the infant whose life is of one day upon the earth.” (john 25:4). St. Augustine: O n Holy Virginity. 48. 20:9 How all the saints have confessed with truth that they were unclean and sinful AND therefore with daily sighs all the saints grieve over this weakness of their nature and while they search into their shifting thoughts and the secrets and inmost recesses of their conscience, cry out in entreaty: “Enter not into judgment with Thy servant, for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified;” and this: “Who will boast that he hath a chaste heart? or who will have confidence that he is pure from sin?” and again: “There is not a righteous man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not;” and this also: “Who knoweth his faults?” St. John Cassian: Conference 23:16. 13:7; 12:9 And so it results that while they fancy that they can make larger profits by the instruction of others, they are actually deprived of their own improvement. For “There are who make themselves out rich though possessing nothing, and there are who humble themselves amid great riches;” and: “Better is a man who serves himself in a humble station than one who gains honor for himself and wanteth bread.” St. John Cassian: Conference 24:13. 20:10 Divers weights, and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to the LORD. vs. 10: See the various deceits men use, of which the love of money is the root. The Lord will not bless what is thus gotten. Verse 10. Divers weights and divers measures — “A peise and a peise;” — Old MS. Bible: from the French pois, weight. Hebrew: “A stone and a stone; an ephah and an ephah.” One the standard, the other below it; one to buy with, the other to sell by. 20:10,11 https://coptic-treasures.com/ Proverbs 20 4 And therefore the blessed Apostle warns us to keep hold of the reins of discretion and not to be attracted by excess and swerve to either side, saying: “Your reasonable service.” (Rom. 12:1). And the giver of the law similarly forbids the same thing, saying: “Let the balance be just and the weights equal, the bushel just and the sextarius equal,” (Lev. 19:36), and Solomon also gives a like opinion on this matter: “Great and small weights and double measures are both unclean before the Lord, and one who uses them shall be hindered in his contrivances.” Further not only in the way in which we have said, but also in this must we strive not to have unfair weights in our hearts, nor double measures in the storehouse of our conscience, i.e., not to overwhelm those, to whom we are to preach the word of the Lord, with precepts that are too strict and heavier than we ourselves can bear, while we take for granted that for ourselves those things which have to do with the rule of strictness are to be softened by a freer allowance of relaxation. For when we do this, what is it but to weigh and measure the goods and fruits of the Lord’s commands in a double weight and measure? For if we dispense them in one way to ourselves and in another to our brethren, we are rightly blamed by the Lord because we have unfair balances and double measures, in accordance with the saying of Solomon which tells us that “A double weight is an abomination to the Lord, and a deceitful balance is not good in His sight.” In this way also we plainly incur the guilt of using a deceitful weight and a double measure, if out of the desire for the praise of men, we make a show before the brethren of greater strictness than what we practice in private in our own cells, trying to appear more abstinent and holier in the sight of men than in the sight of God, an evil which we should not only avoid but actually loathe. But meanwhile as we have wandered some way from the question before us, let us return to the point from which we started. St. John Cassian: Conference 21:22. 20:11 Even a child is known by his doings, whether his work be pure, and whether it be right. vs. 11: Parents should observe their children, that they may manage them accordingly. Even a child is known by his doings — That is, in general terms, the effect shows the nature of the cause. “A childe is known by his conversation,” says Coverdale. A child is easily detected when he has done evil; he immediately begins to excuse and vindicate himself, and profess his innocence, almost before accusation takes place. Some think the words should be understood, every child will dissemble; this amounts nearly to the meaning given above, But probably the principal this intended by the wise man is, that we may easily learn from the child what the man will be. In general, they give indications of those trades and callings for which they are adapted by nature. And, on the whole, we cannot go by a surer guide in preparing our children for future life, than by observing their early propensities. The future engineer is seen in the little handicraftsman of two years old. Many children are crossed in these early propensities to a particular calling, to their great prejudice, and the loss of their parents, as they seldom settle at, or succeed in, the business to which they are tied, and to which nature has given them no tendency. These infantine predilections to particular callings, we should consider as indications of Divine Providence, and its calling of them to that work for which they are peculiarly fitted. 20:12 The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the LORD hath made even both of them. vs. 12: All our powers and faculties are from God, and are to be employed for him. Verse 12. The hearing ear and the seeing eye — Every good we possess comes from God; and we should neither use our eyes, nor our ears, nor any thing we possess, but in strict subserviency to his will. 20:13 Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty; open your eyes, and you shalt be satisfied with bread. vs. 13: Those that indulge themselves, may expect to want necessaries, which should have been gotten by honest labor. Verse 13. Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty — Sleep, indescribable in its nature, is an indescribable blessing; but how often is it turned into a curse! It is like food; a certain measure of it restores and invigorates exhausted nature; more than that oppresses and destroys life. A lover of sleep is a paltry, insignificant character. 20:14 It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer: but when he is gone his way, then he boasts. vs. 14: Men use arts to get a good bargain, and to buy cheap; whereas a man ought to be ashamed of a fraud and a lie. Verse 14. It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer — How apt are men to decry the goods they wish to purchase, in order that they may get them at a cheaper rate; and, when they have made their bargain and carried it off, boast to others at how much less than its value they have obtained it! Are such honest men? Is such knavery actionable? Can such be punished only in another world? St. Augustine tells us a pleasant story on this subject: A certain mountebank published, in the full theater, that at the next entertainment he would show to every man present what https://coptic-treasures.com/ Proverbs 20 5 was in his heart. The time came, and the concourse was immense; all waited, with deathlike silence, to hear what he would say to eaeh. He stood up, and in a single sentence redeemed his pledge: — You all wish to BUY CHEAP, and SELL DEAR.” He was applauded; for every one felt it to be a description of his own heart, and was satisfied that all others were similar. “In quo dicto levissimi scenici omnes tamen conscientias invenerunt suas.’-DE TRINITATE, lib. xiii., c. 3; OPER. vol. vii., col. 930. 20:15 There is gold, and a multitude of rubies: but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel. vs. 15: He that prefers true knowledge to riches, follows the ways of religion and happiness. If we really believed this truth, the word of God would be valued as it deserves, and the world would lose its tempting influence. Verse 15. There is gold — Gold is valuable, silver is valuable, and so are jewels; but the teachings of sound knowledge are more valuable than all. 20:16 Take his garment that is surety for a stranger: and take a pledge of him for a strange woman. vs. 16: Those ruin themselves who entangle themselves in rash suretiship. Also those who are in league with abandoned women. Place no confidence in either. Verse 16. Take his garment that is surety for a stranger — I suppose the meaning to be, If a stranger or unknown person become surety in a case, 1784 greater caution should be used, and such security taken from this stranger as would prevent him from running away from his engagements. 20:17 Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel. vs. 17: Wealth gotten by fraud may be sweet, for the carnal mind takes pleasure in the success of wicked devices; but it will be bitter in the reflection. Verse 17. Bread of deceit is sweet — Property acquired by falsehood, speculation, etc., without labor, is pleasant to the unprincipled, slothful man; but there is a curse in it, and the issue will prove it. 20:18 Every purpose is established by counsel: and with good advice make war. vs. 18: Especially we need advice in spiritual warfare. The word and Spirit of God are the best counselors in every point. Verse 18. With good advice make war, — Perhaps there is not a precept in this whole book so little regarded as this. Most of the wars that are undertaken are wars of injustice, ambition, aggrandizement, and caprice, which can have had no previous good counsel. A minister, who is perhaps neither a good nor a great man, counsels his king to make war; the cabinet must be brought into it, and a sufficient number out of the states of the kingdom gained over to support it. By and by, what was begun through caprice must be maintained through necessity. Places must be created, and offices must be filled with needy dependents, whose interest it may be to protract the war, till they get enough to pay their debts, and secure independence for life. And for these most important ends the blood of the country is spilled, and the treasures of the people exhausted! I have met with a fact precisely of this kind under the reign of Louis XIV. 20:19 He that goes about as a talebearer reveals secrets: therefore meddle not with him that flatters with his lips. vs. 19: Those dearly buy their own praise, who put confidence in a man because he speaks fairly. 20:20 Whoso curses his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness. vs. 20: An undutiful child will become very miserable. Never let him expect any peace or comfort. Verse 20. Whoso curseth his father — Such persons were put to death under the law; see Exodus 21:17; Leviticus 20:9, and here it is said, Their lamp shall be put out-they shall have no posterity; God shall cut them off both root and branch. 20:21 An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning; but the end thereof shall not be blessed. vs. 21: An estate suddenly raised, is often as suddenly ruined. Verse 21. An inheritance-gotten hastily — Gotten by speculation; by lucky hits; not in the fair progressive way of traffic, in which money has its natural increase. All such inheritances are short-lived; God’s blessing is not in them, because they are not the produce of industry; and they lead to idleness, pride, fraud and knavery. A speculation in trade is a pubiic nuisance and curse. How many honest men have been ruined by such! 20:22 Say not you, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and he shall save you. vs. 22: Wait on the Lord, attend his pleasure, and he will protect thee. https://coptic-treasures.com/ Proverbs 20 6 Verse 22. I will recompense evil — Wait on the Lord; judgment is his, and his judgments are sure. In the mean time pray for the conversion of your enemy. 20:22 Whence it is plain and manifest, that not by our means, but for our sakes, all those things are happening which come down from the anger of God. St. Cyprian: Treatise V, An Address To Demetrianus, 18. 20:23 Divers weights are an abomination unto the LORD; and a false balance is not good. A bargain made by fraud will prove a losing bargain in the end. 20:23 And are they not proved to be an abomination’ also ‘unto the Lord,’ as having ‘diverse weights’ with them, and with this estimating those other instances, and with that blaspheming the Lord? St. Athanasius of Alexandria: Four Discourses Against the Arians, 1:6:19. 20:24 Man’s goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way? vs. 24: How can we form plans, and conduct business, independently of the Lord? Verse 24. Man’s goings are of the Lord — He, by his providence, governs all the great concerns of the world. Man often traverses these operations; 1785 but he does it to his own damage. An old writer quaintly says: “They who will carve for themselves shall cut their fingers.” 20:25 It is a snare to the man who devours that which is holy, and after vows to make enquiry. vs. 25: The evasions men often use with their own consciences show how false and deceitful man is. Verse 25. Who devoureth that which is holy — It is a sin to take that which belongs to God, his worship, or his work, and devote it to one’s own use. And after vows to make inquiry. — That is, if a man be inwardly making a rash vow, the fitness or unfitness, the necessity, expediency, and propriety of the thing should be first carefully considered. But how foolish to make the vow first, and afterwards to inquire whether it was right in the sight of God to do it! This equally condemns all rash and inconsiderate conduct. My old MS. Bible translates, “Falling is of men often to vowen to seyntis, and after, the vouw is agen brawen”. Is it possible that Wiclif could have translated this verse thus? as it strongly countenances vows to and invocations of saints. 20:26 A wise king scatters the wicked, and brings the wheel over them. vs. 26: Justice should crush the wicked, and separate them from the virtuous. Verse 26. Bringeth the wheel over them. — He threshes them in his anger, as the wheel does the grain on the threshing-floor. Every one knows that grain was separated from its husks, in Palestine, by the feet of the oxen trampling among the sheaves, or bringing a rough-shod wheel over them. Asiatic kings often threshed their people, to bring out their property; but this is not what is intended here. 20:26 For there is in temporal things too a multiplication, which turns away from the unity of God. Hence “the corruptible body weigheth down the soul, and the earthy tabernacle presseth down the mind that museth upon many things.” (Wisd. 9:15). But the righteous are multiplied “after the height of God,” when “they shall go from strength to strength.” (Ps. 84:7). St. Augustine: On the Psalms, 12:9. 20:27 The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly. vs. 27: The rational soul and conscience are as a lamp within us, which should be used in examining our dispositions and motives with the revealed will of God. Verse 27. The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord — God has given to every man a mind, which he so enlightens by his own Spirit, that the man knows how to distinguish good from evil; and conscience, which springs from this, searches the inmost recesses of the soul. 20:27 For [the Scripture] saith in a certain place, “The Spirit of the Lord is a candle searching the secret parts of the belly.” Let us reflect how near He is, and that none of the thoughts or reasonings in which we engage are hid from Him. St. Clement of Rome: the Epistle to the Corinthians, 21. 20:27 https://coptic-treasures.com/ Proverbs 20 7 For the Scripture somewhere says, “The Spirit of the Lord is a lamp, searching the recesses of the belly.” And the more of a Gnostic a man becomes by doing right, the nearer is the illuminating Spirit to him. St. Clement of Alexandria: Stromata 4:18. 20:28 Mercy and truth preserve the king: and his throne is upholden by mercy. vs. 28: Mercy and truth are the glories of God’s throne. Verse 28. Mercy and truth preserve the king — These are the brightest jewels in the royal crown; and those kings who are most governed by them have the stablest government. 20:29 The glory of young men is their strength: and the beauty of old men is the gray head. vs. 29: Both young and old have their advantages; and let neither despise or envy the other. Verse 29. The glory of young men is their strength — Scarcely any young man affects to be wise, learned, etc.; but all delight to show their strength and to be reputed strong. Agility, one evidence of strength, their particularly affect; and hence their various trials of strength and fleetness in public exercises.And the beauty of old men is the gray head. — They no longer affect strength and agility, but they affect wisdom, experience, prudent counsels, etc., and are fond of being reputed wise, and of having respect paid to their understanding and experience. 20:30 The blueness of a wound cleanses away evil: so do stripes the inward parts of the belly. Verse 30. The blueness of a wound —twrbj chabburoth, from rbj chabar, to unite, to join together. Does it not refer to the cicatrice of a wound when, in its healing, the two lips are brought together? By this union the wound is healed; and by the previous discharge the lace-rated ends of fibres and blood-vessels are purged away. So stripes, though they hurt for the time, become the means of correcting and discharging the moral evil of the inmost soul, the vice of the heart, the easily-besetting sin. In this chapter, verses fourteen to nineteen, inclusive, are wanting in the Septuagint and Arabic; and the tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth, come in after the twenty-second. It is difficult to account for these variations, unless they were occasioned by the change of leaves in MSS. vs. 30: Severe rebukes sometimes do a great deal of good. But such is the corruption of nature, that men are loath to be rebuked for their sins. If God uses severe afflictions, to purify our hearts and fit us for his service, we have cause to be very thankful. 20:30 For the blueness of a wound cleanseth away evil, because the pain of scourges cleanses iniquities, whether meditated or perpetrated. But by the appellation of belly the mind is wont to be understood. For that the mind is called the belly is taught by that sentence in which it is written, The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord, which searcheth all the secret parts of the belly (Ibid. 27). As if to say, The illumination of Divine inspiration, when it comes into a man’s mind, shews it to itself by illuminating it, whereas before the coming of the Holy Spirit it both could entertain bad thoughts and knew not how to estimate them. Then, the blueness of a wound cleanses away evil, and stripes in the secret parts of the belly, because when we are smitten outwardly, we are recalled, silent and afflicted, to memory of our sins, and bring back before our eyes all our past evil deeds, and through what we suffer outwardly we grieve inwardly the more for what we have done. Whence it comes to pass that in the midst of open wounds of the body the secret stripe in the belly cleanses us more fully, because a hidden wound of sorrow heals the iniquities of evil-doing. Fr. Gregory (the Great), Pastoral Rule, 12. https://coptic-treasures.com/ Proverbs 21 1 21:26 For, having first mentioned bounty bestowed upon the poor, he would not call this mercy, but rather justice: for it is surely just that whosoever receive what is given by a common Lord should use it in common. l Hence also Solomon says, Whoso is just will give and will not spare (Proverbs 21:26). They are to be admonished also anxiously to take note how of the fig-tree that had no fruit the rigorous husbandman complains that it even cumbers the ground. Fr. Gregory (the Great), Pastoral Rule, 21.
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