Reading Scripture in Lent with the Church Fathers: Monday of the Second Week of Lent

Isaiah 4:2-5:7; Genesis 3:21-4:7; Proverbs 3:34-4:22

Isaiah 4:4. In the last days (cf. Heb 1:1), when the fullness of the time of liberty had arrived (Gal 4:4), the Word himself in his own person washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion (4:4) by washing the disciples’ feet with his own hands (John 13:5). This is the end to which the human race was destined, namely, to become inheritors of God. As in the beginning we were all brought into bondage by the actions of our first parents and made subject to death, so in these last days through the person of the last man all who were his disciples from the beginning, being cleansed and washed from those things that pertain to death, come to share the life of God. For the one who washed the feet of his disciples sanctified and made pure the entire body.
St Irenaeus of Lyon (2nd century)

Isaiah 5:2. Let me warn you, holy seedlings, let me warn you, fresh plants in the field of the Lord, not to have it said of you what was said of the vineyard of the house of Israel: I looked for it to produce grapes, but it produced thorns (5:2). Let him find good bunches of grapes on you, seeing that he was himself a bunch of grapes trodden in the winepress for you (63:1–3). Produce grapes, live good lives. For the fruit of the Spirit, as the apostle says, is charity, joy, peace, tolerance, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faith, self-control, chastity (Gal 5:22–23). We know how to plant and water outwardly, but as the apostle says, Neither the one who plants is anything, nor the one who waters; but God who produces growth (1 Cor 3:7). Our farmer, whose laborers we are, however, produces growth from within, and he now sees how you listen, he observes how you are in awe of him, or at least beginning to be in awe of him. So when that farmer comes, may he find in you what the apostle said: My joy and my crown, all of you that are standing firm in the Lord (Phil 4:1).
St Augustine (5th century)

Genesis 3:21. Were these garments from the skins of animals? Or were they created like the thistles and thorns that were created after the other works of creation had been completed? Because it was said that the “Lord made … and clothed them,” it seems most likely that when their hands were placed over their leaves they found themselves clothed in garments of skin. Why would beasts have been killed in their presence? Perhaps this happened so that by the animal’s flesh Adam and Eve might nourish their own bodies and that with the skins they might cover their nakedness, but also that by the death of the animals Adam and Eve might see the death of their own bodies.
St Ephrem of Syria (4th century)

God said, “Behold, Adam has become like one of us, knowing good and evil.” Even though by saying, “He has become like one of us,” he symbolically reveals the Trinity, the point is rather that God was mocking Adam in that Adam had previously been told, “You will become like God, knowing good and evil.” Now even though after they ate the fruit Adam and Eve came to know these two things, before they ate the fruit they had perceived in reality only good, and they heard about evil only by hearsay. After they ate, however, a change occurred so that now they would only hear about good by hearsay, whereas in reality they would taste only evil. For the glory with which they had been clothed passed away from them, while pain and disease that had been kept away from them now came to hold sway over them.
St Ephrem of Syria (4th century)

Genesis 3:24. The second Adam, Jesus Christ, points out that through the water of the bath of rebirth, the flickering flame—by which the cherubim guardian blocked the entry into paradise when the first Adam was expelled—would be extinguished. Where the one went out with his wife, having been conquered by his enemy, there the other might return with his spouse (namely, the church of the saints), as a conqueror over his enemy.
St Bede the Venerable (8th century)

Genesis 4:7. God said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why is your face gloomy?” Instead of being filled with anger, you ought to be filled with distress. Instead of your face being gloomy, tears ought to be flowing from your eyes. “If you do well, I will accept it.” Notice then that it was not because of the small size of Cain’s offering that it was rejected. It was not accepted because of his spitefulness and his lack of good will. “If you do well, I will accept it,” even though I did not accept it before, and it will be accepted along with the chosen offering of your brother even though it was not accepted before. “But if you do not do well, sin is couching at the first door.” Abel will listen to you through his obedience, for he will go with you to the plain. There you will be ruled over by sin, that is, you shall be completely filled with it. But instead of doing well so that the offering that had been rejected might be credited to Cain as acceptable, he then made an offering of murder to that One to whom he had already made an offering of negligence.
St Ephrem of Syria (4th century)

Proverbs 3:34. Make no mistake about it. If a person is not inside the sanctuary, he is deprived of the Bread [of God]. For if the prayer of one or two has great avail, how much more is that of the bishop and of the whole church. Anyone, therefore, who fails to assemble with the others has already shown his pride and set himself apart. For it is written, “God resists the proud.”
St Ignatius of Antioch (1st century)

Candidly, I say to you, God hates all sin without exception: lying, perjury, theft, robbery, adultery, fornication; and if anyone should be caught in any of these acts, he would not be able to raise his eyes, and we would look upon him as one accursed. Yet, the proud man commits a far worse sin than adultery, and still we continue to converse with him. The fornicator may say, My flesh overcame me; youth was too much for me. I am not advocating that you yield to such a sin, for God hates that as well as any other; but, in comparing evils, I maintain that whatever other wrong a man may commit, theft, for example, he can always find an excuse for it. What excuse does he give? I committed the theft because I was in need, I was dying from hunger, I was sick. What can the proud man say? Realize how evil pride is from the very fact that there is no excuse for it. Other vices harm only those who commit them; pride inflicts far more injury upon everyone. I am saying all this lest you consider pride a trifling sin. What, in fact, does the apostle say? “Lest he incur the condemnation passed on the devil.” The one who is puffed up with his own importance falls into the judgment of the devil. On the strength of Holy Writ, therefore, I declare, “When God is dealing with the arrogant he is stern, but to the humble, he shows kindness,” so that we may shun all sin, most of all pride.
St Jerome (4th century)

Proverbs 4:5. Almost all bodily excellences alter with age, and while wisdom alone increases all other functions decay. Fasting, sleeping on the ground, moving from place to place, hospitality to travelers, pleading for the poor, perseverance in standing at prayer, the visitation of the sick, manual labor to supply money for almsgiving—all acts, in short, of which the body is the medium decrease with its decay.
Now there are young men and men of riper age who, by toil and ardent study, as well as by holiness of life and constant prayer to God, have obtained knowledge. I do not speak of these, or say that in them the love of wisdom is cold, for this withers in many of the old by reason of age. What I mean is that youth, as such, has to cope with the assaults of passion, and amid the allurements of vice and the tinglings of the flesh is stifled like a fire fed with wood too green and cannot develop its proper brightness. But when men have employed their youth in commendable pursuits and have meditated on the law of the Lord day and night, they learn with the lapse of time, fresh experience and wisdom come as the years go by, and so from the pursuits of the past their old age—their old age, I repeat—reaps a harvest of delight. Hence that wise man of Greece (Theophrastus), perceiving, after the expiration of one hundred and seven years, that he was on the verge of the grave, is reported to have said that he regretted extremely having to leave life just when he was beginning to grow wise.
St Jerome (4th century)

Proverbs 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.”
Origen (3rd century)

Proverbs 4:10 (4:9 in LXX).  There is only one way of truth, but different paths from different places join it, just like tributaries flowing into a perennial river. So these are really inspired words: “Hear, my son, and accept my words, to have many paths of life. I am teaching you the ways of wisdom, so that its springs may never fail you”—that is, those which spurt from the same soil. He is not merely affirming that there is more than one path of salvation for a single righteous person. He adds that there are plenty of righteous people and plenty of routes for them. He explains this as follows: “The paths of the righteous shine like light.
Clement of Alexandria (2nd century)
(It should be noted that the Fathers used the Septuagint or other Greek versions of the Old Testament, rather than the Hebrew text that most modern English Bibles use. Here Clement quotes verse 4:9 of Proverbs in the Septuagint version: “Hear, my son, and accept my words, to have many paths of life.” The Hebrew text is followed by all English Bibles; for example in the NKJV: “Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, And the years of your life will be many.” So, ‘paths’ in Greek, ‘years’ in Hebrew. Also it’s verse 10 in the English Bible instead of verse 9 in the Septuagint used by the Orthodox Study Bible. It’s important to note this, because the quotes from the Fathers don’t always agree with the Bibles that most people use today.)