The Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach, or Ecclesiasticus 23:2 Kommentaari

It is said with regard to sinners, “You whipped them, but they did not suffer.” The perceived whips of this world, inflicted on living bodies, whether those whipped want them or not, produce pain. But God’s whips are of a kind that to some of those who are whipped they cause pain but for others who are whipped, they do not. Let us see if we can explain what it means to suffer from the whips of God and what it means not to suffer: why those with evil natures do not suffer from the whips of God while those who do suffer from the whips of God are blessed. Wisdom says, “Who will apply whips to my thoughts and seals of prudence to my lips so that they would not spare me in my errors and so that my sins will not lead me to perdition?” Pay attention to the words “who will apply whips to my thoughts.” There are, therefore, whips that whip the thought. They are the whips of God that whip thought because the Word, joining itself to the soul and guiding it to the knowledge of its sins, whips it. It whips the blessed soul so that it suffers under its whips because the Word comes and penetrates the soul at its core, but it does not drive away the one who is reproved. But if someone is found to be insensitive to this whip, so to speak, it will be said of him, “You have whipped them, but they did not suffer.” Although the same word of accusation is pronounced in order to penetrate the mind of the one who has a spotted conscience from some sin, if one of the listeners suffers for this word to the point where it can be said of him, “You have seen that such a person was moved deeply” while another who hears does not suffer but remains insensitive to the one who is accusing him, surely of the insenstive one it will be said, “You have whipped them, but they have not suffered.”