II Lent Wednesday – Proverbs 5:15 – 6:3
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[My son,] 15 Drink waters out of thine own vessels, and out of thine own springing wells. 16 Let not waters out of thy fountain be spilt by thee, but let thy waters go into thy streets. 17 Let them be only thine own, and let no stranger partake with thee. 18 Let thy fountain of water be truly thine own; and rejoice with the wife of thy youth. 19 Let thy loving doe and thy graceful foal company with thee, and let her be considered thine own, and be with thee at all times; for ravished with her love thou shalt be greatly increased. 20 Be not intimate with a strange woman, neither fold thyself in the arms of a woman not thine own. 21 For the ways of a man are before the eyes of God, and he looks on all his paths. 22 Iniquities ensnare a man, and every one is bound in the chains of his own sins. 23 Such a man dies with the uninstructed; and he is cast forth from the abundance of his own substance, and has perished through folly. 6:1 My son, if thou become surety for thy friend, thou shalt deliver thine hand to an enemy. 2 For a man’s own lips become a strong snare to him, and he is caught with the lips of his own mouth. 3 My son, do what I command thee, and deliver thyself; for on thy friend’s account thou art come into the power of evil men: faint not, but stir up even thy friend for whom thou art become surety.
St. John Chrysostom, following the favored method of the Antiochene school of Scripture interpretation, derives a practical moral lesson from verses fifteen through twenty. They speak about marriage: they exhort the man to be happy with his wife and to be faithful to her.
Here is what he says about verse 15:
“Drink water from your own pitchers,” where there is enjoyment and security. It is a proverb, and would be better expressed, “Enjoy your own wife”; as Paul put it, “Do not deprive one another, except by mutual consent,” and again, “…to avoid fornication, let each man have his own wife (I Corinthians, chapter seven).
The saint is talking straight here, as did St. Paul: One fundamental reason to get married is to avoid fornication. St. Paul recognizes that women, too, have this temptation, which is why the entire verse finishes with the words, “…and let every woman have her own husband.”
St. John Chrysostom, however, does not see marriage in purely negative terms, only as a way to avoid sin. He takes for granted that there is enjoyment in marriage, and he says that this enjoyment is pure:
“Let they loving doe and thy graceful foal company with thee…” Note how he urges him to form close ties with his partner, showing the purity of the enjoyment by mention of the animal, and by mention of the foal presenting his wife as skittish and desirable.
But of course there will be many temptations to separate, and so the sacred author of Proverbs immediately adds, “…and let her be considered thine own, and be with thee at all times; for ravished with her love thou shalt be greatly increased.” Chrysostom comments,
…And since he knows there are many causes of friction between them, he proceeds to mention the bond of love between them as secure and unbreakable, visualizing it as indestructible.
Marriage, then, is a strong protection against leading an immoral life, its natural enjoyments are considered pure, and divine law decrees it to be permanent.
“Well, what about us?” The lifelong celibates and monastics may be asking at this point. “Do these verses have nothing to say to us, too?” Well, they do have something to say to you, according to various other Holy Fathers, who interpret the verses in a more figurative way. St. Ambrose of Milan, for example, says that the image of “thine own vessels” and “thine own springing wells” in verse fifteen refers to the pursuit of the spiritual life within one’s own soul. In other words, do not look for happiness outside of oneself, but within oneself:
Bear fruit for your own joy and delight. In yourself lies the sweetness of your charm, from you does it blossom, in you it sojourns, within you it rests, in your own self you must search for the jubilant quality of your conscience. For that reason he [Solomon] says, “Drink water out of your own cistern and the streams of your own well.” – from the Six Days of Creation of St. Ambrose
St. Cyril of Jerusalem says that the cisterns and wells of Christians are the Holy Scriptures. In other words, do not run after secular wisdom, but seek your happiness in God’s wisdom:
Let us return to the sacred Scriptures and “drink water from our own cisterns and running water from our own wells.” Let us drink of the living water, “springing up unto life everlasting.” …not visible rivers merely watering the earth with its thorns and trees, but enlightening souls. – from the Catechetical Lectures
Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, O Christ Thou Wisdom of God, enlighten us always and give us delight in the inexhaustible delights of Thy love, revealed in the Holy Scriptures. Amen.