Make no tarrying to turn to the Lord, and put not off from day to day: for suddenly shall the wrath of the Lord come forth, and in your security you shall be destroyed, and perish in the day of vengeance.
All Commentaries on Wisdom of Sirach 5:7 Go To Wisdom of Sirach 5
Fulgentius of Ruspe
AD 533
Therefore the Savior warns each one of us ahead of time, saying, "Make friends quickly with your adversary, while you are going with him to court, lest your adversary hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison; truly, I say to you, you will never get out till you have paid the last penny." People turn the Word of God into their adversary when they do the very things that the word of God prohibits. In the Psalms they are told, "You hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you." If someone will not consent to this divine Word until he is on his way, that is, if he does not consent soon in this life, then once he is thrown into prison, into the eternal fire, there will be no more peace. In fact, the best adversary is the one who is hostile toward us in keeping us away from the hostility of sin that is the bearer of death. We learn from another passage of Scripture that we should repent soon because the more we delay our repentance, the more chance death has to lead us to damnation instead of salvation. And so Scripture says, "Do not delay turning back to the Lord or put it off from day to day; for suddenly his wrath will come, and in the time of vengeance he will destroy you." The Word of God reveals that when the time of vengeance arrives, our repentance will certainly not deliver us from the pain of punishment; rather, God"s vengeful wrath will give us the sentence we deserve. This, in fact, will not be a time of forgiveness or of indulgence but of vengeance. It is deferred due to the long-suffering of God as he waits for the full number of saints to be completed. The blessed John recalls in the Apocalypse that the saints have in fact asked for this vengeance when they cry out, "O sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" And in order to teach that the time of vengeance is deferred, by divine disposition, because of those who still must join this gathering, John continues, "Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren should be complete."
