Who is as the wise man? and who knows the interpretation of a thing? a man's wisdom makes his face to shine, and the hardness of his face is changed.
Read Chapter 8
Didymus the Blind
AD 398
Here he means that the wisdom of a person makes the face shine, but not the face of the body, not a part of the flesh, but the face of the inner person.… The face of the inner person is illuminated by wisdom. But wisdom, light, Logos, truth and the other conceptions are identical when applied to Christ.
As it is impossible to recognize a white thing if one does not know the color white, and as it is impossible to recognize science if one does not know what science is, so it is also impossible to recognize a wise person by someone who does not know wisdom according to which the wise person is formed and called.
Most. Septuagint, "he whose face is impudent, shall be hated. "The truly wise and virtuous man is always polite and affable. (Calmet)
As we may form a probable conjecture of a person's disposition from his countenance, so we may judge of men's virtue by their actions. They are right and meritorious when the intention is good, (Worthington) and the works themselves blameless.
Moreover, wisdom, when it is found in a man, shows itself also in its possessor's face, and makes his countenance to shine; as, on the other hand, effrontery convicts the man in whom it has taken up its abode, so soon as he is seen, as one worthy of hatred. And it is on every account right to give careful heed to the words of the king, and by all manner of means to avoid an oath, especially one taken in the name of God. It may be fit at the same time to notice an evil word, but then it is necessary to guard against any blasphemy against God. For it will not be possible to find fault with Him when He inflicts any penalty, nor to gainsay the decrees of the Only Lord and King. But it will be better and more profitable for a man to abide by the holy commandments, and to keep himself apart from the words of the wicked. For the wise man knows and discerns beforehand the judgment, which shall come at the right time, and sees that it shall be just. For all things in the life of men await the r...
