And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of your times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure.
Read Chapter 33
Bede
AD 735
But “true wealth” signifies either the joy of eternal life itself, concerning which it is written, “the riches of his inheritance in the saints,” or those spiritual virtues with which the fullness of life is attained, about which Isaiah said, “the riches of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the Lord himself is its treasure.”
“And if you are unfaithful with goods that are not yours, who will give you something of your own?” The resources of this world are alien to us, that is, external to the nature of our habitat, “for we brought nothing into this world and we are without doubt unable to take anything from it.” Our possession is the kingdom of heaven, our life is Christ, and our wealth consists in the fruitfulness of spiritual works, about which Solomon said, “The redemption of a man’s soul is his wealth.” - "Exposition of the Gospel of Luke 5.16.11–12"
It must follow that any one solidly established in the perfection of this love will rise to that more excellent and more sublime stage that is the fear derived from love. This is not a terror in the face of punishment or a desire for reward. Rather it is something that comes from the very greatness of love. It is the mixture of respect and affection that a son has for a very indulgent father, a brother for a brother, a friend for a friend, a wife for a husband. This is the fear whose splendor has been elegantly described by one of the prophets. “Wisdom and knowledge are the riches of salvation, but its treasure is the fear of the Lord.” He could not have more clearly described the dignity and the merit of this fear when he said that the riches of our salvation, namely, true wisdom and the knowledge of God, cannot be preserved except by the fear of the Lord. This is the fear to which saints, and not sinners, are invited by the prophetic oracles.… Someone holding to this fear of the Lord...
But, since there are many kinds of treasures and different grounds for joy, each one’s treasure corresponds to the movement of their desire. If it is an appetite for earthly things, it makes those who share in it not happy but wretched. Those who “savor the things above, not what is on earth,” and are not eager for what perishes but for what is eternal, have hidden, incorruptible resources, in that about which the prophet says, “In your treasure is our salvation. There wisdom and knowledge and holiness are from the Lord. These are the treasures of his justice.”
Through them, with God’s grace helping us, even earthly goods are transformed into heavenly, as long as many use their wealth, either left them by law or otherwise acquired, as instruments of goodness. When they distribute, from what they can count as overabundance, to the support of the poor, they collect for themselves riches that cannot be lost, so that what they have withdrawn for alms cannot be credited to expense, and they...
