Every wise woman builds her house: but the foolish plucks it down with her hands.
Read Chapter 14
Abba Besa
AD 379
And it was also said, “A wise woman builds a house, but the foolish will destroy it with her hands.” This means that the wise woman encourages her neighbor in the fear of God and the love which is in her heart toward her sister and her sisters. But, on the other hand, the foolish woman will destroy them by her words full of bitterness, hatred, wickedness and scorn, even as it is written, “A rod of scorn is in the mouth of the foolish,” and that means you. Fragment , Letter to Antinoe–.
Both each faithful soul and the catholic church throughout the world build a house for itself in the heavenly homeland through good works. The wicked, however, through their evil living and even, at times, through open rebellion, destroy what was well designed by the good. .
“The wise women built up their homes.” The church built its house with its patience and hope in Christ, that is, it has roused and restored those entering it with its doctrine and faith. “The foolish destroyed it with her own hand.” This is the heresy which becomes the cause for their eternal death. Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon, Fragment
