Книга пророка Даниила, Глава 13, стих 23. Толкования стиха

GOD SEES BEYOND APPEARANCE. AUGUSTINE: “It is better for me not to escape your hands than to sin in front of God.” She refused the proposals she heard because she feared him who she could not see and to whose divine gaze, however, she was very visible. Because she did not happen, in fact, to see God does not mean that God did not see her. God saw what he was building up: he inspected his work, inhabited his temple. He was there; he was answering their insidious trap. If the giver of chastity had abandoned her, chastity also would have been extinguished. Therefore she said, “I am trapped on every side.” But she waited for the one who would save her from weakness of spirit and from the fury of the false witnesses who were like stormy winds. Between these winds and that storm, however, chastity did not suffer shipwreck because the Lord guided the route. She screamed. People came. The process began, and the case came up for judgment. The servants of Susanna believed what the imposter elders said against their mistress. It seemed to them that it would be against their religion not to believe the elders, even though the innocent and stainless life Susanna had led up to this point seemed to offer valid testimony of her chastity. No such chatter had been made on her account. There they were, false witnesses, but God noticed. The household believed one thing; God saw another. But what God saw, human beings did not know, and it seemed right to believe the elders. Therefore she had to die, but if her flesh were to die, her chastity still would have triumphed. Instead, the Lord was present to whom she prayed, and he heard because he knew her. SERMON 343.1.

 Также и святая Сусанна, когда ей пригрозили ложным доносом, видя, что ей грозит смертельная опасность или бесчестие, предпочла более достойным умереть, нежели быть обреченной на позорное существование, потому что жаждала спасения. Таким образом, предпочтя достойное, она сохранила также и жизнь. Если бы она предпочла полезное для сохранения жизни, она не только бы не обрела великую славу, но получила бы то, что было не полезно и опасно для жизни – обвинение в преступлении, которого она, может быть, не смогла бы избежать. Итак, мы убедились в том, что позорное не может быть полезным, и наоборот – не может быть не полезным достойное, потому что достойное и полезное всегда неразрывны.