Wisdom has built a house for herself. She has hewn seven columns. She has immolated her victims. She has mixed her wine and set forth her table. (Prz 9,1-2)
חָ֭כְמוֹת בָּנְתָ֣ה בֵיתָ֑הּ חָצְבָ֖ה עַמּוּדֶ֣יהָ שִׁבְעָֽה׃ טָבְחָ֣ה טִ֭בְחָהּ מָסְכָ֣ה יֵינָ֑הּ אַ֝֗ף עָֽרְכָ֥ה שֻׁלְחָנָֽהּ׃
ᾠκοδόμησεν ἑαυτῇ οἶκον καὶ ὑπήρεισεν στύλους ἑπτά· ἔσφαξεν τὰ ἑαυτῆς θύματα, ἐκέρασεν εἰς κρατῆρα τὸν ἑαυτῆς οἶνον καὶ ἡτοιμάσατο τὴν ἑαυτῆς τράπεζαν·
Sapientia ædificavit sibi domum, excidit columnas septem. Immolavit victimas suas, miscuit vinum, et proposuit mensam suam.
To set a table (עָרַךְ ʽārak), in Hebrew, this verb in its basic meaning indicates the following actions: “to arrange”, “to arrange”, “to set”, as well as “to level the order”, “to prepare” or precisely “to set the table”. To express the arrangement of objects on the table, the expression ʽārak ʽal is used. Thus, ʽārak is the proper verb to express that a given table has been prepared or set.
In today’s first reading from the Book of Proverbs (Prov 9:1-6), we read that Wisdom “set the table” and invited everyone to a feast: “Who is simple? Let him come this way. To the fool, she says, Come and eat my bread…”. To sit at the table with Wisdom means to be in communion with her, and to be satiated with her bread is to draw from her wisdom, reason, and common sense in the fight against one’s naivety (v. 6). In the Eucharistic discourse, which St. John included in his Gospel (Jn 6), the Lord Jesus says of himself that He is the “living bread” and invites everyone to partake of this bread. Whoever eats His Body and drinks His Blood has eternal life and is assured of resurrection on the last day. Of course, each of us chooses whether to lock ourselves in the cage of temporality or whether, living in the temporal world, we will open ourselves, through faith, to the dimension of eternal life. It is certainly an expression of great wisdom to sit at the table laid by Wisdom and prepared for this by the Messiah.
