HarperCollins Study Bible
Page 364
and their lives are of less worth than clay,
11because they failed to know the one who formed them
and inspired them with active souls
and breathed a living spirit into them.
12But they considered our existence an idle game,
and life a festival held for profit,
for they say one must get money however one can, even by base means.
13For these persons, more than all others, know that they sin
when they make from earthy matter fragile vessels and carved images.
14But most foolish, and more miserable than an infant,
are all the enemies who oppressed your people.
15For they thought that all their heathen idols were gods,
though these have neither the use of their eyes to see with,
nor nostrils with which to draw breath,
nor ears with which to hear,
nor fingers to feel with,
and their feet are of no use for walking.
16For a human being made them,
and one whose spirit is borrowed formed them;
for none can form gods that are like themselves.
17People are mortal, and what they make with lawless hands is dead;
for they are better than the objects they worship,
sinced they have life, but the idolse never had.
Serpents in the Desert
18Moreover, they worship even the most hateful animals,
which are worse than all others when judged by their lack of intelligence;
19and even as animals they are not so beautiful in appearance that one would desire them,
but they have escaped both the praise of God and his blessing.
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a Or ruling the universe
b Gk and he desires
c Gk such hopes
d Other ancient authorities read of which
e Gk but they
15.1–6 An apostrophe to God and Israel’s immunity from idolatry ($$$$$; see note on 13.10–15.17). The writer is thinking of his own period. The consensus among the rabbis of the third century was that all idolatrous impulses had been eradicated from Israel as early as the beginning of the Second Temple period (Babylonian Talmud Yoma 69b; cf. Jdt 8.18; Tacitus, Histories 5.5).
15.1 For the four divine attributes enumerated here, see Ex 34.6.
15.2 We are yours. According to Rabbi Meir (Sifre Deuteronomy 96), whether the Jews sin or do not sin, they are God’s children (cf. Philo, Special Laws 4.180–81).
15.4 The choice of the Greek word skiagraphos—here translated painter—is deliberate, since it refers to “painting with the shadows” so as to produce an illusion of solidity at a distance and is frequently used to indicate that which is illusory. The fourth-century Christian bishop Epiphanius connected the beginnings of idolatry with painting or shadow sketching (Panarion 3.4–5; Ancoratus 102.1; cf. Pliny, Natural History 35.151).
15.5 See Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.243–97 for the story of Pygmalion, who, having fashioned an ivory statue of a woman, fell in love with it.
15.7–13 The potter and clay images (Á see note on 13.10–15.17).
15.7 Clean uses…contrary uses. This theme is reminiscent of the story about Amasis (often quoted by Christian writers), who made an image of a god out of his golden footbath (Herodotus, History 2.172; cf. Philo, Contemplative Life 7).
15.8 When the time…borrowed, a very popular Platonic image (Timaeus 42E; cf. Ps.-Phocylides, Sentences 106; Josephus, War 3.372–74; Philo, On Abraham 257 and frequently; Lk 12.20).
15.12 For the metaphor of an idle game, cf. Plato, Laws 644D; Cicero, On Duties 1.103; Qur’an 57.19. Life as a festival is another widespread motif (Epictetus, Discourses 4.1.105; Cicero, Tusculan Disputations 5.9). However one can, even by base means, another commonplace (Sophocles, Antigone 312; Horace, Epistles 1.1.65; Philo, Every Good Man Is Free 65).
15.14–19 Conclusion on the idolatry of the Egyptians. The emphasis is on the lifelessness of the idols and the foolishness of human beings worshiping objects inferior to themselves. This section serves as a transition back to the second antithesis (see note on 11.1–19.22).
WISDOM OF SOLOMON 16
1Therefore those peoplea were deservedly punished through such creatures,
and were tormented by a multitude of animals.
2Instead of this punishment you showed kindness to your people,
and you prepared quails to eat,
a delicacy to satisfy the desire of appetite;
3in order that those people, when they desired food,
might lose the least remnant of appetiteb
because of the odious creatures sent to them,
while your people,c after suffering want a short time,
might partake of delicacies.
4For it was necessary that upon those oppressors inescapable want should come,
while to these others it was merely shown how their enemies were being tormented.
5For when the terrible rage of wild animals came upon your peopled
and they were being destroyed by the bites of writhing serpents,
your wrath did not continue to the end;
6they were troubled for a little while as a warning,
and received a symbol of deliverance to remind them of your law’s command.
7For the one who turned toward it was saved, not by the thing that was beheld,
but by you, the Savior of all.
8And by this also you convinced our enemies
that it is you who deliver from every evil.
9For they were killed by the bites of locusts and flies,
and no healing was found for them,
because they deserved to be punished by such things.
10But your children were not conquered even by the fangs of venomous serpents,
for your mercy came to their help and healed them.
11To remind them of your oracles they were bitten,
and then were quickly delivered,
so that they would not fall into deep forgetfulness
and become unresponsivee to your kindness.
12For neither herb nor poultice cured them,
but it was your word, O Lord, that heals all people.
13For you have power over life and death;
you lead mortals down to the gates of Hades and back again.
14A person in wickedness kills another,
but cannot bring back the departed spirit,
or set free the imprisoned soul.
Disastrous Storms Strike Egypt
15To escape from your hand is impossible;
16for the ungodly, refusing to know you,
were flogged by the strength of your arm,
pursued by unusual rains and hail and relentless storms,
and utterly consumed by fire.
17For—most incredible of all—in water, which quenches all things,
the fire had still greater effect,
for the universe defends the righteous.
18At one time the flame was restrained,
so that it might not consume the creatures sent against the ungodly,
but that seeing this they might know
that they were being pursued by the judgment of God;
19and at another time even in the midst of water it burned more intensely than fire,
to destroy the crops of the unrighteous land.
The Israelites Receive Manna
20Instead of these things you gave your people food of angels,
and without their toil you supplied them from heaven with bread ready to eat,
providing every pleasure and suited to every taste.
21For your sustenance manifested your sweetness toward your children;
and the bread, ministeringf to the desire of the one who took it,
was changed to suit everyone’s liking.
22Snow and ice withstood fire without m
elting,
so that they might know that the crops of their enemies
were being destroyed by the fire that blazed in the hail
and flashed in the showers of rain;
23whereas the fire,g in order that the righteous might be fed,
even forgot its native power.
24For creation, serving you who made it,
exerts itself to punish the unrighteous,
and in kindness relaxes on behalf of those who trust in you.
25Therefore at that time also, changed into all forms,
it served your all-nourishing bounty,
according to the desire of those who had need,h
26so that your children, whom you loved, O Lord, might learn
that it is not the production of crops that feeds humankind
but that your word sustains those who trust in you.
27For what was not destroyed by fire
was melted when simply warmed by a fleeting ray of the sun,
28to make it known that one must rise before the sun to give you thanks,
and must pray to you at the dawning of the light;
29for the hope of an ungrateful person will melt like wintry frost,
and flow away like waste water.
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a Gk they
b Gk loathed the necessary appetite
c Gk they
d Gk them
e Meaning of Gk uncertain
f Gk and it, ministering
g Gk this
h Or who made supplication
16.1–4 The author returns to complete the second antithesis (see note on 11.1–19.22) with a description of the Israelites being fed by God with quail. He has adapted the biblical version of this event (Num 11) to serve his own purposes by omitting all mention of the people’s murmuring and gluttony and the divine anger that culminated in the destruction of many of them.
16.5–14 The third antithesis (see note on 11.1–19.22): the Egyptians are slain by flies and locusts, but Israel survives a serpent attack in the desert. See Ex 8.20–32; 10.3–20; Num 21.4–9.
16.6 A symbol of deliverance, the bronze serpent (Num 21.9). Philo similarly interprets the serpent of Moses as a symbol of steadfast endurance (On Husbandry 98). Cf. Jn 3.14; Justin, First Apology 60.
16.7 The author replaces the principle of homeopathic magic that appears to be operative in Num 21.8–9 with a spiritual conception (a similar interpretation is in Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 3.8).
16.13 Cf. 1 Sam 2.6; Tob 13.2.
16.15–29 The fourth antithesis (see note on 11.1–19.22): the Egyptians are plagued by thunderstorms (Ex 9.13–26), but Israel is fed by manna from heaven (Ex 16; Num 11.7–9).
16.18 At one time. The author appears to assume that the plagues of frogs, flies, gnats, locusts, and hail were simultaneous, thus contradicting the biblical narrative. There is no known parallel to our author’s particular scheme.
16.20 Food of angels reflects the unusual phrase lechem ’abbirim (lit. “bread of the mighty ones”), which in Ps 78.25 is translated by the Septuagint as “bread of angels” (cf. Babylonian Talmud Yoma 75b). Suited to every taste. See Mekilta on Ex 16.23; Babylonian Talmud Yoma 75a.
16.26 An adaptation of Deut 8.3.
16.28 To make it known, another example of the author’s eagerness to uncover the symbolic meaning behind the physical events narrated in scripture; see also note on 10.12. At the dawning of the light. Cf. Babylonian Talmud Berakot 9b; Josephus, War 2.128; Philo, Contemplative Life 89.
WISDOM OF SOLOMON 17
Terror Strikes the Egyptians at Night
1Great are your judgments and hard to describe;
therefore uninstructed souls have gone astray.
2For when lawless people supposed that they held the holy nation in their power,
they themselves lay as captives of darkness and prisoners of long night,
shut in under their roofs, exiles from eternal providence.
3For thinking that in their secret sins they were unobserved
behind a dark curtain of forgetfulness,
they were scattered, terriblya alarmed,
and appalled by specters.
4For not even the inner chamber that held them protected them from fear,
but terrifying sounds rang out around them,
and dismal phantoms with gloomy faces appeared.
5And no power of fire was able to give light,
nor did the brilliant flames of the stars
avail to illumine that hateful night.
6Nothing was shining through to them
except a dreadful, self-kindled fire,
and in terror they deemed the things that they saw
to be worse than that unseen appearance.
7The delusions of their magic art lay humbled,
and their boasted wisdom was scornfully rebuked.
8For those who promised to drive off the fears and disorders of a sick soul
were sick themselves with ridiculous fear.
9For even if nothing disturbing frightened them,
yet, scared by the passing of wild animals and the hissing of snakes
10they perished in trembling fear,
refusing to look even at the air, though it nowhere could be avoided.
11For wickedness is a cowardly thing, condemned by its own testimony;b
distressed by conscience, it has always exaggeratedc the difficulties.
12For fear is nothing but a giving up of the helps that come from reason;
13and hope, defeated by this inward weakness, prefers ignorance of what causes the torment.
14But throughout the night, which was really powerless
and which came upon them from the recesses of powerless Hades,
they all slept the same sleep,
15and now were driven by monstrous specters,
and now were paralyzed by their souls’ surrender;
for sudden and unexpected fear overwhelmed them.
16And whoever was there fell down,
and thus was kept shut up in a prison not made of iron;
17for whether they were farmers or shepherds
or workers who toiled in the wilderness,
they were seized, and endured the inescapable fate;
for with one chain of darkness they all were bound.
18Whether there came a whistling wind,
or a melodious sound of birds in wide-spreading branches,
or the rhythm of violently rushing water,
19or the harsh crash of rocks hurled down,
or the unseen running of leaping animals,
or the sound of the most savage roaring beasts,
or an echo thrown back from a hollow of the mountains,
it paralyzed them with terror.
20For the whole world was illumined with brilliant light,
and went about its work unhindered,
21while over those people alone heavy night was spread,
an image of the darkness that was destined to receive them;
but still heavier than darkness were they to themselves.
Light Shines on the Israelites
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a Other ancient authorities read unobserved, they were darkened behind a dark curtain of forgetfulness, terribly
b Meaning of Gk uncertain
c Other ancient authorities read anticipated
17.1–18.4 The fifth antithesis (see note on 11.1 – 19.22): the Egyptians are terrified by darkness, but the Israelites are led by light from the pillar of fire. The author employs all his rhetorical skill to provide readers with a living impression of the psychological terror occasioned by the plague of darkness (Ex 10.21–23). He deftly moves from the physical contrast between darkness and light to the spiritual one that sees in the Egyptians moral villains obsessed with a bad conscience and in Israel ethical heroes destined to illumine the world with the light of the Torah. He was undoub
tedly influenced by the literary genre of the “descent into Hades.” The rabbis similarly identified the darkness that plagued the Egyptians as coming from Gehenna (Exodus Rabbah 14.2).
17.2 Lawless people, the Egyptians.
17.3 Another example of the principle of talion (see note on Deut 19.19–21): the Egyptians sought to conceal their sins in darkness and were therefore plagued by darkness. Appalled by specters. Cf. Sir 40.5– 7.
17.10 The air, better “the dark haze.” The haze (Greek aer) in which Apollo hides Hector is described in the Iliad (20.446) as thick, and Achilles strikes it three times with his spear.
17.11 Distressed by conscience. The same phrase appears in Testament of Reuben 4.3. The notion of conscience (syneidesis) appears in the writings of the Greek poets and popular moralists, such as Euripides and Menander, and above all in the Epicurean stress on the pangs of conscience suffered by the guilty (Lucretius, On the Nature of Things 3.1018).
17.12 As in much Greek philosophy, fear is understood as an irrational passion.
17.14 From the recesses of powerless Hades. Cf. Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica 4.1694-1700.
17.17 Workers who toiled in the wilderness, better, “troubled laborer in the wilderness.” Egyptian peasants crushed by taxes often withdrew into the desert, where they led the life of outlaws. These flights became especially frequent under the Romans.
WISDOM OF SOLOMON 18
1But for your holy ones there was very great light.
Their enemiesa heard their voices but did not see their forms,
and counted them happy for not having suffered,
2and were thankful that your holy ones,b though previously wronged, were doing them no injury;
and they begged their pardon for having been at variance with them.c
3Therefore you provided a flaming pillar of fire
as a guide for your people’sd unknown journey,
and a harmless sun for their glorious wandering.
4For their enemiese deserved to be deprived of light and imprisoned in darkness,