March 2021

On the Wisdom of Solomon, Part 26: The Dark of Night

In our last presentation in this commentary on Wisdom, presenting chapter 16, we discussed Solomon’s narrative as a Tale of Two Torments, wherein he made continual analogies which compare the punishment of the Egyptians for their destruction to the frequent punishments of the children of Israel for their correction. Solomon having done this, there must be something of substance to these comparisons which the ancient Israelites of his own time, who were much closer to the actual history of the post-Exodus period, could have understood and from which they could have learned.

In the centuries before and during the approximately 200 years that the children of Israel were in Egypt, it was a great empire which exerted its control or influence far beyond its own borders, and also held subject many of the city-states of the Levant as vassals. But from the time of pharaoh Thutmose III, which is when the Exodus had occurred, to the time of Akhenaten not even a hundred years later, Egypt had rather quickly decreased in power to the point where, as the Amarna Letters fully reflect, it would not even care to defend its vassal states in Palestine against the invading Hebrews.

On the Wisdom of Solomon, Part 25: A Tale of Two Torments

One thing which we find most striking in Solomon’s descriptions of the origins and practice of idolatry here in Wisdom is that the general patterns of behavior which lead to idolatry do not change, and they have not changed even over the last three thousand years. In ancient times men, worshipping the works of their own hands, had created idols which they said to be gods. Then whether they were artificers seeking to make more money from their craft or whether they pretended to be priests of some god, for their own profit they deceived others into worshipping their idols while offering them vain hope in a dead object. Of course a third way is the idolatry of kings, who compelled men by threat of force to worship idols of their choosing.

So today men worship commercial icons such as Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, or perhaps some sports figures who endorse certain products. Men worship these idols by going out and engaging in commerce on account of those images which were created by others for the sake of their own profit. At the same time they teach their children to worship those images through the anticipation that they may receive things from them, and when the children find that they are not real, or that they are only mere men who often fail to live up to their expectations, and who cannot really do much beyond playing a game anyway, the children may wonder why their parents taught them lies.

On the Wisdom of Solomon, Part 24: The Root of All Evil

As we had noted in the first portion of our commentary on Wisdom chapter 15, when Solomon began his discourse on the subject of idolatry he used the example of a woodworker who in his spare time had made an idol from leftover and otherwise useless wood, and the result of his leisure was that he began to worship the works of his own hands. Now where we had left off in this chapter, Solomon had made a similar analogy of a potter, who purposely and deceitfully crafted and painted images of false gods for men to worship. As a result, men who worship the gods which are made in their own image, or in the images of other men, are led astray into all sorts of other sins which are much more grievous, and ultimately they are led to their own destruction.

So we had also noted that the will to commit idolatry is rooted in pride and arrogance, even when the motive is profit, but that true humility is a willingness to be obedient to God. So even before we began our commentary on chapter 15 of Wisdom, we had concluded that “… forsaking Yahweh we cannot help but sin, and we sin arrogantly as we have purposely forsaken God.” But now as we proceed with Wisdom chapter 15, we may see that even Solomon understood the Christian concept of humility which the apostles had also taught, which is to acknowledge one’s sin and seek forgiveness without imagining that one may escape the judgments of God.”