On the Wisdom of Solomon, Part 7: The End of the Wicked

On the Wisdom of Solomon, Part 7: The End of the Wicked

In our last presentation, In the Hand of God, which was our commentary on the first part of Wisdom chapter 3, we had already begun to speak of the end of the wicked in comparison with the fate of the righteous, where we had cited certain of the Psalms of David that address these same subjects which we see being treated at length by Solomon here. But where we allude to the end of the wicked, we do not mean to state that men of the Adamic race who lived wicked lives will cease to exist, or be destroyed in the figurative Lake of Fire. Rather, the end of a man can refer to his destiny in other ways.

In Wisdom chapter 4, for example, Solomon wrote of the wicked as being “a reproach among the dead for evermore”, and then described them as being called to account for their sins. This evokes a passage in Daniel chapter 12 which we have also already cited, where the prophet describes a resurrection to shame and everlasting contempt, which shall apparently be suffered by certain wicked men. In any event, reproach for evermore and everlasting contempt indicate an eternal existence even if it is a miserable existence when compared to what has been promised to the righteous. As we have seen, the Adamic spirit was created in the image of the eternity of Yahweh God, and God cannot fail.

So after describing the righteous, who only appear to die but who are in the hand of God after they pass from this world, the Wisdom of Solomon once again turns its attention to the wicked, and describes some of the inevitable results of their wickedness:

10 But the ungodly shall be punished according to their own imaginations, which have neglected the righteous, and forsaken the Lord.

Even the “angels that sinned” were at one time with Yahweh, as it is described in Revelation chapter 12, so they and their children can in that way be described as having “forsaken the Lord”. Jude uses anachronisms to describe their sin where he said in his epistle “Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.” While in Numbers chapter 16 Korah sought to challenge the order of the kingdom arranged by Yahweh, it is evident that Cain was a bastard that killed his brother because his sacrifice was rejected, challenging that same order which had approved of Abel. But it was Balaam who had encouraged Balak the king of Moab to overcome the children of Israel by seducing them to take his women, which is revealed in chapter 2 of the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, leading them to commit fornication. Therefore by Jude’s use of these anachronisms in reference to the much earlier rebellion of the “angels that sinned” we can understand the nature of their sin, that they corrupted the Creation of God, as their children do to this very day.

Here, the wicked are described as having neglected the righteous, so it is apparent that the wicked men which Solomon is describing are men of his own race who have turned their backs on their own kind. This is in keeping with his declaration at the end of chapter 2 of Wisdom, that “24 Nevertheless through envy of the devil came death into the world: and they that do hold of his side do find it.” As we proceed with this chapter, we shall better see how the wicked find such death.

Yet neglecting the righteous is also what the goat nations are accused of having done, by Christ Himself in His parable of the sheep and the goats which was recorded in Matthew chapter 25. Giving His reason why it is that all of the goats are destined for the Lake of Fire, Christ said “40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. 41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” These are entire nations, they are not mere individuals among nations, to whom Christ had referred.

Because the goats have no care for the people of God, they earn their destiny in the Lake of Fire. It is not that they were ever worthy of the Kingdom of Heaven, because they are goats and not sheep, but rather, their fruits are a result of their own intrinsic character, and Christ Himself had told us frequently in His gospel that men both wicked and righteous would be known by their fruits. Thus we see here in Wisdom:

11 For whoso despiseth wisdom and nurture, he is miserable, and their hope is vain, their labours unfruitful [literally useless], and their works unprofitable [literally worthless]: 12 Their wives are foolish, and their children wicked: 13 Their offspring is cursed.

So a man who is impious and has forsaken his own people, the righteous, makes a foolish choice of a wife and therefore his children are bastards. The wife must be foolish in that manner because of the result which is described. The word which is translated as offspring is γένεσις, which can only refer to their origin, and not to their progeny. Therefore we must conjecture the thought that where the wives of the ungodly are said to be foolish, it is because their choice of wives is foolish. In Proverbs chapter 9, the woman who is an adulteress is considered foolish, as well as the man who entertains her. So the ungodly man making a foolish choice when finding a wife, the children are wicked because their origin is cursed.

This we also see in the words of Christ as they are recorded in Matthew chapter 12, where speaking of the unforgivable sin, which we esteem to be race-mixing fornication, He said “ 33 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.” Likewise, comparing men to trees in Matthew chapter 7, He said “16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.”

In our commentary on the earlier portion of this chapter, we have already explained that seeing one’s children being given over to those of other races is a punishment for sin. This is found in Deuteronomy chapter 28: “32 Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people, and thine eyes shall look, and fail with longing for them all the day long: and there shall be no might in thine hand.” So Solomon is warning of this same thing in Wisdom, that when a man turns his back on the righteous, this process of punishment is invoked.

The only way that a man can “make the tree good” is to marry a woman of his own race, otherwise one’s offspring are cursed, and thus we next see here in Wisdom chapter 3, in the rest of verse 13:

Wherefore blessed is the barren that is undefiled, which hath not known the sinful bed: she shall have fruit in the visitation of souls.

Where it says “visitation of souls”, or lives, it seems to be a reference to the judgment of the works of men. The phrase “which hath not known the sinful bed” is more literally “who has not known a bed in transgression”, the word κοίτη in that sense referring to the marriage bed, as it was also used in Greek literature. Paul of Tarsus used the same word in Hebrews chapter 13 where he said “4 Marriage is valuable in every way, likewise the undefiled bed: Yahweh will judge fornicators and adulterers.” Paul was teaching precisely what Solomon is explaining here. Making this analogy, Solomon further elucidates what he had meant in the preceding verses, that the ungodly man who turns his back on the righteous will ultimately follow the way of the devil and find death by marrying outside of his own race, and Paul of Tarsus was also referring to that same thing, relating a defiled bed to fornicators as well as to adulterers, he was referring to race-mixers as well as the unfaithful in marriage.

Blessed is the barren: In the Old Testament, it was a disgrace for a woman to go to old age childless, of which we see an example in the wife of Manoah, the mother of Samson, in Judges chapter 13, and again in Elisabeth, the mother of John the baptist, in Luke chapter 1. Another example is in the quest of Tamar to assure herself a son from Judah, as she was faithful and belonged to his house. But here Solomon explains that it is better for a woman to be barren, and to remain childless, rather than to enter into a sinful relationship, which would be either adultery or fornication. So for her chastity she shall be much more greatly rewarded. Now he says the same of men:

14 And blessed is the eunuch, which with his hands hath wrought no iniquity, nor imagined wicked things against God: for unto him shall be given the special gift of faith, and an inheritance in the temple of the Lord more acceptable to his mind.

Blessed is the eunuch: Like the barren woman, the label eunuch is also a metaphor here, where it describes a man who should have no children rather than marry an alien unlawfully, and in that sense he would be no better than a eunuch, yet for his chastity he shall be rewarded. Once again, Yahshua Christ Himself used that same analogy where He said, in Matthew chapter 19: “12 For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.” So it is better to be childless, than to be a father of bastards, and for that to be without reward in the Kingdom of Yahweh.

Solomon now declares of the woman who remained childless, and of the man who would be as a eunuch for the kingdom of heaven’s sake:

15 For glorious is the fruit of good labours: and the root of wisdom shall never fall away.

The word for wisdom here, φρόνησις, is better translated as understanding. The root of understanding is the law, since Solomon refers to wisdom as coming from God, and therefore the fruit of good labors in this context is to have children lawfully, through legitimate marriage, or to remain chaste and not have children at all. That is made fully evident in the next verse where it explains the condemnation of the children of adulterers. So, as we had cited from the words of Christ, to make the tree good is to marry within one’s own race, and thereby one shall bear good fruit, as good works are done within the law.

Adam himself had declared the lawful marriage, where he could find no suitable wife among the beasts, so when Yahweh created a wife for him, as it is recorded in Genesis chapter 2, he said “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” However Eve was seduced in spite of Adam’s declaration, and cuaght up in an unlawful union of her own as death came into the world for envy of the devil.

So in keeping with this, Solomon now declares:

16 As for the children of adulterers, they shall not come to their perfection, and the seed of an unrighteous bed shall be rooted out.

Where it says “they shall not come to their perfection”, the phrase ἀτέλεστα ἔσται may better have been translated “it shall be that they are without purpose”, as bastards ultimately have no place in the congregation of Yahweh. This is why Cain could do no good. This is why his sacrifice was rejected. This is why, when Yahweh God challenged him to do good, Yahweh told him that if he failed it was because “sin lieth at the door”. This is why Cain, when he was so challenged, failed immediately and went and killed his brother.

The word adultery and its variants can describe those who confuse the bloodline through sexual relations with the husbands or wives of their neighbors, but it can also refer to race-mixing. Here the word for adultery is μοιχός, a noun, and that word and the corresponding verb μοιχεύω are used throughout the New Testament to describe the act of adultery. They are related to a word which means to mix, which is μίγνυμι. In his History of Animals, in Book 10, the Greek philosopher Aristotle used both verbs, μίγνυμι and μοιχεύω, to say that “other kinds are mixed and crossed with each other”, where he was writing in reference to birds. So we see that μοιχεύω, to commit adultery, does indeed also mean to adulterate the blood by race-mixing. The Greek historian and geographer, Strabo of Cappadocia, also used the word μοιχός to describe race-mixers, twice in Book 16 of his Geography (16.4.25), where he stated that among certain tribes the penalty for an adulterer is death, but among them only the person of the other race is considered to be the adulterer.

So while we have an assurance that all of the bastards shall indeed be rooted out, sometimes it seems as though it will never happen:

17 For though they live long, yet shall they be nothing regarded: and their last age shall be without honour.

We would translate the last clause to read “and without honor at the ends of their old age.” The wicked may appear to live long and prosper, but in the end it is all for nought. It is a struggle for the righteous, to see the wicked live long and prosper, but we have an assurance that they will not succeed in their wickedness, and that they will see the punishment which they are due. Job had struggled with this phenomenon, where we read in Job chapter 21: “7 Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? 8 Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes. 9 Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.” That certainly describes the Jews and all of the enemies of Christ today.

But then as Job continues later in that chapter: “14 Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. 15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him? 16 Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me. 17 How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger. 18 They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away. 19 God layeth up his iniquity [the iniquity of the wicked] for his children [the children of the wicked]: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it. 20 His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty. ”

We also read of this same phenomenon, that the wicked seem to prosper, in Jeremiah chapter 5: “26 For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. 27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich. 28 They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge. 29 Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this? ” Then again in Jeremiah chapter 12: “1 Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously? ” Yet ultimately Yahweh shall destroy them all.

However not all of the wicked have such good fortune in this life, so Solomon says:

18 Or, if they die quickly, they have no hope, neither comfort in the day of trial.

The word for trial is διάγνωσις, and may better have been rendered decision, where Solomon suggests that upon the death of the wicked, Yahweh God dispenses His judgment against them. Or perhaps he is telling us that the death of the wicked is their judgment, especially if they are bastards, because beyond this world they have no place where they could go. So whether they live long or die young, the result is the same in the end:

19 For horrible is the end of the unrighteous generation.

The word for generation is γενεά, and properly it means race. In the context here, of men born in adultery, it certainly means race, especially where Solomon had also spoken in reference to their γένεσις, which is their origin. The word for horrible is χαλεπός, which is hard or difficult, and the word for end is a plural form of τέλος, which can also mean conclusion, outcome, or even termination. Perhaps we would translate this passage to say “For hard is the termination of the unrighteous race.” It will be difficult for them, but not for Yahweh our God.

Now we shall proceed with chapter 4 of Wisdom, as the subject does not yet change, and as Solomon repeats something he has already said of the barren woman and the eunuch, so the verses which follow are a form of parallelism, repeating the concepts of the verses which we have just presented:

Wisdom 4:1 Better it is to have no children, and to have virtue: for the memorial thereof is immortal: because it is known with God, and with men. 

As we shall see in verse 3 of this chapter, the virtue in having no children is contrasted to multiplying the brood of the ungodly and having bastard slips. So virtue is keeping the law and refraining from marriage if a suitable husband or wife cannot be found. For that men and women are rewarded, so speaking of virtue, Solomon continues:

2 When it is present, men take example at it; and when it is gone, they desire it: it weareth a crown, and triumpheth for ever, having gotten the victory, striving for undefiled rewards.

This reference to the crown of virtue is an allegory for the reward of the righteous described as a crown of victory, and the language might be perceived as a Hellenism, as Paul of Tarsus also used the same figure where he wrote of the reward for Christian virtue in 1 Corinthians chapter 9 and said: “24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. 25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. 26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: 27 But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”

The meaning of verse 2 is even closer to the meaning of Paul’s allegory as we would translate it, as it refers to virtue: “Being present, they imitate it and desire it when it is gone, and forever wearing a crown, prevailing it leads the contest of the undefiled in the struggle.” Both Paul and Solomon were referring to the same contest, our struggle against sin and survival through the daily consequences of life.

But this figurative use of the word crown is not a Hellenism, as the concept is older than any of the Classical Greek writers, since it also appears elsewhere in the writings of Solomon, in Proverbs chapter 14 where he said “24 The crown of the wise is their riches [which is not a reference to earthly riches]: but the foolishness of fools is folly.” As for the virtue of raising faithful children, he wrote in Proverbs chapter 17 that “6 Children's children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers.”

Now here in Wisdom, he writes in contrast to virtue and says:

3 But the multiplying brood of the ungodly shall not thrive [or be useful], nor take deep rooting from bastard slips, nor lay any fast foundation.

The relationship of race, racial origins, and bastards to the ungodly who had turned their backs on the righteous cannot be overlooked. The meanings of the references to the sinful bed in relation to the preference of chastity over race-mixing is plain. The consequences of multiplying the brood of the ungodly by planting bastard slips, which are children of mixed race, are clearly elucidated. These things are expressed throughout the Old Testament, and even in the law. But often they are explained in the poetic language of prophecy which is easy to misinterpret, and especially if the misinterpretations are purposeful. These things are also explained in the Revelation of Yahshua Christ and in the letters of Paul, Peter and Jude, yet down through the ages Church philosophers have avoided the true and plain meanings of the words of Scripture.

But here those true meanings are expressed in terms which cannot be ignored or glossed over by the Church philosophers. The Gnostics and Neoplatonists in the Church cannot get away with their ridiculous claims about “spiritual sperm” here in the Wisdom of Solomon. So now it may truly be evident as to why the Wisdom of Solomon was embraced by the Christian Church elders of the first century, but it was rejected by the time that the universal church began to form in the fourth century, as we had explained in the opening portions of this commentary. It should also be clear just why it has always been rejected, and even despised by the Jews.

The multiplying brood of the ungodly: The Greek word translated as multiplying brood is πολύγονος, an adjective which means producing many at a birth, prolific. Literally, it is a compound word meaning many-born, the word πολύς meaning many, as we have borrowed the prefix poly into English, and γόνος meaning that which is begotten, a child or offspring. So while any man may act impiously, the ungodly to whom Solomon refers here are born that way. Therefore he also describes them as:

Bastard slips: In Isaiah chapter 17 a punishment is pronounced upon the ancient children of Israel: “10 Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength, therefore shalt thou plant pleasant plants, and shalt set it with strange slips.” Because they forsook their God, they would have children whom Yahweh would not recognize.

But later, in Jeremiah chapter 2, of the sins of Israel, we read: “20 For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot. 21 Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?” Turning to the worship of Baal, the children of Israel had been race-mixing with the Canaanites, and that truth becomes evident as Jeremiah proceeds and says: “22 For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD. 23 How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim?…” The sin which cannot be washed must be the unforgivable sin, which is fornication in race-mixing. So Jeremiah had lamented in that same chapter: “13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” Jude had similarly described the angels that sinned as clouds without water, having not the spirit of God.

Ezekiel, a contemporary of Jeremiah, illustrates this sin more clearly where in chapter 16 of his prophecy it speaks of Jerusalem and he wrote: “2 Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, 3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite.” So with Ezekiel we may also understand the nature of the sin described in Jeremiah.

The reason for the deportations of Israel and Judah was to separate them from the bastard slips which they had planted, as it is in Amos chapter 9: “8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the LORD. 9 For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. 10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.” Where in verse 7 of that chapter of Amos the children of Israel were compared to the Ethiopians, whom Yahweh had given up to His enemy’s on their behalf (Isaiah 43:3) the message of Amos is unmistakable. Yahweh would punish Israel so they would not become bastards, as the Ethiopians had become overrun and mixed with Nubians.

In Jeremiah chapter 13 we read “23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil.” This is a call to Israel to cease from sin, lest they end up as the Ethiopians. The passage being a Hebrew parallelism, the skin of the Ethiopians of Jeremiah’s time was already as the coat of a leopard: part White and part Black, and the mongrel Ethiopian could not change his predicament. What happened to Ethiopia, and also to Egypt, was prophesied much earlier, in Isaiah chapter 43: “3 For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.” This process had already begun when Isaiah had written those words, and was on its way to completion when Jeremiah recorded what had been given to him. Yahweh gave up Ethiopia, Egypt and Sheba by allowing those nations to be overrun by Negroes. So what we see happening now in America and Europe, we should understand as a punishment for sin, yet Yahweh will not allow Jacob to be destroyed completely, and one day He shall visit the wicked.

A nation built on bastards shall not endure, so Solomon wrote further:

4 For though they flourish in branches for a time; yet standing not last, they shall be shaken with the wind, and through the force of winds they shall be rooted out.

Where it says “yet standing not last”, we would understand the Greek to read “standing unsafely”, where they would be shaken easily by the winds.

Once again Yahshua Christ was referring to races of men, and He said in reference to His enemies, as it is recorded in Luke chapter 6: “43 For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 44 For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. 45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. 46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? 47 Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: 48 He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. 49 But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.”

As for the bastard slips, Christ had spoken in Matthew chapter 15 and said: “Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.” In John chapter 15, He spoke to His disciples and said “ 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” But abiding in Christ is to keep His commandments, as He revealed later in that chapter: “10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.”

One of those commandments is not to commit adultery, which as we have explained, also includes race-mixing. If one of the ten commandments which we are given demands that we do not covet our neighbor’s wife, then the commandment not to commit adultery means something other than that, but in the New Testament that sort of adultery was usually described as fornication. Jude explained that fornication is the pursuit of strange flesh, and Paul used the word to describe the race-mixing which occurred with the daughters of Moab after the Exodus, warning the Corinthians not to commit such fornication in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. The Churches and their Gnostic and Neoplatonic philosophers have redefined fornication for themselves in spite of its clear meaning in these Scriptures.

But the language of the Wisdom of Solomon, very similar to that of Paul of Tarsus and of Yahshua Christ in His gospel, is also much more explicit in its meaning so that it cannot be mistaken, as Solomon is teaching the same doctrines as Christ and as Paul in respect to race-mixing fornication.

We also saw in the words of Christ that the warning of Solomon shall stand, where he next says:

5 The imperfect branches shall be broken off, their fruit unprofitable, not ripe to eat, yea, meet for nothing.

The word for imperfect is ἀτέλεστος, which is more literally without end or issue, to no purpose, without effect, and that also describes the fate of the bastards, the goat nations, and the “angels that sinned” which according to Jude are “trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit” and “twice dead”. Their lives have no issue at the end, as they cannot see the Kingdom of Heaven, not having the Spirit with which the Adamic man had been endowed, that image of Yahweh’s eternity. Here we also see allusions to men and their offspring as trees and fruit, which is common in the Gospel of Christ and also appears often in the Old Testament. So in the words of Moses in Deuteronomy chapter 32, he describes the enemies of ancient Israel: “32 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter: 33 Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.”

If a man keeps not the commandments of Christ, which are found in the Old Testament laws of Yahweh, then he is a branch broken off and burned in the fire, meaning that all of his bastard offspring shall be forever destroyed. Christ Himself explained this in different ways in Revelation chapter 2, first in a warning to the church at Pergamos, where, like Paul in 1 Corinthians, He also alludes to the events of Numbers chapter 24: “14 But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.” We can be certain of what is meant by fornication as in Numbers chapter 24 the men of Israel had joined themselves to the daughters of Moab.

Then, in that same chapter of the Revelation, Christ makes the same warning to the church at Thyatira, but in a different way, speaking about the idolatry of Baal worship which Jezebel had favored: “20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. 21 And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.” As Christ proceeds he announces her punishment, and the punishment of those who follow her: “22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. 23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.” So ultimately, all of the bastards shall be destroyed, and all of the assemblies of God shall understand what had happened when they are destroyed.

Now Solomon warns even further:

6 For children begotten of unlawful [literally lawless] beds are witnesses of wickedness against their parents in their trial [or examination, scrutiny or review].

The fact that one gave birth to bastards, or had sired bastards, is itself a witness against his impiety and his sin. There is no escaping it. Esau had engaged in that same sin, so Paul explained in Hebrews chapter 12: “15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; [bitterness was an idiom in ancient Hebrew for rebellion, the two concepts being described in the same term, mara] 16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. 17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. ” Esau did not seek repentance with tears, but only the birthright which he lost. He never really repented since once he saw that his Hittite wives displeased his father, rather than consulting his father he went and took an Ishmaelite wife, so he failed once again. So Esau actually despised his birthright because he was a fornicator, and his mother made sure that he did not get it, grieving that her heart was troubled because Esau had married women of the Hittites. If one has no care for his birthright, and rebels against God, the brood of bastards which he raises shall stand as a witness in the last days, just as all through time the Edomites in their actions have served as a testimony against the deeds of Esau.

In the Judaea of Paul’s time, many of the Judaeans had already been intermarrying with the converted Edomites for nearly two hundred years. So Paul warned in that same chapter of Hebrews, for which reason he then mentioned Esau: “7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.” But Paul had prayed they repent, as he had explained in Romans chapter 9 and the subsequent chapters of that epistle where he continued to allude to them.

In another writing by Solomon, we read in the 127th Psalm, which is credited to him: “1 Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. 2 It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep. 3 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. 4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. 5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.” That last verse infers that the children of the righteous shall turn away their enemies by their righteousness. But if a house is not built according to the laws of Yahweh, then He cannot be credited with having built it, and as Solomon said here, “the imperfect branches shall be broken off”, just as Paul used that same analogy in Romans chapter 12 to describe those Israelites in Judaea who had joined the priests in their rejection of Christ. They turned their backs on the Righteous One, and for that they were destroyed, or they became race-mixed with the Edomite Jews, so that their offspring are bastards. That is the end of the wicked.

When we return to the Wisdom of Solomon, he once again turns to discuss the righteous.