Chapters 16 – 19
The Book of History

A primary motivation put forth by the author of the Wisdom of Solomon is that righteousness leads to immortality. This, in turn, leads to questions of his definitions of immortality, the soul, and death. The soul, as an immortal entity, is never discussed in the Hebrew bible. There is a Jewish understanding that in the End Days the soul will reunite with the body, in a kind of immortality, but that is found in the Talmud, a later Jewish writing. The concept of soul in Wisdom of Solomon appears to be derived from that of the Greeks. Pythagoras said the soul was of divine origin and existed before and after death. Socrates and Plato also believed in the immortality of the soul, but Aristotle taught only part of the soul – the intellect – is immortal. Paul appeared to teach “resurrection” (perhaps derived from the Persians) rather than an immortal soul. The soul in Wisdom of Solomon appears to be an innate part of the body, not a completely different entity.

The author of Wisdom often referred to one being immortal in the “memory” of God and other humans. So it is not clear that he means the righteous one is immortal in memory “only” or some type of physical or spiritual afterlife as well. Professor Grabbe suggests that, “death (in Wisdom of Solomon) refers to eternal separation from God, the condition of the sinner” … “not the reality of physical death”. “Immortality is not an innate condition of the soul, but God’s gift to the righteous.”

The third major section of the Wisdom of Solomon is often referred to as the Book of History (Chapter 11 – 19). When the Wisdom of Solomon as a whole is viewed as an encomium, the third major section is often described as the Comparison (Chapter 10:1–19:9). The final twenty-three verses of chapter 19 would then be considered the Epilogue and Conclusion. There are seven contrasts interrupted by two digressions in this major section. The first one and a half contrasts were found in chapter eleven.

After two lengthy digressions, the author returned to his second historical contrast which began with Wisdom 11:15–16. The plague of frogs that came up from the Nile as punishment for the Egyptian attempt to kill the Israelite baby boys in the Nile is contrasted with the gift of God to the Israelites in the form of quails from the sea to provide food in the wilderness (Wisdom 16:1–4). As he has done earlier, the author provides no detailed context for the episodes he describes. His audience is quite familiar with the stories of the Torah. He has simply framed them in a manner that highlighted the contrast and symmetry that fits his thesis. There is no need to provide all the details of each of these stories. In this case, the author conveniently skipped over the section where God became angry with the Israelites in response to their craving for the quail (Num 11:30–34).
In the third contrast, Egypt is plagued with locusts and flies, while Israel is saved from poisonous serpents (Wisdom 16:5–6). The serpents bit some of Israel’s people but the Lord saved the rest of them (Wisdom 16:7–14). The fourth contrast began with the plague of storms that destroyed Egypt’s crops by fire and hail (Wisdom 16:15–23). In contrast God gave His people manna raining down from heaven. (Wisdom: 16:24–29). Creation (and Wisdom whose course has been traced to the beginning of creation) served God to feed the righteous while bringing down fire on the crops of the unrighteous.

The fifth contrast was the plague of darkness versus the pillar of fire (Wisdom 17:1–8). All of the classical elements (earth, water, air, and fire) appear somewhere in the contrasts. These four were said to explain the nature of all matter. Aristotle added a fifth (aether) to the classical elements. Egypt and other ancient cultures had similar lists, but earth, air, water and fire would have been familiar to Jews living in the area of Alexandria. We have seen water in the sea and the Nile River as well as rain. Fire plays a role in both the fourth and fifth contrasts. The plague of darkness represents air, since it was caused by a “strange atmosphere”. This episode refers to the period when Moses had been asking Pharaoh to let the Israelites leave Egypt (Ex 10:20–29). The Lord told Moses to raise his hand toward the sky, and an intense darkness fell over the land for three days. The Israelites however had light. The author of Wisdom gives an extended description of the terror felt by the Egyptians when they were unable to see anything (Wisdom 17:10–19). The rest of the world was illuminated while Egypt was in darkness. God provided a pillar of fire that went with the Israelites to provide illumination day and night (Wisdom 17:20–18:4).

The sixth contrast was the plague of the Egyptian firstborn with Israel’s rescue (Wisdom 18:5–9). Only the infant Moses was saved when Egypt tried to kill all of Israel’s babies. In retribution, God killed all of Egypt’s firstborn on the night of Passover. The people of Israel were finally allowed to go free (Wisdom 18:10–19).
After Israel rebelled against God by burning incense, a plague came upon them in the desert and many died. Aaron however, made atonement and put an end to the disaster (Wisdom 18:20–25). God is merciful.

The seventh and final contrast consisted of death and salvation at the Red Sea. Foolishly, the Egyptians pursued the Israelites as they fled Egypt (Wisdom 19:1–5).
When they reached the Red Sea, creation was reengineered as the waters parted to allow the whole nation of Israel to pass through on dry land. Their pursuers, however were stricken with terrible suffering when the waters closed in on them (Wisdom 19: 6–12).

The author infrequently writes directly of wisdom in these contrasts, but he clearly sees Wisdom as the mover of the punishments and gifts in these historical contrasts. Wisdom is tied with creation and the author describes these events not as aberrations, but a refashioning of Creation (Wisdom 19:6). Dianne Bergant (Israel’s Wisdom Literature) points out that the author followed the creation narrative of the priestly tradition (Gen 1:1–2:4a) and even reordered the sequence of these descriptions to follow the creation narrative rather than the book of Exodus.

The author explained how Egypt’s punishment was not without warning. Those punished had many opportunities to repent, but kept up their wicked ways (Wisdom 19:13 – 21). The Wisdom of Solomon concluded with a final doxology in praise of God (Wisdom 19:22). “For in everything, O Lord, you have exalted and glorified your people, and you have not neglected to help them in all times and in all places.”

As pointed out before, the lack of detailed context in the stories from the Torah suggest that the author was writing to a people who were already very familiar with the stories of Genesis, Exodus and Numbers. It appears to have been originally written in Greek. Combined with a style – multiple examples of Hellenistic structure, technique, and form of argument (e.g. sorites) in the writing of the Wisdom of Solomon easily leads one to conclude that it was written to a Jewish audience living within a Greek culture. It has been suggested that it may have been written in Alexandria (Egypt), because the author’s apparent animosity toward Egypt, but it could have been written elsewhere as well.

The book varies from traditional wisdom literature in that it strongly supports one nation (Israel – God’s chosen people) and condemns another (Egypt). While perhaps international in nature, and written nominally to the all the rulers of the world, it is clearly supportive of Jewish people, their laws and culture.

What then, was the author’s motivation for writing this book? What was his objective?

There doesn’t seem to be any single overriding issue that prompted the writing of this book. It is possible that the author was writing to educated Jewish youth who had been attracted to the surrounding Hellenistic culture, including worship of Greek gods. His intent would have been to reinforce the importance of the Jewish tradition. It is also possible that Jews were being driven away from Judaism by discrimination or persecution against Jews. Were this the case, the Wisdom of Solomon might have served as a source of encouragement. In either event, the underlying issue would have been erosion of Jewish values as a result of exposure to non-Jewish culture. The author (Pseudo-Solomon) saw his task as providing arguments common to the Hellenistic culture, but explaining why traditional values are best.

After Moses died, the people of Israel moved across the Jordan and into the Promised Land. Israel’s solution to maintaining its own traditional values in the midst of another culture at that time was to kill the indigenous people (primarily Canaanites) and destroy everything related to their culture (Joshua 9:24, 10:29–40).
As a small minority in the midst of a large Hellenistic culture in Alexandria (or elsewhere in the Diaspora) killing everyone else probably didn’t seem a realistic way to preserve the Jewish tradition and culture. The author of the Wisdom of Solomon needed to find a different fix.

Paul wrote about Jewish tradition, to both Jews and Gentiles living within a Hellenistic culture in his New Testament letters. But Paul was less concerned about maintaining Jewish tradition than he was in spreading a new gospel. He adapted his religion to fit the culture of his audience. Circumcision was no longer necessary. He allowed the Gentiles to eat their own food whether or not it was consistent with Jewish dietary laws. Like Pseudo-Solomon he found new ways to interpret the Hebrew bible that both fit his theology and were perhaps more easily understood in the Hellenistic culture in which he lived and preached.

Editor’s Notes: These recaps are intended to summarize the discussion of the Monday evening study on the Wisdom of Solomon, but do not include every idea expressed in those classes, much less every viewpoint, interpretation or conclusion incorporated in the sources cited below. It is assumed that those who read the summaries are also able to read the text of the Wisdom of Solomon. Therefore I did not always attempt to summarize the text. Those reading the recaps on-line can click on the citations, which will direct them to Biblia.com to find the biblical text being discussed using the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

The Monday evening study and the recaps primarily utilized the commentary from The New Oxford Annotated Apocrypha. Lester Grabbe was the primary contributor for the commentary on Wisdom of Solomon in this book, so largely we saw his opinions and interpretations in this study. Grabbe also wrote the T&T Clark Study on Wisdom of Solomon, which was utilized as well. Israel’s Wisdom Literature, by Dianne Gergant, and The Wisdom Books, translation with commentary by Robert Alter were also utilized.

Summaries, by definition are not complete, accurate depictions of the original. So while, I have attempted to convey the ideas of the source authors, undoubtedly some interpretations or descriptions in these recaps are less clear than ideal, and may not effectively reflect the original author’s intent. Some ideas expressed are those of bible study participants. The recaps are summaries of a church bible study, not intended to be an academic research paper or a theological statement of belief. For complete explanations on specific ideas contained in these recaps, go to the sources listed in the bibliography below.

Charlie Walden

Bibliography:

Primary Source: The New Oxford Annotated Apocrypha, New Revised Standard Version, Fully Revised Fourth Edition) Michael D. Coogan, Editor, Oxford University Press, 2010. Several contributors were involved in the commentary for these books.

Other Sources: Wisdom of Solomon, (T&T Clark Study Guides), by Lester L. Grabbe, T&T Clarke International, 1997

The Wisdom Books, Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes; A Translation with Commentary, by Robert Alter, W. W. Norton & Company, 2010

Israel’s Wisdom Literature: A Liberation-Critical Reading, by Dianne Bergant, Fortress Press, 1997