Wisdom of Solomon 10: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

This chapter traces wisdom's work through a line of unnamed figures: the first-formed father of the world, a man killed by his angry brother, a righteous man whose course was steered by a cheap piece of wood while the earth was flooded, one kept blameless when nations were thrown into confusion, one who fled the fire that fell on the five cities, one who ran from his brother's anger, one who was sold and went down into the dungeon, and a people brought out of a nation that oppressed them. It ends with the crossing of the Red Sea, the drowning of the enemies, and the plunder and praise that followed. Following the prayer for wisdom in chapter 9, it presents wisdom as the one who guarded, guided and rescued each of them.

Claim by Claim

1. 10:1
   • Wisdom preserved the first formed father of the world.
   • The first formed father of the world was created alone.
   • Wisdom brought him out of his own transgression.
2. 10:2
   • Wisdom gave him power to rule all things.
3. 10:3
   • An unrighteous man went away from wisdom in his anger.
   • The unrighteous man murdered his brother.
   • The unrighteous man perished in the fury with which he murdered his brother.
4. 10:4
   • The earth was drowned with a flood on account of the unrighteous man.
   • Wisdom again preserved the earth.
   • Wisdom directed the course of the righteous man by a piece of wood of small value.
5. 10:5
   • The nations were confounded in their wicked conspiracy.
   • Wisdom found out the righteous man.
   • Wisdom preserved him blameless unto God.
   • Wisdom kept him strong against his tender compassion toward his son.
6. 10:6
   • The ungodly perished.
   • Wisdom delivered the righteous man.
   • The righteous man fled from the fire which fell down upon the five cities.
7. 10:7
   • The waste land that smokes remains to this day as a testimony of that wickedness.
   • There are plants bearing fruit that never comes to ripeness.
   • A standing pillar of salt is a monument of an unbelieving soul.
8. 10:8
   • They passed wisdom by.
   • Because they disregarded wisdom, they were harmed by not knowing the things which were good.
   • They also left behind them to the world a memorial of their foolishness.
   • The memorial was left so that they could not be hidden in the things wherein they offended.
9. 10:9
   • Wisdom delivered from pain those who attended upon her.
10. 10:10
    • A righteous man fled from his brother's wrath.
    • Wisdom guided him in straight paths.
    • Wisdom showed him the kingdom of God.
    • Wisdom gave him knowledge of holy things.
    • Wisdom made him prosper in his labours.
    • Wisdom multiplied the fruit of his labours.
11. 10:11
    • Those who oppressed him acted out of covetousness.
    • Wisdom stood by him.
    • Wisdom made him rich.
12. 10:12
    • Wisdom defended him from his enemies.
    • Wisdom kept him safe from those that lay in wait.
    • Wisdom gave him the victory in a hard conflict.
    • The purpose was that he might know that godliness is stronger than all.
13. 10:13
    • The righteous man was sold.
    • Wisdom did not forsake him.
    • Wisdom delivered him from sin.
    • Wisdom went down with him into the pit.
14. 10:14
    • Wisdom did not leave him in bonds.
    • Wisdom remained with him until she brought him the sceptre of the kingdom.
    • Wisdom brought him power over those that oppressed him.
    • Wisdom showed those who had accused him to be liars.
    • Wisdom gave him perpetual glory.
15. 10:15
    • Wisdom delivered a holy people and a blameless seed.
    • The people were delivered from a nation that oppressed them.
16. 10:16
    • Wisdom entered into the soul of the servant of the Lord.
    • Wisdom withstood dreadful kings with wonders and signs.
17. 10:17
    • Wisdom rendered to the holy ones a reward of their labours.
    • Wisdom guided them in a marvellous way.
    • Wisdom was to them a covering by day.
    • Wisdom was to them a flame of stars in the night.
18. 10:18
    • Wisdom brought them through the Red sea.
    • Wisdom led them through much water.
19. 10:19
    • Wisdom drowned their enemies.
    • Wisdom cast the enemies up out of the bottom of the deep.
20. 10:20
    • Therefore the righteous plundered the ungodly.
    • The righteous praised the Lord's holy name.
    • The righteous magnified with one accord the Lord's hand that fought for them.
21. 10:21
    • Wisdom opened the mouth of the dumb.
    • Wisdom made the tongues of infants speak clearly.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

10:1

This chapter retells the book of Genesis and the start of Exodus without naming a single person. Each figure is identified only by a description, and the original readers were expected to recognize them. "She" throughout is Wisdom, spoken of as a woman because the Greek word for wisdom, sophia, is a feminine noun. The "first formed father of the world" is Adam, called "created alone" because he was made before there was any other human being; his "fall" is his eating of the forbidden fruit in Genesis 3.

10:2

A reference to Genesis 1:28, where the first humans are told to rule over the fish, the birds and every living thing that moves on the earth.

10:3

Cain, who killed his brother Abel in Genesis 4. The line packs two deaths together: the anger that made him a murderer is also the thing that destroyed him.

10:4

Noah and the flood of Genesis 6 to 8. The "piece of wood of small value" is the ark. The Greek word is deliberately dismissive, a cheap plank or a bit of timber, setting a flimsy wooden box against a whole drowned world.

10:5

Two stories in one sentence. The "nations in their wicked conspiracy being confounded" is the tower of Babel in Genesis 11, where a single human project was broken up by the confusing of languages. The "righteous" man found in the middle of it is Abraham. The last clause refers to Genesis 22, where Abraham is told to sacrifice his son Isaac: "kept him strong against his tender compassion toward his son" means wisdom held him steady against his own father's feelings.

10:6

Lot, escaping the destruction of Sodom in Genesis 19. The "five cities" are the five towns of the plain listed in Genesis 14:2: Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim and Zoar.

10:7

The region south of the Dead Sea, still barren and sulfurous in the author's day, was pointed to as physical evidence of the story. The fruit "that never come to ripeness" refers to a plant of that area, described by ancient writers as looking edible but collapsing into ash and smoke when touched. The "standing pillar of salt" is Lot's wife, who in Genesis 19:26 looked back at the burning cities and became a pillar of salt; the Dead Sea shore has salt formations that were shown to travelers as the pillar itself.

10:8

"Gat" is simply the old past tense of get: they got this harm. "The things wherein they offended" uses offend in its older sense of stumbling or tripping, not of giving insult. The point of the sentence is that their punishment is a landmark, so the place where they went wrong is permanently on display.

10:9

"Attended upon her" means served her and stayed close to her, the way a servant waits on a household.

10:10

Jacob, who fled to Haran to escape his brother Esau's anger after stealing his blessing, in Genesis 27 to 28. "Shewed him the kingdom of God" points to the dream at Bethel in Genesis 28:12, where Jacob saw a stairway reaching to heaven with angels on it. "Made him rich in his travels" covers his twenty years working for Laban, from which he came away with large flocks.

10:11

Laban, Jacob's father-in-law and employer, who according to Genesis 31:7 changed Jacob's wages ten times.

10:12

The night-long wrestling match at the ford of the Jabbok in Genesis 32:24 to 30. The Greek does not quite say she gave him the victory: it says she acted as the umpire or judge of the contest, the official at the games who watches the match and awards the prize. "Goodness" here translates a Greek word meaning reverence toward God, piety, rather than general moral decency.

10:13

Joseph, sold by his brothers to traders in Genesis 37. "Delivered him from sin" refers to Genesis 39, where he refused Potiphar's wife. "The pit" is the Egyptian prison he was thrown into on her false accusation; the Greek word means a cistern or underground hole, and the same word covers the dry well his brothers first threw him into.

10:14

A scepter is the ornamented staff a king carries, and "the sceptre of the kingdom" stands for royal authority itself. Joseph was released from prison and made second in command over Egypt in Genesis 41. "Them that had accused him" is Potiphar's wife and her charge against him.

10:15

The people of Israel, and "the nation that oppressed them" is Egypt. "Seed" is the standard older English word for offspring or descendants.

10:16

Moses. "Servant of the Lord" is his fixed title in the Hebrew scriptures. The "dreadful kings" means kings who inspired dread, terrifying rulers, not kings who were awful at their jobs; the plural is a rhetorical broadening of the single Pharaoh of Exodus. "Wonders and signs" are the plagues of Exodus 7 to 12.

10:17

"A reward of their labours" refers to Exodus 12:35 to 36, where the departing Israelites asked the Egyptians for silver, gold and clothing and were given it; the author reads this as back wages for generations of forced labor. The covering by day and the starry flame by night are the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire of Exodus 13:21. "Night season" is just an older way of saying nighttime.

10:18

The crossing of Exodus 14. The Hebrew name of the water, yam suph, means sea of reeds; Red Sea comes from the ancient Greek translation, which is the version this book was written in.

10:19

Exodus 14:30 says the Israelites saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. The corpses being thrown back up out of the water matters because the drowned who were never recovered were thought to be denied proper burial; here the sea gives them back.

10:20

"Spoiled" here means plundered, stripped of goods, with no sense of ruining. "Thine hand" is a standard idiom for someone's power in action. This is the first point in the chapter where the author stops describing and speaks directly to God, and the singing alluded to is the Song of the Sea in Exodus 15.

10:21

"Dumb" in 1611 English meant unable to speak, with no suggestion of stupidity. The Greek behind "them that cannot speak" is the word for infants or small children. The verse can be heard two ways at once, and the Greek supports both: it recalls Moses protesting in Exodus 4:10 that he was slow of speech, and it describes the whole rescued people, ordinary and untrained, suddenly singing the Song of the Sea in one voice.