Wisdom of Solomon 2: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

The writer quotes the reasoning of the ungodly, which he calls unsound: life is short, death is final and no one returns, so they say they should take their fill of pleasure, oppress the poor righteous man, the widow and the old, and make their own strength the standard of what is right. They then plot against the righteous man, who claims to know God and calls himself a child of the Lord, and decide to test his claims with insult, torture and a shameful death to see whether God will rescue him. The writer answers that they were led astray, blinded by their own wickedness, and did not know God's hidden things or the reward kept for blameless souls. He closes by saying God created man to live forever as an image of his own eternal being, and that death came into the world through the envy of the devil.

Claim by Claim

1. 2:1
   • The ungodly said something among themselves.
   • Their reasoning was not right.
   • They said their life is short.
   • They said their life is full of sorrow.
   • They said there is no remedy when a man dies.
   • They said no one was known to have returned from the grave.
2. 2:2
   • They said they were born by chance.
   • They said that afterward they will be as though they had never existed.
   • They said the breath in their nostrils is smoke.
   • They said reason is a spark kindled by the movement of their heart.
3. 2:3
   • They said that when that spark is extinguished the body will turn to ashes.
   • They said the spirit will disperse like thin air.
4. 2:4
   • They said their name will be forgotten in time.
   • They said no one will remember their works.
   • They said their life will pass away like the trace of a cloud.
   • They said their life will be scattered like a mist driven away by the rays of the sun.
   • They said the mist is overcome by the sun's heat.
5. 2:5
   • They said their lifetime is the passing of a shadow.
   • They said there is no return from their end.
   • They said their end is sealed fast.
   • They said no one comes back.
6. 2:6
   • They called on one another to come and enjoy the good things that are present.
   • They called on one another to use the creation eagerly as in youth.
7. 2:7
   • They called on one another to fill themselves with costly wine.
   • They called on one another to fill themselves with ointments.
   • They said no spring flower should pass them by.
8. 2:8
   • They called on one another to crown themselves with rosebuds.
   • They said to do so before the rosebuds wither.
9. 2:9
   • They said none of them should go without a share of their revelry.
   • They said to leave tokens of their mirth in every place.
   • They said this is their portion.
   • They said this is their lot.
10. 2:10
    • They called on one another to oppress the poor righteous man.
    • They said not to spare the widow.
    • They said not to show respect for the gray hairs of the aged man.
11. 2:11
    • They said their strength should be the law of justice.
    • They said what is weak is shown to be worthless.
12. 2:12
    • They called on one another to lie in wait for the righteous man.
    • They said he is not useful to them.
    • They said he is contrary to their works.
    • They said he reproaches them for offenses against the law.
    • They said he charges them with sins against their upbringing.
13. 2:13
    • They said he professes to have knowledge of God.
    • They said he calls himself a child of the Lord.
14. 2:14
    • They said he became to them a rebuke of their thoughts.
15. 2:15
    • They said he is burdensome to them even to look at.
    • They said his life is unlike that of other men.
    • They said his paths are different.
16. 2:16
    • They said he regards them as counterfeit.
    • They said he keeps away from their ways as from uncleanness.
    • They said he calls the end of the righteous blessed.
    • They said he boasts that God is his father.
17. 2:17
    • They called on one another to see whether his words are true.
    • They called on one another to test what will happen at the end of his life.
18. 2:18
    • They said that if the righteous man is the son of God, God will help him.
    • They said God will deliver him from the hand of those who oppose him.
19. 2:19
    • They called on one another to examine him with insult and torture.
    • They said this is so that they may know his meekness.
    • They said this is so that they may test his patience.
20. 2:20
    • They called on one another to condemn him to a shameful death.
    • They said that by his own words he will be watched over.
21. 2:21
    • They reasoned these things.
    • They were deceived.
    • Their own wickedness blinded them.
22. 2:22
    • They did not know the mysteries of God.
    • They did not hope for the wages of holiness.
    • They did not discern a reward for blameless souls.
23. 2:23
    • God created man for incorruption.
    • God made man an image of his own eternity.
24. 2:24
    • Death entered the world through the envy of the devil.
    • Those who belong to the devil's portion experience death.

Words Worth Explaining

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

2:1

The speech that begins here runs all the way to the end of verse 20; the writer is reporting how "the ungodly" reason, not speaking in his own voice, and he breaks in again only at verse 21. "The grave" translates Hades, the Greek name for the underworld where all the dead were held, good and bad alike, and from which no one came back.

2:2

"Born at all adventure" is 1611 English for born at random, by pure chance, with no purpose behind it; "adventure" then meant chance or hazard, not excitement. The second half reflects ancient medical thinking, in which breath was the life principle and thought was a small fire or spark kept alight by the beating of the heart. On that view, when the heart stops the spark goes out and nothing survives.

2:3

The Greek word for "spirit" also means breath and wind, so the image is exact rather than poetic: what leaves the body is a puff of air that thins out and disperses.

2:4

The trace of a cloud is the thin trail a cloud leaves behind. Mist is a low cloud that sits close to the ground.

2:5

"Fast sealed" means sealed shut tight. A sealed document or a sealed tomb was closed with wax or clay stamped with a signet, and breaking the seal without authority was a crime. The point is that death is locked and stamped, and no one can open it from the inside.

2:6

"Creatures" in 1611 meant created things of every kind, not animals. The speakers mean the whole world of things available to be consumed.

2:7

"Ointments" are perfumed oils. At a banquet guests had scented oil poured over the head and rubbed into the skin; it was expensive, and using it freely was a display of wealth.

2:8

Guests at Greek and Roman banquets wore garlands of flowers on their heads. Rosebuds were chosen because they were costly and short lived, which is exactly the point the speakers are making: use them before they wilt.

2:9

"Portion" and "lot" are inheritance words. A portion was the share of family property assigned to a person, and a lot was land allotted by casting lots. The speakers are saying that this round of pleasure is the entire inheritance a human being gets.

2:10

The poor man, the widow and the old are the three groups the law of Israel singled out for protection, because each lacked anyone to defend them in court. Gray hair in particular carried a legal claim to be stood up for and deferred to. Choosing precisely these victims is a deliberate inversion of the law, not random cruelty.

2:11

This is the old idea that might makes right. They are saying: whatever we are strong enough to do counts as right, and weak people have no claim on us.

2:12

"He is not for our turn" is an old idiom meaning he is no use to us, he does not serve our purpose; the Greek word behind it means inconvenient or irritating. "Objecteth to our infamy" means brings up against us, to our disgrace. "Our education" does not mean schooling: the Greek word covers the whole upbringing and moral training a child received, so the charge is that they are betraying the way they were raised.

2:13

The Greek word behind "child" here, pais, means both child and servant, and the phrase can be heard either way. Readers ancient and modern have connected it with the suffering servant of Isaiah.

2:14

A rebuke is telling someone plainly that they are doing wrong. They mean that just by living the way he does, the righteous man makes them feel judged.

2:15

"Fashion" in 1611 meant kind, shape or manner, nothing to do with clothing style. The Greek says his paths are strange, out of the ordinary run of things.

2:16

"Counterfeits" translates a word used of debased or false coinage, metal that fails the test and is thrown out as worthless. The complaint is that the righteous man treats them as a merchant treats bad money.

2:17

In these old words, "prove" means test. They are not saying they will show his words are true.

2:18

In this book, calling someone God's son means God looks after him the way a father looks after his own child.

2:19

"Despitefulness" means contemptuous abuse, insult meant to humiliate. "Meekness" and "patience" here are not passivity: the Greek words mean forbearance, the refusal to hit back, and the capacity to hold up under deliberate ill treatment. The speakers propose torture as an experiment to see whether these qualities are real.

2:20

"He shall be respected" does not carry the modern sense of esteem. The Greek verb means to look upon someone with care, to visit and watch over, and it is what the speakers expect God to do for the righteous man if the claim is true. The shameful death is a public execution, the kind that disgraced the victim as well as killing him.

2:21

"Imagine" here means to plan or to think up. It is not about make-believe.

2:22

A "mystery" in Greek was not something baffling but a secret, specifically one disclosed only to those initiated into it. "Wages" translates the ordinary word for a laborer's pay, and "reward" a word for the prize given to a winner, so the two images are a worker's earnings and a victor's trophy.

2:23

"Immortal" renders a word meaning incorruption, not decaying or falling apart, rather than simple endless duration. The manuscripts differ in the second half: some read "his own eternity" and others "his own nature" or proper being, two Greek words that differ by a single letter. Both readings are ancient and the choice between them is unsettled.

2:24

"Devil" translates diabolos, which in Greek means slanderer or accuser. "They that do hold of his side" is an old expression for belonging to someone's party or faction; the Greek says those who are his portion, or who belong to him, are the ones who experience death.