Wisdom of Solomon 12 · The Lantern

For your imperishable Spirit is in all things.

The Father is good, the Son is good, the Holy Spirit is good. About the Father it is written in Psalm 72, "How good is the God of Israel toward those who are pure of heart!" About the Son, "I am the good shepherd" and "Good Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?" About the Holy Spirit, in Ezra, "You bestowed on them your good Spirit."

For the Spirit of God is gentle, for He Himself is the love of God, and the giver of all good; He Himself reproves men, because He causes those whom He fills to reprove sinners, just as Truth itself says to the disciples in the Gospel: I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away.

Second, concerning the punishment of the Canaanites and Amorites. O how good etc. After he treated of the benefits shown to the children of Israel in the affliction or punishment of the Egyptians principally, here he treats of the benefits shown to the same in the affliction of the Canaanites and Amorites who principally inhabited the land of promise.

Therefore you chasten them by little and little that offend, and warn them by putting them in remembrance in which they have offended, that leaving their wickedness they may believe on you, O Lord.

For it was your will to destroy by the hands of our fathers both those old inhabitants of your holy land,

Whom you hated for doing most detestable works of witchcrafts, and wicked sacrifices;

And also those merciless murderers of children, and devourers of man’s flesh, and the feasts of blood,

With their priests out of the midst of their idolatrous crew, and the parents, that killed with their own hands souls destitute of help:

That the land, which you esteemed above all other, might receive a worthy colony of God’s children.

Nevertheless even those you spared as men, and did send wasps, forerunners of your host, to destroy them by little and little.

Not that you were unable to bring the ungodly under the hand of the righteous in battle, or to destroy them at once with cruel beasts, or with one rough word:

But executing your judgments upon them by little and little, you gave them place of repentance, not being ignorant that they were a naughty generation, and that their malice was bred in them, and that their cogitation would never be changed.

For it was a cursed seed from the beginning; neither did you for fear of any man give them pardon for those things in which they sinned.

For who shall say, What have you done? or who shall withstand your judgment? or who shall accuse you for the nations that perish, whom you made? or who shall come to stand against you, to be revenged for the unrighteous men?

We are all descendants of Adam, according to an order of succession that has reached to us. Nor are the works of God to be understood allegorically: Adam did exist, the fig leaves existed, the fig tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the tree set in the middle of the garden, the serpent, the disobedience, the obedience. The rivers existed, as did Eve.

He clearly shows by reason that in no way should it be attributed to the Creator that He disposes of His creature according to His own will. For all things are placed in His will, and there is none who can resist His will (Esther 13). Therefore, it is said by Paul: O man, who are you to answer back to God? Does the thing formed say to him who formed it: Why did you make me?

(Vers. 12.). For who will say to you, that is, would dare to say, or could reasonably say: What have you done, namely, by examining the reason for your deed, as if to say: no one: whence Romans 9: "Does the thing formed say to him who formed it: Why have you made me thus"? Isaiah 45: "Does the clay say to the potter: What are you doing"?

For neither is there any God but you that cares for all, to whom you might show that your judgment is not unright.

Neither shall king or tyrant be able to set his face against you for any whom you have punished.

Forsomuch then as you are righteous yourself, you order all things righteously: thinking it not agreeable with your power to condemn him that has not deserved to be punished.

For your power is the beginning of righteousness, and because you are the Lord of all, it makes you to be gracious to all.

For when men will not believe that you are of a full power, you show your strength, and among them that know it you make their boldness manifest.

For divinity indeed shows its power in the correction of wrongdoers, so that the stubbornness of the proud may not presume upon its own strength; yet it will do so without any passion or disturbance, because God is impassible, and is never changed by any alteration, but always remaining the same, He renews, arranges, and orders all things, as the following statement proves.

(Verse 17). For you show your strength, that is, power in punishing, you who are not believed, namely by those who err, to be consummate in power, that is, perfect: Job twenty-two: "They esteemed him as though the Almighty could do nothing." And those who know you not, namely the unfaithful, you convict in boldness, that is, you boldly lead to punishment, and this by the merit…

But you, mastering your power, judge with equity, and order us with great favor: for you may use power when you will.

Why did he not say "in wrath" but "as in wrath"? Because God does everything with absolute tranquility. Indeed, it is also written, "You, master of strength, judge with gentleness." Therefore, even when he threatens he does not become angry, nor is he disturbed in any way. It calls him angry because he punishes and does justice.

For the Almighty God judges all things with the peacefulness of His nature, but in the patient vengeance of God He seems to restrain His anger, which in fact does not exist, but human emotions, just as bodily members, are ascribed to God in figurative language, so that the divine words may be adapted to our manner and understanding.

Third, the instruction of the people of God in both is shown. But you, ruler, etc. Having shown the punishment of adversaries and the mercy of the judge in punishing, here he shows the instruction of the people of God in both, and first he touches upon the example by which he instructs; second, the mercy concerning which he instructs: You have taught; third, the manner by which…

But by such works have you taught your people that the just man should be merciful, and have made your children to be of a good hope that you give repentance for sins.

Their just God, teacher of mercy and compassion—who would later bestow the Law (by which he would give his people the precepts that would enable them to act with mercy and compassion and to do good works)—wanted them to first suffer every kind of affliction, tribulation and anguish in a foreign land.

For by the wondrous works of the almighty God the faithful are instructed to beware of involving themselves in the sins of the wicked, and rather to strive to keep themselves untainted by such matters, and by maintaining faith and hope in the Lord, not to neglect the time granted to them for doing penance and good works; indeed, with all their strength, through love, they shoul…

(Verse 19). For you have taught your people: but others are not taught, whence Sirach twenty-one: "He who is not wise in good will not be instructed"; through such works, namely of justice and mercy together.

For if you did punish the enemies of your children, and the condemned to death, with such deliberation, giving them time and place, whereby they might be delivered from their malice:

With how great circumspection did you judge your own sons, to whose fathers you have sworn, and made covenants of good promises?

Therefore, whereas you do chasten us, you scourge our enemies a thousand times more, to the intent that, when we judge, we should carefully think of your goodness, and when we ourselves are judged, we should look for mercy.

Therefore, whereas men have lived dissolutely and unrighteously, you have tormented them with their own abominations.

For they went astray very far in the ways of error, and held them for gods, which even among the beasts of their enemies were despised, being deceived, as children of no understanding.

Therefore to them, as to children without the use of reason, you did send a judgment to mock them.

But they that would not be reformed by that correction, in which he dallied with them, shall feel a judgment worthy of God.

For the one who does good, there are two judgments referred to in the Scriptures, one secret and the other manifest. The secret one takes place now, and the apostle Peter says of it, "It is time for judgment to begin with the household of the Lord." It follows that the secret judgment is the pain by which each person is tormented now, so that he purifies himself, or by which he…

Indeed, those who, having been chastised by the scourges of God, were not corrected, have experienced the fitting punishment of damnation; for God chastises for this purpose, that He may amend, not wishing anyone to perish, because He wills all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

(Vers. 26.). But those who by mockeries and rebukes, that is, rebukes full of mockery, were not corrected, namely from unbelief and perverse conduct, experienced a worthy judgment of God, namely of condemnation and death.

For, look, for what things they grudged, when they were punished, that is, for them whom they thought to be gods; *now* being punished in them, when they saw it, they acknowledged him to be the true God, whom before they denied to know: and therefore came extreme damnation upon them.

We prove that the Son is true, as the Father is, by the words of the prophets and the Gospels, Isaiah saying: To those serving me there shall be called a new name, which shall be blessed upon the earth; and they shall bless the true God, and those who swear upon the earth shall swear by the true God (Isa. 65:15).

Wretched breeding, which for so long served idols, was also deceived by error and believed those to be gods by whose persuasions they were led astray, and because of this they were subjected to various punishments. Therefore, many from among them later recognized the true God, whom previously they refused to believe in through His benefits, as almighty in just judgment.

For in these things etc., as if to say: and deservedly; for in these things which they suffered, namely in the divine scourges, they bore it grievously, by carrying them impatiently.

Wisdom of Solomon12