Wisdom of Solomon 16 · The Lantern

Therefore by the like were they punished worthily, and by the multitude of beasts tormented.

If you refer this to the Egyptians, who, being idolaters and given to various errors, also unjustly persecuted the people of God, in those ten plagues with which the Lord punished them because they were unwilling to let His people go, it can be understood that they experienced the viciousness of beasts; for there, too, flies of various kinds and locusts are described as having…

On account of these things, namely because most wretched people worshipped idols, or on account of the sins of idolatry, and things similar to these, that is, on account of other sins similar to the aforesaid idolatry, they suffered torments deservedly: Ephesians 5: "On account of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of unbelief"; Deuteronomy 25: "According to the…

Instead of which punishment, dealing graciously with your own people, you prepared for them food of a strange taste, even quails to stir up their appetite:

So that they, desiring food, might for the ugly sight of the beasts sent among them loathe even that, which they must desire; but these, suffering penury for a short space, might be made partakers of a strange taste.

For it was requisite, that upon them exercising tyranny should come penury, which they could not avoid: but to these it should only be shown how their enemies were tormented.

For when the horrible fierceness of beasts came upon these, and they perished with the stings of crooked serpents, your wrath endured not for ever:

But they were troubled for a small season, that they might be admonished, having a sign of salvation, to put them in remembrance of the commandment of your law.

For he that turned himself toward it was not saved by the thing that he saw, but by you, who are the Savior of all.

There is a priestly and Levitical order which is to show the way to the people of God who have gone out from Egypt. For it is they who teach the people to go out from Egypt, that is, from the errors of the world, and to pass through the vast wilderness, that is, to traverse the various kinds of temptations and not to be harmed by the serpents, which are the bites of demons, and…

And I rightly said: having a sign, not a cause: for he who turned, namely either inwardly through repentance toward God, or outwardly toward the bronze serpent to look upon it: not through that which was seen, namely by the bodily eye, was healed, that is, not through the bronze serpent; but through you, the Savior of all, signified through the said serpent: John 3: "As Moses l…

And in this you made your enemies confess, that it is you who deliver from all evil:

For them the bitings of grasshoppers and flies killed, neither was there found any remedy for their life: for they were worthy to be punished by such.

But the mention of locusts in the eighth place, I think, through this kind of plague or detractor, or always by its own discord, is intended to signify the inconsistency of the human race. For the locust, although it has no king, as Scripture says, leads its army in order with one line (Prov.

A distinction must be noted, because just as punishment sometimes tests and admonishes the elect, so that they may avoid sins and persist in works of righteousness, and diligently observe the faith of God and the keeping of His commandments, so also correction applied to the depraved casts them down and destroys them, since no correction or worthy change is found in them; there…

For those, namely the Egyptians who did not worship you, the bites of locusts and flies killed: of locusts, Exodus 10, and of flies, Exodus 8: killed, literally some of them, although it is not read there expressly.

But your sons not the very teeth of venomous dragons overcame: for your mercy was ever by them, and healed them.

For they were pricked, that they should remember your words; and were quickly saved, that not falling into deep forgetfulness, they might be continually mindful of your goodness.

Note that he says those harmed by serpents were not healed by bandages and the work of doctors, but by the Word of the Lord, that is, the Son through whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made: whose power rules everywhere, and does whatever he wills in heaven and on earth, in the sea and in all the depths; he himself heals bodies, he himself saves both bodies…

For in the remembrance of your words, that is, through the recompense of your commandments, they were being destroyed, some of them, namely, and they were quickly healed, or saved, namely others who were penitent, having seen the death or punishment of others; according to that verse of the Psalm: "When he slew them," that is, some of them, "they sought him," that is, others wh…

For it was neither herb, nor mollifying plaster, that restored them to health: but your word, O Lord, which heals all things.

For you have power of life and death: you lead to the gates of hell, and bring up again.

A man indeed kills through his malice: and the spirit, when it has gone forth, returns not; neither the soul received up comes again.

Man, through malice and wickedness, that is, by his own will and the effect of wrongful action, kills the soul. Therefore someone has said: no one can be harmed except by himself, because he is either the originator of his own crime or consents to the crimes of others. For if a man guards his mind and does not consent to evil persuasion, he is free from all guilt.

By the hatred of man the soul is slain, that is, by the wickedness of one's own will and the effect of evil deeds. Therefore someone has said: No one can be harmed except by himself, because he is either the inventor of his own crime, or the supporter and encourager of another's wickedness.

But man etc., as if to say: thus you can put to death and give life: but, for "however": man can kill himself but not give life, and this is what it says: but man, namely the sinner, called man from the earth: indeed kills, that is, certainly, through the malice of sin, his own soul, on account of which it is said in the Psalm: "He who loves iniquity hates his own soul"; for he…

But it is not possible to escape your hand.

For the ungodly, that denied to know you, were scourged by the strength of your arm: with strange rains, hails, and showers, were they persecuted, that they could not avoid, and through fire were they consumed.

For, which is most to be wondered at, the fire had more force in the water, that quenches all things: for the world fights for the righteous.

For sometime the flame was mitigated, that it might not burn up the beasts that were sent against the ungodly; but themselves might see and perceive that they were persecuted with the judgment of God.

And at another time it burns even in the midst of water above the power of fire, that it might destroy the fruits of an unjust land.

Instead of which you fed your own people with angels’ food, and did send them from heaven bread prepared without their labor, able to content every man’s delight, and agreeing to every taste.

For your sustenance declared your sweetness to your children, and serving to the appetite of the eater, tempered itself to every man’s liking.

Where they say that the Son was not born from the substance of the Father. But if they should say: the Son was not born from the paternal substance, but generated from another substance. Response.

Therefore, the substance of the Father is designated as the Son by the prophetic oracles long ago, as Solomon says: For you showed your substance and sweetness, which you have for your sons (Wis. 16:21), which appeared to have flowed down to the people of Israel from heaven in the form and image of heavenly bread.

For your substance, that is, your power of sustaining, and your sweetness, that is, your power of delighting, which you have toward your children, namely sustaining them through the substance of the food and delighting them through the taste of the same food, you showed etc.; in the Psalm: "You prepared in your sweetness for the poor, O God"; you showed, I say, by bestowing upo…

But snow and ice endured the fire, and melted not, that they might know that fire burning in the hail, and sparkling in the rain, did destroy the fruits of the enemies.

But this again did even forget his own strength, that the righteous might be nourished.

For the creature that serves you, who are the Maker increases his strength against the unrighteous for their punishment, and abates his strength for the benefit of such as put their trust in you.

For the Spirit did not beatify the dove, or the wind, or the fire, and join them for ever to Himself and to His person in unity and "fashion." Nor, again, is the nature of the Holy Spirit mutable and changeable; so that these things were not made of the creature, but He himself was turned and changed first into one and then into another, as water is changed into ice.

By this sentence all the wicked and sinners are confused, because while the rest of creation serves its Creator, they alone are found to resist His will and commands.

For your creature, namely whatsoever creature, serving you its maker, that is, your will, by which you made all things, according to that verse of the Psalm: "Whatsoever he willed, he did": grows fierce, that is, is vehemently moved and stirred up, unto torment, of punishment, against the unjust, that is, your enemies.

Therefore even then was it altered into all fashions, and was obedient to your grace, that nourishes all things, according to the desire of them that had need:

Our present inquiry then is, whether the angels were then the agents both in showing those bodily appearances to the eyes of men and in sounding those words in their ears, when the sensible creature itself, serving the Creator at His beck, was turned for the time into whatever was needful; as it is written in the book of Wisdom, "For the creature serveth Thee, who art the Maker…

Therefore, the people of God in the desert were comforted by various support and cherished by divine mercy. Manna rained down for them from heaven, most abundant water was given to them from the rock, they were fed with the flesh of birds, their garments were not worn out, nor were their shoes consumed; during the day the sun did not burn them, because He led them in a cloud by…

For this reason, namely because the creature serves the Creator, and then, namely when the children of Israel were fed with manna in the desert, into all things, that is, into the flavor of all desired things, was transfigured, namely that creature itself, namely the manna: your grace, the nurse of all, that is, your gratuitous good will, so that it is understood of uncreated g…

That your children, O Lord, whom you love, might know, that it is not the growing of fruits that nourishes man: but that it is your word, which preserves them that put their trust in you.

For that which was not destroyed of the fire, being warmed with a little sunbeam, soon melted away:

That it might be known, that we must rise before the sun to give you thanks, and at the dayspring pray to you.

For the hope of the unthankful shall melt away as the winter’s hoar frost, and shall run away as unprofitable water.

No one hath so labored that we should be approved, and great, and in all things right-minded, as the God who made us. Wherefore both against our will He befriends us often, and without our knowledge oftener than not. And if thou marvel at what I have said, I point to this as having occurred not to any ordinary person, but to the blessed Paul.

For the hopes of the people, that is, the Jews' hope which they now have for the coming of their king, namely the Antichrist, melts away like winter ice, that is, it withers cold in unbelief without the fruit of righteousness, and will perish like surplus water, when all the tradition of their doctrine is deemed of no use; for our Savior, speaking to the apostles, says to us: L…

For the hope of the ungrateful etc. Thus I said that it wasted away by the heat of the sun, and this as a sign of this, because the hope of the ungrateful will waste away etc. Or thus: I rightly said that it is necessary to worship at the rising of the light etc. for the reception of the aforesaid benefit, and this to avoid ingratitude, which is greatly harmful.

Wisdom of Solomon16