Wisdom of Solomon 3 · The Lantern

But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them.

The good God, showing his great and varied providence, not only ordained all of creation, unfolded the heavens, spread the seas, enkindled the sun, caused the moon to shine, gave the earth to be inhabited and offered all the resources of the earth for food and for the sustenance of our bodies, but he also gave us the relics of the holy martyrs.

The Word of God, who out of mercy condescended to become her son, serves with his sovereign hands this most holy and most divine woman as is fitting toward a mother and receives her holy soul. What a good legislator! Not being subject to the law, he keeps the law that he decreed. It is he, in fact, who established the duty of children toward their parents.

In the first part, on the side of the retribution of the just, there is touched upon first their liberation from evil: second, their reward in good: The just shall shine, etc.

In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure is taken for misery,

"The Lord abandoned the evil he intended to inflict on his people." God wanted it to be understood that this evil was a punishment, as is said, "Their end was thought to be an evil." Similarly, it is said that good and evil come from God, but not according to the evil by which human beings are evil.

They were truly foolish when they considered the suffering and extermination of the martyrs to be a defeat, since these were for them the cause of victory and perpetual peace.

(Vers. 2.). They seemed to the eyes etc. It should be noted that the wicked and unbelieving regard the death of the Saints as death in the separation of the conjunction of soul to body, affliction in the pain of the conjoined, destruction in the perdition of the soul, which they regard as perishing with the body; the way of destruction with regard to the subsequent incineration…

And their going from us to be utter destruction: but they are in peace.

For though they be punished in the sight of men, yet is their hope full of immortality.

And having been a little chastised, they shall be greatly rewarded: for God proved them, and found them worthy for himself.

As gold in the furnace has he tried them, and received them as a burnt offering.

God removes evil from us in two ways, by "wind" and by "fire." If we are good and obedient to his teachings and allow ourselves to be instructed by his Word, the "wind" sweeps away our evils, according to what is written, "If by the Spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh, you will live." But if the Spirit has not taken away our evils, there is need of purification by fire.

On common testing. The Father tests, the Son tests, the Holy Spirit tests. Of the Father, to the Thessalonians: So we speak, not as pleasing men, but God, who tests our hearts (I Thess. 2:4). Of the Son, in Solomon: As gold in the furnace he tested them, and found them worthy of himself (Wis. 3:6). Of the Holy Spirit, in Solomon: The Spirit of the Lord tests hearts (Prov.

(Verse 6.) As gold in the furnace He tested them, namely on the part of the soul, purifying them through the fire of tribulations but not consuming them: Gloss: "Just as gold in the furnace is not burned up but is tested, so the Martyrs do not fail but are prepared for glory"; Sirach 2: "Gold and silver are tested in fire, but acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation," whic…

And in the time of their visitation they shall shine, and run back and forth like sparks among the stubble.

God said earlier that those who sincerely repent will be saved and that after they have received the remedy of forgiveness, we must think of them as stars. Indeed, those who have merited to be numbered among the saints shine like the nighttime stars of this creation.

By presenting another example, he demonstrates that at the final judgment there will be a sudden reward for the saints, and a swift punishment for the depraved.

The just shall shine etc. After he has treated of deliverance from evil, here he adds concerning reward in good, first, as regards the stole of the body: second, as regards the honor of judicial power, there: They shall judge the nations etc.; third, as regards the glory of divine fruition, there: Those who trust in Him etc. (Vers. 7.).

They shall judge the nations, and have dominion over the people, and their Lord shall reign for ever.

"If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments." But, when we have arrived at life, what need is there for me to add "eternal"? And why add "happy"? Life, plain and simple, because that which is both eternal and happy is life. When we have arrived at life, we will have the certainty that we will live in it forever.

The saints will judge the nations, but through them God judges, who presides over their minds. They will rule over peoples, for no adversity of opposition resists them. Their Lord will reign forever, because the kingdom of Christ will endure without any end.

(Vers. 8.). They shall judge nations. This is said specially of the perfect Saints, who shall judge and shall not be judged. For there shall be four orders in the judgment, as the Gloss says on that verse of the Psalm: "The wicked shall not rise in the judgment." But how shall the Saints judge, since it is written in John five: "The Father has given all judgment to the Son"?

They that put their trust in him shall understand the truth: and such as are faithful in love shall remain with him: for grace and mercy is to his saints, and he has care for his elect.

But the ungodly shall be punished according to their own imaginations, which have neglected the righteous, and forsaken the Lord.

The sentence of the universal judgment will be completed when the saints, united with their King, joyfully enter the kingdom of their heavenly homeland; then the wicked and sinners who were negligent regarding their salvation, according to the wickedness of their hearts and actions, will be plunged with the Devil into the abyss of Gehenna, where they will be tormented without e…

But the ungodly, according to what they thought etc. Here he sets forth the reprobation of the opposite state; and first he shows that the error of the ungodly concerning their own impunity is false; second, that their opinion concerning the reward of the continent life is erroneous, there: For blessed is the barren: third, concerning the punishment of incontinence, there: But…

For whoever despises wisdom and nurture, he is miserable, and their hope is vain, their labors unfruitful, and their works unprofitable:

Discipline is the guardian of hope, the bond of faith, the guide on the way of salvation, the stimulus and nourishment of a good nature, the teacher of virtue. It makes one remain always in Christ and live unceasingly in God, allowing one to attain the heavenly promises and the divine rewards.

Now he shows what this is, which he previously said had departed from the Lord, that is, to cast away wisdom and discipline, of which hope is empty, and labors are without fruit, because they vainly hope that they can use temporal things perpetually, or that by committing sins they can escape unpunished.

(Vers. 11.). For wisdom etc. For, that is, "because": he who casts away, the Gloss says: "By working evil," wisdom, concerning eternal things, discipline, concerning temporal things: or rather: wisdom, of faith, discipline, of morals: is unhappy, namely his person, that is, unworthy of felicity.

Their wives are foolish, and their children wicked:

Their offspring is cursed. Therefore blessed is the barren that is undefiled, which has not known the sinful bed: she shall have fruit in the visitation of souls.

And blessed is the eunuch, which with his hands has worked no iniquity, nor imagined wicked things against God: for to him shall be given the special gift of faith, and an inheritance in the temple of the Lord more acceptable to his mind.

According to the rule of the figurative interpretation, in the name of this blessed barren one, or eunuch, virgins can be understood, about whom it is written accordingly in Isaiah: Let not the eunuch say, "Behold, I am a dry tree," for thus says the Lord to the eunuchs: "Who have kept my sabbaths, and have chosen what I desired, and have held fast my covenant, I will give them…

And the eunuch etc. Here on the part of the masculine sex, there is touched upon first the merit of continence; second, the reward, at: There shall be given etc.; third, the reason for the reward: For the fruits of good labors etc. (Verse 14.). It follows therefore: And the eunuch, "who namely made himself a eunuch for the sake of the kingdom of heaven," Matthew nineteen.

For glorious is the fruit of good labors: and the root of wisdom shall never fall away.

As for the children of adulterers, they shall not come to their perfection, and the seed of an unrighteous bed shall be rooted out.

But now if the soul, joined to the spirit and coupled, so to speak, in its marriage, sometimes turns aside to bodily pleasures and inclines its sense to the delight of the flesh, and sometimes indeed seems to obey the salutary admonitions of the spirit, but sometimes yields to carnal vices, such a soul, as though stained by the adultery of the body, is said neither to increase…

Indeed, heretics are adulterers, who, adulterating the word of God, attempt to transfer it into another meaning. Their children, that is, their disciples, will be at the end, because they tend toward eternal perdition.

But the children of adulterers etc. Here he determines the punishment of incontinence, which the reprobate thought to be nothing, and first the punishment to be inflicted on them in the future is touched upon; second, that inflicted in this world, at: And if indeed; third, the reason for the punishment, at: Nations etc. (Vers. 16.). He says therefore: Children etc.

For though they live long, yet shall they be nothing regarded: and their last age shall be without honor.

Far be it from us to think or to say, according to the error of those without faith, that the young Christian "stole the black day and overpowered bitter death." In fact, according to the words of the apostle John, the black day sweeps away those who "are in darkness and walk in darkness, not knowing where they are going, because the darkness has blinded their eyes." The black…

(Vers. 17.). And if indeed they shall be of long life, namely in this world, they shall be counted as nothing, namely without any value in themselves: Augustine: "Sin is nothing, and men become nothing when they sin." Or: they shall be counted as nothing, according to the Gloss: "That is, their memory shall forever lack blessing." And without honor, namely shown by others, Firs…

Or, if they die quickly, they have no hope, neither comfort in the day of trial.

For horrible is the end of the unrighteous generation.

Wisdom of Solomon3