Wisdom of Solomon 4 · The Lantern

Better it is to have no children, and to have virtue: for its memorial is immortal: because it is known with God, and with men.

When it is present, men take example at it; and when it has gone, they desire it: it wears a crown, and triumphs for ever, having gotten the victory, striving for undefiled rewards.

But the multiplying brood of the ungodly shall not thrive, nor take deep rooting from bastard slips, nor lay any fast foundation.

And with regard to that which you have quoted from the Prophet Solomon: 'The children of adulterers shall not come to perfection, and bastard slips cannot take deep roots,' this may well be understood to have been said in a literal sense. For, if you take it figuratively, you have excused those who are actually guilty of adultery. But grant that it was said in figure.

For he alternates, speaking of Catholics and heretics, so that he may show the praiseworthy wisdom of the former and demonstrate the blameworthy cunning of the latter.

But of manifold kind etc., as if to say: such is the beautiful and chaste generation of the just. But (in the sense of "however"): the manifold multitude of the impious, etc.; Ecclesiastes 1: "The number of fools is infinite." Here he touches upon a threefold plurality or multitude of the impious in three words, namely because it is scattered through diverse errors with respect…

For though they flourish in branches for a time; yet standing not last, they shall be shaken with the wind, and through the force of winds they shall be rooted out.

The imperfect branches shall be broken off, their fruit unprofitable, not ripe to eat, yes, fit for nothing.

For children begotten of unlawful beds are witnesses of wickedness against their parents in their trial.

But though the righteous be overtaken by death, yet shall he be in rest.

"The righteous one, even if he dies prematurely, will find rest." For whom, or from whom, is there in fact rest in this world, if there are trials on every side and, when we are spared these, temptations are everywhere? Indeed, this world should be feared, whether it threatens or seduces.

Having previously spoken about the destruction of the wicked, he now afterward explains the rest of the good, because after the end of the present life, which is common to both good and bad, the just will then begin to live better, when they seem to be utterly destroyed by the wicked, since eternal rest will then be given to them, when perpetual punishment follows for these.

But the just man, etc., as if to say: thus it is with the wicked: but, standing for however: if the just man shall have been overtaken by death, that is, prevented by death hastened before its time, according to that passage in Isaiah thirty-eight: "While I was yet beginning, he cut me off." He well said: overtaken, because the just man cannot die by sudden death, that is, by u…

For honorable age is not that which stands in length of time, nor that is measured by number of years.

The just man lives a good life in old age. It is not said "long" but "good", for the just man ages well; however, no one of the unjust, even if he lives a longer life than lively stags, lives a good life.

The Christian who has lived in the fear of God, at whatever age he dies, is not swept away by a bitter and untimely death but crosses over supported by a maturity approved by God. Indeed, in the book of Wisdom we read, "Old age is not honored for length of time or measured by number of years. Wisdom, rather, is a person's gray hair, and a blameless life is old age.

For old age etc., as if to say: nor does the being overtaken in age cause harm: for venerable old age etc.: the Gloss: "Not the age of the body, but the maturity of life and the uprightness of morals is praised"; venerable, I say, that is, worthy of veneration before God and the Angels and just men: is not of long duration, by a multitude of days: Job thirty-two: "The wise are…

But wisdom is the gray hair to men, and an unstained life is old age.

He pleased God, and was beloved of him: so that living among sinners he was taken up.

But it also benefits many of the righteous that they live for only a short time, as Solomon once said: He who was pleasing to God was made beloved, and living among sinners, he was taken away; he was snatched away so that wickedness might not alter his understanding, or deceit might not beguile his soul.

God does not therefore take a man whom He loves out of this world because He cannot keep him, living among sinners, free from sin; He who, sending His disciples as lambs among wolves, praised them to the Father, saying: I do not pray that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from evil (Jn.

Pleasing God, namely through true faith, according to that passage in Hebrews 11: "Without faith it is impossible to please God": he was made beloved, on account of perfect love, according to that passage in Proverbs 8: "I love those who love me": and living, namely through grace, not dying through sin; among sinners, namely undefiled, which is a very great thing, since it is w…

Yes speedily was he taken away, lest that wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul.

We see also that Enoch was taken away, because he was pleasing to God, as the divine Scriptures attest in Genesis: "Then Enoch walked with God and was no longer, because God had taken him." Because he was pleasing before God, he was worthy to be taken away from the evil of this world.

You will say, How much and how often have I prayed, and I have not been answered! But what did you ask for? Perhaps you asked for the death of your enemy. And … what if he asked for yours, as well? The one who created you also created him. You are a human being, and he is too, but God is the judge. He has listened to both of you and answered neither.

He was snatched away, as if to say: he was not only taken away, but snatched away, because he died quickly and was taken up as if by violence beyond nature's due course.

For the bewitching of wickedness does obscure things that are honest; and the wandering of greedy desire does undermine the simple mind.

He, being made perfect in a short time, fulfilled a long time:

We should not think that your bishop, our brother, has departed here early and that he lived only a little while. It is right to say that he did not live only a little while if we realize that, as much as we may say of him, there is still more to say (even if, being finite, what is much here will be judged as though it were nothing).

Just as in the previous verse he exposed the deceit of the heretics, so now in the following he expresses the glory of the martyrs, who, although they spent their admirable lives in a short time through the tortures of their persecutors, nevertheless that very death is reckoned to them as a long life, because it brought them eternal life.

Being made perfect in a short time, that is, perfected in grace in a brief span of time: Isaiah ten: "A short consummation shall overflow with justice"; he fulfilled a long time, namely by the fulfillment of merit, because he acquired in a short time the merit that others acquire over many ages; or by the fulfillment of reward, because he attained eternity, which in its perfect…

For his soul pleased the Lord: therefore hurried he to take him away from among the wicked.

This the people saw, and understood it not, neither laid they up this in their minds, That his grace and mercy is with his saints, and that he has respect to his chosen.

"His soul in fact was pleasing to God, because he hastened to take him away from iniquity." Precisely with these words the sacred Scripture teaches us that in this world, it is not a long life that matters but a good life. To know the merits, as much as we can, of a deceased person, you must closely observe not how long he lived but how he lived.

Therefore, the persecutors of the martyrs could by no means recognize the future glory that followed them, but thought that they would perish together with the torments of their bodies, and that they could not receive the blessedness of eternal life after death; but everything happens differently for each side, because just as life and victory will follow the good after death,…

But the peoples: Gloss: "The persecutors"; seeing, "the punishment," and not understanding, "the future glory," nor laying up in their hearts, that is, inwardly in the heart, although they sometimes hear it preached: Isaiah 57: "The just man perishes, and there is no one who considers it"; such things, namely, which follow: above in chapter 3: "They seemed in the eyes of the fo…

Thus the righteous that is dead shall condemn the ungodly which are living; and youth that is soon perfected the many years and old age of the unrighteous.

For they shall see the end of the wise, and shall not understand what God in his counsel has decreed of him, and to what end the Lord has set him in safety.

They shall see him, and despise him; but God shall laugh them to scorn: and they shall hereafter be a vile carcass, and a reproach among the dead for evermore.

For he shall rend them, and cast them down headlong, that they shall be speechless; and he shall shake them from the foundation; and they shall be utterly laid waste, and be in sorrow; and their memorial shall perish.

And when they cast up the accounts of their sins, they shall come with fear: and their own iniquities shall convince them to their face.

"In you, Lord, I have taken refuge. I will never be put to shame." I am terrified, you say, of that confusion that lasts forever. There is a certain temporal confusion that is useful: the disturbance of a soul that realizes its sins, is horrified by what it sees and in that horror is ashamed and corrects what it is ashamed of.

Therefore, the wicked will come into judgment, timid because of the conscience of their sins, for their thoughts accuse them for the evil deeds they have previously committed, nor is any place given for defense, where there is no fruit of good works in the conscience.

They shall come at last, namely at the end of the world: whence the Gloss: "To judgment"; for then they shall go out from hell.

Wisdom of Solomon4