Wisdom
Chapter 2
Let Our Strength Be the Norm of Justice
Led by mistaken reasons, they think: Life is short and sad, and there is no cure for death. It was never heard that anyone came back from the netherworld.
We are born by chance; when life ends, it will be as if we never existed. The breath in our nostrils is like a puff of smoke, and thought is just a spark from the heart’s movement.
Put this out, and the body turns to ashes, the spirit melts away like idle air.
Eventually, our name will be forgotten, and no one will remember what we did.
Life passes like the shadow of a cloud, disappears like mist chased by the sun, and is overcome by its heat. Our days are like the passing of a shadow; once death comes, there’s no turning back—the seal is set: no one returns.
Come then, and enjoy all the good things;
let us embrace creation with youthful enthusiasm, savoring the finest wines and perfumes, and not passing by a single flower of spring.
Let us adorn ourselves with rosebuds before they wither.
Let everyone join in our celebration; let us display everywhere the signs of our joy, for that is our right, the fate assigned to us.
Let us oppress the honest poor man, and have no regard for the widow or respect for the white hair of old age.
Let our strength be our right, since it’s proven that weakness is useless.
Let us set a trap for the righteous, for he annoys us and opposes our way of life; he reproaches us for our breaches of the law and accuses us of being false to our upbringing.
He claims to know God and calls himself the son of the Lord.
He has become a reproach to our way of thinking; even meeting him is burdensome for us.
He doesn’t live like others and acts strangely.
According to him, we have low standards, so he keeps his distance from us as if we were unclean. He emphasizes the joyful ending of the righteous and boasts about having God as his father.
Let us examine what he says and discover what his fate will be.
If the righteous is a son of God, God will defend him and deliver him from his adversaries.
Let’s humble and challenge him to test his self-control and patience.
When we condemn him to a shameful death, we may test his words.
This is how they reason, but they are mistaken, blinded by their malice.
They neither understand God’s mysteries nor do they expect the reward of a holy life; they do not believe that the blameless will be rewarded.
Indeed, God created man to be immortal in the likeness of his own nature,
but the envy of the devil brought death into the world, and those who side with him will experience death.
Commentaries
Final Judgment.
The wise man and the fool are the two extremes in this first section. The former acknowledges himself as part of God’s plan; the latter, on the other hand, relies solely on his own strength. According to the book of Wisdom, God’s judgment will come relentlessly upon the wicked as punishment. Two thousand years later, this message still holds relevance: those who know God understand they are in his hands, part of his plan, established long ago.
Let Our Strength Be the Norm of Justice.
The counterpart to the first chapter is found below: “strength as the norm of justice” (11) and the transience of life (1-5). Those who believe that the creation of human beings is due to chance (Job 27:3) and that their memory after death is ephemeral (Prov 10:7; Isa 56:5; Rev 1:18) deduce these behaviors: enjoyment (6-10). Cf. Eccl 2:24; 3:12; 9:7; and the attack on the righteous (10-20), that is, the poor and the widow, whom Scripture commands to be respected (Ex 22:21; Lev 19:32). The response to these beliefs (21-24) comes from the end of life, which for the wicked is death through the envy of the Devil (see Gen 3), and for the righteous is eternal bliss (Gen 1:26). Where is the strength of the weak, of those who always lose, and of those who remain faithful to God? In abandoning their beliefs? Wisdom responds from beyond. Still, there are words for this life: working toward a more just and supportive world, in the strength of a community faithful to God’s message, and in the hope that the Lord has the last word.