Chapter One

1–5. An exhortation to righteousness, which alone leads to wisdom and God. 6–10. Unrighteousness, besides separating from God, is moreover not left unpunished. 11–12. The ungodly bring death into the world, 13–14. contrary to the original intention of the Creator, who determined all things for life. 15–16. Righteousness, on the contrary, leads to immortality.

Wisdom 1:1. Love righteousness, you judges of the earth, think rightly concerning the Lord, and seek him in simplicity of heart, Wisdom 1:2. for he is found by those who do not put him to the test, and manifests himself to those who do not disbelieve him. 1–2. The Book of the Wisdom of Solomon begins with an exhortation to wisdom, with an indication of favorable conditions for attaining it. This exhortation is addressed to the judges of the earth (hoi krinoi ten gen). In exegetical literature there is more than one opinion on the question of whom the writer is addressing here. Some commentators believe that by the judges of the earth the writer here meant the pious Israelites and thus expressed his belief that zealous Jews in Messianic times would take part in God’s divine judgment over the other nations (cf. Wis 3:7-8). Such an explanation does not correspond to the course of thought in this and the following chapters, where the address is not to the righteous people, but, on the contrary, to those who are erring and wicked. Furthermore, throughout the chapter there is no indication that the expression “judges of the earth” is taken in a figurative, rather than literal, sense. Therefore, it would be more correct to understand by the judges of the earth the earthly rulers in general, and the Greek krinein in a broad sense — to govern, reign, rule, rather than only “to judge.” In this sense the expression “judges of the earth” is often used in Holy Scripture (Prov 8:16; Ps 2:10; Isa 40; Sir 4:15). But the address at the beginning of the book to the judges of the earth does not mean that the writer addressed his book exclusively to princes and earthly rulers. This address has rather the significance of a simple rhetorical figure, for the contents of the book has nothing specific that would relate only to the authorities, but all the exhortations of the book are pervaded with a universal human character, applicable to all — whoever by his ungodliness separates himself from God and wisdom. The question arises therefore, what was the writer’s purpose in choosing such a form of address — “judges of the earth”? This is explained by the fact that the writer wanted to introduce King Solomon as the speaker from the beginning of the first chapter, wherefore he thought it more fitting to address his speech to earthly rulers rather than to simple people; but in that case it would have been even more appropriate to address whole nations. It is far more reasonable to explain this address by the purpose of writing the Book of Wisdom and by the relations of the Jews at that time to foreign rulers — their oppressors. In them the Jews saw representatives, on the one hand, of all ungodliness and freethinking, and on the other — of crude superstition and idolatry. — These very representatives of the anti-Jewish way of thought and life the author wished chiefly to call to true wisdom (Cf. 1:1 st. and Wis 6:1-2 st.). “Love righteousness.” Righteousness (dikaiosyne) should be understood here not in a judicial sense, but in a moral sense. It is not about the duty of a judge here, not about judicial impartiality, but about the conformity of a person’s thoughts and deeds with God’s commandments, about honesty and virtue. The immediately following words speak in favor of such an understanding, in which this concept of righteousness is unfolded from two sides: as right thinking about God and as seeking him in simplicity of heart. “Think rightly concerning the Lord.” By comparing this expression with 30 st. of the XIV ch. “they thought ungodly of God, turning to idols,” it is explained thus: have correct notions, thoughts about God. But if the writer wished to say this, he would have used the Greek expression orthōs, and not agathotes (as here), which denotes a property of the will, not the mind. Therefore, it is more correct to suppose that here the writer speaks of such a moral attitude of man as is a necessary condition for his meditations on God to lead to happiness in God. The correctness of such an understanding is confirmed by the immediately following words: “seek him in simplicity of heart” and by the subsequent context of the speech. The following verses (2–4) develop the thought that only morally pure people are capable of true knowledge of God, while spiritual impurity separates from God, and wisdom cannot dwell in a sinful soul. “Seek him in simplicity of heart.” The expression “seek the Lord” is used in the Bible in the sense of “endeavor to merit the mercy and favor of God” (Jer 29; Rom 3:11; Heb 11:6) and in the sense of “strive to know God” (Wis 13:6; Isa 65:1; Acts 17:27). According to the context of the speech here, this expression is better taken in the second sense, since the speech is further about the knowledge of God. “In simplicity of heart,” that is, with pure childlike feeling, which is far from doubt in the power and goodness of God (1 Chr 29; Eph 6:5). Verse 2 indicates the ground why the striving for wisdom and the knowledge of God should be accompanied by purity in thoughts and deeds: because only under this condition is this striving not in vain. “To test the Lord” ordinarily means to doubt God’s almighty power and help and thus, as it were, to force God to show his power (see Exod 17:2; Deut 33:8; Ps 77:18), and in such a sense the given expression is often understood. But the connection of speech with the preceding and following gives grounds for another interpretation, namely: by immoral deeds, as it were, to put God to the test, to see whether he will punish and whether one can irritate his longsuffering and punishing power. In such a sense the expression “to test the Lord” is often used in Holy Scripture. (See Deut 6:16; Acts 15:10; 1 Cor 10:9). “And manifests himself to those who do not disbelieve him.” To manifest (emphanizesthai) — not in the sense of an external theophany, but to reveal, to make known, as in VI ch., 16 st.; cf. John 14:21-22. Those who disbelieve (apistountes) here are not those who deny the existence of God, but those who experience religious doubt and in such a state turn to God (cf. Jas 1:6; Matt 21:22; Mark 11:24). The reading of the Alexandrian Codex mē pisteuousi is considered erroneous; the Vulgate renders this place in the positive form: qui fidem habent in illum.

Wisdom 1:3. For wrong thoughts separate from God, and when his power is tested, it exposes the foolish. 3. From verses 3–5, the thought of verse 2 is developed in the negative way. “Wrong thoughts separate from God.” The word “thought” (logismos) in the Bible is usually used to denote the moral and religious disposition of a person, not mere reflection. The word logismos itself does not contain a bad sense (Rom 2:15; Luke 2:35). The bad sense is determined either by the context of the speech (Jer 11:19; 2 Cor 10:4), or by a special adjective standing with this word (see Matt 15:19; Mark 7:21), as in this place the thoughts are called “wrong” (skolios), that is, perverted, ungodly, “separate from God,” that is, deprive him of divine help in the acquisition of wisdom and the knowledge of God (cf. verse 4). “When his power is tested, it exposes the foolish.” God’s almightiness is tested by ungodliness, to force its manifestation. A thought close to the first half of verse 2. “To test” and “to tempt” (verse 2) (dokimazesthai and peirazein) — words that are used in the Book of Wisdom and generally in Holy Scripture in almost the same sense. (See Wis 2:17; Ps 94; 2 Cor 13:5; Heb 3:9).

Wisdom 1:4. For into a deceitful soul wisdom will not enter, nor dwell in a body enslaved to sin, Verse 4 contains the ground for verse 3. Ungodliness separates from God because wisdom does not unite with ungodly people, and wisdom leads to the knowledge of God (Wis 9:17) and mediates communion with God (Wis 6:9). By wisdom here, as is evident from verses 5 and 6, is meant the divine force that manifests its action in the souls of people. Soul (psychē) and body (sōma) are taken in the fourth verse not only to denote the whole person (as in 2 Macc 7:37), but the body means the source and center of all moral evil in a person; this thought was a kind of dogma for Philo, and it is not foreign to the writer of the Book of Wisdom (see Wis 8:19-20 st.). But the writer distinguishes only two parts of human existence: soul and body (Wis 8:19-20), not three, as Philo did; in this his independence is evident. The body is presented in verse 4 as “enslaved to sin,” that is, it has become a slave to it, as it were bought by it (cf. Rom 7:14), while the soul is called “deceitful,” as devising evil (cf. Wis 11:4). — “Dwell” — the usual expression in Holy Scripture of the thought about the action of divine force (wisdom) in the human soul. It gives the nuance of the thought that this force is not of earthly, but of heavenly origin and dwells in man only temporarily (see Eph 3:17; Col 1:19).

Wisdom 1:5. for the holy Spirit of wisdom will flee deceit, and will not dwell with senseless thoughts, and will depart when unrighteousness approaches. Verse 5. Wisdom in virtue of its holiness departs from all sin. It is called here the Holy Spirit (pneuma agion). This expression (pneuma ag.) in biblical usage denotes the divine force and activity, in distinction from the divine essence itself, — the quickening and animating principle in the physical and spiritual world. The various spiritual properties in which the divine Spirit manifests itself are expressed in the genitive case (see Wis 7:7; Isa 11:2; Deut 34:9; Eph 1:8; 2 Cor 4:13; 2 Tim 1:7; John 14:17). Here with pneuma stands the genitive sophias. In the concept of sophia the writer of the book means not the intellectual, but the moral-practical side of wisdom, the ability to conduct one’s life according to God’s commandments, piety (Wis 2:12; Ps 50; Prov 1:2; Sir 2:27). Inasmuch as divine wisdom teaches man piety, it is therefore called the spirit of instruction and education (in the Alex. cod. paideias). This wisdom departs from all evil, deceit (dolos), whether it manifests itself in thoughts or in wicked deeds. Thus, depravity in thought and deed makes man incapable of knowing the high and divine, dulls his feelings toward it. This thought is expressed repeatedly in the New Testament (John 7:17; Rom 1:18; 1 Cor 2:14-15; Eph 4:17); it is also found in the philosophy of Philo, and the author of the Book of the Wisdom of Solomon perhaps borrowed it from there. By purity of heart and integrity of deeds a man, as it were, becomes akin to the divine and heavenly and becomes more capable of knowing it — this is one of the fundamental propositions of Judeo-Alexandrian religious philosophy.

Wisdom 1:6. For the Spirit of the Lord fills the whole world, and that which holds all things together knows every word said, Verses 6–10 further develop the thought of the preceding verse: it is not enough that the Holy Spirit of Wisdom withdraws its action from the ungodly and departs from them, but it also punishes them, for it knows even the deep recesses of the human heart and is omnipresent. In speaking of this, the writer means such ungodliness that has already broken the great bond of man with Wisdom and, on the other hand, is expressed in blasphemous speech. Verse 6. “For the Spirit of the Lord fills the whole world...” In the Alexandrian Codex stands the genitive case — sophias, as in Wis 7:7 st.; but this variant reading does not at all change the meaning. Whether to call Wisdom the Spirit of God or to say: the Spirit of God is the Spirit of Wisdom — it is one and the same. The epithet “fills the whole world” presents a difficulty for exegetes: they find it not matching the context; throughout this section there is no talk of God’s love for people, on the contrary, His disfavor is mentioned. To eliminate the difficulty by considering this place as a later interpolation, as some exegetes do, is impossible, because these words are found in all codices. Paying attention to the fact that this expression in the Greek text is connected with the particle gar, one should put it in causal connection with the preceding, and not with individual expressions, but with the general sense. The train of thought then becomes this: under the condition of moral purity, when the Spirit of God has access to man’s soul, it is not difficult for him to attain wisdom; for the activity of the Spirit of God is moved exclusively by love for man, therefore precisely He “will not leave unpunished” ungodliness, which hinders his activity for the benefit of people. “Will not leave the one who blasphemes unpunished.” The blasphemer cannot escape punishment because God knows even the inner movements of the human soul. He is a “witness of the inmost feelings,” a “beholder of the heart,” and a “hearer of the tongue.” In this enumeration one notes in the writer a gradual transition from the inner to the outer, from what is less to what is more accessible. “The innermost feelings” (nephroi) are, in biblical usage, the hidden principle in man where deep feelings, strong affections, and violent passions are born; the heart means in general the capacity for thought and feeling (Isa 6:10; Jer 17:10; Rev 2:23); “tongue” — the speech in which both one and the other reveal themselves. In correspondence with this sequence stand the words “witness,” “beholder,” “hearer.”

Wisdom 1:7. and so those words of blasphemy cannot hide and will not leave his righteous judgment with forgetting, Verse 7. “The Spirit of the Lord fills the universe.” The opinions of exegetes on the concept of “the Spirit of the Lord” (pneuma kyriou) differ. Some identify “the Spirit of the Lord” with the concept of “the Lord,” others see here a reference to wisdom as a world soul, in the Platonic sense. Defenders of the second opinion cite, in proof, passages from the writings of Philo in which he attributes to the Logos the actions of Platonic world soul, and passages from the writings of the holy Fathers in which the same is attributed to the Spirit of God. A similar identification of the Spirit of God with the world soul supposedly takes place in the writer’s book of Wisdom. Of course, one cannot deny that in his book (see Wis 7:22) the writer presents wisdom as a force acting, emanating from God and pervading the whole world. But in doing so, he does not present wisdom as an independent personal being, as would be necessary to suppose if the writer understood wisdom in the Platonic sense of world soul. (In Plato, God and the world soul are presented as two distinct spiritual principles). Therefore, it is more correct to suppose that the writer formed his concept of wisdom not on the basis of Platonic philosophy, but on the basis of the Old Testament biblical teaching about the Spirit of God as the divine force everywhere active in the material world and all-pervading, as the principle of physical life. (Gen 1:2; Ps 32:6). This concept of the Spirit of God in Judeo-Alexandrian philosophy received a more abstract meaning and was adopted by our writer for revealing the idea of wisdom. In the second half of verse 7, from the thought of the omnipresence of the Spirit of the Lord, the thought of his omniscience is derived: “and as he holds all things together he knows every word.”

Wisdom 1:8. Therefore no one who utters unrighteous things will go unnoticed, and justice, as a judge, will not pass him by. Verse 8. From the thought of the preceding verse about God’s omniscience and omnipresence, the conclusion is drawn that no blasphemer, no ungodly person (“who utters unrighteous things”) can hide from God and cannot escape punishment.

Wisdom 1:9. For the thoughts of the ungodly are sinful, and his ears are open to unrighteous deeds; Verse 9. “For the thoughts of the ungodly are sinful.” “Scrutiny” (exetasis), a word frequently encountered in our writer, is taken by him from civil judicial language, where it means an investigation conducted by torture; in our book this word means 1) the investigation, examination of human life by God (Wis 4:6), and along with this the consequence of this scrutiny — 2) punishment (Wis 6:6). Here the first meaning of this word should be taken, which can be seen from the second half of the verse. “Thought” (diaboulion) means in general a disposition, intention, like logismos in verse 3 (thought). Taken in the plural, this word ordinarily acquires a negative sense; — it means ungrateful strivings, impure desires (Ezek 11:5; Hos 4:9). “His ears are open to unrighteous deeds...” that is, man will stand before God as a judge.

Wisdom 1:10. for the ear of jealousy hears all things, and the sound of grumbling does not go unheard. Verse 10. “The ear of jealousy hears all things...” The abstract concept “jealousy” is taken here instead of the concrete “the jealous one” (“the ear of the jealous one”) in correspondence with the abstract character of the expressions of the preceding verse. In the Old Testament jealousy is attributed to Jehovah in two senses. Either by this word is denoted Jehovah’s zealous care for the Israelite people (Isa 9:6; Joel 2:18; Zech 1:14), whereupon he appears as the zealous avenger of his enemies (Nah 1:2); or, as in many places in the Pentateuch (Exod 20:5; Deut 4:24), God is called “a jealous one” when he speaks of his right to exclusive worship from the Israelites, and that any departure from his worship will be severely punished. In this latter sense the word “jealousy” is taken in this place: God watches zealously (jealously) over the thoughts and words of people in order not to leave blasphemous speech unpunished.

Wisdom 1:11. Therefore guard yourselves against useless complaining, and keep your tongue from slander; because even the smallest word will not pass away unheeded, and a lying mouth destroys the soul. Verse 11. Represents a conclusion from the last three verses.

Wisdom 1:12. Therefore do not court death by the error of your life, or draw down destruction upon yourselves through the work of your hands; Verse 12. “Do not court death by error of your life...” To court death means to eagerly strive for it. In this expression, as in the following: “or draw down destruction upon yourselves through the work of your hands,” there sounds in the writer a certain irony toward the ungodly, who by their constant perseverance in sin seem to express a firm desire for their own ruin. “...of your life...” This expression presents a beautiful contrast to the preceding: “do not court death.” To understand clearly what the writer here means by death, one can only on the basis of the whole teaching of our book about death and immortality. We will present it in its main features. 1) God is not the author of death; according to the plan of His creative activity all should be immortal: Wis 1:13-14. He made man also immortal, in the image of “the eternity of His being”: Wis 2:23) “But by the envy of the devil death entered the world”: Wis 2:24) However, not all fall under this death, but through piety and wisdom man attains immortality: Wis 1:15; and blessed life with God in heaven: Wis 3:1; while the ungodly receive death as punishment: Wis 1:12; they have no hope: Wis 3:11; thick darkness covers them: Wis 17:20; God utterly destroys them: Wis 4:19. However, even after such death, which is likened to annihilation, the ungodly are described as having a memory of their earthly life, regret and repentance, as well as knowledge of the blessed state of the righteous (Wis 5:1-5). Most exegetes try to reconcile this apparent contradiction by assuming that Pseudo-Solomon admits some intermediate state in which the souls of not all the dead, but only of the ungodly, remain until they are destroyed on the day of general judgment. Death, according to this view, is the complete annihilation of the souls of sinners on the day of judgment. In proof of the correctness of this view they cite the frequent mention of such a day in the book: Wis 3:7, cf. Wis 1:9. But against this view serious objections can be raised. Nowhere does the writer make a distinction between the state that immediately follows death and that which will occur after the general judgment. This silence would only be thinkable and explainable if he were addressing readers for whom such teaching about immortality was well known, so that there would be no need to explain it in detail, only to touch on individual moments of it. But we do not find such teaching about immortality among the Jews contemporary with the writer. On the contrary, they always expected the general judgment here on earth in Messianic times. Our writer, although sharing widely in Messianic hopes (Wis 3:7-8), did not know the dogma of the resurrection of the body (see remark to 3:7). Therefore, according to the view under discussion, he should have transferred the divine judgment and the general assembly for it to the otherworldly life as incorporeal souls; but we find no analogy for such a presentation in the eschatological views of the Jews. Therefore, the writer’s teaching about death is more correctly understood in a different way. Namely, by death to understand not complete annihilation, but only the loss of immortality connected with the death of the body in the proper sense, as blessed communion with God in heaven, to which only wisdom leads; this is from the negative side; from the positive side, it is the continuous consciousness of one’s guilt (Wis 5:2-5) in what sorrowful state the souls remained in the underworld (Wis 1:14). Thus, the death of which the writer of the Book of Wisdom speaks is the “second death” of the Apocalypse (Rev 2:11). Thence the “day of judgment” can only be a borrowed image from the books of the Old Testament (Isa 2:12; Ezek 30:2; Joel 1:15; Mal 3:1-5) and mean nothing more than the general time of retribution, when each receives according to his deeds. As for those passages in the book where the writer speaks of annihilation (e.g., Wis 4:19), they can easily be understood not in a literal sense, but as hyperbolic expressions of horror before the divine awesome judgment. This teaching of our writer about immortality, which he likely drew from Platonic philosophy, constituted an essential moment in the development of the religious consciousness of the Jews and brought them significantly closer to Christianity.

Wisdom 1:13. For God did not make death, and he does not have pleasure in the destruction of the living. Verses 13–16. Section 13–16 forms the conclusion of the chapter and contains a brief statement of the teaching about God in his relation to the world. Verse 13. God does not have pleasure in the destruction of the ungodly, and he is not the author of their death; it came into being solely through their own fault. The intention of his creative will was to create only life in the world (not death). In contrast with verse thirteen are vv. Wis 2:16. Together with parallel to it Wis 11:24-25 it expresses a thought found in Platonic philosophy, that love alone was the moving principle for God in his creative activity.

Wisdom 1:14. for he fashioned all things so that they might have being; and the creature-kinds of the world are wholesome, and there is no destructive poison in them, nor does the realm of Hades rule on earth. Verse 14. The thought of the preceding verse, expressed in negative form, is developed here from the positive side. “He fashioned all things so that they might have being.” What is meant by “all things”? All creation, the entire human world, as in Mark 16:15, or even the entire spiritual world, as in the epistle to Eph 1:10. In that case, “so that they might have being” (eis to einai) will mean — for the continuation of life, for immortality (in contrast to ouk einai in the book of Gen 42:36; Matt 2:18). With such an explanation, verse 14 will only repeat in other words the thought of the preceding verse, whereas it is the ground for it (“for”). Therefore, by “all things” should be understood all that has been created in totality, the whole world, the universe. As God created all things, so by his will is determined the preservation, continuation of existence (to einai) of all. This thought is a general proposition from which is drawn the conclusion that man too was created for life, not for death. “And the creature-kinds of the world are wholesome...” that is, all that God created serves for the preservation and continuation of existence, and, as is evident from the following, the writer speaks chiefly of the preservation of man. “Nor does the realm of Hades rule on earth.” Many exegetes quite arbitrarily see in these and the following words an allusion of the writer to the account of Moses (Gen 2:17 and ch. 3) that people through tasting the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil were subjected to death, and from this they draw the further conclusion that the writer of the Book of Wisdom understood the narrative of Moses about the fall of the first humans in an allegorical, rather than a literal, sense. From other passages in his book we clearly see that he recognized the historical character of Moses’ narrative about the creation of the world and the first humans (Wis 2:23-24). “Poison” here in a figurative sense is called everything that leads man to spiritual death, that deprives him of immortality. All this is in man himself, whereas in all the material world there is nothing such that contact with it would lead man to moral death. “Nor does the realm of Hades rule on earth.” These words clearly show that the writer imagined spiritual death as a sorrowful state of the dead in Hades. Hades, as the place of abode of the dead, is here taken in poetic personification: Hades reigns; but one should not think that the writer speaks here of an actual prince of Hades, as in Rev 6:8. In Holy Scripture, Hades and death are often identified (Isa 38:18; 1 Cor 15:55; Rev 1:18).

Wisdom 1:15. For righteousness is immortal; Verse 15. Since death was not created by God (verse 13), but is a consequence of moral causes, sin (verse 12), from this follows naturally the conclusion that “righteousness is immortal.” Although the righteous do die, it is only a transition to another, better life (Wis 3:1).

Wisdom 1:16. but the ungodly brought death upon themselves through their deeds and words; thinking lightly of him, they were drawn away to death, and made a compact with it, since they are worthy of the share in death. Verse 16. In verse 16, the thought is the same as in verse 12 and is expressed in the same ironic tone toward the ungodly. Death for them, of course, is a punishment, but such a punishment as they passionately sought; they courted it through their deeds and words, felt an attachment to it, as to a friend, and languished in this feeling (“they were drawn away”), finally concluded with it a lasting covenant and by all this showed that they are worthy of it.