Chapter Fifteen

1–5. The significance of true knowledge of God. 6–13. The unreasonableness of idolatry, evident from the method of preparing idols, 14–17. from their properties, and 18–19. from the worship of animals.

Wisdom 15:1. But you, our God, are good and true, patient and merciful in all your ways. 1–5. The first five verses of Chapter 15 contain a contrast to the corrupting moral influence of paganism described in Chapter 14, with the inner, bringing to righteousness and immortality, relations of God toward the Israelite people. 1. “But you, our God (that is, of the Israelites), are good and true, patient...” When enumerating these properties the writer probably had in mind the passage from Exod 34:6 “True,” that is, faithful to his promises.

Wisdom 15:2. If we also sin, we are yours, knowing your dominion; yet we shall not sin, knowing that we are acknowledged to be yours. 2. The properties indicated in verse 1 define the relations of God toward the Israelites. – “If we also sin, we are yours, acknowledging your dominion...” Despite the fact that the Israelite people sin before God, they continue to remain the people of God, his possession, under his protection and dominion. Such constancy is founded on God’s part on his indicated properties, on the part of the Israelite people on their knowledge of the true God: “acknowledging your dominion.” Further in verse 3 the writer speaks of the significance of true knowledge of God, but now, as if feeling in his assertion that even the sinning Israel continues to remain the people of God, something not corresponding to his views on religious particularism, he hastens to add: “yet we shall not sin, knowing that we are acknowledged to be yours.” Thus the writer hopes that the high calling of the Hebrew people, as the people of God, will serve as a motivation “not to sin.” The Hebrew people will thus be worthy of their calling.

Wisdom 15:3. To know you is complete righteousness, and to acknowledge your dominion is the root of immortality. 3. “To know you is complete righteousness.” By knowledge of God is here understood not external, theoretical recognition of the existence of the true God, but internal appropriation of God, penetration of thought about God into the whole life in the activity of man, which knowledge of God indeed leads to “complete righteousness.” “...to acknowledge your dominion is the root of immortality.” To acknowledge the dominion of God means to be constantly guided by his will; this nearest consequence of true knowledge of God leads to immortality (see Wis 1:15), that is, to blessed life in eternal communion with God. Clarifying the significance of true knowledge of God, the writer wished thereby to indicate why the Hebrew people occupies an exclusive position among other peoples in religious terms.

Wisdom 15:4. The craftiness of human invention does not deceive us, nor does the barren labor of artists — images adorned with various colors, Wisdom 15:5. the sight of which stirs up in the foolish a passionate desire and longing for the lifeless form of a dead image. 4–5. Possessing true knowledge of God, the Israelites are not deceived by those images in which paganism embodies the idea of God. They see in them “the craftiness of human invention,” “the barren labor of artists.” The worshipers of the living God cannot be allured by the beauty of a “dead image,” that is, an idol (cf. Wis 14:20).

Wisdom 15:6. Both those who make them, those who desire them, and those who worship them are lovers of evil, deserving such hopes. 6. From verse 6 to the end of the chapter the writer returns to the same theme about the unreasonableness of idolatry which he unfolded in Wis 13:10-19 verse. This verse is an introduction in which a general judgment is expressed about all those who in any respect relate to idolatry. All of them equally are “lovers of evil” — both those who make idols and those captivated by their sensuous beauty (“those who desire them”) and those who do them honor. “...deserving such hopes...” deserving that their hopes in soulless idols (Wis 13:10) should be completely dashed (Wis 5:14); or perhaps here there is a metonymy (as in Wis 14:6) and by hopes are understood the objects of hope, that is, idols. Then the thought is: deserving their worthless gods.

Wisdom 15:7. The potter kneads the soft earth with care and shapes every vessel for our service; of the same clay he fashions vessels for clean uses and for unclean, all alike; but what is the use of each, the potter himself is judge. 7. From verses 7–13 the writer tries to show the unreasonableness of idolatry from the method of making idols, similarly to how it is done in Wis 13:11-16 verse. But between these two sections there is this difference: the “woodworker” of Chapter 13 himself is pervaded with religious feeling toward the made idol (see Wis 13:17 verse), whereas the sculptor described here reveals frivolity and disbelief in his work. The thought of verse 7 is that idols by the method of making are in no way different from clay vessels. One and the same person fashions one and the other from one and the same material. It depends on the potter what use to create the fashioned object for: “what is the use of each, the potter himself is judge.” By “potter” in verse 7 is understood not only a potter but also a sculptor (see verse 8).

Wisdom 15:8. And the idle worker from the same clay shapes an idle god, whereas he himself was recently born from the earth and will soon go there, from where he was taken, and the debt of his soul will be demanded from him. Wisdom 15:9. But he is not concerned that he must work hard, nor that his life is short; instead he competes with the artisans of gold and silver, and imitates the bronze workers, and counts it a glory to make abominations. 8–9. “...the idle worker...” This is the same potter of verse 7; “...an idle god...” — an idol. – “...was recently born from the earth and will soon go there...” Cf. Gen 2:7. – “...the debt of his soul will be demanded from him,” life is regarded as something received from God in debt, which is paid back with death. In this way the absolute dependence of earthly human life on God is indicated. – “But he is not concerned that he must work hard...” This expression is often understood in the sense that the sculptor is not troubled by the fact that the making of idols will require from him much time and labor, only to achieve a certain perfection. Such an understanding does not correspond to the context. The beginning of verse 9 is a contrast to verse 8. Man must soon die, “he is not concerned” with that; his brief life he should fill with serious work, “but he is not concerned” with that; the sculptor has given himself up to vanity, he is absorbed by the thought of achieving in the image of the idol such perfection as to rival the “artisans of gold and silver.” The thought of both verses is this: the very material over which the sculptor works should remind him of his origin and transience and restrain him from the bold intention to depict a supernatural being (verse 8), yet the sculptor is not guided by these lofty motives; he is entirely consumed by base vanity.

Wisdom 15:10. His heart is ash, and his hope is of less worth than earth, and his life more contemptible than mud; 10. Verse 10 makes a general assessment of the inner core of the maker of idols. “His heart is ash...” that is, for all that is higher he is dead; his thoughts and feelings are base and trivial. – “His hope is of less worth than earth,” of the very material over which he works.

Wisdom 15:11. because he did not know the one who created him, who breathed into him an active soul, and inspired in him a spirit of life. 11. The low cast of mind and life of the maker of idols indicated in verse 10 has its foundation in the lack of knowledge of the true God: “because he did not know the one who created him, who breathed into him an active soul, and inspired in him a spirit of life.” Some commentators refer to these words as proof that the writer of the book of Wisdom distinguishes not two but three parts of human being; besides the body, also an “active soul” and a “spirit of life.” The first means the principle of thought and will in man; the second — the beginning of animal life. But such an explanation does not accord with other passages of the book where the writer clearly speaks of two parts of human existence — body and soul (Wis 1:4). Therefore it is more correct to see in this expression a parallelism.

Wisdom 15:12. They consider our life a game, and our living a business for profit, saying that we must extract profit from every source, even from evil. 12. “They consider our life a game, and our living a business for profit...” These words depict the frivolity of those people who do not recognize serious significance for human life. The transition made by the writer from singular to plural number (“they”) indicates that the example taken by him of the sculptor represents a type of a certain kind of people. They “say that we must extract profit from every source, even from evil.” Evil here the writer calls the making of idols (cf. verse 6). This means that the making of idols was prompted to the sculptors by the desire to make a profit, and not by religious feeling (a similar example is given in Acts 19, verse 23).

Wisdom 15:13. Yet such a man especially knows that he sins, making from earthen substance perishable vessels and carvings. 13. According to verse 13 it is evident that the writer, as in Wis 14:29, presents such a person who is conscious of the futility of idolatry and only hypocritically continues to be on its side in order to use for his profit the superstition of his neighbors. Therefore “such a man especially knows that he sins, making... carvings.”

Wisdom 15:14. But the most foolish of all, and more childish in understanding than the very infants — the enemies of your people, those who oppress them, 14. From verse 14 to verse 17 the writer speaks in general of the unreasonableness of idolatry, based chiefly on the fact that those who worship idols revere the dead. Under “enemies of your people” are often understood the ancient Egyptians, the enslavers of the Hebrews, comparing this expression with Wis 10:15. But, taking into account the present tense of the verbs, it is more correct to understand here the Egyptians contemporary to the writer, or perhaps the writer meant in general foreign peoples who then subjugated the Hebrews.

Wisdom 15:15. for they revere as gods all the pagan idols, which have no use of the eyes for seeing, nor nostrils to draw air, nor ears for hearing, nor fingers of the hand to touch, and whose feet are useless for walking. 15. “...They revere as gods all the pagan idols...” Many ancient religions recognized as gods the divine beings of other religions and peoples, and when they conquered them, they incorporated the gods of the conquered into their pantheon. The given words probably refer to this. The following description of idols reminds us of Ps 134:16-17 verse.

Wisdom 15:16. Even though a man made them, and one who borrowed breath formed them; yet no man can form a god like himself. Wisdom 15:17. Being mortal, he makes by unholy hands something dead; therefore he is superior to his gods, for he lived, while they never did. 16–17. The expression “one who borrowed breath” is explained from comparison with verses 8 and 11. Man’s spirit is represented as it were as something received from God as a loan. “...yet no man can form a god like himself.” The words “like himself” are sometimes referred to the noun “god” and this passage is explained thus: no image of divinity created by man will be like him, for no sensuous form will express his supernatural, spiritual being. Such an explanation breaks any connection of verse 16 with what follows. By the connection of the speech the expression “like himself” should be referred to the noun “man” and the thought will be thus: an idol as a product of man is less perfect than he himself. Man, created by God, “is superior to his gods (that is, idols), for he lived, while they never did.”

Wisdom 15:18. Moreover, they revere the most abominable animals, which in their stupidity are inferior to all others. Wisdom 15:19. They are not even beautiful in appearance, as other animals, so as to be able to attract, but they are deprived of both the approval of God and his blessing. 18–19. In these last two verses the writer speaks of the folly of revering animals among the Egyptians (see Wis 11:15) and thereby makes a transition to the section of Chapters 16–19, in which he again returns to the comparison, interrupted in Chapter 12, of the opposite fate of the Egyptians and the Israelites at the time of the latter’s exodus. The writer charges the animal-worshipers with their very choice: they revere animals that are more senseless than others and, in addition, ugly. Evidently they are deprived of both the approval of God and his blessing. This means that this form of idolatry does not have even that excuse — that people bow down before a manifestation of reason and beauty.