T he only good news that we ought to know and remember is that Jesus Christ had already won the war against sin and death. He has made it possible for us to join Him in the afterlife. All we need now to do is accept Him as He is. God is alive today and it may be sometimes be difficult to see this. The world and its demonic nature has still made it look like that only worldly things matter and that the ultimate goal of each one is to achieve their own personal happiness. This is the biggest lie of all, that we should do all to make us happy. Individual happiness at the expense of someone else is the biggest deception of all. The truth is, our lives are never really about us. It is ultimately about God and about others. It is about how you can provide and give joy even at our own expense. This is the model of ultimate and genuine love that Jesus shown us at the cross. "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s frie...
Summary of the Book
The book is written in the voice of King Solomon, though it was composed centuries after his death. It addresses the rulers of the earth, urging them to love justice and seek wisdom. The text is generally divided into three main sections:
1. The Destiny of the Righteous vs. The Wicked (Chapters 1–5) The book opens by contrasting two types of people. The "ungodly" believe that life is short, random, and ends in nothingness. Because they believe the soul dies with the body, they decide to live for pleasure and oppress the weak. They specifically target the "righteous man" (often interpreted by Christians as a prophecy of Jesus), whose holy life annoys them.
The Twist: The author reveals that the ungodly are wrong. The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God and possess immortality. Death is not the end, but a transition. The wicked will eventually stand in judgment and realize their error, while the righteous will receive a crown of royal dignity.
2. The Praise of Wisdom (Chapters 6–9) The author (speaking as Solomon) tells the story of how he sought Wisdom above all else—wealth, health, or beauty. He personifies Wisdom (Sophia in Greek) as a female divine figure who sits by God's throne.
He describes Wisdom as the "artificer" of all things, a pure emanation of God's glory.
He explains that he is merely a mortal man who needs Wisdom to govern his people correctly. This section contains a famous prayer for Wisdom to be sent from the "holy heavens."
3. God’s Providence in History (Chapters 10–19) The final section retells the history of Israel, specifically the Exodus, but without using proper names (e.g., Moses is just "the righteous man," Lot is "a righteous man").
Wisdom vs. Idolatry: It contrasts how Wisdom saved the Israelites with how foolishness (idolatry) destroyed the Egyptians.
Critique of Idolatry: The author offers a scathing psychological analysis of why humans make idols (e.g., a father mourning a dead child makes a statue, which eventually becomes a god; or a carpenter using scrap wood to make a god). He mocks the illogical nature of worshipping created things rather than the Creator.
Notable Quotes and Verses
On the Immortality of the Soul:
"But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will ever touch them. In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died, and their departure was thought to be a disaster... but they are at peace." (Wisdom 3:1-3)
On the Origin of Death:
"God created us for incorruption, and made us in the image of his own eternity, but through the devil's envy death entered the world, and those who belong to his company experience it." (Wisdom 2:23-24) (Note: This is one of the earliest Jewish texts to explicitly link the Serpent in Eden to the Devil.)
On the Nature of Wisdom:
"For she is a breath of the power of God, and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her." (Wisdom 7:25)
On God's Order:
"But you have arranged all things by measure and number and weight." (Wisdom 11:20)
The "Prophecy" of the Passion:
"Let us lie in wait for the righteous man, because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions... Let us test him with insult and torture, so that we may find out how gentle he is, and make trial of his forbearance. Let us condemn him to a shameful death, for, according to what he says, he will be protected." (Wisdom 2:12, 19-20)
Historical Facts: How the Book Came to Be
It is a Pseudepigrapha: Although the author speaks as King Solomon (referencing the building of the Temple and his prayer for wisdom), the book was certainly not written by Solomon (who lived c. 970 BCE).
Written in Greek, not Hebrew: Unlike the earlier Old Testament books, the Wisdom of Solomon was composed in highly sophisticated, rhetorical Greek. It quotes the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible) rather than the Hebrew text.
Place and Date: Scholars are nearly unanimous that the book was written in Alexandria, Egypt, the intellectual capital of the ancient world, likely between 50 BCE and 30 BCE.
The Cultural Context: The book was written for Jews living in the Diaspora (outside Israel) who were tempted by Greek culture (Hellenism). The author uses Greek philosophical terms (from Plato and the Stoics) to argue that the Jewish faith is actually the highest philosophy.
Influence on the New Testament: The Apostle Paul seems to have been very familiar with this book. His description of the "armor of God" in Ephesians 6 and his critique of idolatry in Romans 1 bear striking resemblances to passages in the Wisdom of Solomon.