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The Christian theologian Augustine uses the Wisdom of Solomon as an authoritative source for teaching and theology, quoting its description of the suffering of the righteous man, which he interprets with a Christian perspective.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Wisdom of Solomon 2:12
Deuterocanon
11 But let our strength be a law of righteousness; for that which is weak is proven useless. 12 But let’s lie in wait for the righteous man, because he annoys us, is contrary to our works, reproaches us with sins against the law, and charges us with sins against our training. 13 He professes to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child of the Lord. 14 He became to us a reproof of our thoughts. 15 He is grievous to us even to look at, because his life is unlike other men’s, and his paths are strange. 16 We were regarded by him as something worthless, and he abstains from our ways as from uncleanness. He calls the latter end of the righteous happy. He boasts that God is his father. 17 Let’s see if his words are true. Let’s test what will happen at the end of his life. 18 For if the righteous man is God’s son, he will uphold him, and he will deliver him out of the hand of his adversaries. 19 Let’s test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and test his patience. 20 Let’s condemn him to a shameful death, for he will be protected, according to his words.” 21 Thus they reasoned, and they were led astray; for their wickedness blinded them,
Date: 50 BCE – 50 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
Augustine, City of God 17.20
On the City of God Against the Pagans
Early Christian
He also is found to have prophesied in his books, of which three are received as of canonical authority, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs. But it has been customary to ascribe to Solomon two others, of which one is called Wisdom, the other Ecclesiasticus, on account of some resemblance of style — but the more learned have no doubt that they are not his; yet from early times the Church, especially the Western, received them into authority — in the one of which, called the Wisdom of Solomon, the passion of Christ is most openly prophesied. For indeed His impious murderers are quoted as saying, “Let us lie in wait for the righteous, for he is unpleasant to us, and contrary to our works; and he upbraids us with our transgressions of the law, and charges us to our disgrace with the transgressions of our upbringing. He professes to have the knowledge of God, and he calls himself the Son of God. He was made to reprove our thoughts. He is grievous for us even to look at; for his life is unlike other men's and his ways are different. We are regarded by him as counterfeits; and he abstains from our ways as from filthiness. He extols the final end of the righteous; and glories that he has God for his Father. Let us see, therefore, if his words are true; and let us test what will happen to him, and we shall know what his end will be. For if the righteous man is the Son of God, He will take up his cause, and deliver him from the hand of those who are against him. Let us examine him with insult and torture, so that we may know his reverence, and test his patience. Let us condemn him to the most shameful death; for by His own sayings He shall be respected. These things they devised, and were mistaken; for their own malice has quite blinded them.” But in Ecclesiasticus the future faith of the nations is predicted in this manner: “Have mercy on us, God, Ruler of all, and send Your fear on all the nations: lift up Your hand over the strange nations, and let them see Your power. As You were sanctified in us before them, so be sanctified in them before us, and let them acknowledge You, as we also have acknowledged You; for there is no God besides You, Lord.”
Date: 426 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Virtually a quotation from the LXX version of Isaiah 3:10, where the Hebrew is quite different. It is quoted by many of the Church Fathers, following its citation in Barnabas 6:7, as referring to Christ; compare Justin Martyr Dial. 17; Eusebius PE 13.13; Clement of Alexandria Stromata 5.14 (where Plato's Republic 361 is also quoted: 'The just man will have to endure the lash, the rock, chains, the branding-iron in his eyes, and finally, after every extremity of suffering, he will be crucified'); Augustine City of God 17.20.1: 'In one of these books that is called the Wisdom of Solomon Christ's passion is most clearly prophesied. For surely it is his wicked slayers who are recorded as saying: 'Let us set an ambush for the righteous man ...' The seventeenth-century commentator C. Lapide saw in the 'shameful death' of verse 20 a direct allusion to the cross, and in the word achrestos ('ineffectual') of verse 11 an insulting play on the name Christos ..."
David Winston, The Wisdom of Solomon: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1979), 119.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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