Texts in Conversation
Isaiah 59 describes a community waiting for light but finding darkness, portrayed as blind and powerless. Wisdom of Solomon echoes this imagery from the perspective of the unrighteous, who confess that they too have wandered in darkness.
Share:
2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Isaiah 59:9
Hebrew Bible
7 They are eager to do evil, quick to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful; they crush and destroy. 8 They are unfamiliar with peace; their deeds are unjust. They use deceitful methods, and whoever deals with them is unfamiliar with peace. 9 For this reason deliverance is far from us and salvation does not reach us. We wait for light, but see only darkness; we wait for a bright light, but live in deep darkness. 10 We grope along the wall like the blind, we grope like those who cannot see; we stumble at noontime as if it were evening. Though others are strong, we are like dead men. 11 We all growl like bears, we coo mournfully like doves; we wait for deliverance, but there is none, for salvation, but it is far from us.
Date: 740–450 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Wisdom of Solomon 5:6
Deuterocanon
4 We fools considered his life madness, and his end without honor. 5 How was he counted among sons of God? How is his lot among saints? 6 Truly we went astray from the way of truth. The light of righteousness didn’t shine for us. The sun didn’t rise for us. 7 We took our fill of the paths of lawlessness and destruction. We traveled through trackless deserts, but we didn’t know the Lord’s way. 8 What did our arrogance profit us? What good have riches and boasting brought us?
Date: 50 BCE – 50 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
Search:
Notes and References
"... In 5:15–23 the author restates his belief in the reversal after death of the fates of the righteous and the wicked, but this time using traditional Old Testament imagery of God as the divine Warrior. The whole section represents an elaboration of Isaiah 59:17, but compare also Isaiah 13 and 24. After having acknowledged that the righteous were right and they were wrong, the wicked are subject to a wholesale onslaught in which they seem to be utterly destroyed. 5:16 alludes to the idea mentioned above in connection with 2:16, 18, namely, the democratization of beliefs originally attached to the Israelite kings (compare also 3:8). At God’s coming the righteous will attain the kingly stature which goes with the title “son of God” (compare Psalm 89:20–27). A close parallel in Sibylline Oracles 3:702–3 throws light on the general scenario which the author seems to have in mind in these verses ..."
A. Peter Hayman, Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible: Wisdom of Solomon (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2019), 44–45.
* 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.
Your Feedback:
Leave a Comment
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.
User Comments
,