Texts in Conversation
Genesis tells how Lot’s wife looked back at Sodom and was turned into a pillar of salt, highlighting her disobedience during the city’s destruction. The Wisdom of Solomon recalls this but frames it within a larger retelling of Israel’s past guided by wisdom, presenting the salt pillar as a permanent reminder of judgment.
Share:
Genesis 19:26
Hebrew Bible
24 Then the Lord rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. It was sent down from the sky by the Lord. 25 So he overthrew those cities and all that region, including all the inhabitants of the cities and the vegetation that grew from the ground. 26 But Lot’s wife looked back longingly and was turned into a pillar of salt. 27 Abraham got up early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord. 28 He looked out toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of that region. As he did so, he saw the smoke rising up from the land like smoke from a furnace.
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Wisdom of Solomon 10:7
Deuterocanon
5 Wisdom also, when the nations in wicked agreement had been put to confusion, recognized the righteous man and preserved him blameless before God, and kept him strong in the face of his compassion for his child. 6 Wisdom rescued a righteous man when the ungodly were perishing; he escaped the fire that descended on the Five Cities. 7 Evidence of their wickedness still remains: a continually smoking wasteland, plants bearing fruit that does not ripen, and a pillar of salt standing as a monument to an unbelieving soul. 8 For because they passed wisdom by, they not only were hindered from recognizing the good, but also left for humankind a reminder of their folly, so that their failures could never go unnoticed. 9 Wisdom rescued from troubles those who served her.
Date: 100-50 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Search:
Notes and References
"... Wisdom of Solomon has little interest in accurately recounting Old Testament history; such material is used solely for the author’s own apologetic ends. Hence Adam’s transgression in the Garden is glossed over (10:1; see also Sirach 49:16), and Cain is made the direct cause of the flood (10:4), passing over the difficult account of the fall of the angels (Genesis 6:1–4). Inevitably this moralizing and chauvinistic attitude to history leads the author into logically inconsistent statements. When Israel is persecuted her oppressors become the ungodly (10:15 and 10:20), but when Israel does the same to the Canaanites the author has to wriggle and squirm with embarrassment, coming up with nonsense like 12:10–11. For 10:1–2 see Genesis 2:7–4:16, for 10:4, Genesis 6–9, for 10:5, Genesis 10–22, for 10:6–8, Genesis 19, for 10:9–12, Genesis 27–33, for 10:13–14, Genesis 37–47, and for 10:15–21 Exodus 1–15. The chapter is held together, and its units marked out, by the repeated use of the pronoun hautē (translated “wisdom” in the NRSV) in verses 1, 5, 6, 10, 13, and 15. Each unit contains the word dikaios (righteous) once ..."
Hayman, A. Peter
Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible: Wisdom of Solomon
(p. 56) William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2019
* 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.