Handout on Wisdom of Solomon 1-10

Background in Greek philosophical traditions

• Epicureanism
  • Death is bad because we fear it, but we should not
  • The highest good is the absence of suffering
  • The social contract: do not cause suffering so as not to be caused suffering
  • Empiricism: nothing should be believed except that which can be tested through observation and reason
• Platonism
  • Body soul dualism
  • The truer self is the soul, the seat of thought
  • The body is a cage for the soul, weighs it down with biological needs
  • The soul exists before and after the body and can be rewarded or punished
• Stoicism
  • Logos=wisdom=divine emanation that pervades all cosmos
• Eschatology review
  • Personal: the afterlife of the individual
  • Collective: the end of the world/era as we know it

Text and context of the Wisdom of Solomon

• Written in Greek by a single author
• Around 40 CE (30 BCE – 70 CE)
• Alexandria, a Greek colony in Egypt with a sizable minority of Jews
• Hellenistic Judaism and the origins of Christianity
• Written in the voice of King Solomon, 10th century BCE

Caricature of the Epicureans (WisSol 2:2–20)

• WisSol 2:2–9, recognizable summary of Epicurean beliefs
• WisSol 2:10–20, accusation that disbelief in judgment after death causes immorality

Rebuttal, argument for immortality of the soul (WisSol 2:21–24)

• Methodological problem
• Where are the hidden counsels of God found?
• What are the hidden counsels of God?
• Relationship to Christian interpretation

Eschatology

• Reward of righteous
  • Explanation of suffering of the righteous
  • Relationship to Christian eschatology and understanding of death of Jesus
• Punishment of wicked
  • Relationship to Christian eschatology
  • Relationship to Israelite wisdom traditions
• Collective eschatology?

Influence on NT

• Matthew 27:43
  • Psalm 22:9, “You relied on the LORD—let him deliver you; if he loves you, let him rescue you.”
  • WisSol 2:18, “For if the just one be the son of God, he will defend him and deliver him from the hand of his foes.”
  • Matt 27:43, “He trusted in God; let him deliver him now if he wants him. For he said, 'I am the Son of God.'”
• Romans 1:20–25 and WisSol 12:23–13:9
  • Gentiles have no excuse for idolatry because they should have known creator from creation
  • Worship of sub-human creatures rather than creator goes in wrong direction
• John 1:5, the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it
  • WisSol 7:29–30, For she is fairer than the sun and surpasses every constellation of the stars. Compared to light, she is found more radiant; though night supplants light, wickedness does not prevail over Wisdom.

Salvation history

• The concept
• Example in WisSol 10–19