The Wisdom of Solomon; Chapter 2

[Seeker]

Chapter Two
1   For they reasoned unsoundly, saying to themselves,
     "Short and sorrowful is our life,
     and there is no remedy when a life comes to its end,
     and no one has been known to return from Hades.

 2  For we were born by mere chance,
     and hereafter we shall be as though we had never been,
     for the breath in our nostrils is smoke,
     and reason is a spark kindled by the beating of our hearts;

 3  when it is extinguished, the body will turn to ashes,
     and the spirit will dissolve like empty air.

 4  Our name will be forgotten in time,
     and no one will remember our works;
     our life will pass away like the traces of a cloud,
     and be scattered like mist
     that is chased by the rays of the sun
     and overcome by its heat.

 5  For our allotted time is the passing of a shadow,
     and there is no return from our death,
     because it is sealed up and no one turns back.

 6  "Come, therefore, let us enjoy the good things that exist,
     and make use of the creation to the full as in youth.

 7  Let us take our fill of costly wine and perfumes,
     and let no flower of spring pass us by.

 8  Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither.

 9  Let none of us fail to share in our revelry;
     everywhere let us leave signs of enjoyment,
     because this is our portion, and this our lot.

 10  Let us oppress the righteous poor man;
     let us not spare the widow
     or regard the gray hairs of the aged.

 11  But let our might be our law of right,
     for what is weak proves itself to be useless.

 12  "Let us lie in wait for the righteous man,
     because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions;
     he reproaches us for sins against the law,
     and accuses us of sins against our training.

 13  He professes to have knowledge of God,
     and calls himself a child [a] of the Lord.

 14  He became to us a reproof of our thoughts;

 15  the very sight of him is a burden to us,
     because his manner of life is unlike that of others,
     and his ways are strange.

 16  We are considered by him as something base,
     and he avoids our ways as unclean;
     he calls the last end of the righteous happy,
     and boasts that God is his father.

 17  Let us see if his words are true,
     and let us test what will happen at the end of his life;

 18  for if the righteous man is God's child, he will help him,
     and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries.

 19  Let us test him with insult and torture,
     so that we may find out how gentle he is,
     and make trial of his forbearance.

 20  Let us condemn him to a shameful death,
     for, according to what he says, he will be protected."

Error of the Wicked
 21  Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray,
     for their wickedness blinded them,

 22  and they did not know the secret purposes of God,
     nor hoped for the wages of holiness,
     nor discerned the prize for blameless souls;

 23  for God created us for incorruption,
     and made us in the image of his own eternity,
 
 24  but through the devil's envy death entered the world,
     and those who belong to his company experience it.

[a] Or servant   Other ancient authorities read nature

[tklein1014]

My humble thought...

Reading first part of this chapter from about 2:1-11, I got the impression of a "don't worry be happy" kind of message.  Enjoy life while you have it, don't sweat over the little things, etc.

I didn't get anything specific that I can put my finger on out of the rest of it yet, but something may come later after further reflection.

Tina

[Melody]

Since this chapter starts off where chapter 1 finished i.e "Life as the Ungodly See It" I think this chapter shows us how we Shouldn't view life.

5 For our allotted time is the passing of a shadow, and there is no return from our death, because it is sealed up and no one turns back.

6 "Come, therefore, let us enjoy the good things that exist, and make use of the creation to the full as in youth.

This verse seems to parallel the "Eat, Drink & be merry for we have but one life" verse. A lot of sinners think this way - I think this is a major deception  by the deceiver. Instead of looking at the after life & how our actions on earth will affect us and the people around us, many look at life as something to be selfishly, perhaps sometimes illegally & immorally enjoyed. Verse 10 proves this:

10 Let us oppress the righteous poor man; let us not spare the widow
or regard the gray hairs of the aged.

12 "Let us lie in wait for the righteous man, because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions; he reproaches us for sins against the law, and accuses us of sins against our training.

13 He professes to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child [a] of the Lord.

14 He became to us a reproof of our thoughts;

The above verses speak to me in kind of a round-about manner. They explain to me why people don't like righteous people. It's not because the righteous do something wrong in their sight, rather because they know that they are doing something wrong in the sight of the righteous.

18 for if the righteous man is God's child, he will help him, and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries.

19 Let us test him with insult and torture, so that we may find out how gentle he is,
and make trial of his forbearance.

20 Let us condemn him to a shameful death, for, according to what he says, he will be protected."

This seems to be a very clear pointer to Jesus' Passion, the same feelings & situation being echoed.

21 Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray, for their wickedness blinded them,

22 and they did not know the secret purposes of God, nor hoped for the wages of holiness, nor discerned the prize for blameless souls;

It is only these people, who as verse 21 states are "blinded", who reason badly. Perhaps we who have experienced the Real Presence of the True Living God are partly to blame as we have not evagelised as we should.

[tklein1014]

I missed the first chapter discussion - I know it's there, but I thought it would be better if I started here where we are this week instead of going back.

I can see your point about how this may be a demonstration of how we shouldn't view life, since you pointed out how the last chapter ended.  I didn't realize that the end of the first chapter was relevent to the 2nd chapter - maybe that's why I was having trouble interpreting?  Now this chapter makes more sense to me.  I think my original thoughts on 2:10 was something to the effect of - don't worry about material things, getting old in the body, being rich & young in the spirit is more important, etc.  Oh well.  Now that you pointed out that the end of the first chapter ties to the beginning of the second, I concede that I think your interpretation is probably more correct than mine was.

Tina

[Seeker]

I sometomes wonder what the monk or whoever divided the book up into chapters was thinking.  Each chapter seems to end in a "cliffhanger."  The end of one starts as a new thought, or intro for the next chapter.

[Seeker]

Verses 12-20 seem to me to speak of how the unrighteous view Christ.  As Melody already pointed out, the words fit so well.

I can relate to the earlier verses.  That was pretty much my philosophy throughout college.  I missed so much.  It was later that I started to see the folly of such a  philosophy and heard the wisdom of the words,

23 for God created us for incorruption,
and made us in the image of his own eternity,

I think that verse 24 is also important to this chapter,

24 but through the devil's envy death entered the world,
and those who belong to his company experience it.

It carries on the point made in Chapter 1,

13: because God did not make death, and he does not delight in the death of the living.
14: For he created all things that they might exist, and the generative forces of the world are wholesome, and there is no destructive poison in them; and the dominion of Hades is not on earth.
15: For righteousness is immortal.
16: But ungodly men by their words and deeds summoned death; considering him a friend, they pined away, and they made a covenant with him, because they are fit to belong to his party.

Evil is not God's doing, it exists because of our own choices.

For instance, hunger exists not because God wills it, but basically because those who have, choose not to share with those who don't.  The problem is distribution, not supply.

[Melody]

I sometomes wonder what the monk or whoever divided the book up into chapters was thinking. Each chapter seems to end in a "cliffhanger." The end of one starts as a new thought, or intro for the next chapter.

Lol Seeker   !

While I don't know what Mr. Monk / Whoever was thinking, what I do know is, this is a good example of why we should never read any Scripture isolated from the rest.

9 Let none of us fail to share in our revelry; everywhere let us leave signs of enjoyment, because this is our portion, and this our lot.

Just imagine if someone quoted the above vs. 9 as being Biblical & thereby true!

Thx for your inputs Seeker & Tina.

Blessings,

Melody

[Seeker]

Great points on quoting Scripture Melody!