Blogging the Apocrypha - Wisdom of Solomon 16

Wisdom of Solomon

Welcome to another exciting installation of the fake books in the Catholic Bible. (Tee hee - ouch.)
Right now, I come to you live from the scanner at work, where I am scanning in another 1,000 pages of boringness. My pages are being "rasterized" - is that related to Zionist prostylization? (Oh my good Lord, I spelled that right on the first try. Yes, this English teacher uses spellcheck.)

Let's take a look at Chapter 16.

The first verses reveal the Lord's kindness to the Egyptians (notice this author never uses names likein other parts of the Bible when history is being invoked to prove a point?) It also refers in verse two about the quail the Lord provided in the desert. We were joking about this recently about how the Lord says, in essence, you want quail? I'll give you quail until it's coming out of your nose, you ingrates." Seems like the Lord expressed anger through this "blessing" of "lovingkindness of delicacies" - completely different message.

It is true the Lord gets our attention in myriad ways - we are often "troubled for a little while as a warning." Thankfully His grace and mercy and lovingkindess are seen - often as an afterthought to this flesh. We forget Him so easily when we do not get what we want when we want it. When we heed His warning, however, and remember His benefits and promises aloud, our enemies can not use our flesh as argument against God. Indeed, one who uses one of His servants complaints as an argument against Him does not know Him indeed. But, you know, we must show our humanity at times, or our faith would not be real. They must wonder, why do they keep going back for more? Even though they suffer, they love Him. They must love Him awfully far above and beyond the suffering they have endured. Ah, but those who love Him, do love Him far above and beyond anything and everything. This world has nothing for us. No joy, or pain, comes close to the joy and sweet pain of knowing Him.

The language becomes a bit muddied here and the history criss-crossed. The memories of the Lord's warnings seem to be reminiscent of the prophets, and the punishments of the Israelites in captivity w/ Egypt. The Lord did not punish His faithful in Egypt - He delivered them. And it was only because of their disobedience that they were "reminded" of the Lord's power. Strange stuff indeed. Unless the author wants to categorize Egyptians and Israelites in the same category - which is even stranger - that concept only really comes in the new Testament - after argument!

Haha - verse 13 gives it all away when it refers to God leading men to Hades and back. Our cultural reference points give it away. There are earlier mentions of Sheol and "the depths" but this is clearly a Greek location and concept.

Verse 14 is a pointer ahead to the purity of Jesus. Only a perfect man/god could bring life in death and set free souls. And we, in the vine of the purity of Jesus can do the same.

"To escape from thy hand is impossible..." (verse 15) truly true.

The next verses muddle together several stories - manna from Heaven, the fire and rains in Egypt? Maybe I'm not clear on my Israeli history, but this author isn't any more so! It mentions something about everyone eating the taste that suited himself - where is that? I have no clue. This might be a made-up part about the flavor of the manna, because, as far as I know, they got so bored with it they cried out for meat! If the manna changed flavor, why wouldn't they imagine it to be meat?

Verse 24 is a mind-boggler. Creation serves the Lord, it "exerts itself to punish" and "in kindness relaxes" - that's way too much personification of the Creation. While the Creation has the Breath of Life, it does not have the Mind of the Creator. The Lord does seem to punish various areas with natural disasters and yet modern man will not accept that idea. What do you think? I'm still blown away by the connections I see - yet the words will sometimes not leave my mouth. Was Louisiana punished by God for its sin? Did the Towers fall because of the sin of the financial world? Do the mudslides and earthquakes come upon the heathen in Asia so they might see the Hand of God? I am not the one who decides this, but I do take note. Hopefully I take action too - Lord strengthen me.

Deuteronomy is quoted in verse 26 - a verse that Jesus speaks aloud to Satan in the desert.

I don't really know what the fire, sun, ray, and ice refers too - I should reread some chapters and do some research on that for you. The last line of this chapter is thoughtful - "the hope of an ungrateful man will melt like wintry frost, and flow away like waste water."

Lord, I am grateful for my friends, my family, those who rule justly, for the basic needs you have more than covered, for the prosperity I enjoy. For ample food, protection, service, and that all my needs are taken care of by you. You serve me well. I wish I could serve you a fraction of how well you serve me. But I can not, as you made me to need you. So, I am your friend, your bride! AMEN.