Messianic Prophecies
Wisdom 2: The Righteous Man Condemned
30-second summary
Wisdom of Solomon 2 imagines 'the ungodly' plotting against a just man who 'calleth himself the son of God,' resolving to test him with 'outrages and tortures' and condemn him to 'a most shameful death' to see whether God rescues him. Composed in Greek in Alexandria, most likely by the early first century AD, the passage predates the Gospels. Catholic tradition reads it as prefiguring the taunts at the cross (Matthew 27:41-43). The deuterocanonical book is Scripture for Catholics and Orthodox, excluded from Protestant Bibles.
Scripture
Let us therefore lie in wait for the just, because he is not for our turn, and he is contrary to our doings, and upbraideth us with transgressions of the law, and divulgeth against us the sins of our way of life. He boasteth that he hath the knowledge of God, and calleth himself the son of God.
Circumveniamus ergo justum, quoniam inutilis est nobis, et contrarius est operibus nostris, et improperat nobis peccata legis, et diffamat in nos peccata disciplinae nostrae. Promittit se scientiam Dei habere, et filium Dei se nominat.
For if he be the true son of God, he will defend him, and will deliver him from the hands of his enemies. Let us examine him by outrages and tortures, that we may know his meekness and try his patience. Let us condemn him to a most shameful death: for there shall be respect had unto him by his words.
Si enim est verus filius Dei, suscipiet illum, et liberabit eum de manibus contrariorum. Contumelia et tormento interrogemus eum, ut sciamus reverentiam ejus, et probemus patientiam illius. Morte turpissima condemnemus eum; erit enim ei respectus ex sermonibus illius.
Prophecy & Fulfillment
- Given
- c. 30 BC - early 1st century AD (Alexandria)
- Fulfilled
- AD 33 (the trial, mockery, and crucifixion of Jesus)
Catholic tradition reads the wicked's plot against 'the just one' - who calls himself 'son of God' and whom they resolve to torture and condemn to a shameful death to test whether God will deliver him - as prefiguring the mockery of Christ at his Passion, where the chief priests taunt the crucified Jesus in nearly identical terms (Matthew 27:41-43).
Why this level?
Wisdom 2's righteous man - mocked for calling himself son of God, condemned by his enemies to a shameful death - was composed before the Gospels were written, and the Church has read it as a portrait of the Passion from the Fathers through the Holy Week liturgy. The verbal correspondence with Matthew's mockery scene, down to the identical Greek huios theou, is precise. Graded Supported because the identification is the Church's typological reading of a text most often dated shortly before Jesus's public life.
Dig deeper
A righteous man mocked
Wisdom of Solomon 2 stages a monologue by 'the ungodly,' who reason together about a just man whose life convicts them simply by existing. Their plotting turns menacing: 'Let us therefore lie in wait for the just... He boasteth that he hath the knowledge of God, and calleth himself the son of God' (Wisdom 2:12-13, Douay-Rheims). The plan escalates to a test: 'Let us examine him by outrages and tortures... Let us condemn him to a most shameful death: for there shall be respect had unto him by his words' (2:18-20). The scene belongs to a wider biblical pattern of the righteous sufferer vindicated by God, a figure also drawn in Job, Psalm 22, Isaiah 53, and 2 Maccabees 7.
Composed before the Gospels
Wisdom was written in Greek, most likely within Alexandria's Jewish community, by the turn of the era: scholarship generally places its composition in the late first century BC to early first century AD, decades before the Gospels were written. (A minority of scholars have proposed a later date under the emperor Caligula, AD 37-41; most specialists still place the book in the earlier Alexandrian window.)
Read as prefiguring the Passion
Catholic tradition reads the wicked's plot against 'the just one' - who calls himself 'son of God' and whom they resolve to torture and kill to test whether God will deliver him - as prefiguring the mockery Jesus received at Calvary, where the chief priests taunt him in nearly identical terms: 'He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God' (Matthew 27:43). The Fathers of the Church and the Holy Week liturgy have long paired these texts, and the verbal match is exact at its strongest point: Wisdom 2:18's Greek huios theou ('son of God') is the very phrase Matthew's mockers use. (2:13 uses the related term pais kyriou, 'servant/child of the Lord' - the same term the Septuagint applies to Isaiah's Servant.)
Scripture for Catholics and Orthodox
Wisdom of Solomon is deuterocanonical: part of the Septuagint's Old Testament and accepted as Scripture by Catholics and Orthodox, though excluded from the Hebrew canon and from Protestant Bibles. The Orthodox Church in America notes it is the only Hellenistic wisdom book still read liturgically in Orthodox worship.
Keep digging
Citations
- Scripture
Wisdom, Chapter 2 (Douay-Rheims)
Wisdom 2:1-24
Supports: Establishes the exact Douay-Rheims wording of Wisdom 2:12-13 and 2:18-20, including 'calleth himself the son of God' and 'condemn him to a most shameful death'; text verified live against the source.
- Scripture
Wisdom, Chapter 2 (Latin Vulgate)
Sapientia 2:1-24 (Clementine Vulgate)
Supports: Confirms the Clementine Vulgate Latin text underlying the Douay-Rheims translation of Wisdom 2:12-13 and 2:18-20; text verified live against the source.
- Church Father
Catholic Encyclopedia: Book of Wisdom
New Advent, Catholic Encyclopedia, 'Book of Wisdom'
Supports: Links Wisdom 2:13-18 to Matthew 27:42-43 as a prefiguration of the Passion, and proposes a pre-Christian composition window under the Ptolemaic kings of Egypt.
- Source
Wikipedia, 'Book of Wisdom'
Supports: Reports the mainstream critical dating of Wisdom's Greek composition to the late first century BC-early first century AD (Larcher favors 31-10 BC), and notes that David Winston's commentary instead argues for composition under Caligula, AD 37-41.
- Academic
David Winston, The Wisdom of Solomon (Anchor Bible)
David Winston, The Wisdom of Solomon: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, Anchor Bible vol. 43 (Doubleday, 1979)
Supports: The standard modern critical commentary in English; argues on internal grounds for a composition date under Caligula (AD 37-41), a minority position among specialists.
- Church Father
Orthodox Church in America: The Book of Wisdom
OCA, 'The Orthodox Faith,' Old Testament: Wisdom
Supports: Confirms the Wisdom of Solomon is accepted as authoritative in Orthodox tradition and is the only Hellenistic wisdom book still read liturgically in Orthodox worship.
- Source
BibleHub: Wisdom of Solomon 2 (Apocrypha)
BibleHub, Wisdom of Solomon 2:12-20
Supports: Cross-checks the English verse text of 2:12-13 and 2:18-20 and the correct BibleHub URL structure for the Wisdom of Solomon.