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Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)
From: Wisdom 2:12-17-20
Life Leads to Death (Continuation)
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[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.
[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 son, he will help him, and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries. [19] Let us test him with insult and torture, 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."
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Commentary:
1:16-2:24. This section describes the way the ungodly think and behave, and their error in so doing. Righteousness is immortal; but the ungodly think that life ends at death and therefore they try to strike a bargain with death (1:16-2:19). Moreover, they hound the righteous man because he thinks and acts differently from the way they do (2:10-20). They have no idea what life is all about (2:21-24).
2:10-20. Not content with enjoying the pleasures of life, the ungodly go further: they persecute the just man because he is a constant reproach to them. They want to see if God, whom the just man calls his father, will protect and rescue him. He calls God his father? Let us see what protection God gives him. If God fails to come to his aid, then they are proved right, and the just man wrong. Their words are echoed in the insults offered by scribes and Pharisees to Jesus when he was on the cross (cf. Mt 27:40-43; Mk 15:31-32; Lk 23:35-37).
Interestingly, the just man calls himself a "child of God" (v. 13). This is something new in Jewish thinking, because prior to this it was the entire people of Israel or the king their representative who was considered a "son of God" (cf. Ex 4:22; Deut 14:1; 32:6; Ps 2; Is 30:1, 9; Hos 11:1). But in the later books of the Old Testament (for example, in Sir 23:4; 51:14) we begin to see the fatherhood of God towards every just person. The title of "child of God" is applied to all the righteous, and more properly to the Messiah, who is the Righteous One.
As the RSV note "e" points out, the Greek word pais which it translates as "child" can also mean "servant". The "servant" in the Old Testament acquires special significance from the book of Isaiah forward, where the "Suffering Servant" appears (cf. Is 52:13-53:12). This man will, through his suffering, set Israel free of Its sins. This dual meaning of pais prepares the way for the revelation of Jesus Christ, Son of God and Servant of the Lord.