Beasts fittingly plagued the beast-worshipers 1 For these things, and by the like things to these, they were worthily punished, and were destroyed by a multitude of beasts. 2 Instead of which punishment, dealing well with your people, you gave them their desire of delicious food, of a new taste, preparing for them quails for their meat: 3 To the end that they indeed desiring food, by means of those things that were shown and sent among them, might loathe even that which was necessary to satisfy their desire. But these, after suffering want for a short time, tasted a new meat. 4 For it was requisite that inevitable destruction should come upon them that exercised tyranny: but to these it should only be shown how their enemies were destroyed.
God punished but did not destroy His people 5 For when the fierce rage of beasts came upon these, they were destroyed with the bitings of crooked serpents. 6 But your wrath endured not for ever, but they were troubled for a short time for their correction, having a sign of salvation to put them in remembrance of the commandment of your law. 7 For he that turned to it, was not healed by that which he saw, but by you the Saviour of all. 8 And in this you did show to our enemies, that you are he who delivers from all evil. 9 For the bitings of locusts, and of flies killed them, and there was found no remedy for their life: because they were worthy to be destroyed by such things. 10 But not even the teeth of venomous serpents overcame your children: for your mercy came and healed them. 11 For they were examined for the remembrance of your words, and were quickly healed, lest falling into deep forgetfulness, they might not be able to use your help.
God tempers His justice with mercy 12 For it was neither herb, nor mollifying plaster that healed them, but your word, O Lord, which heals all things. 13 For it is you, O Lord, that have power of life and death, and lead down to the gates of death, and bring back again: 14 A man indeed kills through malice, and when the spirit is gone forth, it shall not return, neither shall he call back the soul that is received:
God used the elements to punish Egypt 15 But it is impossible to escape your hand. 16 For the wicked that denied to know you, were scourged by the strength of your arm, being persecuted by strange waters, and hail, and rain, and consumed by fire. 17 And which was wonderful, in water, which extinguishes all things, the fire had more force: for the world fights for the just. 18 For at one time, the fire was mitigated, that the beasts which were sent against the wicked might not be burned, but that they might see and perceive that they were persecuted by the judgment of God. 19 And at another time the fire, above its own power, burned in the midst of water, to destroy the fruits of a wicked land.
The same elements aided the Israelites 20 Instead of which things you did feed your people with the food of angels, and gave them bread from heaven prepared without labour; having in it all that is delicious, and the sweetness of every taste. 21 For your sustenance showed your sweetness to your children, and serving every man's will, it was turned to what every man liked. 22 But snow and ice endured the force of fire, and melted not: that they might know that fire burning in the hail and flashing in the rain destroyed the fruits of the enemies. 23 But this same again, that the just might be nourished, did even forget its own strength. 24 For the creature serving you the Creator, is made fierce against the unjust for their punishment; and abateth its strength for the benefit of them that trust in you.
Pray to God, for he, not nature, sustains man 25 Therefore even then it was transformed into all things, and was obedient to your grace that nourishes all, according to the will of them that desired it of you. 26 That your children, O Lord, whom you love, might know that it is not the growing of fruits that nourishes men, but thy word preserves them that believe in you: 27 For that which could not be destroyed by fire, being warmed with a little sunbeam presently melted away: 28 That it might be known to all, that we ought to prevent the sun to bless you, and adore you at the dawning of the light. 29 For the hope of the unthankful shall melt away as the winter's ice, and shall run off as unprofitable water.
Commentary on Wisdom 16
16:2 Quail: so called from the sound of their call, are called by the Greeks ’όρτυγας because they were first sighted on the island of Ortygia. Their coming depends on the seasons; when summer finishes they cross the seas. The quail mother (ortygometra) is so named because it leads the flight [from όρτυξ, that is, quail, and μήτηρ, that is, mother, or μήτρα, that is, mother bird]. A hawk attacks on seeing it approach land and so the quail mother must be a careful leader for all of the visible flock by whom they take warning of the first dangers. (St. Isidore Etym libri 12.7)
16:6 sign of salvation: A bronze serpent placed for a sign and they were healed by looking at it, Numers 21:9. (Interlinear Gloss)
16:7 but by you the Saviour of all: represented by the aforementioned serpent; John 3:14: ‘As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up’. (St. Bonaventure)
16:9 locusts, Exodus 10:13; and flies, Exodus 8:17
16:10 but not even the teeth of venomous serpents overcame: that is, of the fiery serpents; Deuteronomy 8:15: ‘And was your leader in the great and terrible wilderness wherein there was the serpent burning with its breath, and the scorpion and the dipsas’. He is speaking of good people who are children of God, not of evil people. (St. Bonaventure)
16:12 your word: uncreated, that is, the Son of whom John 1:1 says: ‘In the beginning was the Word’. (St. Bonaventure) This Word cures bodies and heals souls from spiritual beasts. (Rabanus Maurus)
16:14 He is called man (homo) because he is made from the ground (humo). For properly man (homo) is from the ground (humo). (St. Isidore Etym libri 11.1)
16:16 consumed by fire: fire which came down at the same time; Exodus 9:24
16:17 It is not surprising, if hail and fire came mixed together, because they obey the Creator, nor is there any conflict when the divine majesty commands. (Rabanus Maurus)
16:18 persecuted by the judgment of God: that the wicked might know that every creature has to be ready to suffer the severity of the Creator. (Rabanus Maurus) God is nothing less than punishment for the perverse and glory for the humble. (St. Bernard of Clairvaux De consideratione 5.12)
16:20 food of angels: that is, manna prepared by Angels. bread from heaven: In a mystical sense Christ in the |
Sacrament of the altar is fittingly prefigured by the manna, firstly, because he is the bread of angels, namely, of priests, according to Malachi 2:7: ‘Because he [a priest] is the angel of the Lord of hosts’. – Secondly, because it is prepared in heaven, that is, because it is made by heavenly power; John 6:41: ‘I am the living bread that came down from heaven’; Psalm 64:10: ‘You have prepared their food, for so is its preparation’. Thirdly, because those who eat it out of desire, that is, devotion, are refreshed, according to Psalm 20:3: ‘You have given the king his heart’s desire’; also in Psalm 77:29-30: ‘God gave them their desire and they were not defrauded of that which they craved’. – Fourthly, because with it there came down and is given the dew of grace, just as dew come down with the manna, as seen in Number 11:9. And so this bread is called the Eucharist; Eucharist means good grace. – Fifthly, because just as the manna looked ‘like coriander seed white,’ so Christ is received under a white cloud; Revelation 14:14: ‘Behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sitting like to the Son of man’. – Sixthly, because it was collected on six days and not on the Sabbath, so Christ is received now under the Sacrament, but in the future Sabbath he will be seen clearly and Isaiah 66:23 says of this: ‘There will be Sabbath after Sabbath’; 1 Corinthians 13:12: ‘But then face to face’; also 1 John 3:2: ‘We shall see him as he is’. – Seventhly, because just as they were fed by this food in the desert until they entered the promised land, so the faithful of the Church are nourished in the desert of this world until the end of the world, according to Matthew 28:20: ‘Behold, I am with you all days even to the consummation of the world’. (St. Bonaventure)
16:22 And melted not, that is, did not turn to liquid; so Exodus 9:23-24.
16:25 they were devoted to: Sinners are perplexed by this, because while creatures are devoted to their Creator, they refuse. And so the harmony of all creatures is abused. (Rabanus Maurus)
16:27 In history, this food fed our fathers, but at the rising of the true sun it melted, that is, at the birth of Christ it was changed to a spiritual use and changed into the heavenly Sacrament. (Rabanus Maurus)
16:29 This speaks of what the ungrateful man deserves to suffer. (St. Thomas Aquinas Sum Theo 2.107.4) Ungratefulness benumbs and deadens the soul, as it does our bodies. And this springs from pride, and from thinking one’s self worthy of something. But the contrite will acknowledge grounds of thanksgiving to God, not for good things only, but also for what seem to be adverse; and how much soever he may suffer, will count none of his sufferings undeserved. Let us then also, the more we advance in virtue, so much the more make ourselves contrite; for indeed this, more than anything else is virtue. (St. John Chrysostom Hom Mat 25.5) |
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