Nature at the Service of God’s Wisdom[a]
Chapter 16
Frogs and Quail[b]
1 Therefore, these idolaters were deservedly punished by creatures like these
and tormented by swarms of vermin.
2 But in contrast to this punishment, you treated your people with kindness,
sending them quail to eat,
a rare delicacy to satisfy their hunger.
3 Thus, the idolaters, repulsed by the sight of loathsome creatures[c] sent to plague them,
lost their appetite even though suffering from hunger,
while your own people, after a short period of privation,
partook with pleasure of rare delicacies.
4 For these idolaters necessarily had to be afflicted with inexorable want,
sufficient to indicate to your people how their enemies were being tormented.
Locusts and the Bronze Serpent
5 Even when the venomous rage of wild animals terrorized your people
and they were perishing from the bites of wriggling serpents,
your anger did not continue to the uttermost.
6 They were afflicted for a short time as a warning,
and they were then given a symbol of salvation to remind them of the precepts of your law.[d]
7 For he who turned toward it was saved,
not by what he beheld,
but by you, the Savior of all.
8 And by such means also you convinced our enemies
that it is you who deliver from every evil.
9 For they were slain from the bites of locusts and flies,
and no remedy was devised to save their lives
because their punishment by such creatures was well deserved.
10 However, not even the fangs of venomous snakes could overwhelm your people,
for your mercy intervened to heal them.
11 They were bitten so that they would be reminded of your decrees,
and then they were quickly healed
so that they would not fall into profound forgetfulness
and fail to respond to your kindness.
12 For it was neither herb nor poultice that cured them
but your all-healing word, O Lord.
13 For you have power over life and death,
bringing people down to the gates of the netherworld and then back again;[e]
14 whereas, man may slay in malice,
but he has no power to restore the breath of life
or to set free the soul imprisoned by death.
Hailstones and Manna
15 However, from your hand it is impossible to escape.
16 For the godless who refused to acknowledge you
were scourged by the might of your arm,
pursued by unusual rains and hailstorms and unrelenting downpours
and devoured by fire.
17 And, defying all logic, in water, which quenches all things,
the fire raged more fiercely than ever,
for creation itself defends the righteous.
18 At one time the flames would die down
so that they would not consume the creatures inflicted upon the wicked,
but that, seeing this, the latter might know
that they were being pursued by the judgment of God.
19 At yet another time the flames would burn with far greater intensity, even in the water,
to destroy the products of a sinful land.
20 In contrast, you nourished your people with the food of angels,[f]
and with no labor on their part, you supplied them with bread from heaven that was ready to eat,
filled with every delight and pleasing to every taste.
21 The sustenance you offered manifested your kindly mercy to your children,
for the bread that conformed to the desire of those who ate it
was transformed to appeal to each one’s preference.
22 Snow and ice[g] withstood the fire and did not melt,
so that they would realize that the harvesters of their enemies
were destroyed by a fire that blazed in the hail
and flashed through the falling rain;
23 whereas, that same fire even forgot its own strength
so that the righteous might be fed.
24 For creation, at the service of you, its maker,
strains mightily to effect the punishment of the wicked,
but relaxes for the benefit of those who trust in you.
25 Therefore, at that time too, it was transformed in endless ways
to serve your all-nourishing bounty,
according to the desires of those in need,
26 so that your beloved children, O Lord, might learn
that it is not the various crops of the earth that nourish them,
but it is your word that sustains those who trust in you.[h]
27 For whatever was not destroyed by fire[i]
melted when merely warmed by a passing sunbeam,
28 to instruct us that we must rise before the sun to offer thanks to you
and must pray to you at the dawning of the day.
29 For the hope of an ungrateful person will melt like the frost of winter
and flow away like water no longer of any use.
Footnotes
- Wisdom 16:1 The author takes up anew the parallelism between Egypt and Israel that he began in 11:5-14: the Wisdom of God has recourse to the same forces of nature both to punish oppressor Egyptians and to save the Israelites. The order of the events is of little concern to him; in the desire to encourage his compatriots, he exalts Israel to the point of forgetting its rebellions and its errors.
- Wisdom 16:1 Little animals surged forth to provoke disgust and famine among the Egyptians while birds came to satisfy Israel (Ex 7:26—8:11; 16:1-36). Here is a way to give believers a lesson in trust.
- Wisdom 16:3 Loathsome creatures: i.e., frogs (see Ex 7:28).
- Wisdom 16:6 According to the Book of Numbers (Num 21:8-9), it was sufficient to look upon the symbol of the bronze serpent to remain alive. Here the author seems to want to eliminate every purely magical interpretation: God alone saves. The New Testament indicates that it is the Father who gives life to all those who turn toward the sign of the serpent, toward the Son of Man raised up on the cross (Jn 3:14-16).
- Wisdom 16:13 The author teaches that God has absolute power over life and death. He can save from imminent death (see Pss 9:13; 107:18-19; Isa 38:10-17). He can also bring someone in the netherworld back to life (see 1 Sam 2:6; 1 Ki 17:17-23; 2 Ki 4:33-35; 13:21).
- Wisdom 16:20 Food of angels: i.e., the manna (Ps 78:23-25), which tasted like a honey cake (Ex 16:31) and was a sign of God’s mercy (v. 21; Pss 34:8; 119:103). As the text shows, Jewish tradition had embellished the more sober text of Exodus (Ex 16:13-21). The Liturgy uses these texts with regard to the Eucharist.
- Wisdom 16:22 Snow and ice: i.e., the manna (v. 27; Wis 19:21). It is compared to dew (Ex 16:14) and to ice (Num 11:7 LXX).
- Wisdom 16:26 This shows the last stage of the spiritual interpretation of the manna: food for the body in the wilderness (Ex 16), sent by God in order to test the people and reveal to them the primacy of the word of God as food for human beings (Deut 8:3, cited by Jesus at the time of the temptation, Mt 4:4), and here the food of true life. Jesus took inspiration from these texts to say: “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me” (Jn 4:34).
- Wisdom 16:27 Whatever was not destroyed by fire: i.e., what remained of the manna.