Lord Provided for His People 15
“WISDOM OVERVIEW #13 & 14“
WISDOM—Chapter 11
The Lord Provided for His People
Wisdom is a special capacity, necessary for full human living; it can be acquired through education and the application of the mind.
WISDOM—Chapter 11
The Lord Provided for His People
1 Wisdom gave his people success under the leadership of Moses, a holy prophet.
2 They traveled through uninhabited desert and pitched their tents in the frontier.
3 They withstood attacks by their enemies and defended themselves against their adversaries.
4 When they were thirsty, they called upon you, Lord, and you gave them water from the sheer rock. Refreshment for their thirst came from hard stone.
5 The very things that punished their enemies became a benefit to the Israelites when they needed help.
6 Their enemies had only an ever-flowing river polluted with blood—
7 their punishment for ordering that the infants be killed. But you gave the Israelites abundant water from an unexpected source.
8 So the thirst of the Israelites reminded them how you had once punished their enemies.
9 For when they were tested, though only by merciful discipline, they learned how the ungodly were judged in anger and tormented.
10 For you tested the Israelites as a father warns his children, but you examined and condemned the others like a stern king. The Wicked Were Punished
11 For whether they were at home or abroad, the ungodly were equally distressed.
12 They were doubly grieved and groaned at the memory of what had happened.
13 For when the ungodly heard that their punishments benefited the righteous, they recognized that the Lord had caused these things to happen.
14 They had scorned and rejected Moses, whom they had cast out as a child much earlier and left to die. But in the end they were amazed at him, for they were thirsty in a different way than the righteous.
15 But the foolish and evil thoughts of the ungodly deceived them to worship irrational serpents and worthless animals. In return, you sent hordes of irrational animals to punish them.
16 This was done to teach them that people are punished by the very sins they commit.
17 For your almighty hand, which created the world out of formless matter, was able to send upon the ungodly many bears or fierce lions,
18 or newly created, unknown beasts filled with rage, breathing out fiery breath, belching forth acrid smoke, and flashing terrible sparks from their eyes.
19 Not only could these savage beasts destroy people, but the very sight of them could scare people to death.
20 Even besides these animals, people could be killed by a single breath of the Lord, when they are pursued by justice and scattered by the breath of your power. But you have arranged all things by measure, number, and weight.
21 For you are always able to display your great power. Who can resist your mighty arm?
22 For the whole world before you is as the smallest grain that tips the scales, or as a drop of morning dew that lies upon the ground. The Mercy of the Lord
23 But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things; you overlook people’s sins so that they might repent.
24 For you love everything that exists. You hate none of the things you have made, for you would not have made anything you hated.
25 And how could anything last if you had not wanted it? How could it endure if you had not called it into being?
26 But you spare all things because they are yours, O Lord, who loves everything that lives.
WISDOM—Chapter 12
1 For your immortal spirit is in everything.
2 Therefore, little by little you correct those who disobey, and you warn them about the way they are sinning. You do this so they will be freed from their wickedness and trust in you, O Lord.
3 Those Canaanites who lived long ago in your holy land
4 were hated by you because of their detestable practices, their sorceries, and their wicked rituals.
5 They mercilessly slaughtered their own children and feasted on sacrifices of human flesh and blood during their pagan rituals.
6 You told our ancestors to destroy those parents who sacrificed innocent lives,
7 for you wanted the land most dear to you to receive a worthy colony of God’s servants.
8 Yet you spared even these Canaanites, since they were merely human beings, but you sent hornets as forerunners of your army, to destroy them little by little.
9 You could have handed over the wicked to the righteous by means of war or destroyed them in one fell swoop by fearsome animals or your stern word.
10 But you judged them little by little to give them a chance to repent, although you knew that they were evil by nature and that their way of thinking would never change.
11 The Canaanites were a cursed race from the beginning. It was your kindness, not fear of anyone, that you did not punish them for their sins. The Justice of the Lord
12 For who will say to you: “What have you done?” Or who will challenge your judgment? Who will accuse you for destroying the nations you have made? Or who will face you to avenge the death of the unrighteous?
13 For there is no other God but you, and you care for all, proving that you have not judged unjustly.
14 No king or ruler can confront you about those you have punished.
15 You are righteous, and you rule over all things righteously. You consider it uncharacteristic of your power to condemn anyone who does not deserve to be punished.
16 Your strength is the source of righteousness; because you rule over all, you are gracious to all.
17 You show your strength when people doubt your absolute power, and you rebuke those who do believe in your power but are arrogant.
18 Although you are sovereign in strength, you judge mildly, and you govern us leniently, for your power is at hand when you choose to use it.
19 In this way you have taught your people that the righteous must be kind. You have given your children good reason for hope because you make room for repentance of sins.
20 After showing great care and leniency, you finally punished your servants’ enemies, who deserved to die. You had given them time and opportunity to repent of their wickedness.
21 So you have judged your own children even more strictly, for you swore oaths and covenants of good promises to their ancestors.
22 Therefore, while you merely discipline us, you punish our enemies ten thousand times more, so that when we judge others, we may keep your goodness in mind, and when we are judged, we may hope for mercy.
23 So those who foolishly live unrighteous lives are tormented by you through their own sins.
24 For the Egyptians strayed far down the path of error and worshiped the most despised animals; they were deceived like foolish children.
25 Therefore, as with senseless children, you punished them in a way that made them look ridiculous.
26 But those who do not heed gentle warnings experience the just punishment of God.
27 The Egyptians became angry because they suffered and were punished by the very animals they considered gods. So they realized and confessed that the One they had formerly rejected was the true God. For this reason they had been completely condemned.
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