Scripture Daily

Context No. 4088 of 4322 · Wisdom

Context · Reflection

Wisdom 10:1-16: in context

1Wisdom guarded to the end the first formed father of the world, who was created alone, and delivered him out of his own transgression, 2and gave him strength to rule over all things. 3But when an unrighteous man fell away from her in his anger, he perished himself in the rage with which he killed his brother. 4When for his cause the earth was drowning with a flood, wisdom again saved it, guiding the righteous man’s course by a paltry piece of wood. 5Moreover, when nations consenting together in wickedness had been confounded, wisdom knew the righteous man, and preserved him blameless to God, and kept him strong when his heart yearned toward his child. 6While the ungodly were perishing, wisdom delivered a righteous man, when he fled from the fire that descended out of heaven on the five cities. 7To whose wickedness a smoking waste still witnesses, and plants bearing fair fruit that doesn’t ripen, a disbelieving soul has a memorial: a standing pillar of salt. 8For having passed wisdom by, not only were they disabled from recognising the things which are good, but they also left behind them for their life a monument of their folly, to the end that where they stumbled, they might fail even to be unseen; 9but wisdom delivered those who waited on her out of troubles. 10When a righteous man was a fugitive from a brother’s wrath, wisdom guided him in straight paths. She showed him God’s kingdom, and gave him knowledge of holy things. She prospered him in his toils, and multiplied the fruits of his labor. 11When in their covetousness men dealt harshly with him, she stood by him and made him rich. 12She guarded him from enemies, and she kept him safe from those who lay in wait. Over his severe conflict, she watched as judge, that he might know that godliness is more powerful than every one. 13When a righteous man was sold, wisdom didn’t forsake him, but she delivered him from sin. She went down with him into a dungeon, 14and in bonds she didn’t depart from him, until she brought him the sceptre of a kingdom, and authority over those that dealt like a tyrant with him. She also showed those who had mockingly accused him to be false, and gave him eternal glory. 15Wisdom delivered a holy people and a blameless seed from a nation of oppressors. 16She entered into the soul of a servant of the Lord, and withstood terrible kings in wonders and signs.

This passage surveys the whole sweep of early biblical history and traces one constant thread through it: the wisdom of God, his providence, watching over and delivering the righteous in every generation. Wisdom guarded Adam, saved Noah through the flood, guided Abraham, rescued Lot, protected Jacob, and stayed with Joseph.

And of Joseph the passage says something striking: when a righteous man was sold, wisdom did not forsake him, but went down with him into the pit, and did not leave him in his chains, until she brought him the scepter of a kingdom. Through betrayal, slavery, and imprisonment, God's wisdom never abandoned him. God's providence did not desert his faithful ones in their hard moments; it went down into the dungeon with Joseph, stood by Jacob in his fear, delivered Lot from the burning cities. The God who watched over the righteous through all these generations does not change. As wisdom went down into the dungeon with Joseph and did not leave him until she raised him up, so God stays with his own through their lowest valleys.

When I find myself in the pit of hardship, betrayal, or circumstances I cannot escape, do I trust that God's providence has not forsaken me, but stays with me through the lowest valley, as it stayed with Joseph until it raised him up?

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