Wisdom
Verse 1. Knew. God foresaw the malice of the Egyptians against his people, but as not the author of it. Worthington.
EXPLANATIONS
Wisdom 19
Historical chapter commentary
Wisdom
Verse 2. Care. Lit. “solicitude,” ( Bible.) so that they would not allow them time to prepare victuals.
Wisdom
Verse 4. Necessity. God permitted them to be blinded by their own obstinacy. Calmet.—They rushed headlong into the channel of the Red Sea. Bible.
Wisdom
Verse 6. Beginning. It seemed susceptible of any form; and the elements appeared to be of another nature. The fire burnt in water, the sea retired, and so forth Calmet. 5:21 and 16:24.
Wisdom
Verse 7. Field. Like a meadow, ( Calmet.) germinans, “growing grass.” Septuagint Bible.—Pliny (xiii. 25.) attests, that “the Red Sea, and all the eastern ocean, are full of wood.” The Hebrews passed with as much ease as in a desert, (Psalms 105:9. Isaiah 63:13) or place of pasture, while the sea seemed to be in quest of other channels. Calmet. Genesis 1:9. Bible.
Wisdom
Verse 12. Thunders. Which took place at the destruction of Sodom, for their warning. Calmet.
Wisdom
Verse 14. In another. Lit. “but there was another respect (or punishment) of them, because unwillingly they received strangers.” Genesis 19:1. Bible.—The Amorrhites would not admit the Israelites. Numbers 21:21. Worthington.
Wisdom
Verse 15. Laws. Or “rights,” justitiis. The Hebrews acknowledged the civil authority ( Menochius.) of Pharao, though they adopted not his religion. Calmet. 18:4. Bible.
Wisdom
Verse 17. Changed. The meaning is, that whatever changes God wrought in the elements by miracles in favour of his people, they still kept their harmony by obeying his will. Challoner.—He answers the objection of philosophers, who argued against the possibility of miracles, as being against the established laws of nature. But they induce no more confusion than the various strings of a harp, when they are touched with skill, though they have each their respective name and sound. The ancients frequently compared the harmony of the universe to a musical instrument. See plut. Macrob. som. ii.—Sight. Septuagint add, “of what happened” ( Bible.) in those miraculous changes.
Wisdom
Verse 18. Water. Men, and so forth passed through the Red Sea, while frogs got into houses.
Wisdom
Verse 20. Therein. For the punishment of the Egyptians. Calmet. 16:18. Calmet.—Food. Manna. Challoner.—Septuagint “immortal food,” ambrosia. Bible.—Place. This conclusion agrees very well with the preceding observations. But it seems some thing should be said respecting the original petition for wisdom; whence we conclude, with Grotius, that the work is imperfect: ( Calmet.) though this is by no means clear, as the prayer is sufficiently expressed in the nine first chapters, if not in the whole book, and God answers it, 3 Kennicott. 9. Bible.
ECCLESIASTICUS