Thursday, April 30, 2020

The Use of Wisdom 2 in Matthew 27:39-43



Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you concerning the Apocrypha-- There are many things contained therein that are true, and it is mostly translated correct. (D&C 91:1)

Unlike many Protestants, Latter-day Saints have no issue with there being inspired (θεόπνευστος, to borrow from 2 Tim 3:16) portions of the Apocrypha (“Deuterocanonical” books as our RC friends call them) based on D&C 91. For that reason, we would have no issue with much of the following from Catholic apologist Gary Michuta who argues that Matthew 27:39-43 is dependent, not just upon Psa 22, but the Wisdom of Solomon:

Mathew 27:39-43

And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, ‘You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the king of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him; for he said, ‘I am the Son of God (Matt. 27:39-43).”

Wisdom 2:17-22

“Let us see if his words are true, and let us test what will happen at the end of his life; for if the righteous man is God’s son, he will help him, and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries (Wis. 2:17-22)

In the Mathew passage, many modern bibles will direct the reader to the Suffering Servant passage in Psalm 22:7-8, which reads,

All who see me mock at me, they make mouths at me, they wag their heads; “he committed his cause to the Lord; let him deliver him, let him rescue him, for he delights in him.”

Bibles that include the deuterocanon will likely provide a second cross-reference to Wisdom 2:17-18. No one would deny that the two texts have a certain affinity with one another. For example, both Psalms 22:8-9 and Wisdom 2:17-18 speak about God rescuing the just man who places his trust in him (Matthew 27:43, Wisdom 2:17018, and Psalm 22:8 [LXX] all use the same Greek word for rescue). However, the taunts of the chief priests, scribes, and elders in Matthew 27:43 suggest something more specific; Christ is being mocked not merely for being “loved by God” (as a comparison to Psalm 22:7-8 would suggest), but specifically because he “said ‘I am the Son of God.’” Notice how Wisdom 2:17 takes the truthful claim to be the “Son of God” as a condition for God’s deliverance:

For if the just one be the Son of God, he will defend him and deliver him from the hand of his foes.

This is the only passage in the Old Testament that expresses a direct expectation that the true Son of God would be rescued and delivered from persecution by mockers and detractors; and it is precisely Christ’s claim of divine sonship that led the Jewish leaders in Matthew 27:43 to express their feigned expectation of such a rescue. Given this close interconnection, it is not surprising to find Protestant sources recognizing this dependency on Wisdom in Matthew 27:41-43. What, if anything, however, does this usage tell us about the inspired status of Wisdom?

First, the elders must have understood the book of Wisdom to be an authoritative, perhaps even predictive, sacred text; otherwise, their taunt would have been meaningless, perhaps even blasphemous, since it would then have amounted to a demand for a miraculous rescue that God never promised. Only a recognized inspired text would have given these words power and avoided blasphemous presumption.

Second, the chief priests, scribes, and elders must have had a reasonable expectation that those present would recognize their citation of Wisdom 2:17-18; otherwise, their words would have been lost on their hearers. Third, Matthew’s inclusion of these words in his Gospel narrative indicates that he saw them as having some significance for Jewish Christian readers, seeing perhaps, as the apostle Paul did, Christ’s ultimate rescue in the Resurrection as a vindication or demonstration of his divine sonship (Wisdom 2:17-18 cf. Romans 1:4) Finally, Matthew apparently expected his readers to know this text as well and accept it as a genuine prophecy. From earliest times, Christians used Wisdom 2:17-18 as a genuine prophecy of Christ’s passion.

There is something stronger than an allusion or even a quote here; Matthew is employing Wisdom in this text (or rather the Jewish elders are employing Wisdom, and Matthew records it). It suggests that Matthew, the chief priests, scribes, and elders, as well as their hearers and readers, understood this text to be prophetic. Yet despite the significance of this employment, by Matthew and others, this reference to the inspired book of Wisdom has been systematically omitted from most Protestant bibles. (Gary Michuta, Why Catholic Bibles are Bigger [2d ed.; El Cajon, Calif.: Catholic Answers Press, 2017], 51-53; cf. Mario Lopez ["Matt1618"], "Wisdom 2:12-20: Prophecy Fulfilled in Jesus Christ"))

In a scholarly commentary on Matthew by a Protestant, we read the following about Matthew’s possible use of Wisdom:

In the larger context of the mockery, the addition of the Son-of-God clause to the material echoing Ps. 22:9 produces something which has a striking similarity to Wis. 2:13, 16–20:
He claims to have knowledge of God and names himself a child (παῖδα) of [the] Lord.… He pretends falsely that God is his Father. Let us see if his words are true, and let us test what will happen at the end of his life; for if the righteous man is a Son of God, he will come to his aid and rescue him from the hand of his opponents. Let us test him with insult and torture, so that we may know his forbearance and make trial of his patient endurance. Let us condemn him to a shameful death, for, according to what he says, there will be a visitation [of God] for him (αὐτοῦ ἐπισκοπή).
The fit is so good that surely this material was in Matthew’s mind as he wrote. If so, Matthew will expect his readers to understand how benighted the attitude of the opponents of the righteous man of the book of Wisdom is and will be shown to be as the book unfolds (The very next verse in Wis. 2:21 says, ‘They were led astray, for their wickedness blinded them’). Matthew will be seeing the present scene of mocking very much in relation to the coming vindication, first in the events of 27:45–54 and then in the resurrection. (John Nolland, The Gospel of Matthew: A Commentary on the Greek Text [New International Greek Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2005], 1199-1200)

I do not believe Latter-day Saints should, as some Protestants are wont to do, have a knee-jerk reaction and reject such. In my opinion, Matthew is employing both Psa 22 and Wisdom 2 as prophecies that are being fulfilled in some way in Matt 27.

For a book-length discussion of the Apocrypha from an LDS perspective, see:

Jared W. Ludlow, Exploring the Apocrypha from a Latter-day Saint Perspective (Springville, Utah: CFI, 2018)

Jeff Lindsay has a short review of this book at: