The thinking of the ungodly takes a final, ugly turn toward violence. If
the righteous believes himself to be a child of God, observes strange customs,
rejects the practice of the wicked, and looks forward to a happy eternity, the
only way to cut him down to size is to torture and kill him. The ungodly thus
plan to test the veracity of the righteous man’s hope and character by
torturing and killing him. That they question whether the righteous man is
God’s son shows their resentment at the identity of the righteous. The
wicked are attempting to put God to the test by doing violence to his righteous
one, exactly the opposite of the sincere seekers of God who do not put him to
the test (Wis 1:2). Those who have divine sonship also enjoy divine protection
(see Ps 91:9-13), but that does not mean they cannot be killed. Testing the
beliefs of the righteous turns into a direct trial of the righteous in verse
19: Let us test him with insult and torture. His virtues, gentleness and
forbearance, are being pushed to the limit to try to find his breaking
point. Examples of the torture of Jews for their beliefs in this era appear in
2 Macc 6-7, which narrates the martyrdoms of Eleazar and seven Jewish brothers
and their mother. Finally, in Wis 2:20, the twisted logic of the ungodly
reaches its inevitable conclusion: the murder of the righteous. Yet
paradoxically, even in the fact of death the righteous will be protected.
Rather than exempting the righteous from death, the ultimate protection God
offers is life after death. (Mark Giszczak, Wisdom of Solomon [Catholic
Commentary on Sacred Scripture; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2024], 46)
In the Light of Christ (2:12-20)
This passage of the persecution of the righteous foreshadows the plots
against the life of Jesus. Like the ungodly here, his enemies harbored evil
intentions in their hearts against him (Matt 9:4). Like the righteous man of
Wis 2;12-20, Jesus claimed to be God’s Son (Matt 27:43; Luke 22:70; John 5:18)
and to know God (Matt 11:27; John 7:29). Like the righteous in Wis 2:12, Jesus
was unsparing in his reproach of the religious authorities of his day (Matt
23:13-29; Mark 7:8-13). He did not accept the prevailing moral standards of his
time but called people to repent (Like 13:1-5) and held them to account for
hypocrisy (see Matt 15:1-9). His opponents were offended by his teachings and
even by his very existence. They felt the need to kill him so they could persist
in their erring ways (John 7:1; 8:37). Like the righteous in Wis 2;16, Jesus
pointed to the happy end of the righteous (Matt 25:46). And like the righteous
in Wis 2:19, Jesus was tested “with insult and torture.” He too was condemned
“to a shameful death” (v. 20). Wisdom foreshadows the life of the righteous Son
of God, who represents the people of God and passes the ultimate test of death.
Only through Jesus’s victory over death are the righteous fully vindicated.
(Ibid., 47)
