Wisdom 18:15

[goldenchild17]

Wis 18:15 Thine Almighty word leaped down from heaven out of thy royal throne, as a fierce man of war into the midst of a land of destruction

Is it?

[StColette]

Wis 18:15-16

Your all-powerful word from heaven's royal throne bounded, a fierce warrior, into the doomed land, bearing the sharp sword of your inexorable decree. And as he alighted, he filled every place with death; he still reached to heaven, while he stood upon the earth.

The death of the Egyptian Firstborn

Chapter 18:Their enemies were in darkness,but His people He led by a pillar of fire. In silence and darkness His word came down and slew the firstborn.--VV 14-15 have been beautifully adapted by our liturgy for the incarnation. Death came to some of God's people in the desert, but a blameless man, Aaron, made propitiation with incense and the plague stopped. On his long robe the whole world was depicted.

[url="http://www.ewtn.com/library/SCRIPTUR/WISDOM1.TXT"]http://www.ewtn.com/library/SCRIPTUR/WISDOM1.TXT[/url]

That's about all I can find so far.

Edited July 20, 2005 by StColette

[phatcatholic]

from the RSV:

[b]Wis 18:15-16[/b]
[b]15 [/b]thy all-powerful word leaped from heaven, from the royal throne, into the midst of the land that was doomed, a stern warrior
[b]16 [/b]carrying the sharp sword of thy authentic command, and stood and filled all things with death, and touched heaven while standing on the earth.

the NAB cross-references this verse w/ Exodus 15:3

[b]Exo 15:3 [/b]The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is his name.

also, i think the sword imagery here is powerful:

[b]Mat 10:34 [/b]"Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword." [b][note:[/b] Jesus speaking here[b]][/b]

[b]Eph 6:17 [/b]And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

[b]John 1:1[/b] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

[b]Heb 4:12 [/b]For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

[b]Rev 1:16 [/b]in his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth issued a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

[b]Rev 2:16 [/b]Repent then. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.

[b]Rev 19:15 [/b]From his mouth issues a sharp sword with which to smite the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron; he will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.

in this light, the verses from Wisdom do indeed seem messianic to me

pax christi,
phatcatholic

[Laudate_Dominum]

[quote name='goldenchild17' date='Jul 20 2005, 02:09 PM']Wis 18:15 Thine Almighty word leaped down from heaven out of thy royal throne, as a fierce man of war into the midst of a land of destruction

Is it?
[right][snapback]651248[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]
Yep, this verse has a sense that related to Christ. It's beautiful actually.

[phatcatholic]

i forgot i had the navarre commentary on the wisdom books:[list][b]18:14-16. [/b]In these lovely verses, the sacred writer gives a poetic rendering of God's doings on the night of the Passover. They constitute an epic poem embedded in the (also poetic) account of the escape from Egypt. It is easy to see that this passage evokes the episode of the destroying angel who wreaked havoc in Jerusalem in the time of David (1 Chron 21:15-22:1). The warrior-Word, descending from heaven, carries the sword that executes the irrevocable sentence. This impressive scene may have had some influence on the description of the "defeat of the beast" in the book of Revelation (cf. Rev 19:11-21). In another sense, as the personified Word that links heaven and earth (cf. vs. 16), the tradition of the Church applied these verses to the incarnation of our Lod, and the liturgy uses them as the entrance antiphon for the Mass on the fourth day of the octave of Christmas.
[/list]good stuff

pax christi,
phatcatholic