The Wisdom of Solomon – Chapter 14

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14:1 Again, one preparing himself to sail, and about to pass through the raging waves, calleth upon a piece of wood more rotten than the vessel that carrieth him. 2 For verily desire of gain devised that, and the workman built it by his skill. 3 But thy providence, O Father, governeth it: for thou hast made a way in the sea, and a safe path in the waves; 4 shewing that thou canst save from all danger: yea, though a man went to sea without art. 5 Nevertheless thou wouldest not that the works of thy wisdom should be idle, and therefore do men commit their lives to a small piece of wood, and passing the rough sea in a weak vessel are saved.

Putting your trust for safety in a worthless carved idol — a piece of wood more rotten than your own boat!

Acts 27:25 Rev Shaul on the ship to Rome: he doesn’t pray to the wood or sailors, but declares: There stood by me this night the angel of Elohim…saying, Fear not, Shaul…for I believe יהוה. 

Hebrews 3:12 warns of an evil heart of unbelief trusting created things over the Creator.

In the Tabernacle; the ceremonial tools were consecrated to direct divine power; they weren’t power themselves. To place trust in the tool rather than the Name invites spiritual disaster.

Isaiah 36:6

Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken staff of a reed, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.

Judah was relying on Egypt to deliver them from Assyria.

Egypt is a “broken staff” — if you lean on it, it’ill pierce your hand.

Rotten wood — the idol is worse than the vessel itself.

Ezekiel 29:6

Because you have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel; when they grasped you with the hand, you broke and tore open their shoulders; when they leaned on you, you broke and made their loins to shake.

Pharaoh’s a false support.

Those who grip false alliances are injured by the very thing they trust!

Jeremiah 17:5

Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from יהוה.

Trusting human systems over Elohim is spiritual ruin.

Psalm 146:3

Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation.

Human power can’t deliver you.

V.3 Even when men worship the wood, it is יהוה’s providence that carries them.

Grace sustains even the foolish; it’s a humbling reminder that safety is from יהוה alone, not idols.

Matthew 5:45 He makes his sun rise on the evil and the good.

Acts 17:28 In Him we live and move and have our being.

The weak wood becomes sacred only when touched by יהוה’s purpose.

All that to say this: It isn’t the boat that makes it through the storm — it’s the captain and the call He answers.

Our vessels may be small (weak resources, broken past), but when יהוה governs us, He carries us further than any idol ever could. 

Consecrate your vessels but don’t worship them!

Don’t lean on dead weight — build your life on what actually floats.

It’s not the boat — it’s the builder. And if He made the sea, He can carry you and I through it even if it’s a storm!

6 For in the old time also, when the proud giants perished, the hope of the world governed by thy hand escaped in a weak vessel, and left to all ages a seed of generation. 7 For blessed is the wood whereby righteousness cometh.

Even the humblest object — vessel becomes powerful; but only when consecrated to divine wisdom.

The material (wood) becomes blessed only when bound to יהוה’s redemptive plan.

Galatians 3:13 – Moshiach redeemed us by becoming a curse on a tree.

1 Peter 2:24 – He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree…by his wounds you have been healed.

Hebrews 12:2 – The cross as the means of ultimate deliverance.

Now in V. 8; we come to the pivot point in this chapter: it moves from the “blessed wood” of Noah’s ark (vv. 5–7) to the cursed wood of idolatry. It creates a contrast between consecration and corruption: the same material (wood) can be holy or hateful depending on its purpose. 

8 But that which is made with hands is cursed, as well it, as he that made it: he, because he made it: and it, because, being corruptible, it was called Elohim. 9 For the ungodly and his ungodliness are both alike hateful unto Elohim. 10 For that which is made shall be punished together with him that made it. 11 Therefore even upon the idols of the Gentiles shall there be a visitation: because in the creature of God they are become an abomination, and stumblingblocks to the souls of men, and a snare to the feet of the unwise. 12 For the devising of idols was the beginning of spiritual fornication, and the invention of them the corruption of life. 13 For neither were they from the beginning, neither shall they be for ever. 14 For by the vain glory of men they entered into the world, and therefore shall they come shortly to an end. 15 For a father afflicted with untimely mourning, when he hath made an image of his child soon taken away, now honoured him as a god, which was then a dead man, and delivered to those that were under him ceremonies and sacrifices. 16 Thus in process of time an ungodly custom grown strong was kept as a law, and graven images were worshipped by the commandments of kings. 17 Whom men could not honour in presence, because they dwelt far off, they took the counterfeit of his visage from far, and made an express image of a king whom they honoured, to the end that by this their forwardness they might flatter him that was absent, as if he were present.

18 Also the singular diligence of the artificer did help to set forward the ignorant to more superstition. 19 For he, peradventure willing to please one in authority, forced all his skill to make the resemblance of the best fashion. 20 And so the multitude, allured by the grace of the work, took him now for a god, which a little before was but honoured as a man. 21 And this was an occasion to deceive the world: for men, serving either calamity or tyranny, did ascribe unto stones and stocks the incommunicable name.

Condemnation of idolatry at its very core; created things masquerading as the Creator. The idol and the idolater are under judgment — their destinies are actually intertwined.

Romans 1:23 They exchanged the glory of the incorruptible Elohim for an image…and worshiped the creature rather than the Creator.

And idols entrap; they actually enslave the unwise and corrupt the soul of man. It’s a moral infection, not just a bad idea, but a life-destroying practice.

Mixing worship with manipulation corrupts the work and opens the soul to an inversion — the husks of dead energy!

Idolatry often comes from misguided grief (turning a lost loved one into a god, “the ancestors” or turning to state propaganda (king-worship)).

It shows how emotion + power can normalize ungodly customs and traditions. 

In Acts 12:21–23 Herod accepts worship as a god; judgment strikes him dead.

In Revelation 13 The beast demands worship through an image — the ultimate counterfeit king! 

22 Moreover this was not enough for them, that they erred in the knowledge of God; but whereas they lived in the great war of ignorance, those so great plagues called they peace. 23 For whilst they slew their children in sacrifices, or used secret ceremonies, or made revellings of strange rites; 24 they kept neither lives nor marriages any longer undefiled: but either one slew another traiterously or grieved him by adultery. 25 So that there reigned in all men without exception, blood, manslaughter, theft, and dissimulation, corruption, unfaithfulness, tumults, perjury, 26 disquieting of good men, forgetfulness of good turns, defiling of souls, changing of kind, disorder in marriages, adultery, and shameless uncleanness. 27 For the worshipping of idols not to be named is the beginning, the cause, and the end, of all evil. 28 For either they are mad when they be merry, or prophesy lies, or live unjustly, or else lightly forswear themselves. 29 For insomuch as their trust is in idols which have no life, though they swear falsely, yet they look not to be hurt. 30 Howbeit for both causes shall they be justly punished: both because they thought not well of God, giving heed unto idols, and also unjustly swore in deceit, despising holiness. 31 For it is not the power of them by whom they swear: but it is the just vengeance of sinners, that punisheth always the offence of the ungodly.

The conclusion of the matter is misplaced worship corrupts the entire social order, turning false religion into a full-scale moral collapse. What we worship shapes what we become!

We have a moral inversion going on, what יהוה calls plagues (idolatry, human sacrifice, moral lawlessness) they rename “peace.”

Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.

Deceiving spirits name chaos as peace, making destruction look like harmony.

They’re selling us poison and calling it medicine!

Worship disorders everything — when you bow to dead gods; living relationships rot. 

James 4:1 Wars and quarrels…come from passions…You adulterous people, don’t you know friendship with the world is enmity with Elohim?

2 Timothy 3:1 In the last days: lovers of self…unholy…without natural affection.

Maxim: If the people you follow don’t value life, they won’t value yours either. 

If you build with the corrupt, you actually inherit their chaos, so we need to choose who/what we serve carefully!

The worshipping of idols…is the beginning, cause, and end of all evil.

Idolatry isn’t just one sin — it’s the root of all sin.

Why? Because disordered worship disorients the soul, everything else (ethics, sexuality, justice) collapses around what’s falsely enthroned!

Verses 28–31 – They trust in idols which have no life…yet they swear falsely…they will be punished.

Idolaters think their false gods don’t hold them accountable.

But true judgment comes not from the idol, but from the Elohim of all justice, The One they’ve ignored.

Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived: Elohim is not mocked. Whatever a man sows, that he will reap.

Acts 17:31 יהוה has fixed a day to judge the world by the Man He appointed.

No idol can save an idolater from violating divine law; יהוה’s TORAH — only repentance restores alignment.

Seek first the kingdom of Elohim…and all these things will be added to you.