Bible Study 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle B.

Note: Where a Scripture text is underlined in the body of this discussion, it is recommended that the reader look up and read that passage. 1st Reading - Wisdom 1:13-15; 2:23-24 The Book of Wisdom was written in the late second or early 1st century B.C. in Greek. Until the discovery of the Dead Sea scrolls it was not known to have existed in Hebrew, but its discovery there shows that it was accepted and used by the Jews of Jesus’ time in the area of Palestine. It is believed to have been composed in Alexandria in Egypt. The Book of Wisdom is divided into three parts. The first part [the Book of Eschatology (1:1 through 6:21)] deals with the problem of retribution for good and evil and with the immortality that wisdom offers, concluding with an appeal to the reader to seek wisdom. The second part (6:22 through 11:1) describes wisdom and her operations in the world and explains how she is to be found. The remainder of the book (11:2 through 19:22) is a historical illustration of the principles of the first two parts. We hear today from the beginning of the first part.
1:13 Because God did not make death, Not only physical death, but spiritual death – eternal separation from God (the second death of Revelation 2:11 and 21:8). Life after death was not a universally held belief. The Pharisees held it, but the Sadducees did not (which is why they were sad, you see). The traditionally held belief was that the lot of all beyond the grave was the same; a weak and pale existence in sheol, separated from God. Reward and reparation were given in this world; long life, large family, riches, etc. The Book of Wisdom states the reward of life with God with assurance, although there is no mention of the resurrection of the body. nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living. 14 For he fashioned all things that they might have being; and the creatures of the world are wholesome, And there is not a destructive drug among them The physical world does not have the