Wisdom — Chapter 15

BUT THOU, OUR GOD, ART GRACIOUS AND TRUE, PATIENT, AND ORDERING ALL THINGS IN MERCY.

Addressed to God in direct contrast to the idols: Thou art gracious (suavis), true (verus), patient (patiens), ordering all in mercy (misericordia). Lapide: these four divine attributes define the experience of Israel in contrast to the torments suffered by Egypt. Applied to the interior life: the soul that knows God as gracious, true, patient, and merciful will not seek false gods but will cling to Him through all trials.

FOR EVEN IF WE SIN, WE ARE THINE, KNOWING THY GREATNESS: AND IF WE SIN NOT, WE KNOW THAT WE ARE COUNTED WITH THEE.

A profound statement of Israel's covenant relationship: even in sin, Israel belongs to God and knows His greatness — this knowledge is both a condemnation (greater responsibility) and a hope (the covenant mercy extends to sinners). \"If we sin not, we know that we are counted with Thee\" — the state of grace is the state of belonging to God. Lapide on the doctrine of justification: belonging to God through grace is the supreme dignity, preserved by fidelity and restored through penance.

FOR TO KNOW THEE IS PERFECT JUSTICE: AND TO KNOW THY JUSTICE AND THY POWER IS THE ROOT OF IMMORTALITY.

To know Thee is perfect justice — this echoes Jn 17:3 (\"this is eternal life: to know Thee the only true God\"). The knowledge of God (not mere intellectual knowledge but experiential, loving knowledge) = perfect justice = root of immortality. Lapide: the theological virtues of faith and charity are the seed of eternal life, planted in the soul through Baptism and watered by the sacraments.

FOR THE INVENTION OF WICKED ARTISTS HATH NOT DECEIVED US, NOR THE SHADOW OF A PICTURE, A FRUITLESS LABOUR, A GRAVEN FIGURE WITH DIVERSE COLOURS.

Israel was not deceived by the idols of Egypt. \"Wicked artists\" (artis malae excogitatio) — those who invented and manufactured idols. Lapide defends Israelite fidelity to monotheism as the greatest intellectual achievement of the ancient world, preserved by divine revelation against the overwhelming pressure of surrounding idolatrous cultures.

WHOSE SIGHT GIVETH DESIRE TO THE FOOLISH MAN, AND HE LOVETH THE DEAD IMAGE OF A DEAD PICTURE.

The seduction of idolatry through visual beauty: the beautiful idol attracts the foolish man's desire. Lapide on the psychology of idolatry: human concupiscence is the raw material — the idol offers beauty, power, and the projection of human desires onto a manageable \"deity.\"

THE LOVERS OF EVIL THINGS DESERVE TO HAVE SUCH THINGS TO PUT THEIR HOPE IN: AND THEY THAT MAKE THEM, AND THEY THAT LOVE THEM, AND THEY THAT WORSHIP THEM.

A solemn declaration: those who love evil deserve idols as the object of their hope — they receive the punishment of getting what they desire. Lapide: disordered desire is punished by its own satisfaction, which in the case of idols means absolute frustration of all genuine hope.

THE POTTER, ALSO TEMPERING SOFT EARTH, WITH LABOUR FASHIONETH EVERY VESSEL FOR OUR SERVICE, AND OF THE SAME CLAY HE MAKETH BOTH THE VESSELS THAT SERVE FOR CLEAN USES, AND LIKEWISE SUCH AS SERVE TO THE CONTRARY: BUT WHAT IS THE USE OF EITHER, THE POTTER IS THE JUDGE.

The clay-pot maker as a type of idolater: from the same clay he makes vessels for sacred use and for idols. Lapide on the unity of the material: the idol and the chamber pot share the same clay — the idol has no intrinsic superiority to any other pottery except in the imagination of its worshipper. Applied to the philosophical question of God's sovereignty: God creates vessels for honor and dishonor (Rom 9:21) — but in a way utterly different from the human potter, since God's dispositions are perfectly just.

AND WITH MISSPENT LABOUR, OF THE SAME CLAY, HE FASHIONETH A VAIN GOD: WHO WAS HIMSELF MADE OF EARTH A LITTLE BEFORE, AND AFTER A LITTLE WHILE RETURNETH TO THE SAME, OUT OF WHICH HE WAS TAKEN, WHEN HIS LIFE IS DEMANDED OF HIM.

The potter makes a \"vain god\" from the same clay and labor as his useful vessels — and the potter himself will shortly return to the clay from which he came. Lapide: the double mortality of the idol — it is made of earth and will return to earth; its maker is also made of earth and will return to earth. The idol has no advantage over its maker; both are mortal.

BUT HIS CARE IS, NOT THAT HE SHALL LABOUR, NOR THAT HIS LIFE SHALL BE SHORT: BUT HE STRETCHETH HIMSELF TO RIVAL THE GOLDSMITHS AND SILVERSMITHS, AND HE IMITATED THOSE WHO MAKE IDOLS OF BRASS, AND ESTEEMETH IT HIS GLORY, THAT HE MAKETH COUNTERFEITS.

The clay potter envies the more prestigious idol-makers of gold and silver, and considers his clay idols an honorable trade. Lapide: the hierarchy of idolaters — from golden idols to clay ones — is still a hierarchy of folly. The potter's pride in his craftsmanship is misplaced when the craft serves idolatry.

HIS HEART IS ASHES, AND HIS HOPE VAIN EARTH, AND HIS LIFE MORE BASE THAN CLAY.

A devastating description: \"his heart is ashes\" — the idol-maker's interior life is dead, spent; \"his hope is vain earth\" — his hope is literally grounded in dirt; \"his life more base than clay\" — the material he works with exceeds him in being turned to a nobler use. Lapide: this verse is one of Scripture's most biting spiritual critiques — applied to anyone whose hope is placed entirely in material things.

FOR HE WAS IGNORANT OF HIS MAKER, AND OF HIM THAT INSPIRED HIM A SOUL THAT WORKETH, AND BREATHED INTO HIM A LIVING SPIRIT.

The idol-maker's root sin: ignorance of his own Creator. He fashions clay but does not know the God who fashioned him from clay (Gen 2:7) and breathed into him a living spirit. Lapide: self-knowledge and knowledge of God are inseparable (Augustine, \"Lord, let me know myself and let me know Thee\"); the man who does not know God cannot know himself, and consequently makes himself and his artifacts into idols.

BUT THEY HAVE COUNTED OUR LIFE A PASTIME, AND THE BUSINESS OF LIFE TO BE GAIN, AND THAT WE MUST MAKE MONEY EVERY WAY, THOUGH IT BE EVIL.

The idolater's philosophy of life: (1) life is a pastime (ludum = game, amusement — not a serious preparation for eternity); (2) the purpose of life is gain (quaestus — commercial profit). Lapide: this is the practical materialism that follows from idolatry — when God is forgotten, life becomes about money and pleasure.

FOR THIS MAN, WHO ABOVE OTHERS KNOWETH HE MAKES A WICKED THING, MAKETH WOODEN OR CLAY VESSELS AND SUCH THINGS AS SERVE FOR VAIN USES.

The idol-maker knows he is making something wicked — his sin is one of knowledge, not ignorance. Lapide: culpable ignorance and bad faith pervade the industry of idol manufacture; those who supply false religion knowing its falsity bear greater guilt than the naive worshippers.

BUT ALL THE ENEMIES OF THY PEOPLE ARE FOOLISH AND UNHAPPY, AND PROUD BEYOND MEASURE: FOR THEY ARE IDOLS, THE WORK OF HUMAN HANDS, WHICH NEITHER HAVE THE USE OF FEET TO WALK, NOR NOSTRILS TO SNIFF, NOR EARS TO HEAR, NOR FINGERS TO FEEL, NEITHER SHALL THEIR FEET HELP THEM TO WALK.

Psalm 115 (113):4-7 is almost verbatim quoted: the idols have no feet, nostrils, ears, or fingers — they are absolutely inert. Lapide: the Psalmist's satire on idols reaches its most complete expression here. Applied to any form of false trust: putting hope in human power, wealth, or political arrangements rather than in God is a form of idolatry.

FOR THEY MADE THEM: AND THE SAME ARE THEY THAT HAVE SINNED. THEIR MAKERS THEMSELVES MADE THEM, AND THEIR MAKERS CANNOT MAKE THEM GODS.

The makers of idols made them — and are the same ones who sinned. The idol-maker cannot make gods; he can only make his own condemnation. Lapide: only God can make gods — deification (divinization of the soul through grace) is entirely God's work, not human artifice.

FOR THEIR MAKERS ARE MORTAL, AND THEIR MAKER'S HANDS ARE FORMED FROM SIN; FOR MORE EXCELLENT THAN ALL OF THESE IS MAN HIMSELF, WHOSE LIFE IS VAIN.

A final meditation: the idol is made by mortal hands formed from sin (i.e., using the capacities that flow from fallen nature). Even man, who is more excellent than all his works, is himself vain and mortal. The hierarchy: God > man > man's works (including idols). To worship the idol is to descend below even human dignity.

FOR HE WORSHIPPETH THOSE THINGS THAT ARE DEAD, NEITHER DOTH HE GIVE HEED TO THESE DEAD THINGS WHEN THEY ARE HOLIEST, NOR TO THINGS MOST EVIL WHEN THEY ARE WORST; BUT TO THOSE THAT ARE MOST VILE OF ALL THINGS.

The idol-worshipper worships dead things — neither when those dead things are at their most sacred (in the religious context) do they have any real power, nor when they are most evil do they harm anyone. They are simply dead and powerless. Lapide: the fundamental emptiness of idols — they have no real existence as deities; they are purely the projections of human desire.

AND THESE BRUTE BEASTS THAT LIVE, THEY COMPARE TO THE GOD OF HEAVEN, WHOM NO MAN CAN WORSHIP WORTHILY.

Even living animals are less worthy of worship than the living God — yet idolaters compare brute beasts to the God of heaven. Lapide: the absurdity of animal-worship (as in Egypt) is the ultimate reductio ad absurdum of idolatry. \"Whom no man can worship worthily\" — even the most perfect human worship of God is infinitely inadequate to His infinite majesty; therefore to compare a crocodile or ibis to God is beyond absurdity.

BUT EVEN TO THESE, WHEN COMPARED, THESE BEASTS ARE NOT EXCEPTED IN RESPECT OF TASTE AND SIGHT; NEITHER ARE THEY COMMENDED FOR GOD'S PRAISE, NOR FOR THE REST THINGS THAT BELONG TO HIM.

Even the animals worshipped as gods are inferior to God in every respect — sight, taste, and all divine attributes. Lapide concludes the anti-idolatry section: the entire argument from ch.13 through 15 has systematically exposed the absurdity, immorality, and self-destructive character of idolatry, preparing the reader to appreciate the one true God of Israel.