In Sunday’s first reading from the Wisdom of Solomon, a Greek-speaking Jew meditates on the exodus events, reimagining the story of the tenth plague in which the angel of death kills the Egyptian firstborn. This divine retribution against Israel’s enemies, even to the extreme of God striking down the children of the Egyptians, may trouble modern readers.
More valuable for us today is the wisdom writer’s stress on the slaves’ sure knowledge of God’s liberating care. In their circumstances of tremendous oppression, the Hebrew slaves turn to God as their hope. In these slaves who cry out to God for justice, the wisdom writer recognizes and imagines a community of faith and trust in God’s promises.
However idealized this picture, it holds a kernel of truth: trust in God is not ordinarily a solitary affair. On that night the men and women of Israel “covenanted with one accord,” agreeing to share alike in the same benefits and the same dangers resulting from their common faith. Their willingness to take risks together and make commitments to one another came before the vindication they awaited from God.
Israel’s ancestors trust God’s promises.
On the night of the passover our ancestors were given warning beforehand, so that having sure knowledge, they might be heartened by the promises that they trusted.
Your people, O God, were looking for the salvation of the just and the destruction of their enemies; for by the same means you used to punish our enemies, you called us to yourself and made us glorious.
For in secret the devout children of good people were offering sacrifices and covenanted with one accord to keep the law of God.
Wisdom 18.6-9
- In what relationships do you experience a sense of shared risk and shared commitment? How many of these relationships are public?