Matthew 22:13 to Wisdom 17:21
Matthew 22:13 to Wisdom 17:21
Author’s Note: This comparison examines whether Matthew’s imagery of outer darkness reflects visions of the afterlife already present in the Wisdom of Solomon.
A ninth example, also from the Evangelical Biblical Theology Commentary, on Matthew 22:13 (and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth):
“Outer darkness” probably connotes the deepest darkness that is so distant from any source of light that not the slightest ray pierces it. Jewish literature from the intertestamental period taught that the plague of darkness that God used to judge the Egyptians foreshadowed eternal darkness that awaited them (Wis. 17:21). (p. 220).
Jesus Himself describes an aspect of the afterlife, the realm that no human can know of except by Divine inspiration, by referencing a description of the afterlife that had appeared in an Apocrypha (which declares itself to have received Divine inspiration as to all those things that man cannot, himself, see Wisdom 7:21: “And all such things as are either secret or manifest, them I know”). That would seem to be confirming that the Book he is alluding to had correctly envisioned the realm that no one in this world can know of except by Divine inspiration—which itself would seem to be endorsing the Book’s claim that the author had “seen beyond” and saw the Truth. And all this was, again, recorded in the Divinely-inspired Gospel to the Jews, without any caveats or warnings.
Consider other allusions that (according to Protestant scholars) Matthew made to the Book of Wisdom, such as https://read.canoncrossfire.com/matthew-2743-to-wisdom-218/, https://read.canoncrossfire.com/matthew-1522-to-wisdom-720/, and https://read.canoncrossfire.com/matthew-1119-30-to-wisdom-910-etc/.
But it was not only the “Gospel to the Jews” that makes so many deep allusions to Wisdom, the Epistle to the Hebrews made so many that a Protestant scholar theorized that Apollos (mentioned in the Book of Acts, 1 Corinthians, and Titus) wrote the Book of Wisdom (which declares itself to be Divinely inspired Scripture) when he was a Jew; then, he wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews after he had converted to Christianity. Read more about that at https://read.canoncrossfire.com/hebrews-an-epistle-to-those-who-accept-apocrypha/.