Continuing with the theme of worthless idols, the writer develops in an interesting way. He has been talking about pieces of wood, fashioned into a shape that then is worshipped, that people put their trust in, and he goes on to talk about another piece of wood that people put their trust in - a boat.
This is a good and worthy use of skill, enabling human endeavour and exploration, and God is kind to seafarers and brings them safe to port. But those who make their wood into idols are under a curse.
He has an interesting take on the origins of idolatry. Sometimes it is love gone astray. If a father loses a child, he might carve a likeness of his child, and adore it, and end up worshipping it. A king might command an image of himself to be made, for people to venerate, but the craftsman’s skill might be such that the image is more beautiful than the man it represents, and it ends up being worshipped. Love of one’s family, honour for one’s ruler - these are good things, but if twisted and stretched they become evil idolatry.
This is sophisticated thinking - I like this. The last few chapters of Wisdom have been deep.
Finally in this chapter, the writer goes on to think about the effects of idolatry. If good instincts have been twisted and stretched into unnatural shapes, then people will lose their grip on goodness completely. They will call war, peace; they will call lies, truth; they will abandon faithfulness, goodness and kindness and all manner of evil will prevail. Society will decay and collapse, and this is God’s punishment on them for their sin.
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