The Book of Wisdom or The Wisdom of Solomon 5:8 Commentary

They placed their hope in corruptible things, and therefore their hope will become vain, whereas our hope will then become reality. So that God’s promise to us would remain whole, fixed and certain, let us say with hearts full of faith, “Do not destroy in the end.” Do not fear, therefore, that some power might ruin the promises of God. God will not spoil them, because he is true. And there is no one more powerful than him who could cause them to fail.

The proud despise the humble when they hear them speak of things that they reject. Because the proud love the things of this world, they do not concern themselves with future things and, in their malicious wickedness, attack with greater violence those who try to follow the Lord’s precepts. But at the future judgment they will experience an exchange of roles. Those who are rich and proud will be despised and the object of reproaches, as Solomon says of them: “What good has our pride done for us? What has our wealth and its boasting brought us?” It is clear that normal human speech would have required that it be said, “Our soul is full of the reproaches of the rich and the despising of the proud.” But by saying, “Our soul is full. It is a reproach to the rich and a despising of the proud,” this seems to be a way of speaking proper to the divine Scripture, which must not be considered mistaken but as something that has not yet been contemplated by human thought.