Potter Clay and Wisdom

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luciasclay

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So I am browsing through Wisdom of Solomon tonight. Many things of interest but the one I am fixated on it Wisdom 15:7

For when a potter kneads the soft earth and laboriously molds each vessel for our service, he fashions out of the same clay both the vessels that serve clean uses and those for contrary uses, making all in like manner; but which shall be the use of each of these the worker in clay decides.

Naturally this made me think of the passage in Romans 9:21

Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for beauty and another for menial use ?

Now the footnotes in my RSV ( protestant edition ) say that Romans 9:19-21 reference to Is 29.16, 45.9, 64.8 Jer 18.6. And I have looked up all of those. To my reading they do all deal with pottery in various ways but none so directly parallel the quote Paul made in Romans 9 as does the passage in Wisdom 15.

There were some other passages too that I haven’t followed up on. Is Paul really quoting from Wisdom here and if not where is it he is quoting from ?

Thanks.
 
I don’t think there can be any question that Paul is quoting Wisdom - or referencing it, I suppose. And the fact that the Prot. RSV doesn’t footnote it doesn’t necessarily mean they are denying the connection, but there’s little point in referencing a text that isn’t in the book the reader is holding.

The notion that you can prove which OT books are canonical by requiring citations in the NT as validation is a weak one, I think, because the corrollary is so patently not true - Paul references pagan poetry which no one would suggest makes those into Scripture, as well as other pre-Christian books that the Church did not include in the canon. (Not that you raised that issue, but it came up in my mind as I read your post).🙂
 
I checked the Ignatius Study Bible and it did NOT reference Wisdom, but the Navarre Study Bible did list Wisdom in their cross-reference.

I’m with you, though, it seems to obviously allude to Wisdom over the others.
 
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