Some people are "exiled from (God's) eternal providence"? (Wisdom 17:2)

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MysticMissMisty

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Hello.

It has always been my understanding that everyone and everything falls under God’s providence.

Then, why does Wisdom 17:2 tell us that so-called “lawless men” who have captured Israel are “exiled from (God’s) eternal providence”?

Help me to understand this, please.

Thanks.
 
Simply put, evil/sin/rejection of God is the only thing which separates us from God. Recall here that the “lawless man” is one description of the antichrist.
 
The Wisdom text is speaking of the Egyptians who held the Israelites as slaves. “Lawless ones” means unrepentant lawless (willfully wicked, disobedient etc.) people. If they would have repented and obeyed God’s request given to them through Moses, then they would no longer have been “lawless” and God would not have punished them (been separated from them).
Here is a link to the Haydock Bible with good commentary notes in the left hand column.
 
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Everyone and everything does fall under God’s providence including the plague of darkness that befell the Egyptians that the sacred writer is referring to here. So, the sacred writer is giving some particular meaning to God’s ‘eternal providence’ in verse 2 but not that the plague of darkness does not fall under God’s providence. He may be referring to the good gifts that divine providence normally brings to all things everyday and to the good and bad alike, and also to the ordinary course of God’s providential guidance over creation. But here, the plague of darkness was a supernatural event that lasted for three days where the Egyptians did not see the light and beauty of day or ordinary nights with starlight so they were ‘exiled’ as it were from the providential ordinary course of things and ordinary days and nights. Thus, it is written in 17:20-21:

‘For the whole world was illumined in brilliant light, and was engaged in unhindered work, while over those men alone heavy night was spread’.

The link from Nita to the Haydock Bible did not work for me. I found another link here to the Haydock commentary:
https://www.ecatholic2000.com/haydock/title.shtml#WISDOM
 
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