Summary of text [comment] pages 58 and 59

In the Scriptures, sin and death unite. Israel’s unfaithfulness to Yahweh joined military catastrophe.

Virtue and life unite. “The people’s devotion to Yahweh” inspired “the King of Persia to act as an instrument of God’s ordination”.

In the Scriptures, the image of “a God who punishes with death” was refined by a growing awareness that sin punishes itself. A man reaps what he sows (Hos 10:13, Job 2:8, Prov. 20:24 and 22:8). The retribution is contained within the sin itself. The books of Wisdom and Proverbs both express this. Sinners ally themselves with death.