The Book of Wisdom was written about a hundred years before Christ in Alexandria, Egypt, where there was a large Jewish population. It was to give encouragement to a people who had experienced suffering and opposition. It was also to offset certain philosophies which were at odds with the Jewish religious approach to reality.

As the Book opens, the author is concerned that the people remember a basic truth that God must come first in their lives. Any approach to life which ignores God or puts Him in the background is not wise or sound. Jesus gives the same warning in the Gospel when He speaks of scandals. The word "scandal" literally means a stumbling block or obstancle. In the Gospel it refers to any teaching or action which causes people "to fall" along their journey to God.

The warning of Jesus is significant for us today because we live in a society in which values opposed to those of the Gospel are constantly promoted, especially through the advertising media. Advertisements make us believe that happiness comes from what money can buy, that personal attractiveness is the result of cosmetics and toothpastes and that life is concerned with self-gratification. Today's advertising mostly seeks to create a desire for superfluous things, making a necessity of luxuries as a way of life.