WINTER (xeifK^v, Mt242o, Mk 13^8, Jn lO^^).— This is the time of cold and rain-storms. The modern Arab, name, esh-shittci , means literally 'the rain.' It is the season in which the rain supply of the year falls ; it lasts roughly for seven months, from October till April inclusive, thus including the part of the year which we call spring (see SUMMER).
AVISDOM
WISDOM
825
While in the deeper parts of the Jordan Valley it is never very cold, the raw air breeds many discom- forts in tlie rainy season. On the higher lands, however, the cola is often intense, snow lying at times — e.g. in Jerusalem — to a depth of some inches. The rain moistens the soil, hard baked by the Slimmer sun. In a land where the science of road-making is practically unknown, the paths go swiftly to mud, so that travel in winter is always toilsome, and not seldom jierilous. W. EwiNG.
WISDOM.—
i. Use of the conception in Biblical history and literature.
A. As applied to a school of thought.
1. The ' wise men.'
2. Their writings.
B. As apphed to the Spirit of God.
1. Jewish hypostatization.
2. Christological development.
A. ii. NT use of the word iro(p'ia..
1. In the Gospels.
2. In the Pauline Epistles.
3. In the Ep. of James and elsewhere.
iii. Use of word and concept in the discourses of Jesus.
1. In comparisons of His message with the Baptist's.
2. To rebuke blasphemy against His work.
iv. Jlatthsean connexions of the two groups of sayings.
1. Wisdom sayings of Mt 11.
2. Wisdom sayings of Mt 12.
V. Lukan connexions of the two groups.
1. Lk 11-19-51 a Wisdom utterance.
2. Relation to context of Lk 7 = Mt 11.
3. Connected discourse-elements of Lk.-Acts.
(«) Lk 1213-34. {b) Lk 16. 189-14. (c) Lk 111-13 181-8. vi. The Wisdom utterances represent a special type of Gospel tradition.
1. Independent of Matthiean Logia.
2. Inseparable from narrative.
3. Employed in common Greek form by Mt. and
Luke.
4. More fully and authentically present in Luke, vii. Relation of this to narrative-elements of Synoptic
tradition.
1. Dependence of Mark.
2. Relation to peculiar narrative-element of Luke, viii. Conclusions as to proto-Lukan source.
B. ix. Wisdom speculation in the development of Christology.
1. The Wisdom doctrine of St. Paul as related —
(a) to (Jewish) Stoicism. (6) to Apocal.vptics. (c) to Mystery-religion.
2. The Johannine and Patristic Christology.
(a) Substitution of Greek terminology (Logos for Wisdom).
(6) Standpoint of the Fourth Evangelist.
(c) The Wisdom utterance Mt 1125-30 the link between Synoptic and Johannine Christ- ology.
Literature.
1. The Biblical conception.— In Biblical lan- guage the term 'wisdom' (OT napn hokh-mdh, LXX and NT <jo(pLa, rarely <t)p6vr]<jLs (Lk 1", Eph P), or (Tvve(ns (Lk 2^'', Eph S'')), is applied (^) to a human, (B) to a Divine attribute.
A. Under the former head is included. — 1. The type of thought illustrated in the school of religio- philosophical thinkers contemporary with and later than the prophets, rivalled and ultimately dis- placed by the scribes. Thus the designation of Mt 23^'*, 'prophets and wise men and scribes,' is seen to be historically correct, as against the modified form of Lk 11''''' ('prophets and apostles' ; cf. 1 Th 2^', Eph 2-" etc. ), the representatives of these schools of Jewish thought being regarded as commissioned by and endowed with the Divine Spirit. 2. In a derived sense the writings of these inspired men (t) Ttav&peros erotpia, applied by Hegesippus and Pales- tinian writers generally to the group Pr.-Wisd. of Sol.; see Eus. HE IV. xxii. 8, ' Nicene and post- Nicene Fathers' [ed. Sciiafi'-Wace], with note by McGiftert), regarded as utterances of the Spirit of God: 'the Wisdom of God saith ' (Lk IV^) = 'the Holy Ghost saith' (He 3') = 'the Spirit (of apocalyptic prophecy) saith' (1 Ti 4\ perhaps re- ferring to Jannes and Jambres, 2 Ti 3*).
B. The designation ' Wisdom of God,' or simply
' Wisdom,' is sometimes a^jplied to the Spirit of God as manifest in creation and redemption, in tiie illumination of the mind and regeneration of the soul.
1. In the Hokhmdh, or Wisdom literature, this is the habitual designation of the Divine Spirit, especially conceived as manifesting the redeeming love of God, which goes forth to seek and save the erring (Wis 1" 72'^-28). Per.soniiication of Wisdom (Job 28, Pr 8), under the later speculative influence of Stoic metaphysics, passes imperceptibly into hypostatization and a Logos-doctrine, cosmological as well as soteriological (Wisdom = the Metathron, Wis 9^- 10 ; cf. Sir 24, Wis 1^^-). In Philo the terms ' Wisdom ' and ' Logos ' are practically equivalent, the Stoic term naturally tending among Greek readers to displace the Hebrew. Contemporane- ously, under the mythologizing influence exerted through apocalyptic literature, the redemptive mission of Wisdom (Wis 9^^^-) develops into an un- mistakable avatar doctrine, wherein Wisdom be- comes incarnate, and dwells among men (Bar 3^'', cf. Oxyrh. Frgts. Log. iii.), or even descends to the underworld to ' visit all that sleep, and shine upon all that hope in the Lord ' (Sir 24^^ Lat. ; cf. pseudo-Isaiah, ap. Iren. Hcer. III. xx. 4, and Eph 5^^). Rejected by men, she ascends again to her seat in heaven (Enoch xlii. I),* whence she returns to be poured out upon the elect in the Messianic age (xlix. 1 ). The mythologizing tendency was strongly reacted against by the scribes, especially in the period of Akiba, during the rivalry of Synagogue and Church in Palestine (A.D., 70-135). On the Jewish side, from this time forward, all personifi- cations of the Divine Wisdom were rigidly re- stricted in their application to the Mosaic Torah (Sir 2423-27, Bar 4^, Pirke Aboth, iii. 14, vi. 10). We even find later readings in Jewish texts alter- ing hokhmdh to tordh {ao^ia to v6/jlos). In general, after the schism of the Nazarenes, speculative thought (doctrine of the Merkabah) is rigorously suppressed.