Wiiiter, Samuel, D.D., an English clergyman, was born in 1603; became provost of Trinity College, Dublin, and died Dec. 29, 1666.
Wisdom (prop. i^^rC' chokmdh, ffo^ia), in a gen- eral sense, is a comprehensive knowledge of things in their proper nature and relations, together with the power of combining them in the most useful manner. Among the Hebrews, the term " wisdom" comprehended a wide circle of virtues and mental endowments (Exod. xxviii, 3; xxxi, 6; 1 Kings iii, 28; iv, 29-34), and its precise import in the Scriptures can only be ascertained by a close attention to the context. See Fool.
1. It is used to express the understanding or knowl- pletion of this work, Dr, Winslow spent upwards of ! edge of things, both human and divine, chiefly in a
WISDOM OF JESUS
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WISDOM OF SOLOMON
practical and moral aspect, especially in the Psalms, Proverbs, anil the book of Job. It was this wisdom which Solomon entreated and received of God, espe- cially in a governmental sense.
2. It is |)iit for ingenidty, skill, dexterity, as in the case of the artificers Bezaleel and Aliuliab (Exod. xxviii, 3; xxxi. ;J).
3. Wi.Mlom is used for subtlety, craft, stratagem, wlu'tiier good or evil. Pharaoh dealt wisely with the Israelites (Exod. i, 10). Jonadab was very wise, i. e. subtle and crafty (2 Sam. xiii,3). In l^roverbs (xiv, 8) it is said, " The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way."
4. It stands for doctrine, learning, experience, sa- gacity (.Job xii, 2, 12; xxxviii, 37; Psa. cv, 22).
5. It is put sometimes for the skill or arts of magi- cians, wizards, fortune-tellers, etc. (Gen. xli, 8; Exod. vii, 1 1 ; Eccles. ix, 17 ; Jer. 1, 35).
6. The windoin or learning and philosophy current among the Greeks and Romans in the apostolic age, which stood in contrast with the simplicity of the Gos- pel, and tended to draw away the minds of men from divine truth, is called "fleshly wisdom" (2 Cor. i, 12), " wisdom of this world" (1 Cor. i, 20 ; iii, 19), and " wis- dom of men" (ii, 5).
7. In respect to divine things, wisdom, i. e. knowledge, insight, deep understanding, is represented everywhere as a divine gift, including the idea of practical applica- tion, and is thus distinguished from theoretical knowl- edge ( Acts vi, 10 ; 1 Cor. xii, 8 ; Eph. i, 17 ; Col. i, 9 ; 2 Tim. iii, lu; James i, 5; iii, 13, l.o, 17).
Wisdom OF JESUS (Son of Sirach), Book of. See ErcLKSiASTicus.
Wisdom (The) OF SOLOMON, Book of, one of the deutero- canonical portions of the Old Test, which have come down to us by tradition as the pro- duction of the son of David. In treating this subject, we maiidy follow Ginsburg's article in the new edi- tion of Kitto's Ci/clnpwclia, with additions from other sources, especially Smith's JJicf. of the Bible. See Apocrypha.
I. Title and Position. — This book is called 'Slo(pia '2a- \bjHiov or ^aXofiCJVTog (Alex. Compl.), i.e. the Wis- dom of Solomon, in the Sept. ; and the Great Wisdom of Solomon in the Syriac version, because it was an- ciently believed to have been written bj' Solomon, who therein propounds the lessons of wisdom. It is denom- inated Jlardp^Tog So(pia, All-virtuous Wisdom, an ap- pellation which, though also given to Proverbs and Ecclesiasticus, is especially given by Athanasius and Epiphanius to this book, because it treats more exten- sively of wisdom than either of the other so-called Solo- monic productions. It is called >'/ ^lia ^oej^la, Sapientia Dei, by Clement of Alexandria (Strom, iv, 16) and Ori- gen {(hi Rom. vii, 14). In the Vulg. it is simply called Liber Sapientiw, without the name of Solomon, because Jerome disputed the Solomonic authorship of it. The versions of the Reformation are divided between tho.se appellations. Thus, in Luther's version (1.536), the (ienevan version (1560), the Bishops' Bible (1568), and the A. V. (I6I1) this book is called the Wisdom of Solomon, according to the Sept.; while the Zurich ver- sion ( 15.?n, Coverdale's Bible (1.535), IMatthew's Bible (1537), Cromwell's Bible (1530), and Cranmer's Bible (1540) denominate it The Book of Wisdom, after the Vulg.
The book is placed in the Sept. and in the Vulg. after the Song of Songs and before J^cclesiasticus, or immediately after the canonical i)roductions of Solomon, since it was believed that it, too, proceeded from this monarch. Though all the translations of the Refor- mation followed the example of Luther's version in sep- arating the (leutero-caiionical from the canonical books, yet they have deviated from tiieir prototype in the or- der of the Apocrypha. Thus, while Luther, in his Bible, places this book between Judith and Tobit, the Zurich
version — which, as usual, is followed bv' Coverdale, and he again by Cromwell's Bible, jMattliew's Bible, the Bish- ops' Bible, and Craimier's Bible, as well as the Geneva version and the A. Y.— places it between the additions to ICsthcr and Ecclesiasticus.
II. Desif/n, Division, and Contents. — The object of this book is both paranetical and apologetical. It comforts and strengthens the faithful who are distracted by the incx|ilicable difficulties in the moral government of the world, by showing them that whatever suflForings and taunts they have to endure, both from their apostate brethren and their heathen oppressors, and however much the wicked and the idolaters may prosper here, the elect, in following the counsels of divine wisdom, will be able to h)ok forward with joy to a future state of retribution, where the rigliteous Judge will render to the ungodly according to their deeds, and confer upon the godly a blissful immortality.