THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
I $<
philosophical problem of how to reconcile the sufferings of the pious with the justice of God occupies a prominent place. Wisdom is impenetrable; no one knows where to find it; only God knows it and possesses it. In xxviii. 12, when the dialogue reaches its culmination, wisdom is described in highly poetic language. The writer also speaks of human wisdom and looks upon it as the essence of all morality and prudence. Naturally, it can be attained only through the fear of God (v. 13, xxvii. 28), even though it be transmitted by tradition (xv. 18). The Psalms do not often allude to wisdom. In creation and the order of nature, the divine wisdom appears (civ. 24, exxxvi. 5). God communicates wisdom to men (li. 6, cv. 22); the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (cxi. 10). Proverbs being a composite book (see PRoveRBs or SoLtomon), wisdom is variously defined. In the earliest portions (x. 1— xxii. 16, xxii. 17—-xxiv. 22, xxxiii., xxxiv.), wisdom is treated only as a quality, the abstract conception is not prominent; in the latest collection (i.—ix.), however, the origin of wisdom is considered and to it great importance assigned. As elsewhere justice, so here wisdom is the highest ethical conception. Wisdom and piety are closely related (i. 29, ii. 5, xiv. 16), but not identical; man can attain piety by his own efforts, but not wisdom. In its essence human wisdom is only an emanation of the divine (il. 6). In the latter are combined God’s omniscience, omnipotence, and goodness, and he reveals himself thereby. Wisdom is a creation of God, it stood by his side at the creation of the world, and is ever active in human life (viii. 22-31). In Ecclesiastes (q.v.) a philosophical writer puts his teachings into the mouth of Solomon, the prototype of the seekers after wisdom. All through his book, wisdom is spoken of as the practical art of how to live rightly. The author is persuaded that all striving after wisdom is vanity; that it is vain to seek to discover the eternal in the ever-changing aspects of life. Nevertheless, the writer gives in eloquent words the result of his search for wisdom: resignation, the fear of God, and an assurance of an eternal living God and of his judgment (ii. 13, v. ii. 11-12, ix. 18).
In the polemic and apologetic diatribe against paganism called the Wisdom of Solomon (see Apoc- RYPHA, IV., 13), all moral and religious convictions
are referred to wisdom. For the author
sh 1m wisdom is the chief emanation from the Apocryphal absolute being of God, a radiation of Wisdom his eternal light (vii. 22-29). It ap- Literature. pears as a half-celestial, half-terrestrial being, a mediatress between God and
man. ‘The whole book gives the impression that wisdom is definitely distinguished from God and independent of him, and effects are attributed to it which elsewhere in the Old Testament are referred to God (vii. 27, 1x. 4, x. 10). Spirit and wisdom are identical for the author; both manifest the divine power and activity in the physical as well as in the moral world (cf. i. 4, 5, 7, ix. 17), but wisdom and the word (logos) are nowhere identical. In xvi. 12, the word is the will of God; in xviii. 15, it is a poetical personification of the divine will and action. In Ecclesiasticus (see APocrypHa, IV., 12) wisdom is identical with ancestral faith and is the criterion
of moral action and the essence of life. The fundamental conception is the same as in the above-mentioned books. Israel is the abiding-place of true wisdom and the law is pronounced to be the principle of wisdom and its imparter (cf. xxiv. 16, i. 16, xlii. 21). It is uncertain whether the author hypostatized wisdom, although this has often been assumed from chap. xxiv. Here wisdom appears as the first of all spirits and boasts that she was created from the beginning (verse 3), an independent entity, creating and ordering the world. However, all this is probably only a poetic personification just as God’s activity is frequently represented by personifying his various powers. Certain of the ideas of Jesus ben Sirach regarding wisdom are again encountered in the Book of Baruch. The author distinguishes wisdom from God and personifies it poetically. He writes that wisdom lived with God, was bestowed upon Israel, and dwelt among mankind (iii. 32-37). The peoples of the earth did not find wisdom, Israel alone attained it through the Law. III. Wisdom in the New Testament: In order to understand the conception of wisdom in the New Testament, study is necessary of the 1. The form which it assumed among the Jews Current of the first century before and after Conception. Christ. Among the rabbis wisdom was confined to the Law, and the scribes were called wise men simply because they expounded it (cf. F. Weber, Jvidische Theologie auf Grund des Talmud, pp. 95-98, 125-126, Leipsic, 1897). The Book of Enoch (see PsruDEPIGRAPHA, III.) is typical in this respect. The author endeavors to offer an exclusively Biblical system of world-philosophy and wisdom. God is the possessor of wisdom which dwells in heaven and is bestowed upon the just in the time of the Messiah. The Messiah is the incarnation of wisdom who reveals all the mysteries of justice (xxxviii. 3, xlvi. 3; cf. A. Dillmann, Das Buch Henoch, Leipsic, 1853). The concept of wisdom occupies a more important place in the Hellenistic writings. Here wisdom bridges the chasm between the hidden God and the world and is identical with the concept of religion. Moses is not only a founder of religion, he is also a teacher of wisdom. Wisdom leads to virtue (so Philo, the epistle of Aristeas, IV Maccabees, and Josephus). In the Synoptic Gospels the word (sophia) appears six times in Luke, but once in'Mark, and three times in Matthew. It is variously
2. In used: (1) Without any religious con- Gospels nection whatever and only in the sense and Acts. of intellectual capability (cf. Matt.
xii. 42; Luke xi. 31, xxi. 15). In Matt. xi. 25, xxiii. 84, the learned in the Law are called wise men (cf. Luke x. 21). (2) In the religious sense of an understanding of the will and ways of God, as well as the capacity to give testimony thereto (cf. Matt. xiii. 54; Mark vi. 2; Luke ii. 40). (3) In Matt. xi. 19 and Luke vii. 34-35, Jesus appears as the divine representative of wisdom. The idea is that God’s wisdom manifests and justifies itself in Christ’s life, and those who order their lives accordingly will recognize the truth of this wisdom (“ wisdom is justified of all her children”). (4) The wis-
Wisdom