NELEPCIUNEA LUI DUMNEZEU

hm'k.x'

Harris, R. Laird ; Harris, Robert Laird ; Archer, Gleason Leonard ; Waltke, Bruce
K.: Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. electronic ed. Chicago : Moody
Press, 1999, c1980, S. 283

(okm). Wisdom. The usages of okm cover the whole gamut of human
experience. Wisdom is seen in the skill of technical work in making garments for the high priest
(Ex 28:3), craftsmanship in metal work (Ex 31:3, 6), as well as the execution of battle tactics (Isa
10:13). Wisdom is required from government leaders and heads of state for administration (Deut
34:9; II Sam 14:20), including pagan leaders as well as Israelites (Ezk 28:45). The Messiah
demonstrates wisdom and discernment in his function as leader of his people (Isa l 1:2).
Wisdom is expressed in shrewdness. The woman of Tekoa averted a towns bloodshed in her
clever plea for its safety (II Sam 20:22). But a shrewd person is not to boast of his gift (Jer 9:22).
The ostrich displays traits lacking shrewdness when she acts in her silly selfish manner (Job
39:17). The gift of shrewdness can be used in an ungodly way to deny the omniscience of God
(Isa 47:10).
Prudence, an aspect of wisdom, is expressed by those who speak with wisdom (Ps 37:30;
Prov 10:31), and who use time carefully (Ps 90:12). This kind of wisdom in the practical affairs
of life is derived from the revelation of God (Isa 33:6).
The source of all wisdom is a personal God who is holy, righteous, and just. His wisdom is
expressed against the background of his omnipotence and omniscience. By his wisdom God
numbered the clouds (Job 38:37), founded the earth (Prov 3:19), and made the world (Jer 10:12).
Wisdom, being found in God, is regarded as a divine attribute (Job 12:13). He alone knows
wisdom in its truest sense (Job 28:20, 23). The wisdom of God is not found in mans speculation.
He alone must provide this wisdom for mans guidance so that man can live the best possible
moral and ethical life (Prov 2:6; Job 11:6).
In proverbial fashion, the Bible personifies divine wisdom so that it seems to be a hypostasis
of God, but stops just short of giving it separate existence. This wisdom was brought forth before
all things (Prov 8:2231). She has built a house and prepared a banquet for those who will listen
to her (Prov 9:1f.). She even teaches in public places (Prov 1:20; 8:1, 6, 1112). By her
instruction her students receive a divine spirit (Prov 1:2), the naive become wise, politicians
become wise, and those who receive from her wealth are crowned with honor and riches (Prov
8:121).
This personification of wisdom is unique. While there were gods and goddesses in the
ancient near east who were thought to possess the gifts of wisdom it is unlikely that any existed
by the name of wisdom. The figure of wisdom in the OT never came to be regarded as a deity
independent of the Lord although some such expressions occur in Prov 8. These have often been
taken as an adumbration of Christ. Wisdom did attain a degree of personification, with features
which were by no means abstract. Wisdom should not be regarded as God but it does belong to
God; it is one of his attributes. Wisdom has a personal existence in the living word of the NT, but
wisdom is not the Logos herself (Delitzsch, Proverbs, p. 183). That Wisdom is personified as a
woman in Prov 19 is partly explained by the fact that the noun is feminine. There the Lady

Wisdom is contrasted with the woman Folly who is personified sin. Note the studied contrast of
Prov 9:46 and 9:1618. This personification of wisdom is not found outside these chapters.
Wisdom for man is not only to make one humanly wise, but also to lead him to fear the Lord,
for this is the beginning of all wisdom (Job 28:28). True wisdom for man involves knowing the
Holy One. So, men are to listen to the wisdom of God with attentive ears (Prov 2:2). In fact,
inner happiness only comes when man attains this wisdom (Prov 3:13) through a strenous search
(Prov 2:4), which is actually a search for God himself (Prov 2:5). Skeptics will never find this
wisdom and will never know the full meaning of life (Prov 14:6f.). In the great poem of Job 28
wisdom in this special biblical sense is practically defined as trust in God and the avoidance of
sin. (Cf. the emphasis on okm as referring to moral wisdom in contrast to sinful folly in R. L.
Harris, Proverbs, in WBCm pp. 55354.)

Alexander, T. Desmond ; Rosner, Brian S.: New Dictionary of Biblical Theology.

electronic ed. Downers Grove, IL : InterVarsity Press, 2001, s. Wisdom.

Divine Wisdom
Wisdom as divine communication. Personified wisdom focuses on Gods involvement with
the world: wisdom is involved with the divine creative activity (Job 28:2427); wisdom is the
firstborn of creation (Prov. 8:2231); wisdom was present when God made the world (Prov.
8:2730); God founded the earth by wisdom (Prov. 3:19; 8:30). This divine wisdom, sometimes
called Lady Wisdom, is not to be understood as a hypostasis, that is, an intermediary being
between God and creation (H. Ringgren, Word and Wisdom), since wisdom is not given the status
of an independent entity the figure of wisdom is a vivid poetic personification. And wisdom is
not simply an attribute of the world, the mysterious order of the world which beckons to human
beings (G. von Rad, Wisdom in Israel, pp. 156157), since Proverbs 8 stresses (six times) her
existence before creation and thus points to her divine origins. The figure of wisdom is the Lord
himself, who cares for his creation and who summons human beings to observe the nearness, the
acts, and the personal call of God. Intimacy with wisdom is not distinguished from intimacy with
God. Divine wisdom is a communication of God showing the path to life.
Gods gracious sovereignty. The description of divine wisdom which was present at and
active in creation is misunderstood when theologians conclude that, as a result of humanitys
being part of creation, we are able to grasp wisdom, to gain understanding of the world and thus
perhaps to perceive the nature of God. The wisdom tradition of the OT does not promulgate any
kind of natural theology, not even in Proverbs 8, and Job 28:114 affirms that even if humans dig
as deep as the miners dig, they cannot find wisdom by themselves.
True wisdom. The figure of wisdom underlines the conviction of the sages that true wisdom
comes from God. It is God who gives to humans a heart capable of discerning good from evil (1
Kgs. 3:9). The original sin of humankind was the belief that it was possible to acquire wisdom by
human powers alone, disregarding the will of God (Gen 3:56). The beginning of true wisdom is
the fear of the Lord (Prov. 1:7; 9:10; Job 28:28) which is the source of all life (Prov. 14:27). The
prophets repeatedly speak out against counsellors who devise human policies in a self-sufficient
spirit, ignoring God and his power in their deliberations (Is. 5:21; 29:14). Isaiah anticipates a
future Davidic king who will possess perfect wisdom, but who will receive it from the spirit of
the Lord (Is. 11:2).
OT Old Testament
2

Wisdom as law. The divine wisdom in Job 28 and Proverbs 8 is a complex figure, a fact
which provided later sages with the opportunity to personify other concepts. The priestly scribe
Ben Sira, writing around 200180 BC in Jerusalem, identified divine wisdom with divine Torah
(Ecclus. 24:23). He taught his own generation, which was increasingly exposed to Hellenistic
wisdom and culture that true wisdom was not found in Athens or in Alexandria but in Jerusalem
(Ecclus. 24:11); she had taken root in Jacob and made Israel, the glorious people, her inheritance
(Ecclus. 24:8, 12).

Freedman, David Noel: The Anchor Bible Dictionary. New York : Doubleday, 1996,
c1992, S. 6:920-930.

WISDOM IN THE OT [Heb okma (

;) Gk sophia ()]. Wisdom is a term

A.
1.
2.
3.
4.
B.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
C.
D.
1.
2.
3.
A.

that can be used to indicate certain books which deal particularly with (biblical) wisdom, or it
can refer to a movement in the ancient world associated with teachers or sages, and it can also
suggest a particular understanding of reality which presents some contrasts with other biblical
books.

Introduction
Terminology
Date and Setting
Wisdom Genres
The Thought World of Wisdom
Wisdom and OT Theology
Wisdom and Creation
The Wisdom Experience
Wisdom and Moral Action
Wisdom and Scepticism
The Personification of Wisdom
Wisdom and Immortality
Wisdom Influence in OT Literature
Extra-biblical Wisdom
Egypt
Mesopotamia
Hellenistic Literature

Introduction
1. Terminology. The Hebrew term for wisdom (km) occurs in one form or another 318
times in the OT, and over half of these (183) are found in Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes ( TWAT
2: 558). Hence these three books, along with Sirach and the Wisdom of Solomon (in these two
Heb Hebrew; Epistle to the Hebrews
Gk Greek
TWAT Theologisches Wrterbuch zum Alten Testament, ed. G. J. Botterweck, H.
Ringgren, and H. J. Fabry. Stuttgart, 1970
3

apocryphal books forms of sophos/sophia occur over 100 times), have come to represent Israels
Wisdom Literature.
In itself the root has a fairly wide range of meaning ( TDNT 7:47692). Wise men are
associated with the diviners and magicians of Egypt (Gen 41:8; Exod 7:11), and in the book of
Daniel with the interpretation of dreams (Dan 2:27). The basic meaning of skill, ability appears
in the designation of Bezalel and the workers on the desert sanctuary as wise (Exod 36:2, 8).
The term is applied artisan skills such as metalwork (1 Chr 22:1516) and carpentry and weaving
(Exod 35:35). More often wisdom is used in the sense of cleverness or cunning. The actions of
even the smallest animals betray their wisdom in surviving (Prov 30:2428). Cunning can be
employed wickedly, as by the very wise Jonadab (2 Sam 13:3), or benevolently as in the case
of the wise woman of Tekoa (2 Sam 14:2).
The wisdom or skill of sailors (Ps 107:27) is matched by the steering(tabult, Prov 1:5)
which the wise are able to provide for the voyage through life. The goal of their teaching is to
enable one to cope with life, and to impose a kind of order on the myriad experiences which
surround a person. The wise know when to speak and when to be silent ( esp. the latter; cf. Prov
17:2728). This orientation to proper action is fundamental, for wisdom is practical, not
theoretical. Even when the sage describes some aspect of reality as the way it is, the purpose
remains practical. The commands and the prohibitions make this explicit, and even most of the
sayings are filled with value judgments that urge a given course of action. Truthfulness, fidelity,
kindness, honesty, control of the appetitesthese are staple topics in the instructions in Proverbs
and Ecclesiasticus. There is in fact a striking parallelism between km and dq (righteous) in
both works.
Further understanding of wisdom can be supplemented by the broad semantic range of terms
associated with km: byn (understand), y (advise), yk (reprove), etc., as well as by the
opposites, wyl (fool), ksyl (fool), etc. (Scott 1971: 121122; Whybray 1974: 121150).
2. Date and Setting. Solomonic authorship is explicitly claimed for three wisdom books:
Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Wisdom of Solomon. This authorship might be better understood
as patronage, as in the case of Davidic authorship of Psalms. Solomon came down in the
tradition as the wise man par excellence, and that is the reason for the attribution of these later
works to him. The passage in 1 Kgs 5:914 ( Eng 4:2934) ascribes to Solomon a wisdom that
surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt. The fact of the
matter is that only portions of Proverbs (especially in chaps. 1031) can be considered as coming
from the preexilic period, and it is not possible to date these, although Prov 25:1 mentions the
men of (King) Hezekiah, as being engaged in some kind of scribal activity. Ecclesiastes was
certainly written in the postexilic period, probably in the 3d century. Ben Sira can be securely
TDNT Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, 10 vols., ed. G. Kittel and G.
Friedrich. Trans. G. W. Bromiley. Grand Rapids, 196476
esp. especially
cf. confer, compare
etc. et cetera (and so forth)
Eng English
3d third
4

dated to the first part of the 2d century, probably 200180. Although a majority opinion considers
Job as postexilic in date, a preexilic origin cannot be excluded (Pope Job AB, xxxiixl). The
Wisdom of SolomonSolomon is generally assigned to the last half of the 1st century B.C. (Larcher
198385: 141161). Thus, the Wisdom Literature, as literature, is largely a postexilic
phenomenon, even if its origins are in the preexilic period.
Its origins are not easy to determine (Murphy 1981a: 26). At one time Israelite wisdom was
widely considered to be the work of the court school in Jerusalem, because of the similarities that
it presented with Egyptian wisdom, which was the work of a royal or scribal class. But origins in
family and tribal wisdom must also be considered (Gerstenberger 1965). Probably both school
and tribe contributed to the wisdom movement. The existence of the institution of a school in
Israel remains only a reasonable inference (Hermisson 1968: 113136; Golka 1983: 257270;
Lemaire 1981; 1984; Crenshaw 1985b). The precise setting (Sitz im Leben) of the Israelite sages
cannot be determined. Qoheleth is described as a wise man who taught the people knowledge
(Eccl 12:9), but we know nothing of his situation. Ben Sira refers to his school (Sir 51:23), but
concrete details are lacking. Because it is difficult to get a clear picture of the wise men in
Israel, Whybray (1974: 54, 69) has denied that a class of sages existed, and has tried to explain
the movement as the product of the activity of men of superior intelligence. However, such
texts as Isa 29:14, Jer 8:8, and the activity of the y, or counsellor (de Boer 1955: 4281),
would suggest that they constituted a recognizable group. Further research on the various roles of
sages in Israel and the ANE will sharpen their sociological profile (Gammie and Perdue 1990).
3. Wisdom Genres. The definition of proverb is notoriously difficult. The Hebrew term
ml, commonly translated as proverb, has a wide range of meanings (indicating even the
taunt song in Isa 14:4ff.). Etymologically it seems to be connected with comparison and with rule
or power. Another term for the sayings in the Wisdom Literature is aphorism. J. Williams
(1980: 3840) enumerates several features of aphoristic speech exhibited by the biblical
proverbs: the speech is assertive, apparently self-explanatory, and says something as though it is
a priori; it is frequently paradoxical; it is brief and concise; there are frequent plays on words;
the comparison is a basic feature. It appears that the word proverb should be used for sayings
that have come into popular use, whatever their origins (Hermission 1968: 33; J. Williams 1981:
7880).
The basic wisdom saying is usually composed of two lines in parallelism, a common feature of
Proverbs 1031. Very often there is simply a juxtaposition, without a verb, as the following
illustrates: A gatherer in summera wise son; a sleeper during harvesta disgraceful son
(Prov 10:5). The juxtapositional style, which is not evident in the usual translations, enables the
author to put things together (synonymous parallelism), and also to contrast them (antithetic
parallelism). But even the identity of two subjects is more or less an implicit comparison.
2d second
AB Anchor Bible
1st first
b.C. before Christ
ANE Ancient Near East(ern)
ff. following pages
5

Sometimes the comparison is made explicit: Like a bird straying from its nesta man straying
from his home (Prov 27:8). The style of the sayings varies considerably. One can have not
good sayings (Prov 19:2), or abomination sayings (Prov 11:1), or better sayings (Prov
22:1), or numerical sayings (x-number, plus 1; cf. Prov 30:1819), or impossible questions
(Job 8:11; Crenshaw 1979). In English, or in any other vernacular translation, it is practically
impossible to convey the striking alliterations, assonance, and wordplay which generally
characterize the collections of Hebrew proverbs (McCreesh 1982). Two examples must suffice:
b zdn wayyb qln (Prov 11:2a, comes pride, then comes disgrace); b m
miemen b (Eccl 7:1a, a good name is better than good ointment). Such sayings deal
with a vast array of topics. Sometimes they register a paradox (Prov 20:17), or convey an
observation: a rich mans wealthhis strong city; destruction of poortheir poverty (Prov
10:15). The latter saying merely registers a fact: money makes a difference. It does not of itself
draw a moral (contrast 15:16). However, most proverbs are value-laden and hence explicitly
didactic, attempting to influence action.
An admonition is clearly such an attempt, and it can be expressed positively (16:3; contrast
16:20), or negatively. Negative admonitions are common in Proverbs 19 and 2224, and
throughout Sirach. Very often a motive clause is appended in order to persuade the audience:
Injure not the poor . . . For the Lord will defend their cause (Prov 22:2223).
The obvious contrast between the disparate sayings in Proverbs 10ff., and the consecutive
poetry in Proverbs 19 and in Job and in many parts of Sirach suggests that one may speak of
wisdom poems. These may be structured along alphabetic lines, such as the 22 lines in
Proverbs 2, with its alep and lamed stanzas (Murphy 1981b: 52), or as the deliberate acrostic in
Psalm 34 (Ceresko 1985), or the acrostic poem on the valorous woman in Prov 31:1031. P.
Skehan detected several alphabetic factors entering into the speeches of Job (1971: 96123).
Although the speeches in Job have been called disputation speech (Crenshaw 1974: 253255),
it must be admitted that they have also incorporated other genres from law and wisdom.
As the structure of Ecclesiastes is highly disputed (Wright 1968; 1980), so also the literary
forms are difficult to capture. The several sayings in the book ( e.g., chaps. 7, 10) are obvious. For
the rest, the author seems to utilize reflections on various turns in life (Ellermeier 1967: 6679;
Braun 1973: 155158). Ben Sira ranges over the whole gamut of literary genres including hymns
and prayers in his 51 chapters (Baumgartner 1914). Various genres have been suggested for parts
of the Wisdom of Solomon: apocalyptic, the Hellenistic syncrisis, midrash, epideictic, and
encomium (Larcher 198385: 109114; Bizzeti 1984). At least the structure seems to have been
adequately established by the recognition of inclusions (Wright 1967a).
4. The Thought World of Wisdom. Gerhard von Rad (1972: 6) was the first to raise the
question of the understanding of reality reflected in Israelite wisdom. The answer depends
partly upon the understanding of straightforward wisdom doctrine, and partly upon inferences
and reconstruction of the world of thought in which the sages moved. Several of these deserve
explicit treatment.
The most striking characteristic is the absence of elements generally considered to be typically
Israelite: the promises to the patriarchs, the Exodus experience, the Sinai covenant, etc. It is true
that Sirach identifies wisdom with Torah (Sirach 24) and provides a catalogue of Israels heroes
(Sirach 4450), and Wisdom of Solomon presents a midrashic consideration of the plagues
(chaps. 1119). But these exceptions prove the rule: salvation history is absent from the realm of
e.g. exempli gratia (for example)
6

wisdom. Another way of putting this is to say that wisdom is an international heritage in which
Israel had a share (see the treatment of extra-biblical Wisdom Literature below).
One result of this characteristic has been a tendency to push wisdom to the perimeter of OT
theology, or even to exclude it as a legitimate topic for biblical theology (Preuss 1974; 1987).
Hence there has been much discussion of Yahwism as opposed to Wisdom (Murphy 1975;
Collins 1980). But the opposition between these two entities is more conceptual than real. One
can indeed distinguish between saving history (Exodus, covenant, etc.) and an experiential
attitude toward lifes daily events. But this distinction existed in the one Israelite individual who
worshipped yhwh and denominated yhwh as God. Those same Israelites ultimately canonized the
Wisdom Literature as a genuine expression of their traditions. There was no conflict for them.
Even when Sirach eventually identifies wisdom with Torah (Sir 24:23), this is achieved not with
a sigh of relief, or as if by some sleight of hand a major division in Israelite religion had been
healed. The fact of the matter is that there is no incompatibility between the saving God of
history and the God of human experience. The Psalms show this perhaps most clearly. The
psalmists usually ask for salvation in the concrete order of things, not for an intervention in
national history. They seek lm from the hostile agents they recognized in daily life. It is this
same lm which the sages held out to their readers: the good life. Indifference to Israels
historical experience does not indicate that wisdom is any the less Israelite or religious.
One of the distinctions made by von Rad has contributed to the unnecessary dichotomy
between Yahwism and wisdom. Using the terminology of Martin Buber, he distinguished
between the pan-sacral faith implicit in the early narratives about divine intervention into
human affairs (from patriarchs to Philistines), and a worldly sphere in which humans have a
more independent role, as the so-called Succession Narrative (2 Samuel 61 Kings 2) illustrates.
But one must be fair to von Rad. He is not talking about faith and the lack of it. He is
reconstructing an understanding of reality, a conception of the environment, which has
fundamentally altered vis--vis that of pan-sacralism (von Rad 1972: 59). It is true that the
mentality behind the Samuel narrative recognizes the distinctiveness and independence of human
motivation and action. Such a recognition is blurred in other narratives (the stories of Joshua or
Gideon, for instance), where divine intervention is highlighted. Perhaps the transition from one
mentality to the other is not the way to put the question. The issue is the relationship between
divine intervention and human independence. These two factors are always operative in the
biblical story. Sometimes one, sometimes the other, is emphasized; but both are at work.
Moreover, there is no discernible point in time where Israel passed from one mentality to the
other. Neither denies the other; they complement each other. We shall see a similar balance in the
consideration of the problem of retribution (divine intervention vis--vis destiny-producing
deed).
Biblical wisdom is basically religious, not secular. The fateful distinction between religious and
secular, sacred and profane, so widely accepted in modern culture, has been applied in much too
wholesale a fashion to the Bible. In particular, the classification of the sayings according to the
absence or presence of God-language (McKane Proverbs OTL, 451) or by the appearance of
the sacred name yhwh (Whybray 1979) is too facile. The categories of religious and secular are
not to be defined merely by content. It is only too easy to contrast the advice about table manners
(Prov 23:13; Sir 31:1231) with statements about fear of the Lord (Prov 1:7; Sir 1:1130). This
differentiation does not get to the heart of the matter. The rules of wisdom cover all areas of life
from a perspective that is ultimately religious; the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom
OTL Old Testament Library
7

(Prov 9:10). For some scholars the basic goal of wisdom is to live by the order of the world
posited and guaranteed by the Lord, and in the circumstances of everyday life (Skladny 1962:
93). Even if one demurs at the notion of order, there can be no denial that the wisdom
perspective is governed by an understanding of creation and activity as reflected in Israels
tradition. Here attitude tells us more than content. G. von Rad has expressed this aspect very
well: Thus here, in proverbial wisdom, there is faith in the stability of the elementary
relationships between man and man, faith in the similarity of men and of their reactions, faith in
the reliability of the orders which support human life and thus, implicitly or explicitly, faith in
God who put these orders into operation (von Rad 1972: 6263).
There seems to be a general consensus that biblical wisdom connotes a search for order
(Murphy 1978: 3536; Gese 1958: 198199). That is to say, the sages held that there was a
fundamental order in the world, discernible by experience, and the teachings were designed to
bring about conformity with this order that had been determined by God. No one would deny
that his is a modern reconstruction of Israelite mentality. Nor can one deny that the ancient
recognized a certain order in creation. This understanding is reflected in such passages as Amos
6:12 (does one plow the sea with oxen) or Jer 31:35. There is an order to natural events, and to
the day by day activities of human beings. But does search for (objective) order adequately
describe the wisdom enterprise? At most the sages perhaps impose an order on experience; they
present conclusions drawn from observation. Despite the dogmatic form of their statements they
were also aware of mystery and uncertainty (see below on the limitations of wisdom).
The emphasis on order in scholarly research is at least partially due to the existence of such a
view among the Egyptians (the concept of maat discussed below). Although Egyptian
influence upon Israelite Wisdom Literature is undeniable, more caution should be exercised in
reconstructing the mentality of each people.
In this connection the famous study of Koch (1955) is to be noted. On the basis of several
biblical passages (Prov 26:2728 can provide an example) he reconstructed a specific mentality
behind biblical reward/punishment. For him there is no retribution or intervention by God; rather,
deed and result are mechanically related. An evil deed produces an evil result; a good deed
produces a good result. Hence Koch speaks of a destiny-producing deed; the Lord does not
intervene. In Kochs metaphor, God is a kind of midwife watching over events and their
results, good and bad. This is the nature of the retribution that God has established. Again, we
are faced with an inherent order of things. In fact, some scholars (Gese 1958: 45) have argued
that the books of Job and Qohelet demonstrate that the influence of Yahwism broke through this
ANE idea of the fate-producing action. That seems to be too easy a victory for Yahwism. Instead,
one should recognize that the OT sources present retribution from two points of view: both
divine intervention and destiny-producing action. There is no evidence that one view is earlier
than the other or, for that matter, more religious than the other. Certainly a cardinal affirmation in
the Bible is the primary activity of the Lord in all that happens.
The doctrine of the sages, especially as expressed in Proverbs and in the speeches of Jobs
three friends, easily give the impression of a rigid dogmatism. This is misleading. The sages
believed in their teachings, and like all teachers expressed themselves in such ways as to gain
adherents. Exaggeration is one mode of convincing students. When one turns to the books of Job
and Ecclesiastes, there is no escape from the hard questions that are put to the reigning wisdom
orthodoxy. But even here one has to acknowledge that these hard questions arise from within the
wisdom movement. If it is undergoing a crisis, at the same time it remains true to its aims. A fair

understanding of the traditional doctrines of the sages has to be achieved for a correct assessment
of the development that takes place.
C. Fontaine (1982: 54) quotes the saying of a modern paroemiologist that the proverb in a
collection is dead. Any attentive reader of OT wisdom soon realizes the cost of the mental
struggle to revivify the sayings as they appear in collections. Modern literary studies insist on
illuminating the proverb performance (Fontaine 1982: 5763), an attempt to capture the
context of the saying and the interaction which accompanies it. This is very difficult to do for
proverbs that have been transmitted in collections. N. Lohfink (1980: 5051) has thrown new
light upon Eccl 7:1ff. by his attempt to establish a dialectic between traditional wisdom and
Qohelet. If 7:1a is a traditional praise of good reputation, then 7:1b4 cuts in to say that one
cannot lay claim to it before death. Here is interaction within sayings that have in the past been
merely viewed as collections of disparate proverbs. For the most part, however, the biblical
proverbs do not manifest such a dialectic. The juxtaposition of answer not a fool according to
his folly with answer a fool . . . (Prov 26:45) is a striking reminder that the sayings are more
subtle than they appear to be at first sight. Even the seemingly most banal proverbs have a
certain evocative power if they are approached perceptively.
In view of the imposing array of confident sayings in the collections, from Proverbs down to
Sirach, one may ask if the sages were aware of their own limitations. Many sayings reveal such
an awareness (von Rad 1972: 97110). Perhaps the most telling is Prov 21:30, There is no
wisdom, no understanding, no counsel, against the Lord. This radical statement points to the
mystery over which the sages had no control: the activity of God. All their careful thoughts about
success and the good life deserved to be expressed, but there were certain limit situations
which they recognized. They recognized the importance of advice and planning for any venture,
especially for war (20:18), but no matter the number of horses, victory belongs to the Lord
(21:31). The realm of experience to which the sages constantly resorted, also indicated to them
that certainty was not always to be had.
One may make plans in the heart
but what the tongue utters is from the Lord.
All the ways of a person may be pure in his own eyes,
but it is the Lord who proves the spirit.
In his mind one plans a course,
but the Lord directs the steps (Prov 16:12, 9).
The sages allowed a large margin of error because they had experienced mystery as well as
certainty.
The most striking expression of this awareness comes in sayings which even warn about the
possession of wisdom. Because wisdom can blind a person to reality:
You see a person wise in his own eyes?
There is more hope for a fool than for him (Prov 26:12).
Be not wise in your own eyes,
fear the Lord and turn away from evil (Prov 3:5).
In the same direction is the admonition of Jeremiah against glorying in ones wisdom (Jer 9:23
24). So great were the possibilities of self-deception, that even the possession of wisdom turns
out to be tenuous.
It can be said that the Israelite sages expressed the mystery of God and life even more
effectively than the rest of the biblical writers. Zophar (Job 11:78) reads a lesson to Job
(however insensitively and ultimately unjustifiably):
9

Can you penetrate the designs of God?

Dare you vie with the perfection of the Almighty?
It is higher than the heavens; what can you do?
It is deeper than the nether world; what can you know?
And despite the bombastic introduction to his speech, Elihu (Job 36:2226) is also aware of the
limit situation:
Behold, God is sublime in his power.
What teacher is there like him? . . .
Lo, God is great beyond our knowledge;
the number of his years is past searching out.
Israel experienced the mystery of God more radically in the area of wisdom than in the traditions
of its own history!
B. Wisdom and OT Theology
The integration of wisdom into Old Testament Theology is an unsolved task that remains for
the future (Reventlow 1982: 201). One might reply to this statement by asking if this is more of
a problem for OT theology than for wisdom. Wisdom presents a theology of its own kind,
although with certain resonances in the rest of biblical theology. The statement of Reventlow
points up the difficulty which current scholarship is having with the notion of biblical theology
itself. It would appear that a conceptual unity has not yet been achieved for biblical theology.
The recent discussion on the center or Mitte of OT theology has yielded no clear result (Hasel
1972: 4963; Reventlow 1982: 138147), and to say that God is the center is to return to square
one. There are in fact several theologies within the OT, and there seems to be no line of thought
that can bind them together into a neat package (Murphy 1984: 6571).
1. Wisdom and Creation. The situation is best illustrated by showing the problem that the
standard OT theology has had with the notion of creation. G. von Rad entitled this the
Theological Problem of the Old Testament Doctrine of Creation ( PHOE, 131143), and he
underlined the opposition between the doctrines of election/redemption and creation. A literary
analysis of texts dealing with creation supposedly shows that they are not central to Israelite faith
as this is expressed, for example, in Deut 26:111. They are absent from most of the prophets
(the creation doxologies in Amos 4:13; 5:89; 9:56 are theological accretions, arising from the
reflections of a later writer [PHOE, 135]). There are many powerful passages concerning the
Lords victory over chaos in Deutero-Isaiah (e.g., 44:2428; 51:910), but here creation is
clearly subordinate to the redemption which the prophet is proclaiming to the exiles: Your
husband is your Creator . . . your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel (54:5). Psalms 8, 19, 54,
104, in which creation is treated rather independently, are considered to be secondary and
derivative, dependent upon outside influence, especially Egyptian. Even the Priestly portrayal of
creation (Genesis 1) is interpreted as motivated by the theology of salvation history. In short,
the doctrine of creation was never able to attain to independent existence in its own right
(PHOE, 142).
The approach of C. Westermann (1978: 58117) is similar but different. In his view, the first
article of the Apostles Creed which affirms a belief in God the Creator is not genuinely biblical.
Westermann thinks that faith must allow for alternatives, to believe or not to believe, and Israel
supposedly had no other alternative to the fact of creation. Hence there can be no conflict
between a scientific explanation of creation and biblical faith. As with von Rad, Israels
PHOE G. von Rad. 1966. The Problem of the Hexateuch and Other Essays. Trans. E.
Dicken. Edinburgh and New York
10

fundamental experience focuses on God as savior. This is then expanded to include creation and
other areas of life. Creation is seen as fitting into Gods blessing upon all the divine handiwork.
Blessing is the continuous, unobtrusive, working of God which is different from the once-for-all
saving actions. Westermanns view of creation dictates his understanding of wisdom: The
theological position of wisdom is thus to be determined from the perspective of creation and
primeval history (1978: 100). The blessing of humanity in Gen 1:28 is correlated with wisdom:
When Adam and Eve are commanded during creation to cultivate and maintain the garden,
wisdom as a coming to terms with life is implied in this commission (1978: 99).
W. Zimmerli (1963) had already anticipated the thought of Westermann. He approached it from
a slightly different point of view: how does wisdom fit into OT theology? His solution was also
found in Gen 1:28. The command to be fruitful and have dominion is the divine authorization for
the wisdom enterprise of going out to master the world. Thus the position of wisdom within the
OT is again justified from the point of view of a text in the Torah, as though wisdom cannot
speak for itself. It is in this essay that Zimmerli also stated that wisdom theology is creation
theology. That conclusion is something all can and do agree with. Wisdom does work within this
sphere, rather than in the area of the covenant tradition.
The studies of von Rad, Westermann, and Zimmerli show that wisdom and creation are mirror
images of each other (Murphy 1985). Where creation doctrine is not valued in and for itself,
there also wisdom is treated as marginal. The way out of the impasse demands a broader view
which holds salvation and wisdom together. Such a view can be illustrated in the psalter. The cult
is not a frequent topic in the Wisdom Literature, but neither is it foreign (Perdue 1977). The
prayers of the psalter (laments of the individual, especially) are highly focused on the present
life, the experience of the individual. The hymns rehearse the events of salvation history, but
quite frequently also the creative activity of the Lord. No conflict exists between these themes in
the psalms. Psalm 93 moves easily from creation (v 1ff.) to the divine decrees and temple (v 5).
So also Psalm 95. In Psalm 96 the movement is from the Lords salvation to an invitation to
nature to rejoice in his work. In the laments and thanksgiving psalms the Israelite prays for life:
to be delivered from Sheol (the state of non-being or death which is the prime metaphor for the
distress afflicting the psalmist). Here appears the personal experience, the existential struggle,
which is characteristic of wisdom. The same Lord who saved the people is now invoked to
deliver the psalmist.
Thus it is the experience of Israel that suggests the inadequacy of the theological conclusions
based on literary analysis on the style of von Rad. Inferences from literary texts relative to the
centrality of wisdom/creation remain highly subjective. The God of immediate experience, i.e.,
the wisdom experience, is the creator who is also the gl or redeemer of Israel. He is the
personal god of patriarchal religion. Theologians have come to understand the god of the
fathers, who is continuous with yhwh (CMHE, 375). There is a reflection of this in the book of
Job. He and three friends are all identified as non-Israelites, although they argue from the point
of view of Israelite wisdom. Moreover, there is a certain air of the patriarchal period about their
life-style as well as their religion. Job does not appeal to the God of Sinai, yhwh, but to El
Shaddai, although the framework (chaps. 12, 42) of the book provides a yahwistic context. The
flavor of the patriarchal religion, the god of the fathers, is seen in his frequent recourse to God,
over and beyond his words to the friends: I will say to God: Do not put me in the wrong! Let me
know why you oppose me. Is it a pleasure for you to oppress, to spurn the work of your hands,
and smile on the plan of the wicked. . . . Your hands have formed me and fashioned me; will you
CMHE F. M. Cross. 1973. Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic. Cambridge, MA
11

then turn and destroy me? Oh, remember that you fashioned me from clay! Will you then bring
me down to dust again? (Job 10:29). Janzen (1985: 514) has shown how Jobs relationship to
God is covenantal.
2. The Wisdom Experience. One cannot describe the biblical Wisdom Literature without
trying to understand the experience that lies behind it. The sayings, or the wisdom teaching,
are the encoding of a lived experience, and only facets of this encounter with reality can be
captured in words. It is the encounter which generated the insights into the world and human
beings. As Aristotle (Metaphysics, I.ii.19) remarked about philosophy, wisdom also can be rooted
in wonder. The sage called attention to the mysterious wonder of sexual attraction by comparing
it to ways like the way of an eagle in the air (Prov 30:1820). God and king can be
compared: the glory of God in what he conceals, the glory of the king in what he understands
(Prov 25:2). On the other hand, wisdom goes with smallness, as in the case of the ants who store
up their food in the summer (Prov 30:24) and whose ways are a model for wisdom (Prov 6:5).
Job can taunt his friends to learn lessons from beasts and from the birds of the air (Job 12:7).
Qoheleth can compare even a little folly to the fly that spoils the perfumers ointment (Eccl
9:18). This openness to nature, and to the experiences involved with human beings as well, is
characterized by the insistence upon hearing (Prov 1:8, 33; 4:10; 12:15, etc.). In 1 Kgs 3:9
Solomon asks for a listening heart so that he might govern his people. The ideal of listening
had already been underlined by Egyptian sages. Ptahhotep even speaks of the master-hearer in
the epilogue to his work (AEL 1: 7376). In contrast is the fool who fails to listen, who is not
docile: The way of the fool seems right in his own eyes, but he who listens to advice is wise
(Prov 12:15).
The experience is guided by the extraordinary claim that fear of God/Lord is indispensable:
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
wisdom and instruction fools despise (Prov 1:7).
The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord,
and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding (Prov 9:10).
Fear of God is not lacking in the literature of the ANE (Barr 1981); reverence before the
numinous is practically a given in the ancient world. But in Israel it describes the basic
orientation toward wisdom, in a nutshell the whole Israelite theory of knowledge (von Rad
1972: 67). The issue here is not the presence or the frequency of the notion; fear of God/Lord
is common in the Bible and indeed it has acquired various nuances (Becker 1965). But it is a key
concept for wisdom (Murphy 1987: 45156). Only in this fundamental attitude is progress in
wisdom possible. It is glossed with discipline (msr, Prov 15:33), which is itself a path to
life (Prov 10:17). The concept is briefly mentioned in Job (avoidance of evil, 1:1; 28:28; cf.
Prov 3:7), but it is central to the book of Ecclesiasticus (Haspecker 1967). It is also important in
Ecclesiastes, but without the soft and consoling aspect that Ben Sira gives it. Qoheleth uses the
verbal form, not the nominal. Human beings are to fear God because of the inscrutable and
mysterious divine ways (Eccl 3:14; 5:6).
The doctrine of fear of God/Lord indicates that the wisdom experience has an unmistakable
religious quality which G. von Rad (1972: 62) expressed thus: Israel knew nothing of the aporia
which we read into these proverbs. It was perhaps her greatness that she did not keep faith and
knowledge apart. The experiences of the world were for her always divine experiences as well,
and the experiences of God were for her experiences of the world. In effect, the wisdom
experience provides a model for living; the literature prescribes the way one should live. The
AEL M. Lichtheim. 197180. Ancient Egyptian Literature. 3 vols. Berkeley
12

wisdom experience is found in the mysticism of everyday things (K. Rahner), where the
Israelite found God (not without also bewailing the divine absence). To know God, in the
Wisdom Literature, is to be in, and to do, the truth. This is as much a faith experience as any of
the cultic acts in the Jerusalem temple.
3. Wisdom and Moral Action. Akin to the wisdom experience is the way which wisdom
urges the Israelite to walk in. The most common word is derek (about 75 times in Proverbs), but
it is often interchangeable with ra, as in the phrase, way of life (Prov 2:19; 5:6; 6:23;
15:24). This is the way that leads to, or secures, life in the full sense, prosperity and a
relationship to the Lord. The way itself is the conduct which incarnates the teachings of the sage:
honesty, diligence (Prov 10:4; 26:14), self-control (14:17; 15:1), a sense of responsibility (10:26;
27:2327), etc. While there is often a certain overlap with the Decalogue (e.g., the frequent
warnings against adultery), most of the sayings deal with the grey area of forming character and
integrity of action. The approach of wisdom to morality is much broader than that of the
Decalogue in that it aims at character formation. It is also deeper in terms of the motivation it
supplies. Whereas the Decalogue simply invoked divine authority (thou shalt not!), the sages
develop specific motivations, and anticipate temptations. Thus the famous description of
seduction in Proverbs 7 is a strong motivation. It aims to anticipate a stressful situation, and to
strengthen resolve. If one may designate the codes in the OT as law, the wisdom rules are
better described as catechesis, or moral formation. It seems likely that both the wisdom lessons
and the legal commands ultimately go back to a family or tribal setting, before law separated
from wisdom counsels (Audet 1960; Couturier 1980).
The sages use specific motivations, often those of enlightened self-interest, to achieve their
end. Here the charge of eudaemonism or pragmatism has been made: moral action is determined
by what is good for the individual person. This charge has been softened somewhat by the claim
that the purpose of wisdom teaching is to bring the individual into harmony with the underlying
order established by the Lord. In a similar way, the Egyptian understanding of action in
accordance with maat, has been defended against pragmatism (Frankfort 1961: 6272).
However, it is difficult to escape the appearance of self-interest. Indeed all human action is
prompted by complicated motives; eudaemonism is not absent, but neither is it the only motive.
Moreover, the sages recognized the danger of self-interest, as the question of Satan in Job 1:9
shows: Is it for nothing that Job is God-fearing?
A characteristic and striking move within the Wisdom Literature is the identification of the
righteous (addq) with the wise person (km). The frequent division of humanity into the
wise and the fools is matched by a division into just and unjust. This is particularly conspicuous
in Proverbs 1015, but it is not lacking in Job and Sirach. The fear of the Lord prolongs life, but
the years of the wicked will be short (Prov 10:27); wisdom is identified with virtue and its
rewards, and folly with wickedness (r) and its deserts. Treasures gained by wickedness do not
profit, but righteousness delivers from death (Prov 10:2). Morality and wisdom cannot be
separated, although biblical wisdom is not to be reduced to a moral code.
4. Wisdom and Scepticism. The confident tone of the sage has been adverted to above. It
was the confidence of one who plunged into the events of life with verve (a spirit that was not
lacking even in Qoheleth! Eccl 9:10). And even if, as has been seen, the sages were aware of the
limitations of their teaching, they did not dwell upon these overmuch. Obviously the mystery that
was God was not a defeat for the sage, nor embarrassing. That the Lord was beyond wisdom
(Prov 21:30) was an easy admission to make.

13

The rub came when things did not turn out as expected. There is always the (apparent?)
triumph of the fool and the knave. It was against this that the author of Psalm 37 spoke: Be not
vexed over evildoers, nor jealous of those who do wrong (37:1). It was such a problem that
nearly brought the downfall of the author of Psalm 73. A temporizing kind of answer to this
difficulty is to be found in Prov 3:1112.
The discipline of the Lord, my son, disdain not;
spurn not his rebuke;
For whom the Lord loves he reproves,
as a father the son he favors.
Adversity, or the failure of things to work out the way they were supposed to, is seen here as the
disciplining of a father. This perspective is to be found elsewhere. The medicinal aspect of
adversity is held out by Eliphaz and by Elihu (Job 5:1721; 33:1930), where, however, it never
becomes independent of a presumed guilt, as supposedly to be found in Job. Suffering thus could
be viewed as a step taken by the Lord in the conversion of a sinner (hence there could be no
understanding, but only astonishment, at the suffering of the servant in Isaiah 53). In other
words, it had to be fitted into the overall view of retribution as taught by the sages.
It is remarkable that the problem of divine justice (or retribution, or whatever term one might
choose) becomes the problem for the sages. One need not be surprised by the admission of Agur
(Prov 30:16) that he is stupid and ignorant. That is the human condition. But it is hard to deal
with adversity that can find no reasonable explanation. A human standard of justice is applied to
God, and it does not work. This situation is often termed the crisis of wisdom (Crenshaw
1985a: 381), and the books of Job and Ecclesiastes are the prime evidence. But it can be just as
well argued that these works prove the resilience of the wisdom movement, which did not skirt
problems, even if it could not solve them. The scepticism of these books is in conflict with the
retribution theory of Proverbs (and of Deuteronomy and other books, one may add). But the real
thrust is to purify an overconfident wisdom, to make the sages more aware of the limitations
which they acknowledged only too theoretically.
The book of Job does not cancel out the book of Proverbs. It is in a dialectical movement with
it, surely. And it obviously corrects any rigid interpretation of the sapiential message of life as
something humans can simply achieve. Proverbs 2:6 finally acknowledges that wisdom is a gift
of God. This was not a conclusion that was easily come by. The sages had to travel the path of
Job and Qoheleth. Wisdom does not become futile because it is challenged and modified. The
witness of Job and Qoheleth is treasured by the community which also retained the book of
Proverbs (Wilson 1984: 189192).
If the author of Job broke through a simplistic understanding of divine justice, Qoheleth
succeeds in safeguarding the inscrutability and freedom of God (Zimmerli 1963: 155158). Time
after time he affirms that one cannot know what God is doing (3:11; 8:17; 11:5). Here too
wisdom has the boldness to confront the divine mystery, and the confrontation is made possible
on the basis of the honesty and integrity of the wisdom movement: even if the wise man says
that he knows, he is unable to discover it [all Gods work] (Eccl 8:17).
5. The Personification of Wisdom. Participating in the divine mystery is the figure of Lady
Wisdom which appears in Job 28; Proverbs 1, 8, 9; Baruch 3:94:4; Sirach 24; Wis 7:79:18. It
is better to speak of personification than hypostasis (Marcus 195051). Personification is no
stranger to the Hebrew Bible. Justice leads Israel out of Babylon (Isa 58:4); in Ps 84:11 kindness
and truth meet, justice and peace kiss. Wine is arrogant (Prov 20:1). But the personification of
wisdom is simply unique in the Bible, both for its quantity and quality.
14

The personification of wisdom in Job 28 is sudden and unexpected. The message is simple:
humans can find hidden treasures in the earth, but they cannot find wisdom (28:12, 20). It is
inaccessible, known only to God. The description of Gods relationship to wisdom is obscure.
Apparently he knows wisdoms place because he sees everything (v 24). It was in the creation of
the wind and the rain (vv 2526) that he became actively involved with wisdom: seeing,
appraising, establishing and searching her out (v 27). This is all very tantalizing. What did God
do with wisdom? The author has not answered that question clearly, but wisdom is certainly
involved with the divine creative activity. The precise manner of this is difficult to state. Is it
merely in the divine mind, a master plan (cf. Prov 3:18), or is it somewhere in the universe? For
N. Habel (Job OTL, 400) it is the fundamental principle which governs the design of the
world. For J. G. Janzen (1985: 197198), wisdom is in the creative act. G. von Rad (1972:
146148) thought that it must be in the world, while being separate from created things
something like the meaning implanted by God in creation ( p. 148). It seems as though
wisdom remains inaccessible in this very text of Job! While many scholars regard 28:28,
associating fear of the Lord with wisdom, as a spurious addition, it can make sense in context. It
affirms that piety is the (only) way to wisdom available to humans. On the lips of Job it must be
ironic, or perhaps it serves as a kind of inclusion with 1:1. The personification does not
emphasize the female characteristics of wisdom (okm is a feminine noun), in contrast to the
picture that emerges in Proverbs.
In Prov 1:2033 Lady Wisdom is portrayed in the style of an OT prophet, threatening her
audience (out in the public streets) with ridicule and doom. Only at the end of her public speech
does she offer peace and security to those who obey her. In Prov 9:16 she changes her tone, and
invites the simple to the banquet of bread and wine. This description is in deliberate contrast to
that of Dame Folly in 9:1318, who issues another invitation to the simple to partake of bread
and water (stolen, v 17!)an invitation that the author characterizes as a trip to Sheol.
Once more, and with great flourish, Lady Wisdom appears in Prov 8:336. Again, she
addresses the simple in public places. Her proclamation is encouraging: truth, more precious
than silver or gold (8:1011, 19); love, for those who love her (8:17). Then she begins the
famous description (vv 2231) of her relationship to God and to creation:
The Lord begot me, the firstborn of his ways . . .
From of old I was poured forth . . .
When there were no depths I was brought forth . . .
Then was I beside him as his craftsman,
and I was his delight day by day.
Playing before him all the while,
playing on the surface of his earth;
and I found delight in the sons of men.
She emphasizes (six times!) her existence before creation, and describes herself as mn (v
30) at the side of God. The meaning of that term is uncertain, either crafts(wo)man or nursling
(Rger 1977). Perhaps she was actively engaged in the creative activity (cf. Prov 3:19). But she
clearly has a role with God and human beings. She describes herself as delight (v 30; his
delight in the LXX), and speaks of playing before God, much like David played before the
Lord when he brought the ark into Jerusalem (2 Sam 6:1416, 21; Keel 1974). Moreover, her
p. page; past
LXX Septuagint
15

delight is to be with human beings (8:31); presumably this engagement involves her speeches in
the previous chapters, and especially the promise of life with which she concludes her present
speech (8:32, the one who finds me finds life).
Who is Lady Wisdom? Many identifications have been offered (Lang 1975: 147176). She
seems to be something of God, born of God, in God. Usually she is said to be a divine attribute, a
personification of the wisdom with which God created the world (Prov 3:19; Whybray 1968).
This identification is explicitly denied by von Rad (1972: 156157), who sees wisdom as an
attribute of the world, by virtue of which she turns towards men to give order to their lives.
God did not merely found the earth by wisdom (Prov 3:19); he built it into wisdom. Wisdom is
the mysterious order of the world which beckons to human beings. However, one may ask if this
identification with order does justice to the divine origins, and to the role Lady Wisdom occupies
relative to human beings. Is Wisdom not the Lord, who turns toward creatures and summons
them through creation, through the wisdom experience? (Murphy 1985). She certainly seems to
be a communication of God. Ben Sira recognized this aspect, and identified Wisdom more
clearly for his generation.
Ben Sira begins his long work on a note of wisdom: All wisdom comes from the Lord . . .
(1:1). The poem on Lady Wisdom in chap. 24 is clearly modeled on Proverbs 8 (Skehan 1979).
She is now presented as speaking in the assembly of the Most High, i.e., in the heavenly court,
and not merely to simple earthlings. Yet she has the same old concern for humans, and invites
them to her banquet (again! 24:1922 and Prov 9:16). She describes her journey throughout the
cosmos (v 5, the vault of heaven, the depths of the abyss). Like God, she seems to possess
the whole world (v 6). Yet she has no fixed residence, until the Creator bids her to take up her
dwelling in Jacob (v 8). So she settles in Jerusalem where she performs liturgical service (v 10,
eleitourgsa). In an elaborate comparison she describes her life there: like a tall cedar, fruitful
olive tree, balm and myrrh (vv 1317), and she issues an invitation to her meal (v 21), where
paradoxically eating will only increase the appetite for more.
At this point Ben Sira makes the identification:
All this is the book of the covenant of the most High God,
the law which Moses commanded us (24:23).
Lady Wisdom is the Torah, an identification prepared for by the postexilic vision of the Torah
(Psalms 19 and 119; Deut 4:68), and reflected in the apocryphal work of Baruch (Bar 3:94:3).
It is clear from the above that Lady Wisdom is a complex figure, whose traits accumulate as
one goes on through the Wisdom Literature. And this enables individuals to make concrete
identifications, as Sirach did for his generation. As a general comment, which respects the
mystery in which Lady Wisdom is cloaked, the words of von Rad ( ROTT 1: 444) are worth
quoting: None the less it is correct to say that wisdom is the form in which Jahwehs will and
his accompanying of man (i.e. his salvation) approaches men. . . . the most important thing is that
wisdom does not turn towards man in the shape of an It, teaching, guidance salvation or the
like, but of a person, a summoning I. So wisdom is truly the form in which Jahweh makes
himself present and in which he wishes to be sought by man.
6. Wisdom and Immortality. It has been observed often enough that the goal of wisdom is
life (Murphy 1966). That is to say, life in this world, marked by prosperity and blessing, a
fullness of days until one was finally buried with the fathers. The Hebrew world displayed a
remarkable resignation to the inevitability of death (e.g., Psalm 49). Nonetheless it gradually
ROTT G. von Rad. 196265. Old Testament Theology. 2 vols. Trans. D. M. G. Stalker.
New York
16

became a problem with the sages. The thought of Job is constantly hovering between life and
death, light and darkness (3:223; 10:1822; 14:1020). The most poignant lament of Qoheleth
is his cry, How is it that the wise man dies as well as the fool! (2:16). The issue was
exacerbated by the problem of injustice and suffering in this life. It was not an adequate answer
to point out that the unjust person dies a premature or painful death (Psalm 37). Qoheleth is
crushed by the fact that there is the same lot (deaththe evil time) for the just and the wicked
(9:2). But there is an eventual breakthrough, and in typically wisdom style.
It seems that the period of the martyrs (Maccabean era) gave rise to a firm belief in the
resurrection of the body (Dan 12:23; 2 Maccabees 7). Hence it is often said that the doctrine of
bodily resurrection is the typical Hebrew response to the issue of immortality. While this is
obviously the view indicated in the book of Daniel, another approach is expressed in the Wisdom
of SolomonSolomon and perhaps in the literature of the Essenes. In Wis 1:15 righteousness
(dikaiosun) is said to be undying (athanatos) and many times eternal blessedness is
mentioned for the just (Wis 2:233:4; 5:5). What is interesting here is that the author who clearly
is aware of the Greek doctrine of soul and body (Wis 1:14; 9:15) does not conclude to personal
immortality on the basis of the nature of the human composite. That would have been a Greek
solution. He may have shared such an idea, but he does not reason about immortality in that
fashion. Instead, blessed immortality flows from righteousness (1:15), from the wisdom that is
the gift of God (Wis 7:7; 9:4). It lies in the nature of the relationship between God and those who
follow him. Immortality consists in a relationship that death cannot sever. The old doctrine of
Sheol (Eccl 9:10), where a loving contact with God was missing (Pss 6:6; 30:10), now yields to
an enduring presence (Ps 73:2328). The presence is not limited to God and the individual; the
blessed one is accounted among the sons of God or holy ones (Wis 5:15), i.e., the members
of the heavenly court. The association of the just with the angels is also made in the Qumran
literature (1QS 11:89; 1QHod 3:2022; 11:1014), and this seems to suggest a kind of
immortality. The description of a blessed immortality in terms of association with the heavenly
court is a logical development. The old lament was that no one could praise God in Sheol. Now
one will praise him with the other members of the heavenly court.
C. Wisdom Influence in OT Literature
Paradoxically, recent studies have underscored the presence of wisdom throughout the rest of
the Bible, even if wisdom and creation have been given a perilous perch within biblical theology.
Modern scholarship has become aware of what has been called wisdom influence on specific
books. Among these are Psalms (Mowinckel 1955; Murphy 1963; Kuntz 1974); Amos (Wolff
1973); Isaiah (Whedbee 1971); Esther (Talmon 1963); the Joseph story in Genesis 3750
(PHOE, 292300); the Succession Narrative in 2 Samuel1 Kings 1 (Whybray 1968); and
Deuteronomy (Weinfeld 1972). These works are not to be considered Wisdom Literature
(Crenshaw 1969), but it is reasonable to speak of wisdom influence in one or another instance
(Morgan 1981).
The problem lies in the manner in which wisdom influence is conceived, and the means by
which such influence was exerted on particular writers. The following observations should be
borne in mind:
(1) The distinction between a specific literary genre and wisdom influence must be
maintained. A lawyer may write a short story that reflects legal background, but the work
1QS Serek hayyaad (Rule of the Community, Manual of Discipline)
1QHod Hdyt (Thanksgiving Hymns) from Qumran Cave 1
17

remains a short story, not a legal document. It is an exaggeration to affirm that the Joseph
narrative is a didactic wisdom-story (PHOE, 300), or that the Succession document is a
deliberate attempt to illustrate specific proverbial teaching for the benefit of the pupils and expupils of the schools (Whybray 1968: 95). In both instances one is dealing with a genre of
history, not wisdom.
(2) The notion of wisdom influence should be narrowly conceived. A common culture and
world of ideas was shared by all classes in Israelite society. The sapiential understanding of
reality (described above in thought world) was not a mode of thinking cultivated exclusively
by a small group. Hence it is to be expected that it can appear as it were unconsciously in various
types of expression. One cannot speak meaningfully of wisdom influence because a prophetic
judgment speech contains a saying or a comparison (Isa 1:23). Such expressions belong to
educated speech in general and are not confined to Wisdom Literature. Although a certain type of
vocabulary may suggest wisdom influence (Whybray 1974: 121154; Hurwitz 1988), a mere
linguistic criterion is weak. It was not only the sages who used this vocabulary. Similarly,
wisdom motifs could have circulated and would not be the exclusive possession of a given class.
The wisdom heritage must have constituted a common fund of knowledge experience for each
Israelite.
(3) The appearance of a didactic purpose or a wisdom theme does not suffice to categorize a
work as wisdom. Thus the book of Hosea remains prophecy, even if the editors may be
responsible for the wisdom tag (let one who is wise understand these things) in 14:10[Eng
14:9]. Similarly, the problem of the suffering of the just person is the concern of all people (e.g.
Jer 12:15), not simply the sages.
Finally, the Song of Songs has been recently associated with wisdom (IOTS, 573575;
Wrthwein 1969: 31). This is rather a unique case. All scholars would admit that the Song is love
poetry with its own genres (Murphy 1981b: 98124). The only wisdom element in it may be the
lines which speak of love as strong as death (8:6; Tromp 1979). However, this does not change
the genre. Nevertheless, it may be that the sages were responsible for the transmission and
editing of the Song (and its attribution to the wise Solomon), because it was in line with the
societal values (fidelity, etc., of Prov 5:15ff.) which the sages treasured.
D. Extra-biblical Wisdom
During the last century and a half the discoveries of the literatures of Israels neighbors have
had a great impact on the understanding of the Bible. This has been particularly the case for the
Wisdom Literature, which has been illumined by the wisdom of ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt
(Buccellati 1981; R. Williams 1981). Wisdom may be a misnomer as applied to these ancient
literatures (BWL, 1), since the designation derives from biblical studies. But there is enough
similarity in the works of international wisdom to justify this convenient term.
1. Egypt. Many teachings or instructions (sebayit) have been handed down over a
period of about 2500 years, from that of Prince Hardjedef (or Djedefhor, of the Fifth Dynasty)
down to the Insinger Papyrus which dates from the Ptolemaic period. The style of the sebayit is
standard: a teacher, often a high official if not a king, hands down rules of conduct: the
beginning of the instruction which X made for his son Y. The rules cover such areas as truth and
integrity, generosity and moderation, proper and timely speech, the need to hear (and obey), a
correct relationship with officials, women, ones household and friends. By and large a certain
IOTS B. S. Childs. 1979. Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture. Philadelphia
BWL W. G. Lambert. 1960. Babylonian Wisdom Literature. Oxford
18

upper class morality, eventually democratized, is evident. Warnings are given against pride and
any lack of discipline. The model person is the silent one. Silence is a sign of self-control and
thoughtfulness, a characteristic of one who is master of the situation, in contrast to the rash,
impetuous person. All these ideals are held together by the Egyptian concept maat. The word
cannot be easily translated; it designates order, truth, justice (Frankfort 1961: 54). It is the divine
order in the world into which a human being is to be integrated by his conduct. Success in this
process of integration means prosperity; failure means chaos. This harmonious integration into
maat underlies the teachings.
Wisdom is not an important term in the teachings, but biblical scholarship (Schmid 1966:
159) has made a correlation between Egyptian maat and Hebrew dq (justice) and
okm. To a certain extent this is justified, insofar as the description of wisdom in Proverbs 1
9 reflects some of the attributes of maat. But it is not to be exaggerated. For one thing, maat
is deified as a goddess in Egypt. Moreover, Hebrew wisdom has its own characteristic
orientation to tradition and experience. It is not to be interpreted simply out of the Egyptian
mentality concerning order.
The Egyptian instructions are fairly integrated and consecutive pieces (thus comparable to
Proverbs 19), abounding in if-clauses, imperatives, negative admonitions, and motive clauses.
Gnomic sayings are mixed in, but they become conspicuous only in the later Demotic writings.
Here the single sentence or monostich (as in Onkhsheshonqy 11:10, he who sends up spittle to
the sky, upon his face it falls; AEL 3: 76) prevails as the stylistic medium. As in Hebrew,
parallelism is a common feature in the sebayit.
The more important instructions are those associated with Phahhotep, Merikare, Amenemhet,
Ani, Amenemope, and the Demotic writings of Onkhsheshonqy and the Papyrus Insinger. The
explicit similarities between Prov 22:17ff., and the teaching of Amenemope are indubitable
(Bryce). This is not the place to attempt a summary of the contents of the various instructions;
they are best appreciated by examining the English translations (ANET; Simpson 1973; AEL).
Several other Egyptian works of a more speculative nature have been compared to biblical
wisdom, but there seems to be no evidence of an Egyptian connection. The Harpers Songs
and the Dispute of a Man with his Soul present passages that reflect universal human
experiences that are naturally enough found in Ecclesiastes and other biblical works. In a similar
way, the love poetry of ancient Egypt provides broad parallels to the biblical Song of Songs
(White 1978; Fox 1985).
2. Mesopotamia. Here, as in Egypt, writing and schools flourished already in the 3d
millennium B.C. In the Sumerian e-dubba (house of tablets) or school, the scribes copied out in
cuneiform signs many types of literature, some of which may be compared with Hebrew
wisdom. Several collections of proverbs (many bilingual, in both Sumerian and Akkadian) have
been published (Gordon 1959; BWL, 222275), along with various literary types such as fables
(Lambert BWL, 150212). Comparable to the Egyptian instructions are the Instructions of
uruppak (Alster 1974), which contain the advice of a king to his son Ziusudra, the hero of the
flood as remembered in the Sumerian tradition. Similar in style is the Akkadian Counsels of
Wisdom which treats of proper speech, avoidance of bad companions, etc. (BWL, 97107).
As was the case with Egypt, there is a reflective literature in ancient Mesopotamia that has
suggested comparison with Job and Ecclesiastes. Discussed in this literature, the issue is a
perennial one, namely that of suffering, and especially the suffering of the righteous. A Sumerian
ANET Ancient Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, 3d ed. with suppl.,
ed. J. B. Pritchard, Princeton, 1969
19

text, Man and His God (ANET, 589591) and the Akkadian Ludlul bl nmeqi (I will
praise the Lord of Wisdom, ANET, 596600) provide two examples. H. Gese (1958: 6378)
argued that the Akkadian work exemplified the literary form of Job: a paradigm of an answered
complaint. But the book of Job provides no answer in the way that the Ludlul does. Both
works describe the situation and complaint of a suffering devotee. In the end the Babylonian
sufferer is restored by the intervention of Marduk. There is no exploration of the raw and
poignant depths of suffering as in the Hebrew work.
With more justice the Dialogue of Pessimism, an Akkadian work dated around the 12th
century B.C., has been compared with Ecclesiastes (ANET, 600601). A slave and his master hold
a conversation about several areas of life. The master expresses an opinion and the slave at once
agrees, even adding further reasons to justify the masters declaration. Then the master states the
opposite, and the slave again falls in line and gives reasons for this decision. It is this ability to
look at extreme positions, to search out contradictions, that reminds one of Ecclesiastes.
Assyriologists have debated whether this is a farce or a serious work (BWL, 139141). The work
ends on the topic of death, and perhaps by suicide. This grim note is of course not present in
Qoheleth, for whom death is unwelcome but simply inevitable (Eccl 11:712:7); it is never
envisioned as a salvation to lifes problems.
Another poem, The dialogue about Human Misery (also called The Babylonian Theodicy,
ANET, 601604) is an acrostic work in 27 stanzas of 11 lines each. The characters in this
dialogue are the sufferer and a sympathetic (unlike Jobs friends) listener. They range over
many topics that reflect upon the justice of the gods. Although the friend never finds fault with
the main speaker, his consolation is anemic. He thinks that the common belief in the reward of
piety still holds. But there is a rather surprising ending, for he admits that the gods have made
humans evil. They gave twisted speech to the human race. With lies, and not truth, they
endowed them forever (ANET, 604). W. Lambert (BWL, 65) has justly remarked that this
conclusion removes the problem; if the gods are responsible for evil in humans, there can be no
dialogue.
One of the most famous compositions of the ancient world is the story of Ahiqar, which
traveled across many cultures and has been transmitted in about a dozen languages
(Lindenberger 1983: 47; Kchler 1979: 31941). The most ancient version extant is the
Aramaic, which appeared among the 5th century B.C. papyri that were discovered on the
Elephantine island in the Nile and published in 1911. The work was perhaps written a few
centuries before the date of the papyri, either in Aramaic or in Akkadian, and it tells the story of
the betrayal and restoration of a certain Ahiqar, a court official during the reign of Sennacherib of
Assyria. The pertinence of the work lies in the proverbs which Ahiqar transmits in the story. In
general these resemble the proverb collections of the ANE, but J. Lindenberger has pointed out
that genuinely close parallels between the Aramaic proverbs and the Bible are few (1983: 25);
he indicates lines 8182 concerning corporal punishment (Prov 23:1314) and line 207 about
pride (Jer 9:22). There is a tantalizing statement about wisdom in lines 9495 which has been
interpreted as referring to its divine origin and eternal reign. But the text is too fragmentary to
support definite conclusions (ANET, 428; Lindenberger 1983: 6870). See also AHIQAR,
BOOK OF.
3. Hellenistic Literature. Sophia, or wisdom, is of course a well-known concept in Greek
philosophy and literature. Alexanders conquest of the Fertile Crescent in the 4th century B.C.
ensured the flourishing of Hellenistic culture which had already begun in the area (Hengel 1974).
Without the Greek cultural background that blanketed the Mediterranean world a book like the
20

Wisdom of SolomonSolomon would never have been written. Although it remains an intensely
Jewish book, it is to be read in the light of Hellenistic culture (Larcher 1969: 179236; Reese
1970), and especially of Philo (Larcher 1969: 151178; Mack 1973: 108184).
Considerable debate has raged over the relationship of Qoheleth to Hellenistic culture. O.
Loretz found Mesopotamian influence in the book (1964: 90134), but R. Braun has argued just
as vigorously for parallels between Ecclesiastes and Hellenistic philosophy (1973). Different
points of view have also been expressed about Ben Sira. Hengel (1974: 131175) recognizes
some dialogue with Greek thought, but not as much as T. Middendorp (1973: 1324) who argues
for strong dependence upon Theognis. But this is another intensely Jewish work, written in
Hebrew probably in Jerusalem before the Maccabean outbreak; its dependence on earlier biblical
works is undeniable, whatever it may owe to the Hellenistic period.

21

KJV

Job 12:13 With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding.

LXT

Job 12:13

parV auvtw/| sofi,a kai. du,namij auvtw/| boulh. kai. su,nesij

`hn")Wbt.W hc'[e Al hr"_Wbg>W hm'k.x' AM[i

WTT

Job 12:13

Clines, David J. A.: Word Biblical Commentary : Job 1-20. Dallas : Word,
Incorporated, 2002 (Word Biblical Commentary 17), s. 297.
Job reverts to speaking in his own person. The friends have been urging (he claims) that
the truth about God is what has been traditionally believed (wisdom is found with the aged, v
12); on the contrary, he says, the truth about God is with God: he is the only one who knows
what he is doing. Job lays claim, of course, to a superior knowledge about God, but, Socrateslike, what he knows about God is really less than the friends claim to know. For they pretend to
know the principles on which God acts, whereas Job only knows that there are no principles on
which God actsnone, at any rate, that could be called rational or ethical.
This is a most intriguing situation, because it is not so far distant from the position Job
will adopt at the end of the book, after the divine speeches. In the end he will be left with the
ungainsayable truth that God does what he likes, and has his own reasons. But that is a statement
that can be uttered either in bitterness or with a believing acceptance. And at this moment Job is
not ready to reflect on the creative values of such an idea; he is still shocked by how discordant
the idea is with a traditional theology that shrinks from mystery and calmly purports to justify the
ways of God to man.
It is difficult to tie down precisely what wisdom includes. On the one hand, it seems to
be the highest wisdomm, insight into the divine nature, its motives and ways of workingwhich
only God himself possesses. On the other hand, it is also know-how, a practical sort of
wisdom, as its conjunction with might shows. Wisdom cannot be understood in the Hebrew
Bible as a purely theoretical knowledge; it presses always towards action, so that ability to act
and knowledge of how to act effectively are rarely contrasted. Here the parallelism might suggest
that the accent is on wisdom rather than strength, but perhaps rather the four abstract terms in
this verse refer collectively to Gods capacity to act according to his own (mysterious and
disturbing) principles.
Driver, Samuel Rolles ; Gray, George Buchanan: A Critical and Exegetical
Commentary on the Book of Job. Edinburgh : T. & T. Clark, 1921, S. 116.
You say: 12 wisdom resides in old men, 13 I say it is to be found with God: so if both 12
and 13 originally belonged here we may least awkwardly connect them in thought; but the
antithesis is formally unexpressed and is very artificial, for the friends have never asserted that
wisdom resides only in old men and not in God, and Job in 13 does not assert that wisdom
resides only (cp. c. 28) with God, and is not imparted by Him to men. Further, while 12 speaks of
wisdom, 13 speaks of wisdom and might, so that in this respect, too, the sharpness and clearness
of an antithesis are sacrificed. But while 13 connects at best rather awkwardly with 12, it might
form a starting-point for the illustrations which follow (1425) of Gods power, and, though this
is much less prominent, of His wisdom. If the reference to God unnamed (which must be
assumed even if 13 originally followed 12) can be tolerated, 13 might follow 3 as Jobs proof
22

that his knowledge is not inferior to that of the friends., retaining 11f., rejects 13 as a variant of
16.Counsel] read, perhaps, power: see phil. n.

23

KJV

Job 28:28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil
is understanding.
Job 28:28 ei=pen de. avnqrw,pw| ivdou. h` qeose,beia, evstin sofi,a to. de.
avpe,cesqai avpo. kakw/n evstin evpisth,mh
LXT

hm'_k.x' ayhi yn"doa] ta;r>yI !hE

~d"a'l'( rm,aYOw: Job 28:28
s `hn")yBi [r"me rWsw>
WTT

Driver, Samuel Rolles ; Gray, George Buchanan: A Critical and Exegetical

Commentary on the Book of Job. Edinburgh : T. & T. Clark, 1921, S. 244.
Up to this point the c. has insisted without any qualification that wisdom is the exclusive
possession of God, has no place on earth, and is not imparted to men (ct. 11:6 ophar). In this,
it differs strikingly from Pr. 8, where the real wisdom that was possessed and used by God in the
creation of the world presents itself as discoverable also by man. As against the previous part of
this c., 28 agrees with Pr. 8 that wisdom may be found by men, although it differs in defining the
wisdom that may become mans in terms inconsistent with its being also a possession of God:
wisdom is here identified with the fear of the Lord and the avoidance of evil. There is thus, at
least superficially, a gulf between the thought of 127 and of 28, and the only way to bridge it is
to say that the author contemplates two different wisdoms: wisdom in God here conceived
intellectually as including the understanding of the laws of the universe, unattainable by man,
who must consequently remain without understanding of the universe, and wisdom in man, an
ethical quality. God is thus represented here as saying to man: My wisdom cannot be yours, but
your wisdom will be to fear Me: you cannot understand the universe which I have made, but you
can fear Me like Job (1:1), and avoid evil, and thereby find happiness and prosperity. But is this
thought naturally expressed, and is the compatibility of the two radically different conceptions
both expressed by the unqualified term wisdom really indicated? Or have we not rather the
fundamentally different thought of a different writer simply laid alongside the preceding poem?
Again, is a writer who wishes to express the supposed line of thought likely to have handled one
part of his subject, the unattainable wisdom of God, so elaborately and the other part so briefly?
The prosaic opening 28a and the lack of balance in 28b. c also suggest that 28 is not from the
same hand as the rest of the chapter.
Clarke, Adam: Clarke's Commentary: Job. electronic ed. Albany, OR : Ages
Software, 1999 (Logos Library System; Clarke's Commentaries), S. Job 28:28.
Unto man he said] laadam, unto man, he said: This probably refers to the
revelation of his will which God gave to Adam after his fall. He had before sought for wisdom in
a forbidden way. When he and Eve saw that the tree was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be
desired to make one wise, they took and did eat, Ge 3:6. Thus they lost all the wisdom that they
had, by not setting the fear of the Lord before their eyes; and became foolish, wicked, and
miserable. Hear, then, what God prescribes as a proper remedy for this dire disease: The fear of

24

the Lord, that is wisdom; it is thy only wisdom now to set God always before thy eyes, that thou
mayest not again transgress.
KJV

Psalm 104:24 O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is
full of thy riches.

w`j evmegalu,nqh ta. e;rga sou ku,rie pa,nta evn sofi,a|

evpoi,hsaj evplhrw,qh h` gh/ th/j kth,sew,j sou
LXT

Psalm 103:24

t'yfi_[' hm'k.x'B. ~L'Ku hw"hy>) ^yf,[]m;

WBr:-hm'( Psalm 104:24
`^n<)y"n>qi #r<a'h' ha'l.m'
WTT

Bratcher, Robert G. ; Reyburn, William David: A Translator's Handbook on the

Book of Psalms. New York : United Bible Societies, 1991 (Helps for Translators), S. 886.
Now the psalmist (verse 24) breaks into praise of Yahwehs wisdom in creating so many
different things. The expression In wisdom and TEVs How wisely will have to be recast in
some languages to say, for example, You were very wise when you made or Because you
are very wise, you made . In line c the word creatures translates a Hebrew word which occurs
in Psalms only here and in 105.21; it seems to mean possessions, property. Most translations
have creatures or creations. The verb related to creatures can mean either acquire or create
(see 139.13a); and in Genesis 14.22 the verb is used to speak of God as the Creator. In some
languages creatures will have to be rendered as the animals which you created or the things
you gave life to.
Allen, Leslie C.: Word Biblical Commentary : Psalms 101-150 (Revised). Dallas :
Word, Incorporated, 2002 (Word Biblical Commentary 21), S. 47.
The psalmist weaves into his praise even the sea, a traditional object of dread to the
Israelite landlubber. He sketches its vastness and teeming life, its population of foreign boats and
marine giants. His fear of the latter is transmuted by his portrayal of them as frisky, puppylike
beings, as much a product of Yahwehs creative work as anything else. Gods ,
wisdom, is seen in the grand panorama of divine creation. It reflects the affinity of the creation
theme to the wisdom tradition (R. N. Whybray, Intellectual Tradition, 9697), not only in its
compilation of material but in its sense of comprehensive purposefulness (Hermisson,
Observations, 48)
Clarke, Adam: Clarke's Commentary: Psalms. electronic ed. Albany, OR : Ages
Software, 1999 (Logos Library System; Clarke's Commentaries), S. Ps 104:24
O Lord, how manifold are thy works] In this verse there are three propositions: 1. The
works of the Lord are multitudinous and varied. 2. They are so constructed as to show the most
consummate wisdom in their design, and in the end for which they are formed. 3. They are all
Gods property, and should be used only in reference to the end for which they were created. All
25

abuse and waste of Gods creatures are spoil and robbery on the property of the Creator. On this
verse Mr. Ray has published an excellent work, entitled, "The Wisdom of God in the Creation,"
which the reader will do well, not only to consult, but carefully to read over and study.
KJV

Psalm 111:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they
that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.
Psalm 110:10 avrch. sofi,aj fo,boj kuri,ou su,nesij avgaqh. pa/si toi/j poiou/sin
auvth,n h` ai;nesij auvtou/ me,nei eivj to.n aivw/na tou/ aivw/noj
LXT

bAj lk,fe hw"hy> ta;r>yI hm'k.x' tyviarE

WTT

Psalm 111:10

`d[;(l' td<m,[o AtL'hiT. ~h,_yfe[o-lk'l.

Spence-Jones, H. D. M. (Hrsg.): The Pulpit Commentary: Psalms Vol. III.
Bellingham, WA : Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2004, S. 36.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (comp. Prov. 1:7; 9:10; Ecclus. 1:16;
and also Job 28:28). The meaning seems to be that the beginning of wisdom is not found in
keen insight, nor wide experience, nor the learning of the schools, but in the temper of reverence
and awe. The fear of the finite in the presence of the Infinite, of the sinful in the presence of the
Holy, self-abhorring, adoring, as in Jobs confessionthis for the Israelite was the starting-point
of all true wisdom (Dean Plumptre). A good understanding have all they that do his
commandments; literally, that do them; but the commandments of ver. 7 are, no doubt,
intended. His praise endureth for ever. The praise of him, not of it, as in the Prayer-book
Version. As he had begun (ver. 1), so the psalmist ends, with Jehovahs praise.
Clarke, Adam: Clarke's Commentary: Psalms. electronic ed. Albany, OR : Ages
Software, 1999 (Logos Library System; Clarke's Commentaries), S. Ps 111:10.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom] The original stands thus:

reshith chokmah, yirath Yehovah, The beginning of wisdom is the fear of

Jehovah. Wisdom itself begins with this fear; true wisdom has this for its commencement. It is
the first ingredient in it, and is an essential part of it. In vain does any man pretend to be wise
who does not fear the Lord; and he who fears the Lord departs from evil: he who lives in sin
neither fears God, nor is wise.

26

KJV

Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and
instruction.
Proverbs 1:7 avrch. sofi,aj fo,boj qeou/ su,nesij de. avgaqh. pa/si toi/j
poiou/sin auvth,n euvse,beia de. eivj qeo.n avrch. aivsqh,sewj sofi,an de. kai.
paidei,an avsebei/j evxouqenh,sousin
LXT

rs'WmW hm'k.x' t[;D"_ tyviarE hw"hy>

ta;r>yI Proverbs 1:7
p `WzB'( ~yliywIa/
WTT

Toy, Crawford Howell: A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of

Proverbs. New York : C. Scribner's Sons, 1899, S. 10.
The motto.Antithetic, quaternary. This general definition of wisdom may be regarded
as the motto of the whole book, and is probably to be ascribed to the final editor; see 111:10.
The beginning of knowledge, its choicest feature, its foremost and essential element, is said to be
the fear of Yahweh. The term fear goes back historically to the dread which was felt in the
presence of the powerful and stern tribal or national deity; Semitic deities were in the historical
period generally conceived of as lords or kings, exercising constant control over their peoples,
and inflicting punishment on them for disobedience. This is the prevailing attitude of the pious
man toward God throughout the OT.; only the sentiment gradually advances from the form of
mere dread of the divine anger to that of reverence for the divine law. It never entirely loses,
however, the coloring implied in the word fear. The OT. ethical conception of life is not love of a
moral ideal as the supreme good, but regard for it as an ordination of the supreme authority; the
world is looked on not as a household in which God and man are co-workers, but as a realm in
which God is king and man is subject. This conception, the result of the moral strenuousness of
the Jewish people and of their Oriental governmental scheme of life, helped to develop moral
strictness. It is a fundamental principle of moral life, though not the only principle. The idea of
the Hebrew sage is that he who lives with reverent acknowledgment of God as lawgiver will
have within his soul a permanent and efficient moral guide; other conditions of ethical
experience, such as native character, knowledge, temptation, surroundings, are left unmentioned,
not deliberately excluded, but omitted because they are not prominent in the writers thought; his
purpose is to emphasize the one principle of reverence as paramount, and he identifies the mans
own moral ideal with the divine moral law.The use of the name Yahweh instead of the more
general Elohim is not significant as to date or as to ethical feeling. Yahweh, though in name
nothing but the national deity of the Jews, is here regarded as the supreme and only God. The
personal name was gradually replaced by the Lord (as in the ancient Versions, except the
Targum), or the Holy One (as in the Talmud), or God (as in Ezra, Neh., Eccles., and some
Psalms), but, as appears from some late Psalms, continued to be freely used, in certain circles,
down to the second century B.C. It is possible, however, that both in Egypt and in Palestine it
was, in this later time, though written, not pronounced, but replaced in reading by Adonay (the
Lord).The second clause states, not formally but in substance, the antithesis to the first, the
sense being: absence of the fear of Yahweh (in fools) is negation (contempt) of wisdom. The
fool is primarily a person lacking in good sense in general, uninstructed (Isa. 35:8), unskilled (Pr.
27

11:29), or offensively ignorant (10:8, 20:3, 29:9), then, as here, one who is lacking in the highest
wisdom, and therefore devoid of piety toward God (so the Grk. here). Such an one despises
wisdom, is ignorant of and does not value its high function, nor accept it as guide.Instead of
the couplet of the Heb. the Grk. has a quatrain:
The beginning of wisdom is the fear of God,
And a good understanding have all they that practise it;
Piety toward God is the beginning of knowledge,
But wisdom and instruction the impious will set at naught.

The second line of this quatrain now stands in 111:10, and the third line appears to be a
doublet of the first (except that the terms wisdom and knowledge exchange places), but may be
an original parallelism. Whether the longer form of the Greek is an expansion of Heb. or Grk.
scribes, or belongs to the original reading, it is difficult to say. As this verse is an isolated
aphorism, its length does not affect the rhythmical structure of the succeeding discourse. Cf. BS
1:1127.
Reyburn, William David ; Fry, Euan McG.: A Handbook on Proverbs. New York :
United Bible Societies, 2000 (UBS Handbook Series; Helps for Translators), S. 29.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: Fear in relation to God expresses a
range of meanings in Old Testament contexts. For example, in Job 37:2324 mortals are in terror
and dread of Gods punishment. In Exo 9.30 Moses tells the king of Egypt that he will stop the
thunder and hail, even though the king and his people are not yet afraid of the Lord God. In Jer
26.19 fear has the sense of obedience. In the case of Abraham, after he had showed his
willingness to obey God and sacrifice Isaac, the angel of the Lord said to him I know that you
fear God, which indicates Abrahams trust in God (Gen 22.12). Here in this verse and
throughout Proverbs the fear of the Lord means to respect and believe the Lord.
Lord is the common English translation of the Hebrew name of God, which is written as
yhwh and pronounced something like yahweh. It is the most frequently used term for God in the
Old Testament. Because the name was sacred, it was not pronounced, but instead the term
adonai (my lord) was pronounced in its place. To translate the name of Israels God there are
several options open to the translator:
(1) Transliterate the form yahweh.
(2) Translate by a term such as Owner, Master, Ruler, One who Commands, the
Ever-Present One, or the Eternal One.
(3) Use the name of a local god, unless this is considered inappropriate.
(4) Translate Lord (yhwh) and the general word for God (elohim in Hebrew) by the
same term.
In many languages a literal rendering of fear of the Lord will mean nothing more than
terror or dread, that is, being scared of what the Lord may do. If the language has an expression
equivalent to be in awe of, this will be more satisfactory. In some languages such a thought is
expressed idiomatically; for example, to stand with your heart in your hand before the Lord or
You must respect the Lord with a quivering liver.
Beginning of knowledge: Beginning renders the word used in Gen 1.1, in the
beginning, which refers to the first in an ordered series of events. In this verse it is the starting
point without which nothing else can follow. It may be taken as the root, fundamental, or basic
element upon which all wisdom is built. The TEV footnote expresses this thought as The most
important part of knowledge is ; the CEV footnote says What knowledge is all about is .
28

In some languages stump or root is used figuratively for the source or basic element from
which everything else comes, so these languages have a translation like If a person wants to
gain wisdom, the root of it is honoring the Lord.
In some languages it is not possible to use a noun phrase such as the fear of the Lord as
the subject of a clause. Accordingly it is sometimes necessary to restructure fear as an if
clause; for example, If you hold the Lord in awe, you will have the beginning of knowledge.
We may also translate, for example, Whoever respects and obeys the Lord is beginning to be
wise, The first thing about knowledge is to respect and obey the Lord, or The most important
part of knowledge is having reverence for the Lord ( TEV footnote). The FRCL rendering may
serve as a model translation for some: To recognize the authority of the Lord is the A-B-C of
wisdom.
Fools despise wisdom and instruction: The second line contrasts the fool with the person
who respects the Lord. Fools renders a word used in Isa 35.8 to indicate uninstructed people who
mislead others. In 10.8; 20.3; and 29.9 fools are contrasted with sensible and intelligent people.
Despise is not to be taken in the sense of hate or loathe. The Hebrew, like the English term,
properly means to look down upon with contempt, to disdain as unworthy. It is in this sense that
Esau despised his birthright in Gen 25.34. Wisdom and instruction are the same words as used in
verse 2. This line may be rendered Fools turn their noses up at wisdom and good advice or
People who look down on wisdom and instruction are fools.
In translation it may be necessary to make the contrast between the two lines clear by
saying, for example, but fools despise or Foolish people, on the other hand, think wisdom
and instruction are worthless.

29

KJV

Proverbs 1:20 Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:

LXT

Proverbs 1:20

sofi,a evn evxo,doij u`mnei/tai evn de. platei,aij parrhsi,an a;gei

`Hl'(Aq !TETi tAbxor>B' hN"ro=T' #WxB;

tAmk.x' Proverbs 1:20
WTT

Clarke, Adam: Clarke's Commentary: Proverbs. electronic ed. Albany, OR : Ages

Software, 1999 (Logos Library System; Clarke's Commentaries), S. Pr 1:20.
Wisdom crieth] Here wisdom is again personified, as it is frequently, throughout this
book; where nothing is meant but the teachings given to man, either by Divine revelation or the
voice of the Holy Spirit in the heart. And this voice of wisdom is opposed to the seducing
language of the wicked mentioned above. This voice is everywhere heard, in public, in private,
in the streets, and in the house. Common sense, universal experience, and the law of justice
written on the heart, as well as the law of God, testify against rapine and wrong of every kind.
Reyburn, William David ; Fry, Euan McG.: A Handbook on Proverbs. New York :
United Bible Societies, 2000 (UBS Handbook Series; Helps for Translators), S. 44.
Wisdom cries aloud in the street: Wisdom renders a word that Scott calls an archaic
Canaanite form. It is found elsewhere in 24.7 and in Psa 49.3 (Hebrew verse 4). There is no
apparent reason to translate it differently than the word used in verses 2 and 7.
Personification is a regular aspect of rhetorical style in most languages; in some,
however, it may not be used for a term or concept like Wisdom. There are also some languages in
which Wisdom is equated with intelligence, and the word is not personified merely by using a
capital letter. In such cases there are two ways to handle the personification:
(1) Convert to a simile; for example, Wisdom is like a woman crying out in the street. In
this case Wisdom will be replaced in some of the verses that follow by the appropriate pronouns.
(2) Another possibility is to use an honorary feminine title, for example, Mother
Wisdom.
(3) If that solution is not workable, it may be necessary to explain the personification in a
note. The note may say something like In verses 20 and 21 Wisdom is presented as a speaking
person, a woman. Verses 2233 contain her speech.
Cries aloud in this context means call out to, or ring out a shout, to get the attention
of people in the noise and confusion of a busy market scene. Street refers to the areas outside the
houses in a town setting.
Markets translates a word referring to the town square located inside the city in front of
the gate. The street and markets were gathering places for people. See Amos 5.16 and Ruth 4.11
(at the gate).
She raises her voice: She and her are feminine pronouns in the Hebrew and refer to
Wisdom. Raises her voice is literally gives her voice and means makes her voice heard or
causes them to listen to what she says.

30

KJV

Proverbs 2:6 For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

LXT

Proverbs 2:6

o[ti ku,rioj di,dwsin sofi,an kai. avpo. prosw,pou auvtou/ gnw/sij

kai. su,nesij

`hn")Wbt.W t[;D: wyPimi hm'_k.x' !TEyI

hw"hy>-yKi( Proverbs 2:6
WTT

Murphy, Rowland E.: Word Biblical Commentary : Proverbs. Dallas : Word,

Incorporated, 2002 (Word Biblical Commentary 22), S. 15.
Most important is the emphasis on wisdom as a gift of God. This is somewhat
paradoxical. On the one hand, the teacher speaks as if everything depends upon the listening and
obedience of the youth. On the other hand, wisdom is a divine gift. Her origin is described as
from the mouth of the Lord, an anticipation of Sir 24:3; cf. Prov 8:2224. As things develop, it
will be seen that there is divine mystery lurking behind the security and the certainty of wisdom
teaching. One must strive for the goal, but also realize that wisdom remains a divine gift.
Ultimately we have a picture of the acquisition of wisdom by means of human industry and
divine aid and generosity.
Toy, Crawford Howell: A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of
Proverbs. New York : C. Scribner's Sons, 1899, S. 35.
Synonymous, ternary. Yahweh the source of wisdom. This is stated as the ground of the
affirmation of v. 5, and brings this paragraph into logical relation with v. 14. He who seeks
wisdom will understand the fear or knowledge of God, because all knowledge comes from him.
The reference is probably to the whole moral thought and conduct of manhuman instincts, the
results of experience, the common-law of morality, as well as the ethical prescriptions contained
in the Israelitish canonical and oral codes. The stress, however, is laid on mans moral nature,
which is represented as a divine gift.The expression out of his mouth (Grk. from his presence)
means from him; he utters his command and man receives wisdom; the reference seems not to be
to his giving a law (the Tora), which would not agree with the general connection. The mouth of
Yahweh, a frequent expression in the prophets, is found only here in Pr.; here alone God is
teacher, elsewhere Wisdom. The expression occurs in Job 22:22, and in a few late s, 105:5,
119:72, 88, 138:4.

31

KJV

Proverbs 3:19 The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established
the heavens.
Proverbs 3:19 o` qeo.j th/| sofi,a| evqemeli,wsen th.n gh/n h`toi,masen de.
ouvranou.j evn fronh,sei
LXT

`hn")Wbt.Bi ~yIm;v' !nEAK #r<a'_-ds;y")

hm'k.x'B. hw"hy>) Proverbs 3:19
WTT

Toy, Crawford Howell: A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of

Proverbs. New York : C. Scribner's Sons, 1899, S. 70.
A separate paragraph. From a description of the blessings which wisdom confers on
man, the sage goes on to exalt it as a guiding principle of God in the creation and
maintenance of the physical world; the same conception is found in 8:1831 (and cf. Job
28:2028), BS 1:24; WSol. 7. This view is characteristic of the Wisdom books, while in the
Prophets (Am. 4:13, 5:8, 9:6, Isa. 40there are no such references in prexilian writings) and
the Psalms (89, 104, 139) Gods works are cited as illustrations of his greatness and his care for
his people. The cosmical conception, which dwells on the order of the world for its own sake,
belongs to the post-prophetic period and indicates an influence of Greek thought. This paragraph
obviously connects itself with the preceding and not with the following (which is an exhortation
to obey the laws of wisdom); whether it originally formed part of a larger section is uncertain.
19. Synonymous, quaternary-ternary. Wisdom as primeval attribute of the Creator. It is the skill
shown in the creation that is had in mind (as in Job 28, Pr. 8); contrast the national point of view
of the prophets and the psalmists, the social interest of Gen. 2, and the statistical form of Gen. 1.
Wisdom here seems to be simply an attribute, with no approach to hypostatization.The
expressions founded and established belong to the old-Hebrew cosmo gonical ideas. The earth
was conceived of as a plane mass, resting on an ocean ( 24:2, 136:6), as having foundations
(Isa. 51:13, 104:5, Pr. 8:29) and as supported by pillars (Job 9:6, 75:3(4)); Sheol was
apparently supposed to lie beneath the subjacent ocean (cf. Am. 9:2, 3). Above the earth the
heaven or sky was thought of as a material expanse (Gen. 1:2), fixed in its place by God and
supported by pillars (Job 26:11, 18:7 (8)), by which we are probably to understand the
mountains. The plu. heavens represents the sky as made up of contiguous parts; the expression
heavens of heavens, elsewhere used of the celestial abode of the deity (Dt. 10:14, 1 K. 8:27,
148:4) conceives of it as including different planes. The three divisions of the world are given in
Ex. 20:4: the heaven above, the earth beneath, the water under the earth. The monotheistic
view of creation is here assumed as generally held (while Isa. 40 contains a polemic against
polytheism).
Reyburn, William David ; Fry, Euan McG.: A Handbook on Proverbs. New York :
United Bible Societies, 2000 (UBS Handbook Series; Helps for Translators), S. 83.
The Lord by wisdom founded the earth: The Lord continues the use of Israels name
for God, which first occurred in 1.7. Wisdom is used here as a characteristic of the Creator, not
as something outside of him; note that TEV and CEV have his wisdom. For passages that

32

display Gods wisdom in creation see Job 9.10 ; 38 and 39; Psa 104.24; 136.5; Isa 40:1214; and
Jer 10.12.
Founded reflects the idea of laying a foundation, which in turn depicts something of the
ancient view of the earth. Most modern translations use a word equivalent to created. Some
languages do not express the relationship between the Lord and wisdom using a term like by as
in RSV. In some cases it is possible to say, for example, The Lord used wisdom to create the
earth or Because the Lord is wise he created the earth.
By understanding he established the heavens: See verse 13 for understanding.
Established matches founded, and heavens refers to the sky. The wording of this line may
follow that of the first. However, some may find it more natural to follow a structure such as
CEV By his wisdom and knowledge the Lord created heaven and earth, or sky and
ground.

33

KJV

Proverbs 7:4 Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman:

ei=pon th.n sofi,an sh.n avdelfh.n ei=nai th.n de. fro,nhsin

gnw,rimon peripoi,hsai seautw/|
LXT

Proverbs 7:4

`ar"(q.ti hn"yBil; [d"moW T.a'_ ytixoa]

hm'k.x'l;( rmoa/ Proverbs 7:4
WTT

Reyburn, William David ; Fry, Euan McG.: A Handbook on Proverbs. New York :
United Bible Societies, 2000 (UBS Handbook Series; Helps for Translators), S. 160.
The two lines of this verse are parallel and very close in meaning. The association of
wisdom with sister and friend is a close and intimate relationship.
Say to wisdom, You are my sister: RSV uses direct address, but it is also possible to
say, for example, Call wisdom your sister or Let wisdom be like a sister to you. In languages
that make a distinction between older and younger sister, older sister will normally be
appropriate. GECL says Consider [regard, look upon] wisdom as your sister.
Call insight your intimate friend: For insight see 1.2. Intimate friend translates the
term for kinsman used of Boaz in relation to Ruths dead husband in Ruth 2.1 and 3.2. The term
carries with it a sense of obligation. Best friend or closest friend is a good rendering in this
context.
Murphy, Rowland E.: Word Biblical Commentary : Proverbs. Dallas : Word,
Incorporated, 2002 (Word Biblical Commentary 22), S. 43.
The introduction continues as the father/teacher personifies the Wisdom he is urging. The
important term is sister, and its meaning is colored by the love language exemplified in Cant
4:95:1, where sister occurs several times, coupled with bride. The parallel term friend
indicates a kin relationship (Ruth 2:1; 3:2). This erotic description (cf. Prov 4:58) is deliberate
and very important in view of what is to follow.

34

KJV

Proverbs 8:1 Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice?

LXT

Proverbs 8:1

su. th.n sofi,an khru,xeij i[na fro,nhsi,j soi u`pakou,sh|

`Hl'(Aq !TETi hn"Wbt.W ar"_q.ti hm'k.x'-al{)h]

WTT

Proverbs 8:1

Clarke, Adam: Clarke's Commentary: Proverbs. electronic ed. Albany, OR : Ages

Software, 1999 (Logos Library System; Clarke's Commentaries), S. Pr 8:1.
Doth not wisdom cry?] Here wisdom is again personified; but the prosopopoeia is
carried on to a greater length than before, and with much more variety. It is represented in this
chapter in a twofold point of view: 1. Wisdom, the power of judging rightly, implying the
knowledge of Divine and human things. 2. As an attribute of God, particularly displayed in the
various and astonishing works of creation. Nor has it any other meaning in this whole chapter,
whatever some of the fathers may have dreamed, who find allegorical meanings every where.
The wise man seems as if suddenly awakened from the distressful contemplation which he had
before him,of the ruin of young persons in both worlds by means of debauchery,by the
voice of wisdom, who has lifted up her voice in the most public places, where was the greatest
concourse of the people, to warn the yet unsnared, that they might avoid the way of seduction
and sin; and cause those who love her to inherit substance, and to have their treasuries filled
with durable riches.
Reyburn, William David ; Fry, Euan McG.: A Handbook on Proverbs. New York :
United Bible Societies, 2000 (UBS Handbook Series; Helps for Translators), S. 176.
Does not wisdom call: The whole verse is a rhetorical question in Hebrew, and this
feature is reproduced by RSV and some others. However, the effect of the rhetorical question is
to draw attention to the speaker and the speech that follows in the rest of the chapter; and many
languages do this in other ways. In English, for instance, TEV has Listen! and REB Hear
how wisdom calls . Wisdom is as in 1.2 and is again personified as in 1.2033. For call see
1.21, where RSV renders the same Hebrew verb cries out. In some languages that require an
object for the verb call, translators say something like calls out for us [plural, inclusive] to
listen to her.
Does not understanding raise her voice?: Understanding is as in 2.2. Raise her voice
is the same as in 1.20. Since this line is very similar to line 1, some translations combine the two
lines to say, for instance, Everybody, listen! Wisdom is like a woman who stands and calls out
to us.

35

KJV

Proverbs 8:12 I wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.

evgw. h` sofi,a kateskh,nwsa boulh,n kai. gnw/sin kai. e;nnoian

evgw. evpekalesa,mhn
LXT

Proverbs 8:12

tAMzIm. t[;d:w> hm'_r>[' yTin>k:v' hm'k.x'ynIa] Proverbs 8:12

`ac'(m.a,
WTT

Reyburn, William David ; Fry, Euan McG.: A Handbook on Proverbs. New York :
United Bible Societies, 2000 (UBS Handbook Series; Helps for Translators), S. 182.
I, wisdom, dwell in prudence: I, wisdom is Wisdom speaking and identifying herself.
This is more naturally expressed in English as I am Wisdom or Wisdom is who I am.
Translations that have expressed this at the beginning of verse 11 often do not repeat it here.
Dwell in prudence, as the RSV footnote shows, is obscure, that is, uncertain as to its meaning.
Various attempts have been made to modify the word rendered dwell. One change gives the
sense of neighbor or companion. CEV follows this and translates Common Sense is my
closest friend. Another approach is to change the vowels of the word rendered dwell to give I
cause to dwell, which carries the sense I cause someone to possess. NEB follows this change
and translates I bestow shrewdness , and this is retained by REB. However, HOTTP rates the
Hebrew as B and recommends keeping dwell with the meaning I am at home with prudence.
Prudence, which first appeared in 1.4, refers to the use of good judgment, common sense, or
good sense. NJB follows the recommendation of HOTTP by translating I, Wisdom, share house
with Discretion. SPCL says I, Wisdom, live with intelligence. If the personification is a
problem for the language, it may be possible to shift to a simile and say, for example, I am
called Wisdom, and I live with common sense like two people living together.
And I find knowledge and discretion: Find is something of a problem here. Some
interpret the Hebrew word as meaning I have in my power or I possess, a meaning that
Whybray claims is not otherwise found in biblical Hebrew. NEB changes the vowels of the word
translated find to give I cause to find and translates [I] show the way to (also REB). HOTTP
recommends I find or I find out [discover]. SPCL offers a model based on HOTTPs recommen
dation: I know how to find the best advice. Knowledge and discretion are as in 1.4.
Clarke, Adam: Clarke's Commentary: Proverbs. electronic ed. Albany, OR : Ages
Software, 1999 (Logos Library System; Clarke's Commentaries), S. Pr 8:12.
I wisdom dwell with prudence] Prudence is defined, wisdom applied to practice; so
wherever true wisdom is, it will lead to action, and its activity will be always in reference to the
accomplishment of the best ends by the use of the most appropriate means. Hence comes what is
here called knowledge of witty inventions, daath mezimmoth emtsa, "I
have found out knowledge and contrivance." The farther wisdom proceeds in man, the more
practical knowledge it gains; and finding out the nature and properties of things, and the general
course of providence, it can contrive by new combinations to produce new results.
36

37

KJV

Proverbs 9:1 Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars:

h` sofi,a wv|kodo,mhsen e`auth/| oi=kon kai. u`ph,reisen

stu,louj e`pta,
LXT

Proverbs 9:1

`h['(b.vi h'yd<WM[; hb'c.x' Ht'_ybe ht'n>B'

tAmk.x' Proverbs 9:1
WTT

Toy, Crawford Howell: A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of

Proverbs. New York : C. Scribner's Sons, 1899, S. 184.
Synonymous, ternary. The building of the house is mentioned as a necessary preparation for
holding a continual feast; it is an indication that Wisdom has set up a permanent establishment,
in which she is ready at all times to entertain all who may come to her. Instead of Heb. hewn (the
technical term of the stonemason) the parallelism favors the builders term set up, reared,
erected (so Grk. Syr. Targ.); the point is not that the pillars are hewn, but that they are put in
place, so that the house is finished and ready for guests. The pillars are an ordinary architectural
feature of the time, here introduced as a natural appendage to the house. The precise position of
the pillars in the Jewish house of this period (c. 3d century B.C.) is not known; probably, as in
Greek and Roman houses, they surrounded the hall or court which was entered from the streetdoor and was used for festive purposes; they served as support for an upper gallery. The number
seven is not significant; either it is merely a round number, or it indicates the usual architectural
arrangement of the time.The verse easily lends itself to allegorizing and spiritualizing
interpretation, and has been understood in this way from an early period. The Midrash takes
Wisdom to be the Law, which created all the worlds; Procopius: the enhypostatic power of God
the Father prepared the whole cosmos as its abode; Rashi: God by wisdom created the world.
The seven pillars have been explained as the seven firmaments or heavens, or the seven regions
or climates (Midrash); the seven days of creation, or the seven books of the Law (Rashi); the
seven charismata or gifts of the Holy Ghost; the seven eras of the Church (Vitringa); the seven
sacraments, or the omnipotent word of the Son of God (Geier); the prophets, apostles, and
martyrs; the seven liberal arts; the seven first chapters of Proverbs. These interpretations carry
their refutation on their face. The allegorical element in the paragraph is simply the
representation of Wisdom as hostess, dispensing, in her own house, instruction, here symbolized
by food and drink.
Reyburn, William David ; Fry, Euan McG.: A Handbook on Proverbs. New York :
United Bible Societies, 2000 (UBS Handbook Series; Helps for Translators), S. 201.
In verses 12 Wisdom is pictured as an industrious, active woman in contrast to the
foolish woman of verses 1314.
Wisdom has built her house: Wisdoms house is first referred to in 8.34. This line does
not suggest that Wisdom had someone else build her house for her but rather makes clear that she
is the builder. NJB says, Wisdom has built herself a house. In languages that have difficulty
with the personification here, we may need to shift to a simile and say, for example, Wisdom is
like a carpenter who builds a house or Wisdom has built her own house, as a builder does.

38

She has set up her seven pillars: RSV follows the Septuagint with set up. The Hebrew
has hewn, which means formed or shaped by chopping with an ax-like tool. NRSV translates
the Hebrew she has hewn her seven pillars. HOTTP gives a B rating to hewn, and this is
recommended to translators as the preferred text. Pillars are slender, vertical supports or
columns.
There has been much debate about the existence of houses with pillars in Israel during
the Old Testament period. However, it is now known from archeol ogy that some houses of the
rich had seven pillars supporting the portico, which is a porch or walkway with a roof leading to
the main entrance of the house. The expression seven pillars has likewise been the object of
much guesswork. However, what seems certain is that the house described here represents an
image of luxury and, from the widespread use of seven as a perfect number, a complete and ideal
or perfect building. All of this is to say that Wisdom has built a comfortable and permanent place
for herself to live, in contrast to Follys house, which is associated with the dead and Sheol in
verse 18.

39

KJV

Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is
understanding.
Proverbs 9:10 avrch. sofi,aj fo,boj kuri,ou kai. boulh. a`gi,wn su,nesij 1 to.
ga.r gnw/nai no,mon dianoi,aj evsti.n avgaqh/j
LXT

~yvidoq. t[;d:w> hw"+hy> ta;r>yI hm'k.x'

tL;xiT. Proverbs 9:10
`hn")yBi
WTT

Murphy, Rowland E.: Word Biblical Commentary : Proverbs. Dallas : Word,

Incorporated, 2002 (Word Biblical Commentary 22), S. 60.
This is a strong affirmation about the value of wisdom, after the note of futility that was
voiced in v 7. That note was overcome by vv 89, and the capstone of wisdom teaching is
repeated in v 10. V 10a reflects 1:7; perhaps it forms an inclusio for chaps. 19. V 10b is
noteworthy: the Holy One is literally the holy ones (, plural of majesty?), and this
appears with the singular meaning in Prov 30:3 and Hos 12:1. The saying has the character of a
summary verse concerning the teaching of wisdom, but it may be connected with the following
lines of the MT.
Reyburn, William David ; Fry, Euan McG.: A Handbook on Proverbs. New York :
United Bible Societies, 2000 (UBS Handbook Series; Helps for Translators), S. 208.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: This is the same as the first line in
1.7, except that wisdom replaces knowledge. See comments on this line in 1.7.
Knowledge of the Holy One is insight: This line, like the first, affirms that wisdom or
knowledge are not independent things but belong to God and are available to those who honor
the Lord. Holy One in the Hebrew is literally the holy ones, a plural expression used in the
Old Testament to refer to saintly persons, heavenly beings, or angels. For examples see Psa 34.9
(Hebrew verse 10); Job 5.1; 15.15; and Zech 14.5. Although some interpreters take the plural to
refer to holy men, the parallelism requires it to refer to God. Accordingly CEV translates as
Holy God. The Holy One is used as a title for God and is sometimes expressed as God who
is sacred. Since the reference is clearly to God, it is not always necessary to find a word for
Holy that can be applied to God. It is possible, for example, to use a pronoun in the second line
by saying and knowing him gives a person insight. For insight see 1.2. Two renderings of this
line in Pacific languages are: The Lord is sacred and completely righteous, and if someone
wants to understand the meaning of things, they must know the Lord well, and God is wholly
good and righteous; and if you want to get good understanding, you must first know him.

40

KJV

Proverbs 14:33 Wisdom resteth in the heart of him that hath understanding: but that which is in the
midst of fools is made known.
Proverbs 14:33 evn kardi,a| avgaqh/| avndro.j sofi,a evn de. kardi,a| avfro,nwn
ouv diaginw,sketai
LXT

~yliysiK. br<q<b.W hm'_k.x' x:WnT' !Abn"

bleB. Proverbs 14:33
`[;dE(W"Ti
WTT

Toy, Crawford Howell: A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of

Proverbs. New York : C. Scribner's Sons, 1899, S. 300.
Antithetic, ternary. Lit.: In the heart (= mind) of the intelligent man wisdom reposes (or,
is at rest), but in the mind (or, inward part) of fools it makes itself known (or, is made known).
Since the meaning cannot be that true wisdom is possessed by fools, the it (= wisdom) of second
cl. must be understood (according to the present text) in a sarcastic or ironical or humorous
sense, and known must express a contrast to reposes, so that we may paraphrase: a man of
sense, not being ambitious to gain applause, keeps his wisdom to himself (reserving it for fit
occasion), while a fool, anxious to shine, or ignorant of propriety, airs what he thinks his wisdom
at every opportunity. But this paraphrase contains too much explanation, and the employment of
wisdom in a sarcastic sense is unexampled and improbable; moreover the expression it makes
itself known in the mind of fools is strange and hard. Cf. 12:23, where a sentiment of this sort is
clearly expressed. The Grk. (followed by Syr.) inserts the negative, and says that it is not known
in fools, while the Targ. reads: folly is known (or, makes itself known); these emendations offer an
intelligible statement, but they leave the strange term known, which yields no satisfactory sense.
The Lat. gives the bold interpretation: it will teach fools also (cf. 8:5), which, however, the Heb.
cannot mean. The rendering: (that which is) in the inward part of fools is made known is
syntactically highly improbable, if not impossible. The present text seems impracticable; the
change of is known to folly (not a violent one in the Hebrew) gives a syntactically natural
sentence, with a sense substantially that of 13:16, 14:8, 15:2, 14 (and cf. Eccl. 7:9): practical
wisdom is the permanent possession of men who have a true perception of the relations of life,
while folly in conduct ( )characterizes those who are intellectually dull ( ). The
distinction between perception and conduct is made elsewhere in Prov. (10:23, 14:8 al.).
Reyburn, William David ; Fry, Euan McG.: A Handbook on Proverbs. New York :
United Bible Societies, 2000 (UBS Handbook Series; Helps for Translators), S. 323.
This saying expresses the idea that intelligent people, in contrast to the foolish, possess
wisdom.
Wisdom abides in the mind of a man of understanding: Abides in the mind is literally
rests [settles down] in the heart. NJB/REB say Wisdom is at home in mind, and NJB has
Wisdom resides in heart. A man of understanding may be expressed as an intelligent
person, thoughtful people, or people with good sense (see 1.5).

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But it is not known in the heart of fools: In this line the Hebrew text has no word
equivalent to not. See RSV and TEV footnotes. Heart translates a word that refers generally to
the inner parts of the body, but is used here as the seat of thought and emotion. In some
languages this is the stomach, spleen, liver, or kidneys. HOOTP suggests two interpretations
based upon the Hebrew text: and even among fools is she [wisdom] known or but in the mind
of fools she [wisdom] makes herself known. Most modern translations, like TEV, follow the
Septuagint. In this case we may say, for example, but fools know nothing about wisdom.

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KJV

Proverbs 15:33 The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom; and before honour is humility.

fo,boj qeou/ paidei,a kai. sofi,a kai. avrch. do,xhj

avpokriqh,setai auvth/|
LXT

Proverbs 15:33

dAbk' ynEp.liw> hm'_k.x' rs:Wm hw"hy>

ta;r>yI Proverbs 15:33
`hw")n"[]
WTT

Toy, Crawford Howell: A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of

Proverbs. New York : C. Scribner's Sons, 1899, S. 318.
Quaternary-ternary. The connection between the two clauses is not explicitone of them
is perhaps out of place; but see below. The fear of Yahweh is elsewhere described as the
beginning of knowledge (1:7) or of wisdom (9:10), and here, in substantially the same sense, as
the instruction of wisdom, that is, the instruction which wisdom gives, or, more probably,
instruction in wisdom. The latter expression is, therefore, the proper subject of the sentence: the
material or the essence of wisdom is reverent regard for the divine law, for (as Pr. elsewhere
declares) this law is the perfect expression of the truth of life, and obedience to it ensures safe
guidance and perfect happiness. This fundamental conception, the identity of divine wisdom and
human wisdom, is thus common to the two Divisions, chs. 19 and chs. 10:122:16. See notes
on 1:7, 9:10.The proper antithesis to second cl. is found in 18:12: pride leads to destruction as
humility to honor; but a connection between humility and the fear of Yahweh is given in 22:4,
which is an expansion of this clause. According to 22:4 the two things are substantially the same:
humility is a reverent attitude toward God as supreme and holy ruler. If the term be so understood
here, the honor is the reward (as in 22:4) which God bestows on those who obey him, and our
couplet contains an expanded parallelism: the fear of God is wisdom, and it entails honorfirst
the intellectual product of reverence, and then its reward. On the other hand, 18:12, compared
with 16:18, suggests that it is the natural social law that is here contemplated: humble demeanor
procures friends and honor, as pride makes enemies and leads to downfall. Probably both
conceptions of the aphorism were held, and the gnomic writers used one or the other as suited
their purposes. The identity of the two conceptions results from the doctrine that God is the
author of natural law.
Murphy, Rowland E.: Word Biblical Commentary : Proverbs. Dallas : Word,
Incorporated, 2002 (Word Biblical Commentary 22), S. 107.
Instead of straining to make some sense of the MT, one is obliged to adopt either of the
solutions proposed in the note. The JPS translation renders v 33b: But among dullards it makes
itself known. A. Vaccari agrees and adds in a note that the voice of wisdom is heard by the
wicked in the remorse that strikes their conscience. But this assumption of remorse is gratuitous,
and the opposition is between the intelligent or wise, and fools. Others (such as NIV) supply the
word even: even among fools she lets herself be known. But the whole thrust of the book is
against the association of wisdom with fools.

43

KJV

Proverbs 18:4 The words of a man's mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a
flowing brook.
Proverbs 18:4 u[dwr baqu. lo,goj evn kardi,a| avndro,j potamo.j de.
avnaphdu,ei kai. phgh. zwh/j
LXT

rAqm. [:benO lx;n: vyai_-ypi yrEb.DI

~yQimu[] ~yIm: Proverbs 18:4
`hm'(k.x'
WTT

Toy, Crawford Howell: A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of

Proverbs. New York : C. Scribner's Sons, 1899, S. 356.
The Heb. text reads:The words of a mans mouth are deep waters, a flowing brook, a
wellspring of wisdom. This unrestricted statement does not accord with the thought of Prov., in
which no such excellence is ascribed to men in general (in 12:14 the text is to be changed); nor
can we take man as = the ideal man, or paraphrase it often happens that the words, etc.this
is not in the manner of the Book. As the couplet stands, the man must be qualified by some term
like good, or, wise, and the second cl. must be regarded as continuing the predicate of first
cl. To take second cl. as an independent sentence, and describe the wellspring of wisdom as a
flowing brook is to introduce an impropriety of languagea fountain is not a brook; and the
rendering the words, etc., are deepened waters [that is, of a cistern, which is exhaustible], the
wellspring, etc., is a flowing [or, bubbling, = inexhaustible] brook supposes a meaning
(deepened) which the Heb. does not permit, and thus introduces an unwarranted antithesis
between mans words and wisdom.The two lines of the couplet do not agree well together.
A comparison like that of our first cl. is found in 20:5, but in a sense which is hardly applicable
here: there a mans secret thought is compared to deep water, as hard to fathom and get
possession of; here the deep water is rather the symbol of inexhaustible supply, a sense which is
given by the parallel terms flowing brook and wellspring. This inexhaustibleness cannot be meant
to be affirmed of men in general; the man must be defined. We may supply righteous (as in
10:11), or wise (cf. 13:14, 16:22), but then the wisdom of second cl. will not be appropriateit is
not naturally related to righteous, and, with wise in first cl., it would produce an identical
proposition. Further, the term fountain (Heb. mqr), when it is used metaphorically, always
occurs elsewhere in connection with the idea of life (5:18, 10:11, 13:14, 14:27, 16:22, Jer.
2:13, 17:13, 36:9(10), 68:26(27)), and the definition life here suits the context better than
wisdom. The expression fountain of life may mean either fountain of life-giving water, or
perennial fountain; the latter sense accords with the parallel brook. The reading life, instead of
wisdom, is found in the Grk. and in a few Heb. MSS.; the testimony of the latter is not of great
value, and the Greek reading may be a correction after 10:11. But the usage of Prov. must be
allowed to have weight, and we should perhaps read the couplet: The words of the wise are deep
waters, a flowing brook, a perennial fountain, that is, an inexhaustible source of counsel and
blessing.On word as equivalent to thought see note on 10:11.
Reyburn, William David ; Fry, Euan McG.: A Handbook on Proverbs. New York :
United Bible Societies, 2000 (UBS Handbook Series; Helps for Translators), S. 384.
44

The words of a mans mouth are deep waters: There is no verb in either line of this
saying. Interpreters vary greatly in their understanding of it. Line 1 appears to be closely related
to the idea expressed in 20.5, where what a person thinks with his mind (expressed in Hebrew as
heart) is compared with deep waters. This thought is supported by 16.23. It is not entirely
clear if deep waters is to be taken here as profound thoughts or obscure thoughts that a
person expresses in his or her words. Whybray understands this image to mean that a persons
character is like deep water in that it is not easily observed.
The fountain of wisdom is a gushing stream: RSV takes the subject of this verbless clause
to be the fountain of wisdom that is compared with a flowing, running or gushing stream (of
water). The expression fountain of wisdom is used here for the first time in Proverbs. It is
similar to fountain of life used in 10.11. It is a figure of speech that may be expressed, for
example, They are like a fountain that gives wisdom or a source flowing with wisdom.
Translators may follow the pattern of RSV or that of TEV. In the case of TEV, the
translators have supplied the verb can be in order to avoid saying whether The words of a
mans mouth in line 1 are words of wise people or any words spoken by a person. TEV has
then adjusted the metaphor fountain of wisdom to a source of wisdom and used the link words
can be to show that this describes The words of a mans mouth. Deep waters from line 1 and
gushing stream are then made to serve as similes for wisdom. Another model that translators
may use is that of CEV: Words of wisdom are a stream that flows from a deep fountain.

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KJV

Proverbs 28:26 He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be
delivered.
Proverbs 28:26 o]j pe,poiqen qrasei,a| kardi,a| o` toiou/toj a;frwn o]j de.
poreu,etai sofi,a| swqh,setai
LXT

hm'k.x'B. %lEAhw> lysi_k. aWh ABliB.

x;jeAB Proverbs 28:26
`jle(M'yI aWh
WTT

Reyburn, William David ; Fry, Euan McG.: A Handbook on Proverbs. New York :
United Bible Societies, 2000 (UBS Handbook Series; Helps for Translators), S. 600.
He who trusts in his own mind is a fool: Trusts translates the same verb as used in verse
25. His own mind is literally his own heart and refers to the persons own intelligence or
cleverness. Such a person is described as a fool; see 1.22 for fool.
But he who walks in wisdom will be delivered: Walks in wisdom means to live or
conduct yourself wisely, or to live according to the teachings of the wise. Will be delivered
means escape danger or be safe. See TEVand the comments at 11.21.

46