Part 63
but its practical moral association was strong among the
Stoics. They linked sophia and sapientia with their ideal figure of the imperturbably virtuous Wise, the true king among mortals, who goes 'where heavenly wisdom leads' (Horace, Epistles, 1.3.27).
7. Platonic and Stoic sophia therefore readily converged with the moral as well as intellectual portrayal of sophia in the biblical wisdom-books (wis A.3; A.g). Educated Jews were aware of possible associations between Judaism and the Greek schools of thought, as can be inferred from Josephus. Thus Aristobulus, in the Egyptian Jewish community of the second century BCE, mentions Pythagoras, Plato, and the Aristotelians in his fragmentarily preserved Pentateuchal comments, and urges that the philosophers drew on Moses (Hengel 1974: 163-9; Collins 1985; Barclay 1996: 150-8; wis 6:12). Wisdom does not give names, but shows similar awareness, especially with regard to Stoicism. Like Aristobulus, but implicitly, it urges that the wisdom of biblical tradition anticipates and includes the philosophical truths and virtues (7:17-27; 8:7); at the same time it implicitly modifies biblical tradition, and integrates it fully into Hellenic culture (Chester 1988: 164). In the church this aspect of the book led to assertions (in line with the earlier Jewish argument seen in Aristobulus) that Wisdom itself was the original source of Platonic and Stoic doctrines (wis 7:24; 11:17).
8. The philosophy of Wisdom leads it also to differ, on points debated by early Christians, from what in the end became the most approved church teaching. The soul is preexistent and not originated in connection with conception (wis 8:19); the world is made from pre-existent matter rather than ex nihilo (wis 11:17); an(^ me soul's future life is described
11. Affinities between Wisdom and Christian books later than the NTemerge in i Clement (wis 4:10) and in the mythopoeic treatment of wisdom's love forthe Father (cf. 8:4; 9:9) by Valentinus and his school, as recounted in the later second century by Irenaeus (Haer. 1.2). Signs of Wisdom's direct influence on the church are evident from this time onwards
(A.g) without reference to the body (Stead 1994: 29-30).
9. Within the Apocrypha the philosophical theology of Wisdom recalls 2 Maccabees, which is likewise concerned with martyrdom and afterlife, but speaks of resurrection (anastasis) rather than immortality (athanasia); Wisdom expresses future hope just as vividly, but seems to expect a spiritual rather than carnal revival of the righteous (wis 3:7). The personified wisdom of wis 7—10, linked with the wise king of Israel, compares and contrasts (wis 7:22) with that of Sir 24 and Bar 3:9-4:2, linked with the Jerusalem temple and identified with the Pentateuchal law; all three passages are patriotic Israelite developments of the goddess-like figure of cosmic wisdom in Prov 8-9 and Job 28, could have been associated by Greekspeaking readers with the philosophical and moral overtones of sophia noted above, and owe something to contemporary portrayals of Isis (Knoxi939: 69—81; wis 7:22). The cosmos in Wisdom is a world of spirits, good and bad, including 'the spirit of the Lord' (1:7), 'angels' (16:20), and 'the devil' (2:24), as is already the case in the LXX, and wisdom herself is spiritual, as already noted (7:22—7); correspondingly, human beings are envisaged above all as 'souls' (2:22, etc.; wis A.3), which are probably held to be pre-existent, as in Plato and Philo (wis 8:19). In assessment of this spiritual aspect of Wisdom it is noteworthy that, for Stoics, the world-soul and individual souls were material, even if superfine (7:22-4; Hengel 1974: 199-200). Philosophy had links with widespread conceptions of energetic good and evil spirits (P. Merlan in Armstrong 1970: 32—7), and spiritual immortality (wis 3:7) need not have seemed insubstantial by contrast with
(wis c.i). Wisdom helped to mould not only dogmatic and moral theology, but also baptismal instruction, hymnody, and prayer. The philosophic and exegetical treatment of wisdom as intermediary in Wisdom 7-10 was joined with the Pauline view of Christ as the wisdom of God (wis 10:1); Christological indebtedness to Wisdom is especially striking in the early third-century Origen (wis 1:4; 7:22). Wisdom also formed the clearest biblical source for the notion of pure universal love permeating and ordering the cosmos (wis 7:22—8:1; 11:20—12:1; 14:3; 16:7,12). 12. In the fourth century Athanasius (Festal Letter, 39) put Wisdom first among those books which (he says) are not canonical, but were approved by the fathers for reading to newcomers (catechumens). Jerome (wis B.I) likewise stressed that Wisdom was outside the canon, but endorsed the reading of this and other approved extra-canonical books for edification, as is recalled in the sixth of the Thirty-Nine Articles
(1562). Augustine, by contrast, worked for church recognition of these approved books as canonical, and noted Wisdom's prophetic witness to Christ (De civ. dei, 17.20). The later Christian West found Wisdom congenial, as medieval commentaries show (Smalley 1986); the book's influence on forms of prayer (wis 1:7; 3:7; 8:1; 9:1; 11:24; 16:6, 20) appears at its most famous in the antiphon O Sapientia (8.1). The old acclamation of Christ as the wisdom of the Father's heart, echoed in the poems of Prudentius (end of 4th cent.), was reunited with mystical passages of Wisdom in the warm
THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON 652
Horace (wis A.4). The biblical allusions of Wisdom roughly correspond to classical dependence on Homer and the mythical tradition. Didactic compositions in prose or verse could inculcate virtue and knowledge through exhortation (protreptic, cf. Wis i—6) and praise (encomium, cf Wis 7—10). In the twentieth century Wisdom was identified with protreptic and encomium in turn. The book can be loosely classified in Greek terms as a protreptic work, but it differs as a whole from the kind of Greek prose or verse composition which this classification evokes. Aspects of the book recalling Greek and Roman didactic poetry, including moral exhortation, are perhaps less important as indications of genre than as clues to the popularity of Wisdom in antiquity and the Middle Ages (A.12), when classical didactic literature was also relished.
Christ-mysticism of the Swabian Henry Suso (Seuse) (£.12951366); in the language of courtship as well as piety he called himself'servant of the eternal wisdom' (wis 7:10; 10:9).
B. Form. 1. 'The very style has a scent of Greek eloquence', as Jerome noted in the letter introducing his Latin translation of the books of Solomon from the Hebrew (Weber et al. 1975: ii. 957, lines 17—18). The scent arises mainly from literary and philosophical vocabulary (wis A.4), occasional patches of rhetorical style, and thematic contacts with such typically Greek concerns as consolation (3:13-4:19). Nevertheless, the form of Wisdom belongs chiefly to Hebrew literature. It recalls the thirdto first-century BCE Judean continuation of Hebrew wisdom poetry attested in the Dead Sea scrolls, including the apocryphal Ps 154 (Vermes 1997: 302-3, 393-425; van der Woude 1995), and it is comparable with the form of the Greek Psalms of Solomon (£.60—40 BCE), for it resembles the translations of Psalms, Proverbs, and Sirach preserved in the LXX, and replicates in Greek the stressed parallelistic verse of the HB. This would not necessarily be expected of a Jewish poetical book current in Greek. Jews loved Greek verse in the quantitative metres of classical poetry, as literature and inscriptions composed or sponsored by Jews attest (Horbury and Noy 1992: pp. xx—xxiv); the moral hexameter Sentences of Ps.-Phocylides (van der Horst 1985; Barclay 1996: 336—46) form a metrical Jewish work broadly comparable with Wisdom. The classical metres are set aside in Wisdom, however, for a form redolent of ancestral Jewish Scripture, in line with the book's strong national feeling (wis A.3). Indeed, it is not impossible that Wisdom i-io is a version of a text also issued in Hebrew or Aramaic. On the other hand, Wisdom's occasional transitions from biblical parallelism to hymn-like prose, such as the list of epithets in 7:22-3, sometimes give it a mixed Hebraic and rhetorical style like that seen on a small scale in the hymn of Rev 15:3-4.
4. The genre seems better classified in biblical terms as 'sapiential'; the book furthers the literary tradition followed in the wisdom-books of Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes, but it does so in a more consciously Israelite and biblically oriented manner, in this respect resembling Sirach (wis D). Unlike the Hebrew and Greek Sirach, however, Wisdom presents itself as wisdom of the inspired Solomon (7:7). Might it therefore be classed as pseudepigraphic prophecy, and be called an apocalypse, like i Enoch which it seems to echo? No, even though Wisdom declares the future and interprets Scripture in prophetic fashion, and exemplifies the thematic overlap between wisdom-books and apocalypses (2 BSD); for the centrality of wisdom in chs. i-io makes the book as a whole more sapiential than apocalyptic.
C. Setting. 1. Wisdom echoes the Septuagint of the Prophets as well as the Pentateuch, and probably draws on i Enoch 1-36 and 91—108 (wis A.2). It is therefore unlikely to be earlier than the second century BCE. It was valued in the early church, but its lack of Christian allusion suggests that it is not a Christian work. In the second century CE it was known to Irenaeus, as Eusebius notes (Hist. eccl. 5.8.8), and was named with comment in the Muratorian Canon (Horbury 19940); it also received a Latin translation, later incorporated by Jerome into the Vulgate, which forms the earliest surviving interpretation of Wisdom. Wisdom was explicitly quoted by Christian writers from Clement of Alexandria (£.150—215) onwards. Earlier allusions in Paul, i Clement, and Justin Martyr are probable but not certain. Wisdom is therefore likely to have been current by the early years of the first century CE, at latest. The vocabulary includes Greek words not otherwise attested before the first century CE, but the body of extant Greek literature from the previous century is not large.
2. A formal feature visible throughout the book is correspondence between speeches or descriptions. Within sections, units of text have been arranged to show parallels of sense and to return to an opening theme (as with the two speeches of the ungodly, 1:16—2:24; 5:I~23> an(^ perhaps also with the four distinct passages that can be discerned between them). Suggested divisions naturally differ, but there is a good case for some intentional correspondence. The prevalence of this structural care (Grabbe 1997: 18—23) then recalls the prevalent consistency of style, but it does not cancel the marked thematic variation between chs. i-io and 11-19 (WIS
A.2). These sections probably represent at least two separate compositions (wis 9 introduction; 11:2), following the same conventions but not necessarily written by the same author.
2. A date in or near Caligula's principate (37—41 CE) has often been suggested, in line with the old ascription to Philo (wis A.I) that Jerome notes (in his comment cited in wis B.I). This date is one of those which might suit address to the kings of the earth (6:1) and opposition to ruler-cult and idolatry (chs. 13—15), with the depiction of persecution (chs. i—6), for these are themes of Philo's defence of the Alexandrian Jews under Caligula; but the academic tone of the remarks on ruler-cult is less urgent than would be natural under Caligula, and this date allows less time than would be expected for the book to gain the high esteem implied by its Christian usage. The firstcentury BCE date which has also often been suggested for
3. It is correspondingly difficult to name a Greek literary genre to which the book in its present state belongs, although Jewish wisdom literature in general has some kinship with the proverbial and moralistic literature of the Greeks (wis A. 4-8). If lack of Greek metre is overlooked, Wisdom broadly recalls the didactic poetry on philosophical and moral subjects which flourished in Hellenistic authors such as Aratus (3rd cent. BCE), found a Jewish echo in Ps.-Phoc, and was later imitated by Roman poets such as Lucretius, Virgil, and
653 THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON
Wisdom seems preferable. Address to kings and a theory of pagan cult would suit the Greek as well as the Roman period of Jewish history. In chs. i—6, on persecution, the argument seems to be directed against internal foes, as in i Enoch and the Psalms of Solomon. These chapters can then be tentatively associated with Sadducaic-Pharisaic strife, in which afterlife was a prominent topic (wis 3:1); persecution of those who defended it figured in the bloody repression of the Pharisees under Alexander Jannaeus in the early first century BCE. The Egyptian Jewish community, in close touch with Judea and probably including Judean refugees, seems the likeliest cradle for the Greek text of the whole book, perhaps between 100 and 50 BCE; these dates are speculative, but they would suit the points of contact with both Sirach and the Psalms of Solomon noted above. Sirach was put into Greek probably in 132 BCE, with what seems (especially but not only in the longer form of the Greek text) a fresh recognition of reward and punishment hereafter, specifically for circulation among Egyptian Jews. Their Greek epitaphs attest a difference of opinion on afterlife like that evinced between the Sadducee-like Ecclesiastes and the Hebrew Sirach on the one side, and the Pharisee-like Wisdom and Psalms of Solomon on the other (Horbury 1994/7). The young and still righteous Solomon of Wisdom endorses the Pharisaic-Stoic preaching of'justice, self-control, and the coming judgement' (Acts 24:25). Sirach was translated to aid Jewish education (Prologue), and Wisdom will have been valued for this reason as well as for its special doctrine. Its Christian educational use (wis A.n-12) probably had Jewish antecedents.
Love Righteousness, for Unrighteousness Cannot be Hidden and Leads to Death (1:1-16)
(1:1-5) Righteousness, the Great Virtue Needed by Kings, Must be Sought in a Whole-Hearted Quest for the Divine Spirit of Wisdom With the exhortations characteristic of wisdom herself (Prov 2:20; 8:1; 9:3) and her prophetic 'children' (Lk 7:35; 11:49; Wis 7:27), the writer addresses those 'who judge the earth' (1:1, my tr.); they are 'rulers' (NRSV), being 'kings' as well as 'judges' (6:1—2), but their judicial office is in view, as with Solomon (i Kings 3:3-28). 'Love righteousness' echoes psalms of kingship (Ps. 2:10-11; 45:7; 72:1-4). This hint at the form of a manual for kings commended Wisdom to an intellectual Jewish public, given the keen current interest in political and moral philosophy (wis A.4~7). The significance gained by the first line in Christian political thought emerges when Dante sees its letters displayed by heavenly spirits (Paradiso, 18.70—117).
Righteousness, the characteristic virtue of the Israelites and their martyrs and heroes in Wisdom (as at 2:12; 3:1; 5:1; 10:4; 18:7), was exalted in Greek tradition as the principle of civic life and a cardinal virtue (wis 8:7), indeed as 'the entirety of virtue' (Arist., Eth. Nic. 5.1.19, ii3Oa8); these views converged with the prominence of righteousness in the OT, there too as a civic principle, but with emphasis on conformity to the will of a righteous deity (Isa 11:4—5; PS II:7> 45:7> Wis 15:3). Here this emphasis marks the quick transition in 1:1 to advice on seeking the God of Israel, who is named, as often in Wisdom, by the royal title 'lord' (kyrios) used in the LXX. He must be sought wholeheartedly (Deut 4:29), by inward 'goodness', a term used for the unqualified zeal of Phinehas (Sir 45:23) and the generosity of Solomon (Wis 8:15, 19), and by sincerity
D. Character. The special contribution of Wisdom to Jewish sapiential literature and the Christian sacred library is highlighted by its contrasts with the often comparable book of
Sirach. Sirach is scribal wisdom in mainly proverbial form, but its author gives his name in accord with Greek convention; Wisdom is hortatory and expository rather than proverbial, but is anonymously presented as royal wisdom from the mouth of Solomon, in the manner of post-biblical prophecy like Enoch (wis 8.4). Sirach is not unaffected by the Greek world, but sticks to ancestral Jewish modes of expression; Wisdom shows equal pride in Jewish tradition, but manifestly incorporates Greek terminology and thought (wis A.4-g). Sirach is a Judean book translated for Egypt, Wisdom probably arose in Egypt but in contact with Judea (wis c.2). Sirach depicts the social round of a wise scribe, but Wisdom looks with royal and prophetic eye on scenes of martyrdom, divine judgement, and biblical story (wis A.2). Sirach in Hebrew sounds mainly sceptical of afterlife, Wisdom preaches immortality (wis A.9; c.2). In Sirach biblical knowledge subserves proverbs and poems, in Wisdom expanded biblical narrative shapes the structure of the book (wis A. 2). In Sirach wisdom takes root in the people and is identified with the law (ch. 24), in Wisdom she is known to the king, and not identified with the law (wi s A. 9); she is seen above all as a world-soul bringing individual souls to God. In Sirach wisdom herself speaks (ch. 24), in Wisdom her ardent disciple (chs. 6—9). Both books present her as loving and beloved, but only Wisdom clearly links this mystical theme with afterlife and the divine and human spirit.
(haplotes, REB 'singleness') of heart, a phrase linked with the kingly large-heartedness of David (i Chr 29:17 LXX). Singleness of heart ranked high as a virtue (i Mace 2:60; Col 3:22; i Clem. 60:2); the 'double-minded' must 'purify the heart' (Jas i:8;4:8).
The great example of divine 'manifestation' to those who do not tempt or distrust (v. 2) was Moses (Ex 33:13, 18—19), by contrast with the rebellious children of Israel in the wilderness (1:10-11). 'Thoughts' (logismoi, v. 3) are also the main obstacle in Prov 15:23 LXX ('an unrighteous thought is an abomination to the Lord'), 2 Cor 10:4—5. 'The power' (RV; NRSV adds 'his') is the divine manifestation itself (Mk 14:62), the spirit identified with wisdom (Wis 1:4-6) and probably also with the angelic spirit of the divine presence who led the Exodus and met rebellion (Ex 3:2; 32:34; Isa 63:9— 14; wis 10, introduction), v. 3 also takes up Isa 59, where perverse ways separate sinners from God (Isa 59:2, 8, quoted at Rom 3:15), and he appears as a warrior to punish them (Isa 59:16—21, also echoed in Wis 5:18). Wisdom (wis A.6-7) is named with reverent emphasis at the end of v. 40 in Greek (wis 6:12). If not excluded by sin (cf 4:10—12) it can 'enter' the soul (v. 4; 7:27) as a 'spirit' (w. 5—6); the soul likewise enters a body (8:19; wis A.4; 8). Origen (wis A. n), thinking on these lines, held that the Logos entered the pre-existent soul of Christ (Origen, On First Principles, 2.6.3-7;
THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON 654
v. 15 can be viewed together with the last two lines of v. 14 as forming a triad, on the pattern of w. i, 5, 9; in the OL it is followed by the line 'but unrighteousness is the obtaining of death', but this is probably an early expansion. The characteristically Greek term 'immortal' (wis 3:4) here adorns a maxim found in other words in the Psalms (111:3; II2:3> 9> 119:142,144). The 'ungodly' are pictured (v. 16) as in Isa 28:15 LXX (also echoed at Sir 14:12) 'we made a covenant with Hades, and a bond with death'; 'him' (NRSV marg.) is perhaps more likely to be Hades, just mentioned, than 'death' (text), butthe diabolical power of death (2:24; Heb 2:14) is in view in either case. This Isaianic 'covenant' became in medieval thought the pact with the devil in witchcraft, as when Dr Faustus made Lucifer 'a deed of gift of body and of soul', conditionally on 'all covenants and articles between us both' (Marlowe, Doctor Faustus, 11. 89-91). The covenanters deservedly belong to the 'portion' (meris) of Hades, death, or the devil (v. 16; 2:24 RV; NRSV 'company'), implicitly opposed here to 'the Lord's portion' (Deut 32:9, 2 Mace 1:26), (righteous) Israel, wisdom's home (Sir 24:12); an explicit contrast is drawn in Qumran rule literature between those who belong to 'the lot of Belial' and 'the lot of God' (iQS ii 2-5). For the movement of thought from the infernal covenant to the two portions compare 2 Cor 6:15, where Christ has no concord with Belial, and a believer no meris with an unbeliever.
4.6.4-5). For the body in bond to sin (v. 4) cf Rom. 6:12-14; 7:14; 8:23. 'Disciplined spirit' (v. 5) seems to imply the human spirit, butthe more exact rendering 'spirit of discipline' (RV, REB) is preferable, for divine wisdom ('holy', cf. 7:22) is probably the subject, as in w. 3—4 and 6. For its flight from iniquity cf. Ps 51:10—11. 'Discipline' (paideia)—training with instruction— was constantly linked with wisdom (so Prov 1:2; Wis 3:11); here too Jewish and Greek thinking converged.
(1:6-11) The Universal Spirit of Wisdom Conveys All Unrighteous Speech to the Lord The spirit of wisdom is philanthropes (v. 6; 7:23), 'kindly' to humanity in particular, for she delights in human company (Prov 8:31; Bar 3:37); but this epithet unexpectedly subserves the ruling theme of w. 6-n, the omnipresence of a judicial spirit aware of all thought and speech (Ps 139:1—12, 23—4; Wis 9:11; divine omniscience linked with wisdom, i Enoch, 84:3). Likewise, v. 7 recalls the
Stoic conception (wis A. 2) of a universe in which 'one common soul Inspires and feeds and animates the whole' (Virg., Aen. 6.725—6, tr. Dryden); but the spirit is pictured as a worldsoul in order to show that it has 'knowledge of the voice' (phone, see RV), hears all, and knows all languages (i Cor 14:10-110 REB). In the medieval and later Christian West v. 7 was therefore aptly recited at Pentecost (see Acts 2:4), but throughout w. 7—11 the spirit's linguistic and other knowledge is judicial; the ungodly are detected (v. 8), heard (w. 9-11) by divine jealousy or zeal (v. 10; 5:17; Isa 59:17 RV, REB), and punished (w. 8, 9, n) by unfaltering justice (dike, 8; 2 Mace 8:11; Acts 28:4). As the Greek deities were epopsioi, 'watchers' (Callimachus fr. 85), so the eyes of the Lord run to and fro everywhere (2 Chr 16:9; Prov 15:3; Zech 4:10). 'Know what is above thee: a seeing eye, and a hearing ear, and all thy doings written in a book' (m. 'Abot, 2.1). The famous 'grumbling'
The Ungodly Declare their Falsely Argued Philosophy, and their Resolve to Use their Time in Revelry and Oppression
(2:1-20)
This speech, 'full of a kind of evil grandeur rhythmically expressed' (Deane 1881), follows the expressions of doubt or lawlessness imagined by biblical writers (as at Isa 22:13; PS
10:4—11; 14:1; Prov 1:10—14). These were later developed, with hints at Epicureanism as popularly represented (i Cor 15:32; i
(w. 10, n) of the wilderness generation was strictly punished (Num 14:27-35; i Cor 10:10); the soul's destruction (v. n) is then probably seen as the penalty as well as the consequence of untruth.
Enoch 102:6, 'they [the pious] like us have died'; Ps. Sol. 4:11 (14) 'There is none that sees and judges'). Similarly, Cain was pictured as saying to Abel, in a dispute before he killed him, 'Did nature create pleasures for the dead?' (Philo, Det. 33), or 'There is no judgment, no Judge, and no other world' (Tg. Ps.-]. Gen. 4:8). The evocation of both sides of the argument in Wis 2—5 sounds like an echo of the judgement scene in i Enoch 102—3. In w. 1—5, as in Job 14:1, we have 'but a short time to live, and are full of misery', for there is no 'remedy' (RV 'healing') for death (v. i, line 3); OL 'refreshment' (refrigerium, also at 4:7; often used of afterlife) prematurely introduces the denial of happy immortality implied in the following line, but well displays the link of 'healing' with new life (Deut 32:39; Ps 30:3-4; Hos 6:1-2) which leads to the coming denial (v. i, line 4). None was known to 'return' from Hades or, transitively, to 'give release' (RV); the latter seems preferable for its sharper polemic. It implicitly negates the myths of Orpheus and Heracles, the miracles of Elijah and Elisha (Sir 48:5, 14), and the hope of rescue by the supreme deity himself (Hos 13:14); its feeling is both biblical (Ps 89:48) and classical: 'Nor virtue, birth, nor eloquence divine Shall bid the grave its destin'd prey resign: Nor chaste Diana from infernal night Could bring her modest favourite back to light' (Horace, Odes, 4.7.21—8, tr. P. Francis).
(1:12—16) Do not Court Death by Going Astray, for the World is Made for Life through Righteousness w. 12-16 expand Prov 8:35-6, the end of the speech by wisdom already echoed in v. 6. In v. 12 'error' (plane, 'straying'; wis 12:24) nas overtones of idolatry, the root of all vice. 'Death' (v. 12), coupled with 'destruction' (w. 12,14), is personified according to an old biblical tradition probably influenced at various stages by Syrian and
Greek myths of a god of death, and exemplified at Job 28:22; Isa 28:15 (taken up in v. 16, below); Hos 13:14. In v. 13, accordingly, death was not divinely created, but came in 'through the devil's envy' (2:24); all created things, by contrast, were made for life and health (v. 14; wis 2:23). Because of this contrast between the created and the intruded, 'creatures' (v. 14, NRSV marg.) is preferable to 'generative forces' as a rendering of geneseis; created things have the sap of life in them, not the
'poison of destruction' (RV), the principle of death. 'Hades' (v. 14) usually represents Hebrew se'ol in the LXX, and can therefore be personal (Isa 5:14) as well as topographical; here, where death is personified, Hades is probably imagined as a godlike figure whose 'dominion' is underground, on the lines of Greek myth, as in the Egyptian Jewish epitaph CIJ 1508 (Horbury and Noy 1992: pp. xxiii-xxiv, 63). The single-line
655 THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON
Israel collectively are usually the 'child of God' (18:13; Ex 4:22), but suffering individuals apply this to themselves (Deut 8:5, using the second person singular; compare Ps. So!. 13:8 'he will admonish the righteous as a child of love'; Heb 12:57); here then (Wis 2:13,16,18; 14:3 is collective) the individual righteous is the child claiming God as Father, probably with satirical reflection of the near-mystical piety (cf. 7:27; 8:2; wis A.3) which became characteristic of wisdom and martyrology
The materialism of v. 2-4 comparably blends biblical and Hellenic reminiscence, following the more sceptical and mocking the more hopeful side of both traditions. Our birth is haphazard, as Epicureans held cosmic origins to be: 'not by design did the first beginnings of things station themselves' (Lucretius, 5.419, tr. H. A. J. Munro); on the other side, like a refutal of the ungodly, 'Not to blind hazard or accident is our birth and our creation due' (Cic. Tusc. 1.118, tr. J. E. King). The philosophers' 'spark' of reason is as temporary as the associated heart-beat (v. 2); Heraclitus' view that the soul was a 'spark' of ethereal fire (Macrobius, In Somnium Scipionis, 1.14) is cited as well known by Tertullian, DC Anima 5.2. When the body dies, the spirit is dispersed (v. 3; Eccl 3:21), and (as in Horace, Odes, 4.7.16) 'our best remains are ashes and a shade'. Lastly, the sealed end without 'return' (anapodismos, v. 5) for the passing of our shadow seems implicitly to negate Isaiah's miracle of the shadow on the dial, when the sun 'went back' (anepodisen, Sir 48:23 REB) and life was regained.
(5:5); see Sir 23:1, 4, 'O Lord, Father...'; 4(3417 (Sapiential work) fr. i ii, 'you will be His first-born son' (tr. Vermes 1997: 405); 'These wounds caused me to be beloved of my Father in heaven', Mekilta, Yithro, Bahodesh 6, on Ex 20:6 (tr. Lauterbach 1933: ii. 247).
The righteous 'will be protected' (v. 20), for (rendering more closely with RV margin) 'there will be a visitation of him' with immortality, as at wis 3:7.
The Ungodly, Reasoning Thus, were Blinded to God's Gift of Life (2:21-4)
The call to enjoy life (w. 6—9) was often underlined in poetry by a reminder of death: 'Live, says he, for I'm coming' (Virg. App. Copa, 38, tr. H. Waddell); but here death has been the first consideration (w. 1—5), and 'Gather ye rosebuds while ye may' (v. 8) leads not simply to wine or love but to robbery, torment, and murder (w. 10-20). Heartless sensuality, 'making use of the creation' (v. 6), is vividly evoked through concentration (w. 7—9) on the spring flowers grabbed for the soon-discarded crowns of the drunkards (contrast the decorous bestowal of a wreath at a well-conducted symposium, Sir 32:2); Isa 28 (1-4) is echoed again, as in 1:16 above. In accord with this floral theme, in v. 9 probably read leimon (meadow) for hemon (of us), as suggested by an additional line in the OL which otherwise corresponds to v. 9, line i NRSV (Kilpatrick 1981: 216; Scarpat 1989-96; see Gregg 1909), and render 'Let no meadow fail to share in our revelry'. In w. 10—20 the series of hedonistic group exhortations starting with 'let us enjoy' turns, with a sinister unveiling of purpose, into the tyrannical 'let us oppress ... lie in wait... test... condemn'; for this sequence compare Jas 5:5—6, perhaps an echo of Wisdom. Now the speech recalls Prov 1:10—14, cited above, an enticement by the 'ungodly' (LXX) to rob and murder the 'righteous' (LXX). In Wisdom also the victim is the 'righteous' (dikaios, Lat. iustus, w. 10,12,16,18; 3:1), taken by early Christians (wi s A. 11—12) to be Christ amid his enemies prophetically foreseen (so among others, with reference to v. 12 onwards, Gyp. Test. 2.14; Aug. De civ. del, 17.20); the scene recalls Plato on the inevitable torture and judicial murder of the dikaios (Rep. 2.5, 3&2A, also referred to Christ by Clem. Al.
God's purposes (v. 22, mysteria, RV 'mysteries'), hidden (Mk 4:11) from the impious by a judicial blinding (Isa 6:9-10) brought on by their wickedness (v. 21; cf. 2 Cor 4:4) are indeed to give the worthy their 'wages' (misthos, as 5:15 and Mt 5:12, where NRSV has 'reward'); so at i Cor 3:7-9 it is similarly said that the rulers responsible for the crucifixion would have refrained if only they had known what God prepares for them that love him. Tncorruption' (v. 23; 6:18—19) hints, as its Pauline usage suggests (Rom 2:7; i Cor 15:42, etc.), at the hope for immortality expounded in the sequel and expressed here in the bold view of human creation as the image (7:26; GEN 1:26) of divine 'eternity' so in the Parables of Enoch, from near the end of the Second Temple period, human beings were created like angels, and 'death would not have touched them' (i Enoch, 69:11). The technical term 'devil' in English renderings of v. 24 is in origin a transliteration, perhaps derived through Latin diabolus, of Greek diabolos, 'slanderer', found here; the English technical term is apt because by the time of Wisdom '(the) Slanderer' was already used in Septuagintal Greek, in a comparably special sense, to interpret Hebrew sdtdn, 'Accuser' (i Chr 21:1; Job 1:6; Zech 3:1; cf. Rev 12:9). The serpent in Paradise (GEN 3:1) is here probably identified with Satan, as in REV 12:9 (RV 'that old serpent, he who is called the Devil and Satan'); comparably, a fallen angel tempts Eve in the passage of the Parables of Enoch just quoted (i Enoch, 69:6). 'Death entered the world', echoed in Rom 5:12, recalls not only Gen 3:3, 19, 22, but also Gen 4:3—8 (Abel's murder), quoted after a citation ofWis 2:24 in i Clem. 3:4—4:6; yet the allusion in v. 24 should not be restricted to Cain. The devil's 'company' is none other than death's company (see wis 1:16).
Strom. 5.14), and biblical accounts of the suffering righteous (Ps 37:12-13; Isa 53:11; Ps. Sol. 13:6-12), from 'righteous Abel' onwards (Mt 23:25; ijn 3:12; Philo and Targum as cited above; in i Enoch 22:5—7 Abel leads the spirits' cry for vengeance). The whole of 2:1-3:11 recalls Isa 57:1-3 LXX: 'See howthe righteous perishes, and none takes it to heart... from the face of unrighteousness the righteous was taken away; his grave shall be in peace, he was taken from the midst. But draw near, you lawless children... in what did you take delight, and against whom did you open your mouth?' In the much-quoted verse 12, for 'lie in wait' see Prov 1:11 and Ps 10:8-9; 'inconvenient' echoes Isa 3:10 LXX, a verse which Christians also applied to the passion (Barn. 3:7, etc.).
The Suffering of the Righteous is Rewarded by Immortality fri-9) The consolation now offered evokes such biblical judgement scenes as Deut 32:39—43; 33:26—9; Isa 66:10—24. Th£ doubts addressed (w. 2—4) are also specified in other literary development ofthese scenes, for example Mai 3:13-21 (4:3) 'it is vain to serve God'; i Enoch, 102-3, ?s- $°l4:n (?4)> quoted on wis 2:1. 'The Sadducees said: It is a tradition among the Pharisees to afflict themselves in this world; yet in the world to come they
THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON 656
'visitation' could bring good or ill (19:15) here and hereafter (iQS iv 6—14, tr. Vermes 1997: 102; Ps. Sol. 9:4—5), but the term was used, with echoes as here of its biblical links with 'day' and 'time' (Isa 10:3; Jer 6:15), particularly for final judgement (As. Mos. 1:18; i Pet 2:12). Linked too with the human spirit (Job 10:12 RV), it was readily seen as a 'visitation of souls' (Wis 3:13 RV; cf. i Pet 2:25 'episkopos of souls'), with special reference to afterlife as in 3:7 and (on resurrection, wis 3:4) in Ps. Sol. 3:11—12 'when he visits the righteous... they that fear the Lord shall rise to life eternal'. Here (w. 7—8) the righteous, agile in glory (5:16-17; Dan. 12:3), burn sinners like stubble (Ob 18) and judge the world (Dan 7:22; i Cor 6:2; wis 5:16) under the Lord. The 'truth' (v. 9) hidden by false reasoning
will have nothing' ('Abot R. Nat. A, 5; tr. Goldin 1955: 39). Here, however, 'the souls of the righteous' are safe (4:17, 5:16) 'in the hand of God' (verse i), as in Deut 33:3 LXX, 'all the sanctified are under his hands' (applied to Jewish martyrs in 4 Mace 17:19); Wisdom is closer to MT 'in thy hand' (RV). The righteous souls or spirits are kept in hollow places (i Enoch, 22:9; cf 2 Esd 4:35, 'in their chambers'; i Pet 3:19, in 'prison' or safeguard; Rev 6:9, 'under the altar') until their 'visitation' (w. 7, 9,13), but can also be pictured in Jerusalem above (3:14; Heb 12:23), blessing the Lord (Song of Thr 64). The 'torment' (basanos) that they are spared will not just be that already inflicted (2:19-20), to which OL'torment of death' or 'torment of malice' (3:1) and 'suffered torments among men' (3:4) probably allude, perhaps with martyrdom in view; but the judgement-scene context suggests that 3:1 also envisages punishment after death, like the basanos of the rich man in the parable (Lk 16:23-8; cf. Isa 66:24; Sir 7:I7)-
(1:3; 2:1; 3:10) is now clear; 'at the time of visitation he will destroy it (iniquity) forever and truth will go forth' (iQS iv 1819). Wisdom's reticence perhaps sharpens the hint at vengeance (3:7), but w. 1-9 are justly prized for explicit attention to peace, hope, brightness, and the kingdom of God.
The strikingly Hellenic 'seemed to have died' (v. 2; contrast i Cor 15:3) recalls Socrates in Plato: 'when death comes to a man, his mortal part, it appears, dies, but the immortal part goes away unharmed... the hope is great [cf. v. 4]... after I drink the poison I shall no longer be with you, but shall go away to the joys of the blessed' (Phd. 1061,1140,1150). With'in peace' (v. 3 RV) cf. Isa 57:2 LXX (wis 2:10-20). The apparent punishment of the righteous (v. 4) is not only their suffering (wis 3:1), but the divine 'sentence' of death itself (Sir 38:22; 41:2—4); cf. Hos 13:14 LXX, 'O Death, where is your judgment?', and the Egyptian Jewish epitaph CIJ 1513 (Horbury and Noy 1992: no. 36), 'If it was decreed that I should live but a short time, yet I have a good hope of mercy.' 'Hope' has the link with afterlife found in Plato as quoted above on v. 2 and suggested by LXX (Ps 16:9-10, quoted in Acts 2:26; Sir 2:9).
The Wicked and their Children are Punished, but the Virtuous, though Childless, are Happy (3:10-4:20)
Reassurance that the wicked will be punished is prominent in judgement-scenes (wis 3:1; i Enoch, 102-3). Here the advice 'Do not despair of retribution' (m. 'Abot, 1.8) is entwined with the biblical and classical theme of consolation for childlessness (wis B.I). The wicked and their seemingly hopeful offspring are doomed (3:10-13, 16-19, following wisdom-texts such as Ps 37:28), and their unlawful issue will not thrive (4:36, which has exerted a not always salutary influence as the main biblical comment on illegitimacy); whereas the chaste woman or man without children (3:13-14) can look for fruit at 'the visitation of souls' (3:13 RV; wis. 3:7) and a place in the heavenly temple (3:14; wis 9:8)—and for present honour, an immortal memory and the propagation of virtue here below (3:15; 4:1-2). The man's consolation develops that given to the righteous eunuch in Isa 56:3—5, and the train of thought is anticipated in Ps 17:14—15 LXX 'They were satisfied with children ... I shall be satisfied when thy glory is seen'; but the emphasis in Wisdom is on the day of judgement (3:13,18; 4:6). (4:7-20) The Righteous who Die Young are Happy, but the Wicked End Miserably Comfort for childlessness now leads to another great theme of classical consolation (wis B.I), the untimely death (cf. 4:3; 14:15) of 'boys and unmarried maids... and youths entombed before their fathers' eyes' (Virg. Aen. 6.307—8, tr. Dryden). The universality of this theme, touched in epitaphs throughout the centuries but not so explicitly addressed elsewhere in the Bible, has helped to win special esteem for Wisdom. The premature decease of the righteous is viewed (4:7-16) as the rest (v. 7; OL refrigerium, as wis 2:1) or translation to heaven of those who, like Enoch, soon reached perfection (v. 13; wis 6:15), being beloved of God, and receive the 'visitation' (wis 3:7) accorded to the 'holy' or pious (v. 15, hosios (3:9), frequent in Ps. So!.); the despisers will themselves be dishonoured and forgotten (w. 17—20). Allusion to Enoch becomes plain in v. 10, echoing GEN 5:24 (in w. 10, 13-14 the Gk. has the singular, despite NRSV 'they'); i
The Hellenic term 'immortality' (v. 4, athanasia, 5 times in Wisdom) could be used together with the more typically biblical language of'resurrection' (anastasis), as shown by i Cor 15:52-4 and Ps.-Phocylides 102-15. Wisdom's vivid sketch of the righteous departed shining in eschatological war and judgement (3:7—8; 5:16) was applied in medieval exegesis to the agility of the glorified risen body (so Aquinas, Summa contra Gentiles, 4.86); and together with the term 'visitation' (wis 3:7) it has been held to suggest that resurrection was not alien to the outlook reflected here (Puech 1993: 92—8, 306). Yet Wisdom and 4 Mace speak of immortality without mentioning resurrection, whereas Paul and Ps.-Phocylides both combine the two, and 2 Mace uses equally Hellenic vocabulary but speaks solely of resurrection (wis A.g); and Wisdom also avoids the imagery of waking (Dan 12:2—3, echoed in other respects). Wisdom then probably reflects preference for the notion of spiritual immortality—no insubstantial form of life (wis A.9). Contrast the common epitaph-formula 'no one is immortal' (attested at the first-century BCE tomb of Jason in Jerusalem, SEG 33.1276).
To interpret martyr-like suffering as probative or sacrificial (w. 5—6) was traditional (Job 23:10; Song of Thr 17), to cite afterlife in support (v. 7) rather less so. 'Visitation' (v. 7, taking up 2:20) renders episkope, Old Latin respectus, a 'looking upon' or 'inspection'; in LXX episkope and the cognate verb (echoed in old prayers, for instance on Good Friday, for the deity to 'look upon' or 'behold' the church) answer to Hebrew commonly rendered 'visit, visitation' (Gen 50:24-5, etc.). Divine
Clem. 9:3 'having been found righteous he was translated' is probably indebted to Wisdom, but in any case sums up the view of Enoch set out here. This is the first in a series of
657 THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON
unnamed biblical portraits (wis A.3); didactic as well as artistic, they stimulate biblical knowledge, and present the characters as exemplars of virtue. Similarly nameless allusions characterize the Hebrew liturgical poetry (piyyut) of Byzantine Palestine. The lapidary v. 8-9,13, recall Greek grave-epigrams, and have found many later applications; 'that which the wise man hath said concerning Enoch [v. 13]... the same to that admirable child [king Edward VI] most worthily may be applied' (R. Hooker, Ecclesiastical Polity, 4.14.7). Virtuous youth condemning age (v. 16) is a commonplace (Ps 119: 99—100; Jub. 23:16; Sus 45,52), relevant later on (8:19—21). Even the dead scorn the ungodly (w. 18-20; Isa 14:16-19).
prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus'. 'Crown' for basileion (v. i6a) matches 'diadem' (v. i6fc), but 'kingdom' (OL, AV) seems a better translation in i6a, for basileion as 'kingdom' is linked with Israel and the saints (Ex 19:6 LXX; cf. Rev 1:6; Dan 7:22 LXX). The whole phrase 'the kingdom of fair majesty (euprepeia) and the diadem of beauty' (v. i6,mytr.) then perhaps hints at enthronement (Dan 7:9; Mt 19:28) followed by crowning, at the same time suggesting the indescribability of God's gift. 'In the world to come there is neither eating nor drinking... but the righteous sit enthroned, their crowns upon their heads, and enjoy the lustre of the Shekhinah' (Rab [early 3rd cent. CE] in Ber. 173; Montefiore and Loewe 1974: no. 1658). Hope for a 'kingdom' of the saints (Dan 7:18, 22, 27) in the 'holy land' (12:3) is unmentioned here, but was indicated in 3:8 on their international dominion, and is not precluded by the leaning in Wisdom towards the spiritual (wi s 3:4; A.g); later Christian chiliasm could keep a spiritual emphasis by stressing the descent of a heavenly Jerusalem (Rev 21:2; Tert. Adv. Marc. 3.24.6 'changed into angelic substance ... we shall be translated into that heavenly kingdom').
The Judgement of the Righteous and the Unrighteous fri-V)
(5:1—14) The Righteous have Assurance in the Unexpected Judgement but the Unrighteous Lament their Folly With 'boldness in the day of judgement' (i ^4:17, perhaps echoing Wisdom), the righteous (wis 1:1) will 'stand', as later envisaged for the vindicated Christ (Acts 7:55—6) and his followers (Lk 21:36; Eph 6:13); the unrighteous cannot (Ps 1:5). The unrighteous repent (v. 3) 'too late and without fruit' (Aug. En. 2 on Ps 48 (49), s. 4, one of his many quotations of 5:3); any earlier chances (12:19—20) were lost. Repentance after death is also viewed as impossible in Lk 16:19—31 and in much rabbinic teaching (so Ruth Rab. 3.3, on 1:17, Montefiore and Loewe 1974: no. 864). The importance of repentance in Wisdom (wis A.2), as in the Synoptic Gospels and rabbinic teaching, reflects its general prominence in ancient Jewish piety (PR MAN; Philo, Virt. 175-86; the Fifth Benediction of the Amidah).
In this final conflict the righteous are safe (v. 16; wis 3:1; cf. 19:8; 2 Thess 1:7). Their part in it (3:7) is here neglected in favour of the marshalling of the elements for divine vengeance (w. 17, 20-3), a familiar thought (Sir 39:28-9) developed in wis 16:17, 24> 19:6-22; this ethical interpretation of OT storm-theophanies helps theodicy (wis A.2), and fits Wisdom's Stoic-like conception of an ordered 'cosmos' (kosmos, v. 20, better rendered 'world' (REB) than 'creation' (NRSV), wis A.4). w. 17-23 (like Eph 6:13-17; i Thess 4:8) take up Isa 59:16—19 on the avenging deity and his panoply of judicial virtue; in the background are the influential hymns to the Divine Warrior put in the mouth of Moses, Ex 15:1-18; Deut 32:1-43 (22-5, 35-43). The unwise, aphrones, already denounced for perversity of thought (wis 1:3) are now (5:20), since they resist divine power, paraphrones, the 'frenzied'. AV 5:20 'against the unwise' keeps the link with 1:3; later versions add 'his' and 'foes' in amplification.
w. 3—5 recall earlier mockery of the 'child of God' (wis 2:13, 16, 18) and the 'lot' (wis 1:16; Acts 20:32; Col 1:12) of the 'saints'—hagioi, 'holy ones', sometimes angels (Dan 4:17, etc.), but here probably true members of the holy nation (18:9, cf 17:2), ultimately triumphant over sinners (Ps 149:5—9); Christians are entitled hagioi in this sense by Paul (2 Cor 1:1, etc.). Light fails (v. 6) those who leave 'the way of truth' (Ps 119:30 AV; Prov 4:18-19). After 'sun' (v. 6) probably supply 'of understanding', with some Latin witnesses; cf. 7:26, and nQPsa xxvii 2—4 'David son of Jesse was wise, and a light like the light of the sun... and the Lord gave him the spirit of understanding and illumination' (my tr; Vermes 1997: 307). 'Arrogance' (v. 8) typified Sodom (Ezek 16:49— 50), and tyrannical Jews or Gentiles (Ps. Sol. 17:26, 46). Nine largely biblically inspired short and long similes of transitoriness (w. 9-12,14; Job 9:25-6; Prov 30:19; Ps 1:4; Jer 14:8) evoke the fleeting world of the unrighteous and their desires (cf. i Jn 2:17); in gb REB 'messenger galloping by' gives the sense better than NRSV Archery (v. 12, cf. v. 21) was practised by Jews (Hecataeus in Jos. Ag. Ap. 1.201-4). These
Kings are Exhorted to Learn Wisdom (6:1-25)
The exhortation to kings takes up the similar speech in 1:1—16, already echoed (5:20), and introduces the great expansion of Solomon's prayer for wisdom (chs. 7—10) which can be viewed as the second main section of the book (wis A.2).
(6:1-11) Kings Must Give Heed, for Their Power is from God Kings are reminded (w. 1-2; cf. Ps 2:10; Ps. Sol. 2:32 that they rule by the grace of God as ministers of his 'kingdom'
(w. 3-4) under his scrutiny (w. 3-11; wis 1:6-11; 3:7); so Solomon sat 'on the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel' (i Chr 28:5), or, later, God gave Ptolemy Philadelphus the hegemony in Egypt (Ep. Arist. 219). Near w. 3—4 in wording are Rom 13:1—7; i Clem. 61:1; and Jos. J.W. 2.140 on the Essene oath 'to keep faith with all, especially those in power, since no ruler attains office apart from God'. The OT view took classic form in the Danielic scheme of four successive Godgiven world-empires (DAN 2:38—40); with and through Paul it influenced the church (Caesar 'was appointed by our God', Tert. Apol. 33.1), and it was not far from Greek and Roman thought. 'Monarchs on earth their power extend, Monarchs to Jove submissive bend, And own the sovereign God' (Horace,
verses, like those on repentance, will have helped to commend Wisdom for use in baptismal instruction (wis A.11—12; c.2).
(15—23) The Righteous Receive their Kingdom, and Divine Vengeance on the Unwise Overtakes the Nations The 'reward' (misthos, wis 2:22) sketched in 3:7-9 now appears as a truly royal benefit (3:5) 'in (en) the Lord' (v. 15 RV; cf. Gen 15:1), that is, in his power to give, but perhaps with the overtone that it is constituted by communion with him; cf. Phil 3:14, 'the
THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON 658
(7:1-7) Since I Shared the Beginning and End which Come to All, I Prayed The young Solomon (i Chr 29:1) called himself 'a little child' (i Kings 3:7), and now speaks memorably of his share in the plight of each crying (v. 3) newborn descendant of the 'first-formed', i.e. Adam (v. i; wiS4:io); so at birth the baby 'lies naked on the ground' with 'rueful wauling' (Lucretius 5.224—7, tr. H. A. J. Munro). Gestation lasts ten months (v. 2), as in many sources including 4 Mace 16:7, but not 2 Mace 7:27 (nine); NRSV 'pleasure of marriage' reworks the less restricted euphemism of the Greek, 'pleasure that came with sleep' (RV, similarly REB). Despite the detail, the soul is not mentioned separately (wis 8:19). Kings have the same entrance and exit as the rest (w. 5-6). 'Know whence thou earnest: from a fetid drop; and whither thou art going: to worm and maggot...' (m. 'Abot, 3.1). The king therefore prayed (v. ja), and received understanding (phronesis); he called (NRSV adds 'to God', but perhaps wisdom is invoked, cf. Song of Thr 37, 64) and a spirit of wisdom came (i Kings 3:12 LXX, 'an understanding and wise heart'; Isa 11:2 'spirit of wisdom and understanding'; wis A.2); he was like the young disciple who prays for wisdom in Sir 51:13-22; cf. 39:5-6 ('spirit of understanding' given in answer).
Odes 3.1.1-3, tr. P. Francis). Many Jews served the Seleucids and Ptolemies professionally (Williams 1998: 88—91), but the sentiment led (w. 3—11; cf. Dante's use of wis 1:1) to assessment as well as confirmation of human rule. 'Behold, great ones of the earth, the judgment of the Lord, for he is a great king' (Ps. Sol. 2:32). God 'takes thought' (v. 7, pronoei) providentially (wis 14:3). 'Holy' (v. 10, hosios; wis 4:15) here verges on 'righteous' or 'blameless', as at Lk 1:75; i Thess 2:10.
(6:12-25) Wisdom is Soon Found, Kings should Honour her, and her Nature shall be Declared In chs. i-io any attempt at describing Wisdom herself is reserved until now, when hearers or readers have been purified by stern narratives of judgement; 1:4-6 stressed that she flees from sin. In 6:i2» (Gk.) the place of sophia at the end (as in 1:4, 6) is natural, but conveys emphasis and awe: 'Bright and unfading is Wisdom' (i2a, tr. Goodrick). With the recurrent light-imagery
(5:6; 7:22-6), here placed first, compare Aristobulus (wis A.7), frag. 5: all light has its origin in wisdom (Collins 1983-5: 841; Hengel 1974: 167). The praise of wisdom (w. 12—20) first takes up (w. 12—16) Prov 1:20—1; 8:1—17 (s^e utters her voice in the streets, loves those who love her, and is found by those who seek early); v. 21 takes up her guidance to kings (Prov 8:15-16). In w. 12—16 the themes from Proverbs are reordered into an emotional and intellectual mysticism (wis A.I; A.II; D): wisdom is first of all to be loved and desired (w. 12/7-13; cf2I OL; 7:10; 8:2; Sir 4:12; 24:19, 24), and reflection upon her (w. 15— 16; cf. Sir 14:20—1) is the perfection of understanding. w. 17—20, rising to this intellectual challenge with an argument in Greek style (wis B.I), form a chain-syllogism with six links, in the widely admired manner (cf. Rom 5:3—5; 2 Pet 1:5— 7) termed 'heap-like' (sorites, from soros, 'heap'). It is urged that desire for instruction in wisdom (w. 17, 20) ultimately leads to the kingdom constituted by nearness to God (w. 1920; cf. 5:16). This conclusion associates the general Stoic view that wisdom brings a kingdom (wis A.6) with Wisdom's special emphasis on immortality (w. 18-19, more exactly 'incorruption', RV; wis 2:23) as the consequence of virtue.
(7:8—14) I Preferred Wisdom to Everything Else For the sake of his deep love (8:2) he preferred wisdom to the enjoyment of wealth (w. 8-9, with i Kings 3:11; 2 Chr 1:11; cf. Prov 8:10-11), and also to health, beauty, and light (v. 10); perhaps arduous study (6:14, 17; Sir 39:1) away from broad daylight made him like a pale sickly disciple of the wise, but in any case he looked like a disconsolate lover. The unsought good things in fact came together with wisdom (i Kings 3:13; 2 Chr 1:12), but, loving her for herself (contrast wis 8:17—18), he did not think of her as producing them (w. 11—12). He simply learned without guile and taught 'without envy', in generous abundance (v. 13; 6:23); compare Plato's abundant 'philosophy without envy' arising from contemplation of the beautiful (Symp. 2190). She opens (v. 14) the possibility of'friendship with God' (wis 7:27). The mystical aspect of 7:8-8:18 appears in Henry Suso's Life (14th cent; wis A. 12); when he longed to see wisdom, as far as he could see her with the inner eye through Scripture, she showed herself to him. 'She shone like the morning star, and burnt like the glowing sun (7:29)... she spread out herself powerfully from end to end of the earth, and gently ordered all things (8:1)... His face became so happy, his eyes so kind, his heart so jubilant, and all his inner senses sang: Above all happiness, above all beauty, I have loved thee, my heart's joy and beauty...' (7:10) (Clark 1952: 23—4).
Kings then should 'honour wisdom' (v. 21; cf. Prov 8:15-16); the advice sums up all they have been told since 1:1—4. OL here 'love wisdom', and then (in a continuation not in the Gk.) 'love the light of wisdom', re-emphasize w. 12/7-13. Th£
royal preacher will now (v. 22) declare her nature and origin from the very beginning (NRSV 'creation' represents genesis, 'beginning') without hiding secrets, or rather 'mysteries' (mysteria); OL adds 'of God' in explanation, following 2:23 and evoking the sacred aura of this word and wisdom herself (i COR 2:7). Here this combines with the sense of the mysteries of a guild, imparted without envy or grudge (v. 23; wis 7:13), lest salutary wisdom and wise kingship be lacking
(7:15—220) God, the Guide of Wisdom and Corrector of the Wise, Grant me to Speak Aright; he Gave me All my Universal Knowledge, for Wisdom Taught me Once more (wis 6:12) an attempt to describe wisdom is reverently deferred, here (v. 15) for prayer to wisdom's own guide (cf. Prov 8:22—3, 3°)- God 'gave' the king's encyclopedic knowledge of the natural world (w. 17-20; i Kings 4:33), but wisdom the fashioner (8:5; Prov 8:30) was in fact the teacher (w. 21-2), as implied in i Kings 4:29—30, 34; God acted through her (9:1—2) as through an intermediary angelic spirit (9:17). The 'powers' (v. 20), better 'violences' (RV), of demonic 'spirits' (alternatively, 'winds'; OL attests both) were quelled by the king (T. Sol), sometimes
(w. 24-5).
The Wise King Starts to Recount his Prayer and Quest for Wisdom, and Speaks in Her Praise (7:1-8:1)
In the genre termed 'rewritten Bible', exemplified at length in Jubilees or Josephus's Antiquities (Alexander 1988), a far-reach-
ing expansion of the narratives of Solomon's prayer for wisdom (i Kings 3:4-15; 2 Chr 1:1-13) begins now (wis 6:1) from the verses on his tender years.
659 THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON
in father, and both see themselves in each other' (Ps.-Cyprian (3rd cent), Sinai and Zion, 13).
through 'roots' (v. 20). Josephus, in his own retelling of i Kings 4, relates how Solomon's name and a root and charm prescribed by him were effectually used in the presence of Vespasian for an exorcism; Solomon's wisdom was thus made plain (Ant. 8.44-9). (7:226-26) Wisdom's Attributes and Essence Now at last Wisdom is portrayed, in a hymn-like philosophic enumeration of her glories. Twenty-one (3x7,3 felicitous number) epithets of her spirit (w. 22-3) show her understanding, subtlety (wis A.g), goodness and might and lead to a series of clauses on her name and titles: sophia, breath, emanation, brightness, mirror, image (w. 24—6).
(7:27—8:1) Wisdom's Energy and Scope One yet universal (v. 27; 8:1), like the world-soul (wis 1:7) and the omnipresent Isis (Ap. Met. 11.5), she renews all, and mediates between God and the soul by continually 'entering' (wis 1:4) 'holy souls' (6:10; wis A.3). 'Friends of God' (6:14) recalls the Hellenistic concept of royal 'Friends' (i MACC 2:18), and became the title of medieval mystical and prophetic groups (Gottesfreunde). Wisdom can do this since (it is implied) her beauty, surpassing light (5:6; 6:12), is dear to God (w. 28-9; cf. 8:3/7). She conquers vice (v. 30) and everywhere (8:1), again like a world-soul 'stretched through the whole' and 'enveloping the heaven in a circle from without' (Plato, Tim. 348, 361), orders
This passage extends the biblical line of sketches of personified Wisdom (wis A.9); an intellectually-focused portrait by the loving disciple, it is the counterpart of Sir 24:1—22, a mainly sense-oriented self-portrait by wisdom herself (wis D). It also recalls verses on a divine spirit (1:7) as inspiring or pervasive (Ex 31:3; Isa 11:2; 63:10—11; Ps 139:7); but its distinctively Hellenic vocabulary underlines its extrabiblical connection with the Stoic world-soul (wis A.4; wis 1:7; Knox 1939: 71-7). Clement of Alexandria (wis c.i) indeed held that the Stoics, identifying the Deity too closely with nature, 'were misled by what is said in Wisdom, Pervades and passes through all...' (v. 24), not understanding that this refers to wisdom rather than God himself (Strom. 5.14; cf. 2.19; wis A.7). w. 22/7-26 heap up epithets and titles like a hymn, and praise a goddess-like cosmic figure; hence with 7:27— 8:16 the passage is compared (Knox 1939: 77—9; Kloppenborg 1982; wis A.g) with Greek hymns to Isis from the Ptolemaic period, known mainly from inscriptions and forming examples of aretalogy (aretalogia), recital of the virtues and wonders of a deity. These include statements in the third person, as here, as well as first-person statements by her (cf. 8:3, and wisdom's self-praise, Sir 24:1-22; Knox 1937) and second-person addresses to her (perhaps cf. 7:7/7, but contrast prayer to God for wisdom, 9:4). In philosophical interpretation Isis was the female principle of nature (Plut. DC Is. ct Os 53. 3721) and the mother of the universe (Ap. Met. 11.5), and so, like wisdom, came to resemble the world-soul (Hengel 1974: 163). Wisdom's derived qualities (w. 25-6) excel just because they flow from 'the Almighty' (v. 25). Her five great titles use current ancient metaphors of outflow or 'emanation' (aporrhoia, v. 25); so the order in the universe is 'the emanation (aporrhoe) and image of Osiris' (Plut. DC Is. ct Os. 49.3718). Christians at first applied the titles to the Holy Spirit as well as to Christ as spirit (Athenagoras, Leg. pro Christ. 10.3; Malherbe 1969), but they are discussed christologically by Origen, DC princ. 1.2.9-12 (wis 1:4), and in Latin became part of medieval
(more exactly 'manages'; wis 11:20) all things 'well'; OL 'sweetly' (AV) forms a link with 16:20-1; Sir 24:15. The Advent antiphon O Sapientia (wis A.I2), in use by the eighth century, chiefly consists of 8:1 prefaced by Sir 24:3 (close to wis 7:250).
From Youth I was in Love with Wisdom, through Whom All Good Things Come; Pondering this I Sought her, and Perceiving that God Alone could Give her, I Prayed
(8:2-21)
Turning back from wisdom's portrait to his own youth, the king again recalls his ardent love (7:10); he sought a mystical marriage (v. 2/7 wis A.2—4). 'Enamoured' (v. 2c renders the strong word erastes, AV 'lover', w. 3—4 echo wisdom's selfpraise (Prov 8:22-30; Sir 24:2-4); she is near and dear to God (v. 3), initiated into his mind and promoting his work (v. 4), like the most noble Friend (v. 3; 7:27) in a king's privy council (v. 4). The king then justifies his youthful passion by recalling with mature worldly wisdom that she is also (w. 516), as again she herself says (Prov 8:10-21, 34-5), the giver of wealth, righteousness, knowledge, kingship, happiness, and honour; this is why he sought her when young (w. 9,17—18). The young king, however, fell in love simply with her beauty
(7:12; 8:2), but was then also able to rationalize his choice. The differing attitudes of youth and middle age are tactfully sketched; his first love recalls the Aristotelian exaltation of pure over applied science (wis A.6).
Righteousness (v. 7; wis 1:1) here takes the philosophic form of the Greek cardinal virtues (wis A.7); 'there are four aspects of perfect virtue; prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance' (Diogenes Laertius, 3.90, summarizing Plato; cf. Plato, Phd. 6gc). The Mosaic law was held to teach these virtues (e.g. 4 Mace 1:18), and is here perhaps implicitly viewed as the sum of the 'righteousness' taught by wisdom (with whom the law is identified in Sir 24:23, Bar 4:1; wis A.g). By 'foreknowledge' (v. 8) 'signs and wonders' like the Egyptian night (18:6) are both expected and rightly interpreted in advance. 'Immortality' (w. 13, 17) is the immortal memory rather than (wis 3:4) life; 4:1 includes both senses, but in this section the latter is conveyed by 'incorruption' (wis 6:18-19 RV). Rest with her (v. 16; Sir 6:28) in the palace of Israel's king matches wisdom's own expressed desire for rest, fulfilled in Jerusalem
Christ-devotion. 'Breath', RVmarg. 'vapour' (v. 25), recalls Sir 24:3 (from the mouth, like mist); 'reflection' (v. 26, apaugasma), better 'radiance' (REB), recurs in Heb 1:3, probably not an echo. OL'majesty' for 'working' (v. 26, energeia, Jn 5:17) reflects noble but less pointed, probably secondary, variant Greek. 'Mirror' (v. 26), later viewed together with i Cor 13:12; 2 Cor 3:18; Jas 1:23, held special fascination: 'the Lord is our mirror' (Odes of Solomon 13:1); 'through Solomon the saviour is called the spotless mirror of the father, for the holy spirit, the son of God, sees himself redoubled, father in son and son
(Sir 24:7-12); this 'friendship' (v. 18) leads to friendship with God (7:27-8), but now the stress falls on earthly benefits; contrast Sir 24:24, part of the longer Greek text (wis c.2;
THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON 660
young king asks for her in his insufficiency (cf. 7:1—5; i Kings 3:7—8; 2 Chr 1:10), also recalling i Kings 3:7—8 with 'servants' (v. 4), alternatively 'children' (RV marg.). He dares to ask, for (v. 7) God himself made him king (i Kings 3:7; 2 Chr 1:8-9) °f the chosen people (i Kings 3:8—9; 2 Chr 1:9; wis 10:15;
NRSV marg.), beginning similarly from 'beautiful love', but going on spiritually to fear, knowledge, andholyhope (wis 3:4).
A youth of parts and purity (w. 19—20), the king was a 'holy soul' with whom wisdom might live (7:27-8); but even so he had, as he discerningly saw (v. 21), to ask the bride's father, w. 19—20 are best understood as self-identification with a noble pre-existent soul (wis A.4), as envisaged by Plato (immortal souls fall from the heavenly regions into mortal bodies, those who have seen the most being embodied as lovers of wisdom or beauty, Phdr. 2480—1); compare Philo, Gig. 6—16
A-3)> God's 'sons and daughters'. The latter come to the fore in i Kings 3:16, just after the prayer; the phrase therefore suits Solomon, but its general familiarity is suggested by Pentateuchal and prophetic attestation (Deut 32:19; cf. Ex 15:1, 20-1; Isa 43:6), and confirmed by 2 Cor. 6:18. God also (v. 8) commanded the building of a temple (by Solomon, i Chr 28:6) on the holy hill (Mount Moriah, 2 Chr 3:1; wis 12:3), a copy of the heavenly tabernacle (i Chr 28:11-19). The return to the underlying biblical narrative in w. 7—8 is typical of the 'rewritten Bible' genre (Alexander 1988: 117). The notion of a pre-existent divinely prepared heavenly temple met in 8c (see also Ex 15:17 (LXX 'ready dwelling'); 25:9; Heb 8:5; cf. wis 16:20 'ready') pervades the LXX versions of Solomon's temple-prayer (i Kings 8:39,43,49 LXX; 2 Chr 6:30, 33, 39 LXX), and also suits a general awareness of Plato's doctrine of ideas (wis 13:3; A.4).
(the air is full of unseen souls, some descend into bodies, and soul, demon, and angel are different names for one thing) and Essene belief according to Josephus, J.W. 2.154 (souls from the subtlest ether become entangled in prison-like bodies; wis 9:15). v. 21 uses the adjective encrates, OL continens, 'in possession of, or alternatively 'continent'. This sense suits v. 2ofc,andv. 21 was often held to speak of prayer for'the gift of continency' (preface to the marriage service in the English Prayerbooks of 1552 and 1662); 'give what thou commandest' (Aug. Conf. 10.29, quoting v. 21).
Give me Wisdom, without which Even the Perfect are of No Account, and Let her Teach me the Mind of God (9:1-18)
w. 13—18 (cf. i Cor 2:11—16; 2 Cor 5:4—9) combine the biblical conviction that we need God-given wisdom (v. 17) because we cannot know God's mind (w. 13-14; Isa 40:13; i Cor 2:16) with Plato's view (wis A.4) that the soul is weighed down (v. 15) by the body (Phdr. 8ic; 2 Cor 5:4), 'entombed in the body... in which we are imprisoned like an oyster in its shell' (Plato,
This prayer up to v. 12 has formed a model (wis A.I2), for example in the primers of private prayer issued under Elizabeth I (Clay 1851: 96,195, 310). It can be taken to end at v. 12, where the petition closes, or with the chapter (so NRSV); but the whole of chs. 10-19, throughout which the Deity is still being addressed (10:20; 11:4, etc.), can also be taken as its continuation in meditative praise. Chs. 9—19 would then be an extended instance of prayer and praise alluding to a series of deliverances in the Exodus and conquest, like Neh 9:5-32 (prayer) or Ps 136 (praise). It seems possible that 10:1-11:1 has been added to ch. 9, and that 11:2—19:18 has then been added to form a more discursive continuation of this Pentateuchally based praise (wiSA.2; B.2).
Phdr. 2500); cf. Plato and Josephus, quoted on wis 8:19. v. 18 leads easily to examples ofthose 'saved' (10:1-11:1); OL'healed' exemplifies a widespread OL rendering of Greek so(i)zein which strengthened the conception of salvation as cure (wis 2:1), and links wisdom here with logos (wis 9:1) in 16:12. The Latin continuation 'whoever pleased thee, O Lord, from the beginning' (cf. 4:10) is close to clauses in the Greek liturgies (Deane 1881) but is probably an addition; it echoes v. i8fc, forms a link with 10:1, and stresses that wisdom helps the saints (7:27).
The prayer in ch. 9 (divisible into w. 1-6, 7-12, but thematically continuous) is focused on two petitions for wisdom (w. 4,10), echoed in v. 17; reasons for asking are given in w. 5— 9, ii—12, and in the semi-detached w. 13—18 (matching w. i—6, 7-12 in length, but in essence meditation, not petition). The address (v. ia) echoes David's recent prayer (i Chr 29:18) and adds an anticipation of Solomon's later claim on promised 'mercy' (2 Chr 6:14, 42 RV). Following a familiar prayerpattern the request begins (w. 1/^-3) from the making of all things (Neh 9:6; Ps 136:5), including viceregal humanity (w. 2—3; Gen 1:26), by intermediary 'word' (logos', Ps 33:6) and 'wisdom' (Ps 136:5 'understanding', Prov 8.30 T was beside him', Gen. 1:26 'let us make'). Logos (v. ib; 16:12; 18:15) seems
Wisdom Saved Adam, Noah, Abraham, Lot, Jacob, Joseph, Moses and the Israelites (10:1-11:1)
This series of Pentateuchal examples, of course unnamed
(wis 4:10), still follows biblical conventions (wis 9, introduction) of prayer (Neh 9:5—32) or praise (Ps 136). It can also be read (Knox 1939: 80—i) as a sketch, in the manner of a philosophic Greek historian, of the growth of civilization from world catastrophe (the Fall, the Deluge, and the destruction of the cities of the plain; w. i—8) to a righteous monarchy (Jacob, Joseph, w. 9-14), preserved by the Exodus (10:15-11:1). This meditation addressed to God (v. 20) is therefore still suitable as instruction to kings (1:1; 6:1).
to function separately beside wisdom, contrary to Christian identification of both with Christ, but as later seen in part of the Targumic tradition: 'By wisdom the Lord created... and the word of the Lord said, Let there be light' (Frg. Tg. Gen. 1:13); the Logos is an angel-like spirit (18:16) in and probably before Philo (Conf. 146; H. Chadwick in Armstrong 1970: 143-5), as IN I:l also suggests. Wisdom (v. 4) has one of the divine 'thrones' (RV marg., pi., as 18:15; Dan, 7:9; cf. David's 'thrones', v. 12 NRSV marg.; Ps 122:5), like an assessor beside the judge, as befits her uniquely close association with the Deity (w. 9—11; Prov 8:22—30); the
Wisdom's guidance (10:1—2,4, etc.) forms an interpretation and development of the biblical portrayal of an angelic spirit who guided patriarchs and people, especially in the Exodus and conquest (Gen 18:2; 19:1; 31:11; 48:16; Ex 3:1; 14:19; 23:23; 33:2; Num 20:16; Josh 5:13—14; Neh 9:20; Isa 63:9—14; Bar 6:7; cf. wis 1:3). Identification of this spirit with wisdom was already known; in Sir 24:4 the angel's pillar of cloud (Ex 14:19) is wisdom's throne (10:17). Yet wisdom was present, and hence active as mediator, from the beginning (9:9; Prov 8:22—30). Hence in 10:1—11:1 the guidance ofthe patriarchs by
66i THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON
the angelic spirit of wisdom simply continues wisdom's earliest guidance. Christians, uniting pre-existent wisdom with the angelic spirit in the same way, understood both wisdom and spirit as the pre-existent Christ; so (later 2nd cent.) Justin Martyr, Dialogus, 61.1, on a power begotten as a beginning (Prov 8:22) and called Glory, Son, Wisdom, Angel, Lord, Word, and Commander-in-Chief (Josh 5:13). Jn 12:41; i Cor 10:4, 9 already attest this line of thought. (10:1-3) Adam's deliverance (1-2) from his 'transgression' (paraptoma, as Rom 5:15) reflects contemporary emphasis on his glory (2:23; Sir 49:16) and salvation; in the Life of Adam and
the deity. Elaborate and sometimes laboured, it ranges from the sweet and noble to the grim and grotesque; but it lacks as a whole the depth of the sections focused on the suffering righteous and the wise king. It seems likely to be a separate composition, perhaps by another author, added to 10:1-11:1 (wis 9, introduction; 10, introduction; A.I, B.I).
11:2—12:1 forms a coherent passage, but comprises the beginnings of two separate sequences within 11:1-19:22 as a whole. First, w. 1-14 open a series of seven contrasts between Egyptians and Israelites; the remaining six constitute chs. 16— 19. The first six contrasts begin from the Egyptian plagues, the seventh from the Egyptian pursuit of Israel to the Red Sea. The series echoes the contrasts between Egypt and Israel which were drawn in the biblical accounts of the ten plagues and the Exodus (see Ex 8:21—3; 9:4~7> 25~6; 10:22—3; II:4~7J 12:27; PS 7^'-5°~y> Neh 9:11), and received additions later on (wis 11:6-10); contacts with Philo's account suggest that some of the developed material may already have been traditional at the time of Wisdom. In form, however, the series is primarily indebted to the currency of antithetic comparison as a Greek literary device. Secondly, 11:15-16 discerns the principle that as we sin, so are we punished; this, added to the principle already noted (w. 5, 13), that the ungodly in the form of Gentile foes are punished by the very things that benefit the holy people, leads to praise of God's love and tempered judgement (11:1712:27) on idolatrous sinners and then to concentrated examination of the root sin of idolatry, its causes and consequences (chs. 13-15). After this bipartite digression (11:15-12:27; 13:115:19), linked with its context especially by the theme of Gentile sin (Jub 23:23—4; Gal 2:15) and united throughout its two parts by the theme of idolatry in particular, the series of contrasts between Egypt and Israel begun in 11:1-14 is re~ sumed (16:1-19:22).
Eve (Sparks 1984:141—67) they find mercy after penitence, cf. v. ib. Cain (v. 3), thought to favour views like those of the ungodly in wis 2:1-20, perished not precisely 'because ... he killed' but rather 'in fratricidal passions' (my tr); he is seen as a soul, lost in irrational anger (wis A.g; i Jn 3:15). Concern with individual morality and the career of the soul marks the whole series of examples (w. i, 5, 7, 9, n, 13,17, 21), and is promoted by their labelling with epithets of virtue.
(10:4—11:1) From Noah (cf. 14:6) to Joseph (w. 4—14) the unnamed heroes are 'righteous' (wis 4:10). Wisdom's inward voice is probably credited with Noah's shipbuilding, Abraham's steadfastness, and Joseph's kingship (w. 4, 5, 13-14; cf. 7:16; 9:11; 8:10—15, respectively); but she came as an angel to Lot (v. 6; Gen 19:15,17), Jacob (w. 10—12; in dreams, w. 10— n; cf. Gen 28:12; 31:11), and the Israelites (v. 17; Ex 14:19). She entered into Moses' soul (v. 16; cf. Ex 4:12), having first appeared to him (Ex 3:1), and made him a 'holy prophet' (11:1; cf. Deut 18:15); cf7:27-
A high doctrine of Israel (w. 15,17, 20; wis A.I) is reinforced, first when the kingdom of God (v. 10) kept in heaven (Mt 3:2; 6:9—10; i Pet 1:4) is revealed (Gen 28:12) to Jacob/Israel (v. I2c—d; Gen 32:28); and secondly when (v. 21) wisdom inspires the congregational song at the sea (Ex 15:1-21). Allusions to the wilderness song of the dumb (v. 2ia; Isa 35:6) and the praise offered by babes (v. 2ifc; Ps 8:2 LXX) suggest the miraculous and hint at ecstatic hymnody (wis A.I; 19:9); men and women alike, 'filled with ecstasy' (enthousiontes), formed one choir to sing hymns of thanksgiving (Philo, Vit. Cont. 87). Similarly in rabbinic exegesis 'the holy spirit rested upon Israel and they uttered the song'; babes and sucklings (Ps 8:2) and embryos in the womb all sang with the angels (Mekilta, Beshallah, Shirata i, on Ex 15:1; Lauterbach 1933: ii. 7,11-12).