Waltke overreaches when he claims that “In 4:5 the grandfather puts [Wisdom’s] identification beyond reasonable doubt by placing personified Wisdom in parallel with the “words of my mouth” (87). According to Waltke, Lady Wisdom is a personification of the grandfather’s words. Here is the relevant text (4:5-6):
קְנֵה חָכְמָה
קְנֵה בִינָה
אַל תִּשְׁכַּח וְאַל תֵּט
מֵאִמְרֵי פִי
אַל־תַּעַזְבֶהָ וְתִשְׁמְרֶךָּ
אֱהָבֶהָ וְתִצְּרֶךָּ
Get
wisdom,
get understanding,
do
not forget, do not stray
from the words of my mouth.
Do
not abandon her, and she will protect you,
love her, and she will watch over you.
But all this passage proves is that the words
of a godly parent are a privileged means by which Wisdom may be received. The
passage adds nothing to Prov 1:1-2 with respect to the question at hand, where
the words of Solomon as described as “for attaining knowledge of wisdom,” not
as a personification of wisdom.
According to 8:12, 14-16, Lady Wisdom
inhabits all genuine knowledge and cunning. By her all kings and judges rule:
אֲנִי חָכְמָה
שָׁכַנְתִּי עָרְמָה
וְדַעַת מְזִמּוֹת אֶמְצָא
לִי עֵצָה וְתוּשִׁיָּה
אֲנִי בִינָה
לִי גְבוּרָה
בִּי מְלָכִים יִמְלֹכוּ
וְרוֹזְנִים יְחֹקְקוּ צֶדֶק
בִּי שָׂרִים יָשֹׂרוּ
וּנְדִיבִים כָּל־שֹׁפְטֵי צֶדֶק
I am wisdom,
I inhabit shrewdness,
cunning knowledge I attain.
Mine are counsel and resourcefulness,
I am understanding,
courage is mine.
By me kings rule,
prefects decree justly.
By me princes govern,
nobles, all just judges.
This passage demonstrates once again the need
to make a distinction between the contents of the book of Proverbs and Lady
Wisdom. She is described as inhabiting wisdom, not as personifying the wisdom
to be gained by reading the book of Proverbs. She is the source, not the
personification of, the wisdom by which kings and judges rule, with or without
knowledge of the Biblical proverbs.
According to 8:4-5, Wisdom calls out to all
human kind. Whatever she reveals to people in general - dolts included (8:5) - can
only be called “general revelation.”
אֲלֵיכֶם אִישִׁים אֶקְרָא
וְקוֹלִי אֶל־בְּנֵי אָדָם
הָבִינוּ פְתָאיִם עָרְמָה
וּכְסִילִים הָבִינוּ לֵב
To
you, o men, I cry out,
with a loud voice, to human kind.
Simpletons,
learn shrewdness,
dullards, instruct your minds!
To be sure, all teaching vouchsafed to us in
the scriptures of Israel may be referred to as special revelation. Lady Wisdom,
who reveals herself to Israelites and non-Israelites alike, is the source of
all genuine wisdom instruction.
It is also true that said special revelation
includes examples of general revelation. For example, as noted above, it is well-known that “the
words of the wise” found in Prov 22:17-23:11
are largely based on the Egyptian “Instruction of Amenemope.”
According to 8:31, Wisdom rejoices in the habitable
world and in human kind in particular.
מְשַׂחֶקֶת בְּתֵבֵל אַרְצוֹ
וְשַׁעֲשֻׁעַי אֶת־בְּנֵי אָדָם
Frolicking
on the strand of his earth,
my joy
derived from human kind.
It is forced to think of the contents of the
book of Proverbs as frolicking on the strand of God’s earth and delighting in
humankind, though we would have to think that way if Wisdom is a
personification of the book of Proverbs.
In fact, it is clear from 8:22-31 that Wisdom
pre-exists humanity and therefore pre-exists its wisdom, including the wisdom
of Solomon. The pre-existence of Wisdom suggests that she transcends all
individual examples of wisdom bestowed on human beings. But if that is so, it
is misleading to say that she is a personification of a set of examples of words
of wisdom.
Wisdom of which Lady Wisdom is the source is
the universal. Solomon’s wisdom is the particular. It is proper to say that
so-and-so is the personification of evil. It is not proper to say that evil is
the personification of so-and-so. For this reason alone, it is appropriate to
say that Lady Wisdom in the book of Proverbs is not a personification of the
wisdom of Solomon preserved for us in Proverbs.
Bibliography
Bruce
K. Waltke, The Book of Proverbs 1-15 (NICOT; Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 2004).
Comments