Ãâó: http://archive.catholic.com/thisrock/1993/9303otg.asp
O l d T e s t a m e n t G u i d e
Wisdom
By Antonio Fuentes
This book, which the Vulgate calls Wisdom and the Septuagint
Greek calls the Wisdom of Solomon, is one of the most typical books of wisdom
literature. Its literary beauty and particularly its depth of doctrine brings us
to the threshold of New Testament revelation.
Although the book itself claims that it was written by Solomon, it must be
pointed out that here as in the case of Ecclesiastes we have an example of
recourse to pseudonymity, a device often used in the ancient world to highlight
the importance of a literary work; here the author used the prestige of Solomon,
the greatest of the wise men of Israel.
The inspired writer wrote the entire book in Greek, including the first five
chapters, which were once taken to have been originally in Hebrew. This is
demonstrated by the language used, which is elegant and cultured, by its
thematic unity, and even by its consistency of style. We can therefore say that
he was a Hellenist Jew who wrote out of his great faith in God (9:1). He
abominates any kind of polytheism and is proud to belong to a "holy and
blameless race" (10:15). In view of his many references to Egypt, he
probably wrote in Alexandria, the capital of Hellenism in the Ptolemy period and
the cultural focus of the Jews in the D.aspora.
We do not know exactly when the book was written, but we can say that it was
written later than the Septuagint translation of the Bible and before Philo of
Alexandria (20 B.C.-54 B.C.), with whom the author is not acquainted. The
references to the persecution undergone by the Jews (2:1-20, 15:14) lead us to
suggest that the most likely date of composition was around the last years of
the reign of Ptolemy Dionysius (80-52 B.C.), very close to the Christian period
but before the Roman conquest, to which no reference is made.
The book can be divided into three parts. The first part (chap. 1-5) is
prophetic in style and somewhat Hebraic in the concepts it uses. It exhorts
people to practice righteousness and sincerely seek God. As a first step toward
this it stresses the need for a pure and upright heart and for avoidance of all
sin. Against this background it contrasts the reward that ultimately awaits
those who are faithful to God with the punishment that evildoers will receive
and their unhappy fate after death.
The second part (chap. 6-9) concentrates on the source of wisdom and the need to
obtain wisdom. Speaking as Solomon, the sacred writer explains what he means by
wisdom:
"For in her there is a spirit that is intelligent, holy, unique, manifold,
subtle, mobile, clear, unpolluted, distinct, invulnerable, loving the good,
keen, irresistible, beneficent, humane, steadfast, sure, free from anxiety,
all-powerful, everseeing all, and penetrating through all spirits that are
intelligent and pure and most subtle. For wisdom is more mobile than any motion;
because of her pureness she pervades and penetrates all things. For she is a
breath of the power of God and a pure emanation of the glory of the
Almighty" (Wis. 7:22-25).
It is this wisdom that lies at the basis of all other good things. The author
stresses that it is something to be sought through prayer, because we cannot
attain it by our own efforts:
"O God of my fathers and Lord of mercy, who has made all things by thy word
and by thy wisdom hast formed man to have dominion over the creatures thou hast
made, and rule the world in holiness and righteousness, and pronounce judgment
in uprightness of soul, give me the wisdom that sits by thy throne, and do not
reject me from among thy servants. . . . For even if one is perfect among the
sons of men, yet without the wisdom that comes from thee he will be regarded as
nothing" (Wis. 9:1-6).
The third part (chap. 10-19), written in a very original style, speaks of the
magnificence of wisdom as demonstrated by the history of the chosen people. In
contrast to this it describes the origin of polytheism and the moral
consequences of idolatry:
"For all men who were ignorant of God were foolish by nature; and they were
unable from the good things that are seen to know him who exists, nor did they
recognize the craftsman while paying heed to his works, but they supposed that
either fire or wind or swift air, or the circle of the stars, or the luminaries
of heaven were the god that rule the world. . . . Afterward it was nor enough
for them to err about the knowledge of God, but they live in great strife due to
ignorance, and they call such great evils peace...They no longer keep either
their lives or their marriages pure, but they either treacherously kill one
another or grieve one another by adultery. . . . For the worship of idols that
should not even be named is the beginning and cause and end of every evil"
(13:1-3, 14:22-27).
By natural reason they could have discovered that the universe is not the result
of chance; it could not cause its own existence or keep itself in being, because
it needs--as pagan philosophers like Plato and Aristotle realized--a first
principle or cause which would give every existing thing its being and which
does not depend on any other cause for its own being or activity. But they, who
considered themselves to be so wise, failed to g.asp the truth because of their
moral corruption, which led them finally to idolatry. This is true not only of
pagans, but also of members of the chosen people and of many Christians when
they idolize created things. Immediate consequences follow:
"Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, in
the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the
truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the
Creator" (Rom. 1:24-25).
It is easy to conclude, as the writer does, that revealed wisdom is far superior
to pagan wisdom--which is what he is trying to do in the three parts of the book
which we have outlined. In each he deals with wisdom from a different angle: In
the first he shows wisdom as a moral virtue, identifying it with the pursuit of
righteousness; in the second, as the mother of all virtues, personifying it as a
divine attribute; in the third he emphasizes the objective character of wisdom,
which is the source of riches for those who attain it.
The whole background of this book is profoundly religious. God wished to put the
Jews of the first century B.C. on their guard against the temptation they might
experience in Egyptian culture--an attractive culture, but one which inevitably
deflected man from his ultimate goal. Instead of giving them genuine knowledge,
it would woo them away from the faith and from true wisdom. Therefore, the
sacred text is continually exhorting the reader to search for higher knowledge
which comes from God, not from man; God is the source of all good things.
Wisdom, as we have seen, is a "reflection of eternal light, a spotless
mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness" (7:25-26). It
is God himself who, in an act of his mercy, gives wisdom to men, made in his
image and likeness.
With Daniel and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom provides an adequate answer to the problem
of the reward of the righteous. All the pains and sufferings a man experiences
in this life find their explanation in the revelation of the immortality of the
soul:
"But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will
ever touch them. In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died, and their
departure was thought to be an affliction and their going from us to be their
destruction; but they are at peace. For though in the sight of men they were
punished, their hope is full of immortality. Having been disciplined a little,
they will receive great good, because God tested them and found them worthy of
himself; like gold in the furnace he tried them, and like a sacrificial burnt
offering he accepted them. In the time of their visitation they will shine forth
and will run like sparks through the stubble. They will govern nations and rule
over peoples, and the Lord will reign over them forever" (Wis. 3:1-8).
This is the answer to the great questions posed in Job and Ecclesiastes. On the
one hand it explains why the just man suffers; on the other, it points up the
inadequacy of earthly things to satisfy man's yearnings for happiness. In other
words, everything that happens to man in this life needs to be seen through the
prism of eternal life, where the just man will be forever happy, whereas the
ungodly will suffer the punishment their sins deserve (3:9-10).
Wisdom, then, brings us to the threshold of the gospel message. Therefore, it
comes as no surprise to find the apostles quoting it often in their preaching.
To describe the work of the Word of God incarnate, Paul refers to wisdom as a
divine attribute (Wis. 9:11-19, 1 Cor. 2:7-16), as does John in the prologue to
his Gospel (John 1:1ff). The same thing happens in other places in the New
Testament dealing with the eternal life of the just (Rom. 8:18, 1 Cor. 6:2). The
New Testament asserts that man, by the use of natural reason alone, can from
evidence of created things come to discover the existence of God (Rom. 1:20,
Wis. 13:4-9) and of divine mercy and providence (Rom. 9:19-23, Wis. 12:12-15).
In view of all this and because of the ground it lays for the revelation of the
mystery of the Blessed Trinity, the book of Wisdom offers the Christian
spiritual and doctrinal material of the first order, which the Church in its
liturgy uses as an unequivocal announcement of the messianic era, which from
this point onward was seen as imminent.
Antonio Fuentes teaches Scripture at the University of Navarre in Spain. This continuing series is excerpted with permission from his Guide to the Bible, which is available from This Rock postpaid for $14.95. (California residents add $1.00 sales tax.)