Wisdom

Question 1

Wisdom AKA

Answer 1

o Wisdom of Solomon
o Wisdom
o Book of the Wisdom of Solomon

Question 2

Authorship of Wisdom

Answer 2

Unknown in the text technically, but King Solomon supposedly (9:7-8)

Question 3

Audience of Wisdom

Answer 3

Jews

An encouragement to refuse any compromise with idolatry and an exhortation for the rulers of the world

Question 4

Date of Wisdom

Answer 4

2nd or 1st century BC

Perspective: king Solomon lived from 1010BC to 931BC

Question 5

Genre of Wisdom

Answer 5

• Wisdom literature
  => Specifically “exhortatory discourse”
• Contains similarities to Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job
• Also similar to the Wisdom of Ben Sira

Question 6

Similarities to Bible Wisdom Books

Answer 6

o Wisdom 6:17-20
o Proverbs 4:7

o Wisdom 15:15
o Psalm 115: 4-6

o Wisdom 2:1
o Ecclesiastes 6:12
o Job 14:1-2

Question 7

Theme of Wisdom

Answer 7

Main theme: The pursuit of wisdom, its enduring value, and the consequences of rejecting it
=> The author’s main point: Get wisdom (especially if you’re a ruler)
=> Synonymous with Divine providence, i.e. God’s control of events
=> Universal and particular

Sub themes

• God’s wrath toward the wicked
• Idolatry

Question 8

Theological Significance of Wisdom

Answer 8

• Fusion of Jewish orthodoxy with Greek ideas and rhetoric
  => Personified wisdom (Sophia) is both a Jewish religious idea and a Hellenistic philosophical idea
• Influence on Jewish liturgy
  => Used in the Unetanneh Tokef prayer during the Jewish High Holiday
• Possible Messianic Interpretations
  => Wisdom exists as one with the Father
  => Certain passages seem to reflect the idea of the Trinity
  => Pharisees possibly mock Jesus on the cross using words from Wisdom

Question 9

Exclusion from the Canon

Wisdom

Answer 9

• Some of the elders, believing the book to be by Solomon, though it was divinely-inspired and therefore declared it canonical
• Other elders, though denying the Solomon authorship of the book, yet gave it canonical legitimacy
• There were some in the early church who refused to acknowledge the book as authoritative in any way regard the doctrine
• The Council of Trent included it with the rest of the Protestant Apocrypha in the Canon, so that the Romanist Bible includes it, but the Protestant Bible excluded it

Question 10

Characters

Answer 10

• Solomon (author/narrator)
• Wicked (audience)
• Ungodly (audience)
• Kings and Rulers (audience)

Question 11

Overview of Content

Wisdom

Answer 11

• In the manuscripts and odd of the Greek Bible, Wisdom follows Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Canticles, and then it’s followed by Sirach
• The beginning is directed against people who were described as ungodly because they denied immortality, they indulge in lust and incest, and mock the righteous and the educated (1-6)
• The next section is about Solomon and his relationship with wisdom. There is further approval of wisdom as the guide of humanity, the nature of wisdom, its importance, and how one may find it are described (6-9)
• ?
• 10-12: saving power of wisdom from the time of Adam to time of Moses
• 16-19: the importance of behaving wisely through God’s contrasting treatment of the Egyptians and the Israelites
• 13-15: a digression, reflect on the origin and folly of various forms of idolatry

Question 12

The books seemed to end suddenly as if the author stopped writing and forgot to finish

Answer 12

• Time when Selucids took power over Ptolemy
• Death
• Actually got distracted
• Wisdom is generational
  => Wisdom never ends
  => It’s continual

- Seems reasonable for Solomon to have written all or part of this book even if it was after his death 
 => Addressing rulers/ people in charge
 => Solomon asked for wisdom
- Unrighteousness versus wisdom 
 => Intentional versus not (knowledge)
 => I think it was Proverbs: foolishness versus wisdom
- Human doing versus Human being
- Wisdom takes to directions
 => Practical
 => Speculative