A special problem is the personification of wisdom in Pr. 8:22ff. Jb. 28 anticipates this personification by depicting wisdom as a mystery inscrutable to men but apparent to God. In Pr. 1:20–33 wisdom is likened to a woman crying in the streets for men to turn from their foolish ways and to find instruction and security in her (cf. also Pr. 3:15–20). The personification continues in Pr. 8 and reaches its climax in vv. 22ff., where wisdom claims to be the first creation of God and, perhaps, an assistant in the work of creation (8:30; cf. 3:19; the difficult ’āmôn, ‘as one brought up’ in AV, should be translated ‘master workman’, as in RV, RSV; see W. F. Albright in Wisdom in Israel and in the Ancient Near East, p. 8). The purpose of wisdom’s recitation of her credentials is to attract men to pay her rightful heed, as 8:32–36 indicates. Therefore, caution must be exercised in reading into this passage a view of hypostatization, i.e. that wisdom is depicted as having an independent existence. The Hebrews’ characteristic resistance to speculation and abstraction frequently led their poets to deal with inanimate objects or ideals as though they had personality. See H. W. Robinson, Inspiration and Revelation in the Old Testament, 1946, p. 260; H. Ringgren, Word and Wisdom, 1947. For the influence of the personification of wisdom on the Logos idea of the Fourth Gospel, see *LOGOS. Hubbard, D. A. (1996). Wisdom. In (D. R. W. Wood, I. H. Marshall, A. R. Millard, J. I. Packer, & D. J. Wiseman, Eds.)New Bible dictionary. Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Posted on: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 05:28:13 +0000
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