Solomon, Wisdom of

▪ biblical literature

      an example of the “wisdom” genre of religious literature, which commends a life of introspection and reflection on human existence, especially from an ethical perspective. It is an apocryphal work (noncanonical for Jews and Protestants) but is included in the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament) and was accepted into the Roman canon.

      In the book, Wisdom is depicted as a feminine personification of an attribute of God; she is “a breath of the power of God, and a clear effluence of the glory of the Almighty.” (From this concept was developed the Logos theology of the Christian Church Fathers to explain Jesus Christ's relationship to God.) Written by a Jew in Alexandria sometime during the 1st century BC, the book was in effect a defense of Judaism, for, in describing Jewish doctrines in terms of Hellenistic philosophy, it showed that philosophical truths were applicable to the Jewish concept of God. Its argument was perhaps directed both to Jews who, responding to their non-Jewish environment, had apostatized and adopted pagan gods and to rigorist Jews who in the same environment advocated complete religious and social isolation.

      The first of the book's three sections is written in poetic form and is concerned with fostering enthusiasm for religious belief and practice, with emphasis on the superiority of belief over impiety. The second, mixing poetry and prose, praises Wisdom. The third, likewise a mixture of poetic and prose styles, attempts to prove that Wisdom has guided all of Israelite history. This section also condemns idol worship.

      The original text was most probably written in Greek; fragments were discovered in the Essene library, at Qumrān, in Palestine.

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