The foundation of this view is to be found in the book of Proverbs, where (chapter 8) wisdom (Chokmach) is represented as present with God before (8:22) and during the creation of the world. So far it appears only as a principle regulating the action of the Creator, though even in this way it establishes a close connection between the world, as the outward expression of wisdom, and God. Moreover, by the personification of wisdom, and the relation of wisdom to men (8:31), a preparation is made for the extension of the doctrine. This appears, after a long interval, in Ecclesiasticus. In the great description of wisdom given in that book (chapter 24), wisdom is represented as a creation of God (24:9), penetrating the whole universe (4-6), and taking up her special abode with the chosen people (8-12). Her personal existence and providential function are thus distinctly brought out. In the book of Wisdom the conception gains yet further completeness. In this, wisdom is identified with the Spirit of God (9:17) — an identification half implied in Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 24:3 — which brooded over the elements of the unformed world (9:9), and inspired the prophets (7:7, 27). She is the power which unites (1:7) and directs. all things (8:1). By her, in especial, men have fellowship with God (12:1); and her action is not confined to any period, for “in all ages entering into holy souls, she maketh them friends of God and prophets (7:27). So also her working, in the providential history of God’s people, is traced at length (10); and her power is declared to reach beyond the world of man into that of spirits (7:23). SEE ECCLESIASTICUS.
The conception of wisdom, however boldly personified, yet leaves a wide chasm between the world and the Creator. Wisdom answers to the idea of a spirit vivifying and uniting all things in all time, as distinguished from any special outward revelation of the divine person. Thus at the same time that the doctrine of wisdom was gradually constructed, the correlative doctrine of the divine utterance was also reduced to a definite shape. The word (Memra), the divine expression, as it was understood in Palestine furnished the exact complement to wisdom, the divine thought; but the ambiguity of the Greek Logos (sermo, ratio) introduced considerable confusion into the later treatment of the two ideas. Broadly, however, it may be said that the Word properly represented the mediative element in the action of God, Wisdom the mediative element of his omnipresence. Thus, according to the later disitinction of Philo, wisdom corresponds to the immanent word (Λόγος ἐνδιάθετος), while the word, strictly speaking, was defined as enunciative (Λόγος προφορικός). Both ideas are included in the language of the prophets, and both found a natural development in Palestine and Egypt. The one prepared men for the revelation of the Son of God, the other for the revelation of the Holy Spirit. SEE LOGOS.
To continue reading this Bible article, click here.
Author: McClintock and Strong Cyclopedia
Keywords: Wisdom Personified, logos, Hypostasis, personify, personification, memra, wisdom of God
Bible reference(s): Prov 8:22, Sirach/Ecclesiasticus 24:3, Ecclesiasticus 24:9
Source: John McClintock and James Strong, Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature.
Page indexed by: inWORD Bible Software.