Among the mediating figures, Hokhmah or Wisdom is of particular interest here because of its eventual connection to Ruah ha-Kodesh [the Holy Spirit: ruah = spirit; kodesh = holy]. Wisdom is already found vividly personified in the Tanakh1, in the book of Proverbs (Chapter 8, et. al.) and Job 28, both from the early Hellenistic period, where she is presented as God’s first creation and constant companion. Although it has been popular to attribute this to Greek influence, this personification of Hokhmah already appears in Jewish and other Semitic settings in the pre-Hellenistic period.
In Pharisaic and Rabbinic Judaism, wisdom became identified exclusively with the Torah.2 This identification was promulgated by the Wisdom of Ben Sira (Chapter 24) in the second century B.C.E., became a commonplace in Pharisaic and later in Rabbinic thought, and is fully developed in such works as Genesis Rabbah, in the opening pericope:
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Author: Julie Hilton Danan
Keywords: Torah, Metonym for God, Metonym, Metonymy, Personification, Personified, Wisdom, I Wisdom, Wisdom crying
Bible reference(s): Proverbs 8, Proverbs 9:1
Source: Ph.D., Dissertation: The Divine Voice in Scripture: Ruah ha-Kodesh in Rabbinic Literature, The University of Texas at Austin (Austin: 2009), pp. 211-213.
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