The Wisdom of Solomon

by Anonymous, Piers Paul Read (Introduction)

Traditionally believed to be written by King Solomon himself, though later attributed to his friends and followers, the author of the Greek text is well versed in the popular philosophical, religious, and ethical writings adopted by Hellenistic Alexandria. In his introduction, Piers Paul Read contemplates this story that impressed him greatly as a child, one in which wisdom pleases God so greatly he gives Solomon everything else besides.

Genres: Religion, Philosophy, Poetry

64 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 31

About the author

Books can be attributed to "Anonymous" for several reasons:

* They are officially published under that name
* They are traditional stories not attributed to a specific author
* They are religious texts not generally attributed to a specific author

Books whose authorship is merely uncertain should be attributed to Unknown.

See also: Anonymous

Reviews

[Alex]

The book's subject matter is wisdom in every sense of the word, focusing of course above all on moral wisdom, but even praising the ability that God has given mankind to investigate and understand the natural world.

The gratitude to “know the organization of the universe and the force of its elements. The beginning and the end and the midpoint of times, the changes in the sun's course and the variations of the seasons...positions of the stars, natures of animals...uses of plants” have led to suspicion that the author, a Hellenized Jew writing in Greek, was familiar with Aristotle. God is also praised as having “disposed all things by measure and number and weight” also implying a consistent, mathematical order to the universe.

Wisdom comes from God and ought to lead back to him. Much criticized are the men who “studying the works did not discern the artisan” They are struck by the beauty and wonder of nature and may even turn stars and natural forces into gods, but “let them from these things realize how much more powerful is He who made them.”

The Egyptians worshiped animals such as insects and reptiles and in the plagues “were fittingly punished by similar creatures.” The author notes that “the universe fights on behalf of the just” in a reminder that sins has consequences, not only in the next life, and that the punishment comes from the sin itself, which by its nature is irrational, and causes us to find fulfillment in the most vain and awful addictions. You don't have to worship serpents or crocodiles to be devoured by your sins.

The worst criticism however is reserved for the idolaters, who don't even worship nature, which at least God produced, but take their natural appetite for the divine and pervert it into worshiping man-made statues. With the skepticism of a Diodorus or a Euhemerus the author explains away the origins of idolatry as the deification of ancient historical figures, and laments the absurdity of it all.

Wisdom ought to not lead to idolatry, it ought to lead to the source, to God. “[wisdom] is an aura of the might of God and a pure effusion of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nought that is sullied enters into her”

Wisdom implies a detachment from the worldly. I actually thought one of the most poignant passages is the consolation given to the childless woman. Large families were so valued in Jewish culture, and here is a woman who for whatever reason appears to be unmarried and childless. Marriage is a challenge, there must be a lot of preparation before being able to experience the joys of that relationship, or the bearing of children. Perhaps the childless woman could skip those formalities, but it is reminded that “better is childlessness with virtue for immortal is its memory.” To find God's favor is a greater legacy than any children you could ever leave behind.

In a sense, that part went simply beyond marriage and children, reminding me of all the worldly success given to the wicked, maybe some of the success even being gained at the cost of forfeiting virtue, but that success is worthless: “the numerous progeny of the wicked shall be of no avail...their spurious offshoots shall not...take firm hold”

A virtuous person does not worry about the worldly but rather about the heavenly, on the eternal. “if riches be a desirable possession in life, what is more rich than Wisdom, who produces all things”?

Yet virtue comes at a price, martyrdom, with the reassurance that “the souls of the just are in the hands of God and no torment shall touch them...Chastised a little they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of himself."

The very second chapter warns of persecution because the wicked by their very nature flock to devour the good, and get rid of them. “Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us”

The wicked are not even portrayed as being unbelievers, but they have a very sad view of what is to be expected from God. “[the virtuous one] calls blest the destiny of the just and boats that God is his Father. Let us see whether his words be true; let us find out what will happen to him. For if the just one be the son of God, he will defend him and deliver him from the hand of his foes”

It seems very plausible to me that the same crowd who cheered for Christ during Palm Sunday cheered for his crucifixion soon afterwards because they wanted to see the wonders that they expected from the Messiah: not spiritual wonders, not the grace to endure martyrdom and avoid sin, but worldly wonders: coming down from the cross, working miracles to amuse the masses, defeating the secular enemies of the Jewish people.

The book of Wisdom then prepares us for Christ, his passion, and if we listen, eventually our own martyrdom.

[Ade Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Pocket Canon series of King James books of the Bible sees each introduced by a contemporary writer. In the case of Wisdom the introduction is by a practising Catholic, son of Herbert Read whom Piers Paul sadly berates for having made art a religion. Others in the series are introduced by atheists or other religious affiliates, and I don't read them as a practising Christian.
Like any averagely educated reader of western Literature, or indeed anyone who has an engagement with cultural history, I do find it essential to know the Bible. We live in a secular society dominated by Christian values, for instance; more specifically, a reading of Moby Dick or Paradise Lost, for instance, while more than possible without acquaintance with the Bible, is probably enhanced with such knowledge.
One of the things I find is that the 'wisdom' in scriptures (beyond the Bible) often coincides, and also with such sources as Marcus Aurelius' Meditations. It's as if there are axial human agreements about the nature of things (so, for instance, not surprisingly, the Greek Plato and the Roman Aurelius have found a place in Catholic theology. So too has Nietszche!)
The Old Testament book of Wisdom was written not long before the birth of Christ, probably in Alexandria with its Hellenic atmosphere.The following from Chapter 5 strikes me as resonant with many traditions of religion, and to a lesser extent philosophical thought:

8: What hath pride profited us? or what good hath riches with our vaunting brought us?
9: All those things are passed away like a shadow, and as a post that hasted by;
10: And as a ship that passeth over the waves of the water, which when it is gone by, the trace thereof cannot be found, neither the pathway of the keel in the waves;
11: Or as when a bird hath flown through the air, there is no token of her way to be found, but the light air being beaten with the stroke of her wings and parted with the violent noise and motion of them, is passed through, and therein afterwards no sign where she went is to be found;
12: Or like as when an arrow is shot at a mark, it parteth the air, which immediately cometh together again, so that a man cannot know where it went through:
13: Even so we in like manner, as soon as we were born, began to draw to our end, and had no sign of virtue to shew; but were consumed in our own wickedness.
14: For the hope of the ungodly is like dust that is blown away with the wind; like a thin froth that is driven away with the storm; like as the smoke which is dispersed here and there with a tempest, and passeth away as the remembrance of a guest that tarrieth but a day.

I hope, too, that the obvious does not get lost, that somewhat overstated as it is at times, the Bible is often worth reading too as great literature.

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moses and the blood thirsty Yahweh feel far away indeed when you read Solomon. This book written perhaps 100 B.C. advocates a set of intellectual and quite modern values.

The basic message it advocates is something like the following:
* Stay out of trouble. Conflicts and scheming almost always end badly.
* Listen to the voice of conscience.
* Being good pays off, not always in a material way, but that's how you get real friends and lasting happiness.
* You are not free to do what you please with your power. Power comes from God, if you abuse it he will get his revenge.
* Savor the goods of life while it lasts.
* Ideas are more fun than things.

The best thing about the book is how it personifies wisdom. The thirst for wisdom is indeed a kin to thirsting for the love of a woman, and Solomon nails the personality of lady wisdom. You cannot force her to love you and she is unfair, but she is vain and loves when you pay her honest attention. Honest attention - that is how you charm lady wisdom

The major issue with Solomon is that he personifies Wisdom as absolute. There is no mature acknowledgement in Solomon that sensible humans can disagree about what is wise. Nope, wisdom is derived by God so it has obviously got to be immortal and specified since the dawn of time. In this view anyone who disagrees with you is obviously just misguided.

I give The Wisdom of Solomon four stars, and I actually think people would care about it even if it were not in the bible.

[❀ Diana ❀ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Am tendința să citesc lucrări apocrifice decât să mă avânt direct în Biblie și alte cărți dirijate de Biserică; poate ăsta e și farmecul acestor lecturi, și noi oricum încercăm să ne sustragem de la normă și să abordăm neobișnuitul.

Din câte am înțeles, lucrarea în sine nu este scrisă de Solomon, și că cele 3 secțiuni (Eshatologia, Înțelepciunea și Istoria) ar fi fost scrise de două entități diferite din cauza limbajului și termenilor grecești utilizați. Cartea vorbește despre înțelepciune ca fiind un dar dat omului de către Dumnezeu și face parte din cele 7 cărți ale înțelepciunii din Vechiul Testament Grecesc (sau Septuagint), dintre care amintim de Job, Sirach, Psalmii, Cântarea cântărilor, Proverbe și Ecleziastul.

Este o lectură scurtă și apreciez studiile introductive, contează mult.

N.P. Mi s-a părut amuzant că e o lucrare în grecește scrisă în Egipt care vorbește de Dumnezeul evreilor; te-ai fi așteptat să fie în ebraică sau măcar aramaică. :)

[Anthony Louis Garavito · Rating 2 out of 5]

Texto compuesto por partes que tratan temas metafísicos y prácticos, especula sobre el origen de la sabiduría, alegando que aquellos que la desprecian, serán avergonzados en la otra vida, relatando la venganza de los justos hacia los malvados, por haberlos atormentado en el plano terrenal.

Por otra parte, explica cómo la sabiduría fue protagonista en diversos hitos trascendentales de la historia cristiana, como acompañó al pueblo de Israel en Egipto, a Jacob. Relatando los tratos degradantes e inhumanos por parte de los egipcios al pueblo de Israel, pero que en última instancia, su agonía fue concluida y llegaron a feliz término. El punto central de esta historia es la preeminencia del bien, la justicia, hacia el mal, la opresión. Y las herramientas que están a disposición de los mortales para sobrellevar los tiempos difíciles no son más que la búsqueda de la virtud y sabiduría.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was surprisingly fun. The Wisdom of Solomon is one of the apocryphal books that I had to read for college, but which wasn't really explained. Tobit, Judith, and Maccabees all got more attention.

Basically, the author of this book, supposedly Solomon, begins with theodicy: it often seems that the wicked enjoy life and enjoy the pursuit of all sorts of physical pleasures and live long, while the righteous die and suffer for the sake of an invisible God. Solomon responds to this in three ways:
1. He shows that, in this life and the next, the righteous are rewarded and the wicked punished. In heaven, the wicked will realize their life was short and that the righteous truly have their reward.
2. In the center, Solomon offers an exhortation to pursue wisdom, including a description of how even Solomon requested wisdom from God and how without it he would have been nothing. I think there is an affirmation of human sinfulness here.
3. The second half of the book is a long description of the justice of the Exodus, showing how God punished the Egyptians and blessed the Israelites. If anyone likes typology, this section of the book is fun, since it is a pre-Christian endeavor to find parallels between the sins of the Egyptians (drowning of the firstborn, worship of animals) and the plagues (drowning of the Egyptians, death of the firstborn, plagues of animals). Solomon emphasizes God's mercy even on the wicked in allowing them to continue, as well as God's beneficence to the righteous by merely disciplining them to keep them from sin. In this way, I think, this section is an answer to theodicy: the suffering of the righteous is purely for discipline, not an accident.

In his book, Paul and the Gift, Barclay argues that this book is an attempt to refute the notion that the world is chaotic and ruled by chance, and that it answers this by showing that God really does bless the righteous and punish the wicked. Barclay acknowledges delayed mercy and that Solomon receives the gift of wisdom before he is worthy, but he also points out that Solomon has an undefiled body when he receives the wisdom. He also points out that the wicked are the ones who summon death into the world by their misbehavior.

I don't know that I buy this reading of Wisdom as a worthy-of-grace text. It is true that Solomon does not put any of the Israelite sins forefront, but I mean, come on, you can't say all the things all the time. This seemed to me like a fairly biblical text about pursuing virtue becuase God is gracious and kind.

One of the more interesting lines in here is that the body is what weighs us down: "For the corruptible body burdens the soul, and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns" (Wisd. 9:15, New American Bible). I do not think this is really a Gnostic text, since Paul and Jesus both talk about the flesh being something that weighs down the soul. This is not to say the soul is entirely pure or sinless, merely that the fall introduces a kind of moral entropy into our bodies. See The Logic of the Body for a careful theology of this.

[Benjamin Stahl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much like Proverbs, this book (not actually written by Solomon, at least according to the Good News translation), sets a clear, integral list of moral principles for a man to live by according to God's will. Beautifully stated (though obviously simplified in this version), it addresses many issues that remain present still to this day.

[Overlady · Rating 1 out of 5]

3:16-19. <- bad news for kids born out of wedlock. (including me lol)
Ch 12:04-18 hmm. Book of wisdom
Ch14:24-26 our society is like canaan.

Didn't leave much impression on me, might need to reread it.

[Anonimo2000]

أحد أسفار الأبوكريفا أي النصوص التي لم تدرج ضمن المجموعة النهائية للكتاب المقدس لدى اليهود والمسيحيين. يحتوي على محاولة لتفنيد سفر الجامعة، ثم محاولة إثبات البعث والحساب بعد الموت، وهي مسألة غائبة تماماً عن الكتاب المقدس اليهودي..

[Sean Chick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is part of a series where I am reading the Bible in chronological order. I am not doing this for reasons of faith, as I am agnostic, but because of my interest in mythology, ancient literature, and history. I chose the NRSV because I used to be Catholic and still have sympathies there. More importantly, this version seeks a balance between an accurate translation and the literary qualities of the King James Bible. So it seems you get the best of two worlds.

One can tell this was written later. The work is more intellectually sophisticated than Proverbs due to its Greek influence and a much better read than Proverbs as well. It is also very reflective, looking at the past and trying to understand it instead of the comparatively more simplistic earlier books. The poetry is uneven but it has superb parts and even horrifying ones, such "the Death of Egyptian Firstborn."

I read this last in the Old Testament because it was written as early as the 1st century AD. Now onto Matthew.

[Aaron White · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an interesting book, definitely didn't feel like true Solomon, but that may have been the translation. It actually felt like a crotchety old man expounding on what he thought was wrong with those darn young Israelites these days. Not to say there wasn't quite a bit of good and correct things in the book. Though there were points that didn't sound quite theologically sound.
Overall, the point is that we should seek wisdom with all we have. Indeed, wisdom is almost equated with God. Of course, wisdom comes from God - therefore, by seeking God, we are seeking his wisdom as well.

[Brenda Funk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Continuing my reading through the apocryphal books. This book is attributed to Solomon but didn't sound like the Proverbs I am more familiar with. I found the wisdom quite harsh and contradictory.