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The Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries
The Wisdom of Solomon
The Anchor Bible offers book-by-book translations of the Old and New Testarnents and Apocrypha, with commentary. This volume on "The Wisdom of Solomon" has been prepared by David Winston, Professor of Hellenistic and Judaic Studies and Director of the Center for Judaic Studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California.
"The Wisdom of Solomon" is a long and subtly poetic work placed in the mouth of "wise" King Solomon. It blends biblical thought and Middle Platonism. David Winston thoroughly analyzes the book, presenting the philosophical situation clearly and putting forth evidence to suggest that the work was written later than is commonly supposed, during the reign of Caligula (A.D. 37-41), and by a single author.
Because of its exclusion from the canon of scripture used by Jews and Protestant Christians, "The Wisdom of Solomon" has been neglected by biblical scholars in general. Dr. Winston's commentary is the first to thoroughly cover both previous research and recent developments such as the Qumran scrolls, papyrus discoveries in Egypt, and new knowledge of ancient Iranian religion. It is a major contribution to the study of the apocryphal literature of the Bible.
"The Wisdom of Solomon" is a long and subtly poetic work placed in the mouth of "wise" King Solomon. It blends biblical thought and Middle Platonism. David Winston thoroughly analyzes the book, presenting the philosophical situation clearly and putting forth evidence to suggest that the work was written later than is commonly supposed, during the reign of Caligula (A.D. 37-41), and by a single author.
Because of its exclusion from the canon of scripture used by Jews and Protestant Christians, "The Wisdom of Solomon" has been neglected by biblical scholars in general. Dr. Winston's commentary is the first to thoroughly cover both previous research and recent developments such as the Qumran scrolls, papyrus discoveries in Egypt, and new knowledge of ancient Iranian religion. It is a major contribution to the study of the apocryphal literature of the Bible.
359 pages, Hardcover
Published October 5, 1979
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 27, 2017
Most people do not realize that along with other kinds of ancient books that were felt to be religious, some of which were included in the canonized Hebrew Bible, there were books known as “wisdom literature.” Three biblical books are recognized as wisdom literature: Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, and Job. Two other early books that were not included in the Jewish canon, the Tenakh, are The Wisdom of Ben Sira and The Wisdom of Solomon.
The Wisdom of Solomon was a book written in Greek by a learned Hellenized Jew of Alexandria, Egypt. David Winston, offers us an excellent translation of The Wisdom of Solomon, a comprehensive 93-page introduction, a smaller introduction before each section of the book’s nineteen chapters, extensive clarifying notes on each section of the chapters, and 27 pages of several indexes. He pinpoints the date of the book’s composition as being during the reign of the Roman ruler Caligula, 37-41 CE. This was around the time of the famous Hellenistic Jewish philosopher, also of Alexandria, whose many works were not wisdom literature, but interpretations of the Bible in accordance with mystical Middle Platonism.
The book is exhortatory; it strongly urges its readers to engage in wisdom. It is composed in three parts: (1) Stating that wisdom’s gift is immortality. (2) The nature of wisdom and Solomon’s search for her (wisdom is seen as feminine). (3) A comparison between the Israelites in Egyptian slavery who were engaged in wisdom and the Egyptians.
In the first part, among much else, the author expresses his view that humans will have immorality, but can lose it by abandoning wisdom. He says that the suffering that just people experience on earth is just a brief trial in the immortal destiny of righteous souls which will bring them peace and future glorification after death. In the second part, he describes Solomon recognizing that humans are unable to gain wisdom by their own efforts and that he could not gain wisdom unless God graciously bestowed her on him. The author continues by giving examples of how wisdom saved people in history from Adam though the Israelite’s exodus from Egypt. In the third part, he argues that Israel benefited by acts similar to the plagues by which Egypt was punished. For example, the Nile water turned to blood, but Israel obtained water from a desert rock. In this third part, in 11:17, the Wisdom author, like Aristotle in his Physics, Plato in Timaeus, and Philo in Spec. 1.328-329, and possibly Maimonides in his Guide 2:13, contends, contrary to the current view of most Jews, that God did not create the world out of nothing, but “out of formless matter.”
The author of this book did not invent the female figure wisdom. She appears in Proverbs and 1:20ff and 8:22ff, and Job 28:12ff. In Proverb 8:30 God is said to have created her at the beginning of creation.
A basic question is: should we take the statements about wisdom literally, that she is a being separate from God. This, as the contention that the Shekhinah is a separate being that is held by many Jews, is problematical. It assumes a divine being other than God, and seems to be a polytheistic notion. Winston tells us that the term wisdom is a “hypostasis,” meaning one of the aspects of God, one of the ways we describe how God interacts with humans, that God granted humans wisdom. I think this is correct. But I would add that at times the term denotes the wisdom of the laws of nature that God created. This why Proverbs 8 (and Ben Sira 1:4 and 24:9) states that wisdom was created at the beginning of creation, meaning the laws of nature were placed in the world from the very beginning. Humans can only be successful if they understand the laws of nature, how the world functions, and act according to this wisdom.
The Wisdom of Solomon was a book written in Greek by a learned Hellenized Jew of Alexandria, Egypt. David Winston, offers us an excellent translation of The Wisdom of Solomon, a comprehensive 93-page introduction, a smaller introduction before each section of the book’s nineteen chapters, extensive clarifying notes on each section of the chapters, and 27 pages of several indexes. He pinpoints the date of the book’s composition as being during the reign of the Roman ruler Caligula, 37-41 CE. This was around the time of the famous Hellenistic Jewish philosopher, also of Alexandria, whose many works were not wisdom literature, but interpretations of the Bible in accordance with mystical Middle Platonism.
The book is exhortatory; it strongly urges its readers to engage in wisdom. It is composed in three parts: (1) Stating that wisdom’s gift is immortality. (2) The nature of wisdom and Solomon’s search for her (wisdom is seen as feminine). (3) A comparison between the Israelites in Egyptian slavery who were engaged in wisdom and the Egyptians.
In the first part, among much else, the author expresses his view that humans will have immorality, but can lose it by abandoning wisdom. He says that the suffering that just people experience on earth is just a brief trial in the immortal destiny of righteous souls which will bring them peace and future glorification after death. In the second part, he describes Solomon recognizing that humans are unable to gain wisdom by their own efforts and that he could not gain wisdom unless God graciously bestowed her on him. The author continues by giving examples of how wisdom saved people in history from Adam though the Israelite’s exodus from Egypt. In the third part, he argues that Israel benefited by acts similar to the plagues by which Egypt was punished. For example, the Nile water turned to blood, but Israel obtained water from a desert rock. In this third part, in 11:17, the Wisdom author, like Aristotle in his Physics, Plato in Timaeus, and Philo in Spec. 1.328-329, and possibly Maimonides in his Guide 2:13, contends, contrary to the current view of most Jews, that God did not create the world out of nothing, but “out of formless matter.”
The author of this book did not invent the female figure wisdom. She appears in Proverbs and 1:20ff and 8:22ff, and Job 28:12ff. In Proverb 8:30 God is said to have created her at the beginning of creation.
A basic question is: should we take the statements about wisdom literally, that she is a being separate from God. This, as the contention that the Shekhinah is a separate being that is held by many Jews, is problematical. It assumes a divine being other than God, and seems to be a polytheistic notion. Winston tells us that the term wisdom is a “hypostasis,” meaning one of the aspects of God, one of the ways we describe how God interacts with humans, that God granted humans wisdom. I think this is correct. But I would add that at times the term denotes the wisdom of the laws of nature that God created. This why Proverbs 8 (and Ben Sira 1:4 and 24:9) states that wisdom was created at the beginning of creation, meaning the laws of nature were placed in the world from the very beginning. Humans can only be successful if they understand the laws of nature, how the world functions, and act according to this wisdom.
December 29, 2022
Nov 8, 2022: It's like a longer, in depth Proverbs...with good reason. Like Sirach, there's a lot of advice that is still applicable to today.
Dec 18, 2021: As with all the other books of wisdom, this one was very very good. I don't know why I feel like I've not worked with it much before. I think Sirach is still my favorite, but this is also very good.
Dec 18, 2021: As with all the other books of wisdom, this one was very very good. I don't know why I feel like I've not worked with it much before. I think Sirach is still my favorite, but this is also very good.
March 12, 2008
I read the intro, which is helpful and has interesting comments about (Middle) Platonism and Philo, but didn't read the translation or commentary.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews