'Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his
delight, rejoicing always before him; 31. Rejoicing in the habitable
part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of
men.'--PROVERBS viii. 30, 31.
There is a singular difference between the two portions of this Book
of Proverbs. The bulk of it, beginning with chapter x., contains a
collection of isolated maxims which may be described as the product of
sanctified common sense. They are shrewd and homely, but not
remarkably spiritual or elevated. To these is prefixed this
introductory portion, continuous, lofty in style, and in its
personification of divine wisdom, rising to great sublimity both of
thought and of expression. It seems as if the main body of the book
had been fitted with an introduction by another hand than that of the
compilers of the various sets of proverbial sayings. It is apparently
due to an intellectual movement, perhaps not uninfluenced by Greek
thought, and chronologically the latest of the elements composing the
Old Testament scriptures. In place of the lyric fervour of prophets,
and the devout intuition of psalmists, we have the praise of Wisdom.
But that noble portrait is no copy of the Greek conception, but
contains features peculiar to itself. She stands opposed to blatant,
meretricious Folly, and seeks to draw men to herself by lofty motives
and offering pure delights. She is not a person, but she is a
personification of an aspect of the divine nature, and seeing that she
is held forth as willing to bestow herself on men, that queenly figure
shadows the great truth of God's self-communication as being the end
and climax of all His revelation.
We are on the wrong tack when we look for more or less complete
resemblances between the 'Wisdom' of Proverbs and the 'Sophia' of
Greek thinkers. It is much rather an anticipation, imperfect but real,
of Jesus than a pale reflection of Greek thought. The way for the
perfect revelation of God in the incarnation was prepared by prophet
and psalmist. Was it not also prepared by this vision of a Wisdom
which was always with God, and yet had its delights with the sons of
men, and whilst 'rejoicing always before Him,' yet rejoiced in the
habitable parts of the earth?
Let us then look, however imperfect our gaze may be, at the
self-revelation in Proverbs of the personified divine Wisdom, and
compare it with the revelation of the incarnate divine Word.