A typology of personified wisdom hymns

Biblical Theology Bulletin, Winter, 2004 by Nozomi Miura

The universalization of Wisdom/Torah is, moveover, articulated in the Eden motifs. The comparison of Wisdom/Torah to the four rivers--"the Pishon," "the Tigris," "the Euphrates," and "the Gihon"--associated with Eden in Genesis 2:10-14, shows Ben Sira's reflective use of the mythical elements of Genesis. (It is also regarded as "poetic Midrash.") Eden, one of the most prominent spatial images in the Bible, is viewed as "the locus of [the] primordial and eschatological presence of God" (Davis: 57). The Eden typolow can be illustrated as retrojective (primordial) or as projective (eschatological); "A retrojective spatial typology depicts a sacred place and/or institution with Eden imagery, whereas a projective typology presents a future hope in the imagery of Eden" (Davis: 57). The imagery delineated in Ben Sira 24 indicates both the retrojective and projective typologies, quite equivalent to the Urzeit-Endzeit formulations so characteristic of Judaism. A "typological" view of history, which is neither circular nor linear, is typically observed in Jewish speculation on history, presupposing both that each event is unique and that one event can be similar to others because the Yahweh's intention in history never ceases to be the same. Merging the dwelling place of Wisdom both in Zion and Eden figuratively joins together the Sinai motifs and the Creation motifs, thus still further identifying Zion and Sinai. At the same time, Ben Sira expands the availability and applicability of Wisdom/Torah from a particular revelatory locus (Zion, equated with Sinai) to a universal and cosmic locus, demonstrating the sovereignty of Torah over all the nations. Hence, the international or universal validity of Wisdom/Torah flows out of Israel. It also demonstrates Wisdom's life-giving power (those four rivers flowing in and out of the Garden of Eden are described as life-giving water, Ezek 47:9-12, also Rev 22:1-2), which corresponds to the depiction of the thriving growth of various trees and plants (vv 13-22) and the eating of them. The allusion to the tree of life is obvious. The Eden typology, in this sense, symbolizes the original perfection of the creation, denoting Yahweh's benevolent intention for the cosmos; at the same time, such typology exhibits a "super-historical" concept with an emphasis on "unchangeability" or "eternity." With this Eden typology in Ben Sira, then, Wisdom/Torah achieves both "historical" and "super-historical" quality, as an attribute of Yahweh.

Wisdom of Solomon 7-9

The Wisdom of Solomon evinces a striking influence from contemporary Hellenistic philosophy. While Proverbs and Ben Sira are categorized as "traditionalists" or "conservatives," the Wisdom of Solomon is classified as "liberal" because of its maximized susceptibility to Hellenistic thought, which clearly embodies the viewpoint of Diaspora Jews (Murphy 1996: 83-84. Grabbe: 87; Winston: 20-21; Wright: 510). Examples of the influence of contemporary Hellenistic thought are the references to the four cardinal virtues (8:7) and the philosophical speculation on the knowledge of God (13:1-9) and on the immortality of the human soul (2:23). The general drift of thought and the special ambience in which this work was formed was unmistakably the philosophical sphere of Middle Platonism (ca 80 BCE-ca 220 CE) and Middle Stoicism. The work perceives God the Creator as transcendent and totally beyond the world. However, through the introduction of the "Spirit," upon which Stoic philosophy has a great impact, this transcendence is counterbalanced by the immanence of Wisdom. Wisdom of Solomon thus saw a new synthesis of various sapiential traditions in a much broader philosophical/theological framework that could cope with a universalistic and Hellenistic perspective.