Notes on the Personification of Wisdom.—There has been great discussion among expositors as to who, or what, is to be understood by this personification. Many modern and all ancient expositors consider that it refers exclusively to the Divine Word, the Eternal Son of God, others understand it as relating entirely to an attribute of the Divine nature. There is a middle view, which is thus put by Dr. John Harris in his sermon on verses 30–36: “Others, again reply that it refers exclusively to neither—but partly to that wisdom which begins in the fear of the Lord, partly to the Divine attribute of wisdom, and partly to the Son of God, the second person in the Godhead.” We cannot do better than give the views of a few eminent expositors and writers. Delitzsch thus comments on verse 22: “Wisdom takes now a new departure in establishing her right to be heard and to be obeyed and loved by men. As the Divine King in Psa. ii. opposes to His adversaries the self-testimony: ‘I will speak concerning a decree! Jehovah said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee;’ so Wisdom here unfolds her Divine patent of nobility; she originates with God before all creatures, and it the object of God’s love and joy, as she also has the object of her love and joy on God’s earth, and especially among the sons of men. (See his translation of the verb in this verse—[Critical Notes]). Wisdom is not God, but is God’s; she has personal existence in the Logos of the New Testament, but is not herself the Logos; she is the world idea, which, once projected, is objective to God, and not as a dead form, but as a living spiritual image; she is the archetype of the world, which originating from God, stands before God, the world of the idea which forms the medium between the Godhead and the world of actual existence, the communicated spiritual power in the origination and the completion of the world as God designed it to be. This wisdom the poet here personifies; he does not speak of the personal Logos, but the further progress of the revelation points to her actual personification in the Logos. And since to her the poet attributes an existence preceding the creation of the world, he thereby declares her to be eternal, for to be before the world is to be before time. For if he places her at the head of the creatures, as the first of them, so therewith he does not seek to make her a creature of this world having its commencement in time; he connects her origination with the origination of the creature only on this account, because that à priori refers and tends to the latter; the power which was before heaven and earth were, and which operated at the creation of the earth and of the heavens, cannot certainly fall under the category of the creatures around and above us.” Wordsworth, in accordance with the principle of interpretation set forth in the note at the beginning of chapter vii. says, “We should be taking a very low, unworthy, and inadequate view of the present and following magnificent and sublime chapters. . . . If we did not behold Him who is essential wisdom, the co-eternal Son of God, and recognise here a representation of His attributes and prerogative.” The arguments in favour of this view are thus summed up by Fausset: “Wisdom is here personal Wisdom—the Son of God. For many personal predicates are attributed to Him: thus, subsistence by or with God, in verse 30; just as John i. 1 saith, ‘The Word was with God,’ which cannot be said of a mere attribute. Moreover, the mode of subsistence imparted is generation, verse 22, 24, 25 (see [Critical Notes]). In verse 22 God is said to have possessed or acquired wisdom, not by creation (Psa. civ. 24), nor by adoption, as Deut. xxxii. 6, Psa. lxxiv. 2, but by generation. The same verb is used by Eve of her firstborn (Gen. iv. 1). Moreover, other attributes are assigned to Wisdom, as if she were not an attribute but a person—‘counsel,’ ‘strength,’ etc. Also, she has the feelings of a person (verse 17): ‘I love them that love me.’ She does the acts of a person. She enables kings to rule, and invests them with authority (verses 15, 16). She takes part in creation, as one brought up, or nursed, in the bosom of the Father, as the only-begotten of His love (John i. 18). She cries aloud as a person (verses 1–4), and her ‘lips’ and ‘mouth’ are mentioned (verses 6, 7). She is the delight of the Father, and she in turn delights in men (verses 30, 31), answering to the rapturous delight into which the Father breaks forth concerning Messiah (Isa. xliii. 1; Matt. iii. 17, xvii. 5; Eph. i. 6). She builds a house, prepares a feast, and sends forth her maidens to invite the guests (ch. ix. 1–3). All which admirably applies to Messiah, who builds the Church, as His house, upon Himself the rock (Matt. xvi. 8, etc.), and invites all to the Gospel feast (Luke xiv. 16, etc.). He is Wisdom itself absolute, and as the Archetype, from Him wisdom imparted flows to others. As such, He invites us to learn wisdom from Him who is its source, ‘counsel’ and ‘sound wisdom’ (ver. 14), are in Him as attributes are in their subject, and as effects are in their cause. The parallel (ch. i. 20, 23), ‘I will pour out my spirit unto you’ (see John vii. 38), conforms the personal view. The same truth is confirmed by the reproof (ch. i. 24), ‘Because I have called,’ etc., compared with Christ’s own words (Matt. xi. 28, etc.) So Christ is called the Wisdom of God (Col. ii. 3). As Wisdom here saith ‘I was set up,’ or ‘anointed from everlasting,’ so the Father saith of Messiah, ‘I have set’ or ‘anointed my king’ etc. (Psa. ii. 6). As in verse 24, Wisdom is said to be ‘brought forth’ or begotten by God before the world, and to have been by Him in creating all things (verses 27–30), so Messiah is called the ‘Son of God,’ and is said to have been with God in the beginning, and to have made all things (John. i. 1–3) and to have been begotten before every creature (Col. i. 15–17); and His goings forth are said, in Mic. v. 2, to have been from of old, from everlasting.” The argument for the opposite view is thus stated by Dr. Wardlaw: “The objections to its meaning Christ, or the Word, are, to my mind, quite insuperable. For example: (1) The passage is not so applied in any part of the New Testament. I do not adduce this consideration as any direct objection to the interpretation in question. I mean no more than this, that from its not being so explained there, we are relieved from any necessity of so explaining it. Such necessity, then, being thus precluded, the direct objections may be allowed to have their full force. Observe, then (2), Wisdom here is a female personage. All along this is the case. Now, under such a view, the Scripture nowhere else, in any of their figurative representations of ‘the Christ,’ ever thus describe or introduce Him. The application, on this account, appears to be exceedingly unnatural. (3) Wisdom does not appear intended as a personal designation, inasmuch as it is associated with various other terms, of synonymous, at least, of corresponding import (verse 1, chap. iii. 19, 20). Were it meant for a personal designation, like the Logos or Word in the beginning of John’s Gospel, this would hardly have been admissible. (4) That the whole is bold and striking personification of the attribute of Wisdom, as subsisting in the Deity, appears further from what she is represented as saying in verse 12: ‘I, Wisdom, dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions.’ Here Wisdom is associated with prudence; and the import of the association is, that Wisdom directs to the best ends, and to the choice of the best means for their attainment; and prudence, or discretion, teaches to shun whatever might, in any way or degree, interfere with and impede, or mar their accomplishment. This is precisely what wisdom, as an attribute or quality, does. And it is worthy of remark, that this association of wisdom with prudence, is introduced by the Apostle as characterising the greatest of the Divine inventions and works—that of our redemption. Wisdom was associated with prudence in framing and perfecting that wonderful scheme (Ephes. i. 7, 8). (5) It is very true that there are many things here, especially in the latter part of the chapter—indeed through the whole—that are, in a very interesting and striking manner, applicable to the Divine Messiah. But this is no more than might have been anticipated, that things which are true of a Divine attribute should be susceptible of application to a Divine person.” We quote, in conclusion, the remarks of Dr. Aiken, the American editor and translator of this portion of Lange’s Commentary: “The error in our English exegetical and theological literature with respect to our passage has been, we think, the attempt to force upon it more of distinctness and precision in the revelation of the mysteries of the Divine Nature than is disclosed by a fair exegesis. . . . If it be not unworthy of the Holy Spirit to employ a bold and graphic personification, many things in this chapter may be said of and by the personified Wisdom which these authors regard as triumphantly proving that we have here the pre-existent Christ, the Son of God. . . . We can, to say the least, go no farther than our author has done in discovering here the foreshadowings of the doctrine of the Logos. We are inclined to prefer the still more guarded statements, e.g., of Dr. Pye Smyth (Scripture Testimony to the Messiah), that this beautiful picture cannot be satisfactorily proved to be a designed description of the Saviour’s person; or that of Dr. John Harris (Sermon on chap. viii. 30–36): ‘At all events, while, on the one hand, none can demonstrate that Christ is here directly intended, on the other, none can prove that He is not contemplated; and perhaps both will admit that, under certain conditions, language such as that in our text may be justifiably applied to Him. One of these conditions is, that the language be not employed argumentatively, or in proof of anything related to Christ, but only for the purpose of illustration; and another is, that when so employed, it be only adduced to illustrate such views of the Son of God as are already established by such other parts of Scripture as are admitted by the parties addressed.’ ”
main homiletics of the paragraph.—Verses 1–3.
The Nature of Wisdom’s Call.
Even if we reject the direct Messianic interpretation of this chapter, and understand Wisdom here to be only a poetical personification of an abstract attribute of God, it would be impossible, we think, for any minister of the New Testament to teach from it, and not find his way to Him who was “in the beginning with God” (John i. 2), to the Christ who is the “Wisdom of God” (1 Cor. i. 24), “in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. ii. 3). To say the least, the language is admirably adapted to set forth the Incarnate Son, the Saviour of the world. The introductory paragraph reveals the intense desire of Wisdom to win disciples.
I. From her taking the initiative. Wisdom addresses man first. When two persons have become estranged by the wrong-doing of one, he who is in the wrong will be slow to find his way back to the other to acknowledge his fault. Because he is in the wrong he may conclude, and in many cases would rightly conclude, that an advance on his side would be useless. But an advance from him who is in the right would be more likely to be successful; such a course of conduct on his part would carry with it a powerful magnetic force to draw the offender back, and would be a most convincing proof of the desire of him who had been rightly offended to effect a reconciliation. And if the offence had been committed, not once, but many times, the reluctance of the offender to face his offended friend would be increased in proportion to the number of times the act had been repeated, and if, notwithstanding these repeated offences, advances should continue to be made from the other side, the desire for reconciliation would be made more and more manifest. Wisdom is here represented in this light, and God in Christ did take the initiative in “reconciling the world unto Himself” (1 Cor. v. 19). The Incarnate Wisdom came to men because men would not, and could not, by reason of their moral inability, come to Him first. In proportion to the distance men wander from God do they feel the impossibility of returning to Him unless they can receive from Him some encouragement to do so. This encouragement they have in the fact that “the Son of Man came to seek and save that which was lost” (Matt. xviii. 11), that, “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. v. 8).
II. From the variety of places where Wisdom’s voice is heard (verses 2 and 3). If a man has goods to sell, he seeks those places where he will be most likely to find buyers; if he has thoughts which he wishes to make public, he goes where he will find the most hearers. The pilot has wisdom which he wants to sell the less experienced ship-master, and he runs his cutter out into the highway of the channel. He is found at “the entrance of the gates” of the water-ways, at the mouths of the rivers; he places himself in the way of those who need his wisdom, and who will pay a good price for his skill. In proportion to a man’s earnestness to obtain a market, or a hearing, will be his endeavour to seek out the places where he will most likely succeed. Wisdom is here represented as frequenting the most conspicuous places, the most crowded thoroughfares, to find buyers for that spiritual instruction which is to be had “without money and without price” (Isa. lv. 1). Christ was found imparting the treasures of His wisdom wherever men would listen to His words. He “went up into a mountain and taught” (Matt. v. 1). He was found in the streets of the cities, in the temple, at the publican’s feast (Luke v. 27), in a boat on the shore of the lake. When multitudes were gathered at Jerusalem at the feasts, He was among them (John vii. 14 and 37). At other times “He went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the Gospel of the kingdom” (Matt. ix. 35). And thus He revealed His intense desire to give unto men those words which He declares to be “spirit and life” (John vi. 63).
III. From the earnest tone of her call. “Doth not Wisdom cry.” When the voice of Christ was heard upon earth it was in no indifferent tone He addressed His hearers. He was “moved with compassion” towards the multitudes who followed Him (Matt. xiv. 14). On the “great day of the feast He stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink” (John vii. 37). With what earnestness must He have uttered His lament over Jerusalem: “If thou hadst known, even thou, in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace” (Luke xix. 42). A man’s tone is more or less earnest to us in proportion as he gives proof that he is willing to follow up words by deeds. Judged in this light, how earnest must the call of Christ to men sound when they consider that He was willing to face Gethsemane and Calvary to give effect to His words. On this subject see also Homiletics on chap. [i. 20, 21].
outlines and suggestive comments.
Verse 1. She crieth by the written word, by ministers, and by the dealings of Providence. Instead of the clandestine whisper of the adulteress in the dark, Wisdom “puts forth her voice” openly in the day, and in a style suitable to every capacity, so that all are left without excuse if they reject her, preferring darkness to light.—Fausset.
The eternal Son of God gathers, plants, builds His church by a voice i.e., His Word. All true teachers of the Word are crying voices through which Christ calls. Out of Christ’s school is no true wisdom. So long as Christ’s wisdom is still speaking outside thee it avails thee nothing; but when thou allowest it to dwell in thee it is thy light and life.—Egard.