A man’s utterances are often an inadequate expression of his soul. Our final estimate ought to be based, not on the proverbs themselves, singly or collectively, but on what is behind them, the character of the speakers. The question is, Were these sayings just verbal piety and respectable commonplace, or were they, so to speak, waves borne on the swell of an advancing tide, having beneath and behind them the deep impulse of a live enthusiasm? What manner of men were the Sages at heart—mere talkers, seeking the mental satisfaction of turning a neat phrase and sunning themselves in popular esteem, or men genuinely concerned for the moral welfare of their fellows? One we have already considered and not found him altogether wanting. Much can be forgiven if only the majority of the Wise were like Ben Sirach, in earnest about their task. We ventured to describe him as a typical Wise-man, but what ground is there for that assertion?
Now this vital question is not an easy one to investigate and answer, since concerning the individual Sages, except Ben Sirach, no personal information has been transmitted, and we have therefore only their sayings from which to draw a conclusion. Even so the material is perhaps sufficient. Surely there is a valuable hint to be found in the “strict attention to business” of Proverbs as well as Ecclesiasticus; both of these books preach at us incessantly from their text “Wisdom.” Why is it that every word they contain is directed to the end of moral improvement? Must there not have been a remarkable concentration on moral interests to account for the comparative absence of what one might describe as the neutral, non-moral observations on life, which are common in the proverbs of every other nation?[74] Fortunately however, there is one much stronger piece of evidence available. It has been explained that the abstract conception “Wisdom” represented the teaching of the Wise in epitome, and was the unification in thought of their manifold opinions. It follows that what they said, or left unsaid, about “Wisdom” furnishes an admirable test of their sincerity, revealing the presence or absence of enthusiasm for their work. Wisdom was the Cause they championed against Folly: it will be easy to tell whether they truly loved it. If they had been only clever people, content to parade their shrewdness, or comfortable upholders of law and order, proclaiming the maxims of respectability with a business eye to the security of their own possessions, then inevitably they would have betrayed themselves by giving an exposition of Wisdom coldly intellectual. But the opposite is what has happened, and the warmth and passion as well as the reverence, of their words in honour of Wisdom bear eloquent, unconscious testimony to the admiration and affection in which the Sages held their calling. Hear then the Praises of Wisdom—
Happy is the man that findeth Wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding; for the merchandise of it is better than silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies, and none of the things that thou canst desire are comparable unto her.... (Pr. 313-15): surely a disconcerting verse for upholders of the supposed utilitarianism of the proverbs? Again, How much better is it to get Wisdom than gold! Yea to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver (Pr. 1616, cp. 810)—so much for the Sages’ notion of comparative values. In chapter 9 of Proverbs, by a touch of fine imagination, Wisdom is daringly pictured as a noble Lady, bidding guests to her banquet. She is the counterpart of Madam Folly, who also gives a banquet and who thus invites a passer-by: Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant, (to which the Wise add in caustic comment as they see the foolish one enter: But he knoweth not that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depth of Sheol, Pr. 917, 18). But, in contrast, Wisdom—Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars: she hath killed her beasts, she hath made ready her wine, and furnished her table. She hath sent forth her maidens; on the highest parts of the city she crieth aloud, “Whoso is ignorant, let him turn in hither”; and to him that is void of understanding she speaketh, “Come, eat ye of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have made ready” (Pr. 91-5). Ben Sirach knew that Wisdom was high, and he does not disguise that only by long, unwearying efforts can her favour be attained. But the reward, says he, outweighs the toil, and he bids men seek her: At the first she will bring fear and dread upon a man and torment him with her discipline, until she can trust his soul and has tested him by her judgements (E. 417; cp. E. 619-25). Nevertheless, he says, Come unto her with all thy soul, and keep her ways with thy whole power. Search and seek, and she shall be made known unto thee, and when thou hast hold of her, let her not go. For in the end thou shalt find her to be rest, and she shall be changed for thee into gladness. Her fetters shall be to thee a covering of strength, and her chains a robe of glory (E. 626-29).
Wisdom is the source of all right and noble conduct, the principle that in all things ought to regulate men’s lives. Casting behind him the grim facts of Hellenistic courts, and perhaps of high society in Jerusalem also, one wise man, seeing in vision the world as it should be, put these glowing, optimistic words into the mouth of Wisdom: By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. By me princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges of the earth (Pr. 815, 16).
But all these praises are slight compared with the thoughts inspired by the supreme conviction that Wisdom itself is derived from God and dwells in His Presence: “The Wisdom that illumines the lives of the good is a reflection of the full-orbed wisdom of God.”[75] It is the ineffable counsel of the Almighty, the power by which He created heaven and earth (Pr. 319f), the principle through which the universe is still sustained. In face of this belief praise rose into exultation, and Wisdom was reverently but enthusiastically conceived as that which had been ordained of God from eternity to be His counsellor in the work of Creation and His daily delight:
Jehovah formed me first of His creation,
Before all his works of old.
In the earliest ages was I fashioned,
Even from the beginning, before the earth.
When there were no depths was I brought forth,
When there were no fountains brimming with water.
Before the mountains were sunk in their bases,
Before the hills was I brought forth;
Or ever He had made the earth and the fields,
Or the first clods of the world.
When He established the heavens I was there,
When he drew the circle over the abyss;
When He made firm the skies above,
And set fast the fountains of the deep;
When He gave the sea its bounds,
And fixed the foundations of the earth,
Then was I with Him as a foster-child,
And daily was I His delight,
As I played continually before His eyes,
Played o’er all the habitable world.
So now, my children, hearken unto me,
Receive my instruction and be wise;
For happy is the man that heareth me,
Happy are those that keep my ways,
Watching daily at my gates,
And waiting at my gate-posts.
For he that findeth me findeth life,
And winneth favour from Jehovah;
But he that misseth me wrongeth himself:
All that hate me love death. (Pr. 822-36).[76]
In similar language Ben Sirach imagines Wisdom proclaiming her glory in the very presence of God Himself:
I came forth from the mouth of the Most High,
And like a cloud I covered the earth;
I had my dwelling in the high places,
And my throne was in the pillar of cloud;
I alone compassed the circuit of heaven
And walked in the depth of the abysses,
In the waves of the sea and through all the earth;
And in every people I got me a possession.
With all these I sought for a resting-place—
“In whose lot shall I find a lodging?”
Then the Creator of all commanded me,
Even he that formed me, pitched my tent
And said, “In Jacob be thy dwelling,
And in Israel thine inheritance.”
In the beginning, before the world, He fashioned me,
And to all eternity shall I fail not.
In the holy tabernacle I ministered before Him,
And thus was I established in Zion;
Yea, in the beloved city He gave me resting-place,
And in Jerusalem was my dominion (E. 243-11)[77].
Such words would have set the Greeks, as they set us, asking questions: “Is it implied that Wisdom is an entity distinct from God?”; “How far is it fair to see Greek influence in this apparent ascription of personality to Wisdom?” Both questions may be considered together. Too much stress cannot be laid on the firm hold which Monotheism had obtained in post-exilic Judaism; to the Jews of the Hellenic age the unity of God was a fundamental tenet. But the Jewish mind was as yet unphilosophical, not from lack of intelligence but from lack of inclination or initial suggestion. Hebrew thought started from the existence of God as an axiom, and was content to use the fact of conscience as the key to the interpretation of life, whereas Greek thought had naturally inclined towards making intellectual speculation the basis of its endeavour to attain through truth, morality, and beauty to the secret of life and the knowledge of God. Consequently many utterances that inevitably raise metaphysical questions in our minds, and would have philosophical meaning if spoken by a Greek, were put forward by the Jews most simply, without consideration of inherent intellectual problems. Of this character are the praises of Wisdom: although language is used that would fittingly be applied to a personal being, there was no intention to personify Wisdom as some kind of sub-divine Being other than God. The Wise intended only to declare their fervent belief that the Wisdom they studied, loved, and trusted, was transcendently great, was God’s Wisdom, was “from above.” Wisdom in these proverbs was not consciously deemed to be more than an attribute of God, and phrases that seem to us to overstep the bounds and confer personality are to be regarded as an enthusiasm of the heart not implying metaphysical conclusions as to the ultimate nature of Deity.[1a] This is the language not of philosophy but of affection and reverent esteem. From an early age there was a strong tendency in Hebrew thought towards clothing abstract and collective terms in the warm language of personal life, and the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiasticus may fairly be considered a natural development of pure Hebrew tradition.[2a] And yet there are “signs of the times” about them. The description of Wisdom we are discussing would read strangely in pre-exilic Hebrew books; and so the question of Greek influence may still be pressed. In the opinion of the present writer the influence, if any, is confined to a slight unintentional colouring. Seeing that the Wise stood out against the pressure and menace of unscrupulous, secular Hellenism, and that they lived at a period when Greek intellectual prowess had not yet brought its full weight to bear on Palestinian, or at least on Judæan, thought, it is a reasonable conjecture that any trace of new philosophy in the proverbs has been introduced unwittingly and unwillingly. The general soundness of this opinion becomes vividly apparent, if the two passages quoted above are compared with the eulogy given in a Jewish work of considerably later date, the Wisdom of Solomon. There Wisdom, Artificer of all things, is described as