Wisdom, whence cometh it? And where is the place of understanding? cried one who had despaired to find an answer. But the day came when certain of the Jews declared that Wisdom was found, that the infinite Divine Wisdom in its full glory had dwelt amongst us. All, and more than all, that had been said or thought or hoped of the Heavenly Wisdom, they had discovered in Christ Jesus. For one who had been man among men to be thus by Jews identified as the Perfect Wisdom, which was but an aspect of God Himself, is clearly wonderful; but just how utterly amazing it is, perhaps only those can realise who are conscious of the innate and magnificent monotheism of the Jews, and who have listened with sympathy and understanding to these reverent and rapturous praises of Wisdom. That a human being could possibly be felt to be the incarnation of Wisdom’s Self is a miracle. But the miracle is precisely that which has happened, and it is explicable only by a cause as great as the effect; that is, by the miracle of what Jesus was and is.

Recognition of Christ as the Divine Wisdom, and of Wisdom as incarnate in Christ, permeates the tradition and theology of the New Testament. It is visible in almost every passage where His disciples have sought to express the mystery and majesty of Him whose human love they had known on earth, whose divine power they now felt from heaven. The idea of Wisdom is the basis of St. Paul’s great utterances regarding Christ in the Epistle to the Colossians; of the affirmations in Hebrews that by Christ were the worlds made and that He is the Radiance of the Divine Glory and the Reflection of the Divine Being; and behind the wonderful opening chapter of St. John’s Gospel there is a hymn to the Eternal Wisdom, which was in the beginning, and was with God, and was God.[155]

Who hath ascended into heaven and descended?—asked a sceptical questioner in the Book of Proverbs (Pr. 304). No man ascended into heaven, but He that descended out of heaven, even the Son of Man, rings out the answer of the Gospel (John 313).

If any man lack Wisdom let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him, writes St. James. Surely God’s gift is Christ? There are now nineteen centuries to show that nothing that has set itself against His wisdom has endured and been accepted as the truth.

“We need a power which can successfully contend against the storm of our passion and self-will.”—St. Paul affirms that the need has been met and answered in Christ crucified, the Power of God and the Wisdom of God, and the Gospel holds out the same promise: as many as received Him to them gave He power to become the children of God.

But are they many who throughout these centuries have sought to find Wisdom in Christ, and in His redeeming compassion, His perfect knowledge of human weakness and human need, His calm unfailing strength, His infinite holiness, His glorious ideal, His faith, His sacrifice, have declared that they have found that which they sought? They are very many. Already they are a multitude which no man can number—out of every nation and of all tribes and peoples—of whom some have sealed the confession with their life-blood, and some have given equal testimony in the unfaltering purity and patience of a quiet and unselfish life. Some of them have been learned and some unlearned in this world’s knowledge, but it is abundantly evident that all who have been faithful to His word have possessed in its fulness the deeper Wisdom which is from above.

The sum of it all is this. Christ has come. There are those who do not trouble to seek for Wisdom with their whole heart, but that is a foolish attitude which should be shunned. The miracle has happened, and we ought to face its challenge. What think ye of Christ? Whose son is He?

Index
A BRIEF BIBLIOGRAPHY

Articles on Proverbs, Ecclesiasticus, Wisdom Literature, Hellenism, etc., in the Encyclopædia Brittanica (11th edition), Hastings’s Dictionary of the Bible and the Encyclopædia Biblica.

C. H. Toy, Proverbs (International Critical Commentary).
G. Currie Martin, Proverbs, etc. (The Century Bible).
C. F. Kent, Wise Men of Ancient Israel.
W. O. E. Oesterley, Ecclesiasticus (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges).
S. R. Driver, Literature of the Old Testament s.v., Proverbs, etc.
G. A. Smith, Modern Criticism and the Preaching of the Old Testament, ch viii.
A. R. Gordon, The Poets of the Old Testament chs. XV.-XVIII.
C. Taylor, Sayings of the Fathers (Pirke Aboth).
A. Cohen, Ancient Jewish Proverbs (Wisdom of the East Series).
E. L. Bevan, The House of Seleucus (2 vols.)
E. L. Bevan, Jerusalem under the High Priests.
H. P. Smith, Old Testament History chs. XVIII., XIX.