Much controversy was occasioned in the debate over the proper confessions of the incarnation and the Trinity in the early centuries of the Church by Wisdom’s portrayal in Proverbs 8: “The LORD possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth…” (vv.22, 23). The Arians used this passage to ague that Jesus was merely a created being rather than eternally God with the Father and the Spirit.
But the puzzle would arise even without the question of the person of Jesus. Obviously, God was not foolish before he created the world. Wisdom is an attribute of God. So why would Solomon portray Wisdom as a first act of creation.
I think perhaps wisdom as an abstract quality apart from work and life, wasn’t something that Solomon found helpful. Yes, God was always wise. But His wisdom as we can know it and imitate it, began with creation. As a workman with a plan, wisdom was thus the beginning of his works.
(The passage may also allude to the instant and complete creation of “the heavens” in Genesis 1:1, meaning the angelic world and God’s throneroom. This heavenly city was apparantly, unlike the earth (Genesis 1:2), neither empty, nor formless, nor dark. Thus it was the design to which earth was meant to be conformed. Jesus taught us to pray that the earth becomes more like Heaven, and shows us that the Church is a Heavenly city and a great Bride who will eventually come to a New Earth from a New Heaven (Revelation 21:1-2).
Wisdom Incarnate
Moses promised Israel that the Law would lead them into Wisdom:
“And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you. You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you. Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal-peor, for the LORD your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Baal of Peor. But you who held fast to the LORD your God are all alive today. See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?”
Deuteronomy 4:1–8 ESV
King Solomon’s reign is portrayed as a particular fulfillment of this promise:
And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore, so that Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all other men, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol, and his fame was in all the surrounding nations. He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005. He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall. He spoke also of beasts, and of birds, and of reptiles, and of fish. And people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.
1 Kings 4:29–34 ESV
So the wisdom that Israel was given through the generations was particularly embodied in their representative, their king.
But Solomon eventually fell into folly and his Kingdom was decimated. The book of Kings is actually about the rise and fall of the much greater kingdom of Israel. The reign of Solomon serves as merely an introduction.
But where Solomon eventually failed, another son of David would do much more. Jesus was greater than Solomon (Matthew 12:14; Luke 11:31). And as the incarnation of the eternal God he thus embodied divine wisdom in his human life:
- “And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him” (Luke 2:40 ESV).
- “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52 ESV).
- “For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation mature through suffering” (Hebrews 2:10 ESV).
- “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made mature, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him” (Hebrews 5:7–9 ESV).
(Maybe on Easter I will expand on the topic to also include David with Solomon with the transition between them in the Bible presented as a precursor to the death and resurrection of Jesus.)Thus, in Christ, writes the Apostle Paul, “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Christ has sent his wisdom throughout the nations of the world as the true king.
As you remember the first Christmas today, I pray
that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.
Colossians 1:9–12 ESV