The remarkable career of Lady Wisdom.

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Ben C. Smith
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The remarkable career of Lady Wisdom.

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Her Place In Heaven From The Beginning

Proverbs 8.22-36:

22 “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way,
Before His works of old.
23 From everlasting I was established,
From the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth.
24 When there were no depths I was brought forth,
When there were no springs abounding with water.
25 Before the mountains were settled,
Before the hills I was brought forth;
26 While He had not yet made the earth and the fields,
Nor the first dust of the world.
27 When He established the heavens, I was there,
When He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep,
28 When He made firm the skies above,
When the springs of the deep became fixed,
29 When He set for the sea its boundary
So that the water would not transgress His command,
When He marked out the foundations of the earth;
30 Then I was beside Him, as a master workman;
And I was daily His delight,
Rejoicing always before Him,
31 Rejoicing in the world, His earth,
And having my delight in the sons of men.
32 Now therefore, O sons, listen to me,
For blessed are they who keep my ways.
33 Heed instruction and be wise,
And do not neglect it.
34 Blessed is the man who listens to me,
Watching daily at my gates,
Waiting at my doorposts.
35 For he who finds me finds life
And obtains favor from the Lord.
36 But he who sins against me injures himself;
All those who hate me love death.”

Confer Ode of Solomon 33.1-13:

1 But again Grace was swift and dismissed the Corruptor, and descended upon him to renounce him.
2 And he caused utter destruction before him, and corrupted all his work.
3 And he stood on the peak of a summit and cried aloud from one end of the earth to the other.
4 Then he drew to him all those who obeyed him, for he did not appear as the Evil One.
5 However, the perfect Virgin stood, who was preaching and summoning and saying:
6 O you sons of men, return, and you their daughters, come.
7 And leave the ways of that Corruptor, and approach me.
8 And I will enter into you, and bring you forth from destruction, and make you wise in the ways of truth.
9 Be not corrupted nor perish.
10 Obey me and be saved, for I am proclaiming unto you the grace of God.
11 And through me you will be saved and become blessed. I am your judge;
12 And they who have put me on shall not be falsely accused, but they shall possess incorruption in the new world.
13 My elect ones have walked with me, and my ways I will make known to them who seek me; and I will promise them my name. Hallelujah.

Wisdom of Sirach 24.1-7:

1 Wisdom shall praise herself, and shall glory in the midst of her people. 2 In the congregation of the most High shall she open her mouth, and triumph before his power. 3 “I came out of the mouth of the most High, and covered the earth as a cloud. 4 I dwelt in high places, and my throne is in a cloudy pillar. 5 I alone compassed the circuit of heaven, and walked in the bottom of the deep. 6 In the waves of the sea and in all the earth, and in every people and nation, I got a possession. 7 With all these I sought rest: and in whose inheritance shall I abide?”

Wisdom of Solomon 9.1-9:

1 “O God of my ancestors and Lord of mercy,
who have made all things by your word,
2 and by your wisdom have formed humankind
to have dominion over the creatures you have made,
3 and rule the world in holiness and righteousness,
and pronounce judgment in uprightness of soul,
4 give me the wisdom that sits by your throne,
and do not reject me from among your servants.
5 For I am your servant, the son of your serving girl,
a man who is weak and short-lived,
with little understanding of judgment and laws;
6 for even one who is perfect among human beings
will be regarded as nothing without the wisdom that comes from you.
7 You have chosen me to be king of your people
and to be judge over your sons and daughters.
8 You have given command to build a temple on your holy mountain,
and an altar in the city of your habitation,
a copy of the holy tent that you prepared from the beginning.
9 With you is wisdom, she who knows your works
and was present when you made the world;

she understands what is pleasing in your sight
and what is right according to your commandments.

1 Baruch 3.29-34:

3.29 Who has gone up into heaven, and taken her, and brought her down from the clouds? 30 Who has gone over the sea, and found her, and will buy her for pure gold? 31 No one knows the way to her, or is concerned about the path to her. 32 But he who knows all things knows her, he found her by his understanding. He who prepared the earth for all time filled it with four-footed creatures; 33 he who sends forth the light, and it goes, called it, and it obeyed him in fear; 34 the stars shone in their watches, and were glad; he called them, and they said, “Here we are!” They shone with gladness for him who made them.

Her Descent To Earth & Rejection By Men

1 Baruch 3.35-4.4:

35 This is our God; no other can be compared to him! 36 He found the whole way to knowledge, and gave her to Jacob his servant and to Israel whom he loved. 37 Afterward she appeared upon earth and lived among men. 4.1 She is the book of the commandments of God, and the law that endures for ever. All who hold her fast will live, and those who forsake her will die. 2 Turn, O Jacob, and take her; walk toward the shining of her light. 3 Do not give your glory to another, or your advantages to an alien people. 4 Happy are we, O Israel, for we know what is pleasing to God.

Wisdom of Sirach 24.8-34:

8 “So the Creator of all things gave me a commandment, and he that made me caused my tabernacle to rest, and said, Let thy dwelling be in Jacob, and thine inheritance in Israel. 9 He created me from the beginning before the world, and I shall never fail. 10 In the holy tabernacle I served before him; and so was I established in Sion. 11 Likewise in the beloved city he gave me rest, and in Jerusalem was my power. 12 And I took root in an honourable people, even in the portion of the Lord's inheritance. 13 I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus, and as a cypress tree upon the mountains of Hermon. 14 I was exalted like a palm tree in En-gaddi, and as a rose plant in Jericho, as a fair olive tree in a pleasant field, and grew up as a plane tree by the water. 15 I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon and aspalathus, and I yielded a pleasant odour like the best myrrh, as galbanum, and onyx, and sweet storax, and as the fume of frankincense in the tabernacle. 16 As the turpentine tree I stretched out my branches, and my branches are the branches of honour and grace. 17 As the vine brought I forth pleasant savour, and my flowers are the fruit of honour and riches. 18 I am the mother of fair love, and fear, and knowledge, and holy hope: I therefore, being eternal, am given to all my children which are named of him. 19 Come unto me, all ye that be desirous of me, and fill yourselves with my fruits. 20 For my memorial is sweeter than honey, and mine inheritance than the honeycomb. 21 They that eat me shall yet be hungry, and they that drink me shall yet be thirsty. 22 He that obeyeth me shall never be confounded, and they that work by me shall not do amiss. 23 All these things are the book of the covenant of the most high God, even the law which Moses commanded for an heritage unto the congregations of Jacob. 24 Faint not to be strong in the Lord; that he may confirm you, cleave unto him: for the Lord Almighty is God alone, and beside him there is no other Saviour. 25 He filleth all things with his wisdom, as Phison and as Tigris in the time of the new fruits. 26 He maketh the understanding to abound like Euphrates, and as Jordan in the time of the harvest. 27 He maketh the doctrine of knowledge appear as the light, and as Geon in the time of vintage. 28 The first man knew her not perfectly: no more shall the last find her out. 29 For her thoughts are more than the sea, and her counsels profounder than the great deep. 30 I also came out as a brook from a river, and as a conduit into a garden. 31 I said, I will water my best garden, and will water abundantly my garden bed: and, lo, my brook became a river, and my river became a sea. 32 I will yet make doctrine to shine as the morning, and will send forth her light afar off. 33 I will yet pour out doctrine as prophecy, and leave it to all ages for ever. 34 Behold that I have not laboured for myself only, but for all them that seek wisdom.”

Wisdom of Solomon 9.10-18:

10 Send her forth from the holy heavens,
and from the throne of your glory send her,
that she may labor at my side,
and that I may learn what is pleasing to you.

11 For she knows and understands all things,
and she will guide me wisely in my actions
and guard me with her glory.
12 Then my works will be acceptable,
and I shall judge your people justly,
and shall be worthy of the throneb of my father.
13 For who can learn the counsel of God?
Or who can discern what the Lord wills?
14 For the reasoning of mortals is worthless,
and our designs are likely to fail;
15 for a perishable body weighs down the soul,
and this earthy tent burdens the thoughtfulc mind.
16 We can hardly guess at what is on earth,
and what is at hand we find with labor;
but who has traced out what is in the heavens?
17 Who has learned your counsel,
unless you have given wisdom
and sent your holy spirit from on high?
18 And thus the paths of those on earth were set right,
and people were taught what pleases you,
and were saved by wisdom.”

Proverbs 1.20-33:

1 Wisdom shouts in the street,
She lifts her voice in the square;

21 At the head of the noisy streets she cries out;
At the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings:

22 “How long, O naive ones, will you love being simple-minded?
And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing And fools hate knowledge?
23 Turn to my reproof, Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you;
I will make my words known to you.
24 Because I called and you refused,
I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention;
25 And you neglected all my counsel
And did not want my reproof;
26 I will also laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when your dread comes,
27 When your dread comes like a storm
And your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
When distress and anguish come upon you.
28 Then they will call on me, but I will not answer;
They will seek me diligently but they will not find me,
29 Because they hated knowledge
And did not choose the fear of the Lord.
30 They would not accept my counsel,
They spurned all my reproof.
31 So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way
And be satiated with their own devices.
32 For the waywardness of the naive will kill them,
And the complacency of fools will destroy them.
33 But he who listens to me shall live securely
And will be at ease from the dread of evil.”

Proverbs 8.1-21:

1 Does not wisdom call,
And understanding lift up her voice?
2 On top of the heights beside the way,
Where the paths meet, she takes her stand;

3 Beside the gates, at the opening to the city,
At the entrance of the doors, she cries out:

4 “To you, O men, I call,
And my voice is to the sons of men.
5 O naive ones, understand prudence;
And, O fools, understand wisdom.
6 Listen, for I will speak noble things;
And the opening of my lips will reveal right things.
7 For my mouth will utter truth;
And wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
8 All the utterances of my mouth are in righteousness;
There is nothing crooked or perverted in them.
9 They are all straightforward to him who understands,
And right to those who find knowledge.
10 Take my instruction and not silver,
And knowledge rather than choicest gold.
11 For wisdom is better than jewels;
And all desirable things cannot compare with her.
12 I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,
And I find knowledge and discretion.
13 The fear of the Lord is to hate evil;
Pride and arrogance and the evil way
And the perverted mouth, I hate.
14 Counsel is mine and sound wisdom;
I am understanding, power is mine.
15 By me kings reign,
And rulers decree justice.
16 By me princes rule, and nobles,
All who judge rightly.
17 I love those who love me;
And those who diligently seek me will find me.
18 Riches and honor are with me,
Enduring wealth and righteousness.
19 My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold,
And my yield better than choicest silver.
20 I walk in the way of righteousness,
In the midst of the paths of justice,
21 To endow those who love me with wealth,
That I may fill their treasuries.”

Proverbs 9.1-6:

Wisdom has built her house,
She has hewn out her seven pillars;
2 She has prepared her food, she has mixed her wine;
She has also set her table;
3 She has sent out her maidens, she calls
From the tops of the heights of the city:
4 “Whoever is naive, let him turn in here!”
To him who lacks understanding she says,
5 Come, eat of my food
And drink of the wine I have mixed.
6 Forsake your folly and live,
And proceed in the way of understanding.”

1 Enoch 94.5:

5 And hold fast to my precepts in the meditation of your heart,
And let not my words be effaced from your hearts;
For I know that sinners will tempt men to entreat wisdom evilly,
And no place will be found for her,
And trials will in no way decrease.

Her Ascent To Heaven & Career In A Nutshell

1 Enoch 42.1-3:

1. Wisdom found no place where she might dwell;
Then a dwelling-place was assigned her in the heavens.
2 Wisdom went forth to make her dwelling among the children of men,
And found no dwelling-place:
Wisdom returned to her place,
And took her seat among the angels.

3 And unrighteousness went forth from her chambers:
Whom she sought not she found,
And dwelt with them,
As rain in a desert
And dew on a thirsty land.

Her Work In Messianic Times At The End

1 Enoch 5.1-9:

1 Observe ye how the trees cover themselves with green leaves and bear fruit: wherefore give ye heed and know with regard to all His works, and recognize how He that liveth for ever hath made them so.
2 And all His works go on thus from year to year for ever, and all the tasks which they accomplish for Him, and their tasks change not, but according as God hath ordained so is it done.
3 And behold how the sea and the rivers in like manner accomplish and change not their tasks from His commandments'.
4 But ye -ye have not been steadfast, nor done the commandments of the Lord, but ye have turned away and spoken proud and hard words with your impure mouths against His greatness. Oh, ye hard-hearted, ye shall find no peace.
5 Therefore shall ye execrate your days, and the years of your life shall perish, and the years of your destruction shall be multiplied in eternal execration, and ye shall find no mercy.
6 In those days ye shall make your names an eternal execration unto all the righteous, and by you shall all who curse, curse, and all the sinners and godless shall imprecate by you, and all the [...] shall rejoice, and there shall be forgiveness of sins, and every mercy and peace and forbearance: there shall be salvation unto them, a goodly light. And for all of you sinners there shall be no salvation, but on you all shall abide a curse.
7 But for the elect there shall be light and joy and peace, and they shall inherit the earth. And for you the godless there shall be a curse.
8 And then there shall be bestowed upon the elect wisdom, and they shall all live and never again sin, either through ungodliness or through pride: but they who are wise shall be humble.
9 And they shall not again transgress, nor shall they sin all the days of their life, nor shall they die of (the divine) anger or wrath, but they shall complete the number of the days of their life. And their lives shall be increased in peace, and the years of their joy shall be multiplied, in eternal gladness and peace, all the days of their life.

1 Enoch 91.10:

10 And the righteous shall arise from their sleep, and wisdom shall arise and be given unto them.

2 Baruch 44.12-15:

12 And the hour comes which abides for ever.
And the new world (comes) which does not turn to corruption those who depart to its blessedness,
And has no mercy on those who depart to torment,
And leads not to perdition those who live in it.
13 For these are they who shall inherit that time which has been spoken of,
And theirs is the inheritance of the promised time.
14 These are they who have acquired for themselves treasures of wisdom,
And with them are found stores of understanding,
And from mercy have they not withdrawn,
And the truth of the law I have they preserved.
15 For to them shall be given the world to come,
But the dwelling of the rest who are many shall be in the fire.

4 Ezra 8.52:

52 For unto you is paradise opened, the tree of life is planted, the time to come is prepared, plenteousness is made ready, a city is builded, and rest is allowed, yea, perfect goodness and wisdom.

Ben.
Last edited by Ben C. Smith on Sat May 06, 2017 1:38 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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Peter Kirby
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Re: The remarkable career of Lady Wisdom.

Post by Peter Kirby »

Thank you; it's nice to have this all brought together this way.
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Ben C. Smith
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Re: The remarkable career of Lady Wisdom.

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No problem. I have found my mind wandering back lately to the misty origins of Christianity and their possible derivation from Jewish Wisdom literature, Son of Man speculation, and Suffering Servant symbolism.
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Re: The remarkable career of Lady Wisdom.

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Jesus/Christ as Wisdom.

1 Corinthians 1.22-24, 30-31:

22 For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, 24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. .... 30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, 31 so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Luke 11.49-51 (in which wisdom sends the prophets):

49 For this reason also the wisdom of God said, ‘I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will persecute, 50 so that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged against this generation.

Matthew 23.34-36 (in which Jesus himself sends the prophets):

34 “Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, 35 so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

Arabic Diatessaron 4.1-3.

1 Therefore, behold, I, the wisdom of God, am sending unto you prophets, and apostles, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall slay and crucify; and some of them ye shall beat in your synagogues, and persecute from city to 2 city: that there may come on you all the blood of the righteous that hath been poured upon the ground from the blood of Abel the pure to the blood of Zachariah the son of Barachiah, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. 3 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.

Justin Martyr, Dialogue 61.1, 3:

"I shall give you another testimony, my friends," said I, "from the Scriptures, that God begat before all creatures a Beginning, [who was] a certain rational power [proceeding] from Himself, who is called by the Holy Spirit, now the Glory of the Lord, now the Son, again Wisdom, again an Angel, then God, and then Lord and Logos; and on another occasion He calls Himself Captain, when He appeared in human form to Joshua the son of Nave(Nun). For He can be called by all those names, since He ministers to the Father's will, and since He was begotten of the Father by an act of will. .... The Word of Wisdom, who is Himself this God begotten of the Father of all things, and Word, and Wisdom, and Power, and the Glory of the Begetter, will bear evidence to me, when He speaks by Solomon the following: 'If I shall declare to you what happens daily, I shall call to mind events from everlasting, and review them. The Lord made me the beginning of His ways for His works. From everlasting He established me in the beginning, before He had made the earth, and before He had made the deeps, before the springs of the waters had issued forth, before the mountains had been established. Before all the hills He begets me."

Justin Martyr, Dialogue 126.1:

"But if you knew, Trypho," continued I, "who He is that is called at one time the Angel of great counsel, and a Man by Ezekiel, and like the Son of man by Daniel, and a Child by Isaiah, and Christ and God to be worshipped by David, and Christ and a Stone by many, and Wisdom by Solomon, and Joseph and Judah and a Star by Moses, and the East by Zechariah, and the Suffering One and Jacob and Israel by Isaiah again, and a Rod, and Flower, and Corner-Stone, and Son of God, you would not have blasphemed Him who has now come, and been born, and suffered, and ascended to heaven; who shall also come again, and then your twelve tribes shall mourn."

Tertullian, Against Praxeas 7:

So also the Son in his own person, under the name of Wisdom, confesses the Father, The Lord established me as the beginning of his ways for his works' sake, yea before the hills he begat me.7

Cyprian, Testimonies Against the Jews 2.1-2:

1. That Christ is the First-born, and that He is the Wisdom of God, by whom all things were made.

In Solomon in the Proverbs: "The Lord established me in the beginning of His ways, into His works: before the world He rounded me. In the beginning, before He made the earth, and before He appointed the abysses, before the fountains of waters gushed forth, before the mountains were settled, before all the hills, the Lord begot me. He made the countries, and the uninhabitable places, and the uninhabitable bounds under heaven. When He prepared the heaven, I was present with Him; and when He set apart His seat. When He made the strong clouds above the winds, and when He placed the strengthened fountains under heaven, when He made the mighty foundations of the earth, I was by His side, ordering them: I was He in whom He delighted: moreover, I daily rejoiced before His face in all time, when He rejoiced in the perfected earth." Also in the same in Ecclesiasticus: "I went forth out of the mouth of the Most High, first-born before every creature: I made the unwearying light to rise in the heavens, and I covered the whole earth with a cloud: I dwelt in the high places, and my throne in the pillar of the cloud: I compassed the circle of heaven, and I penetrated into the depth of the abyss, and I walked on the waves of the sea, and I stood in all the earth; and in every people and in every nation I had the pre-eminence, and by my own strength I have trodden the hearts of all the excellent and the humble: in me is all hope of life and virtue: pass over to me, all ye who desire me." Also in the eighty-eighth Psalm: "And I will establish Him as my first-born, the highest among the kings of the earth. I will keep my mercy for Him for ever, and my faithful covenant for Him; and I will establish his seed for ever and ever. If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they profane my judgments, and do not observe my precepts, I will visit their wickednesses with a rod, and their sins with scourges; but my mercy will I not scatter away from them." Also in the Gospel according to John, the Lord says: "And this is life eternal, that they should know Thee, the only and true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do. And now, do Thou glorify me with Thyself, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was made." Also Paul to the Colossians: "Who is the image of the invisible God, and the first-born of every creature." Also in the same place: "The first-born from the dead, that He might in all things become the holder of the pre-eminence." In the Apocalypse too: "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto Him that is thirsting from the fountain of the water of life freely." That He also is both the wisdom and the power of God, Paul proves in his first Epistle to the Corinthians. "Because the Jews require a sign, and the Creeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews indeed a stumbling-block, and to the Gentiles foolishness; but to them that are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God."

2. That Christ is the Wisdom of God; and concerning the sacrament of His incarnation and of His passion, and cup and altar; and of the apostles who were sent, and preached.

In Solomon in the Proverbs: "Wisdom hath builded herself an house, and she has placed under it seven pillars; she has slain her victims; she hath mingled her wine in the goblet, and hath made ready her table, and hath sent her servants, calling with a loud announcement to the cup, saying, Let him who is foolish turn to me: and to them that want understanding she has said, Come, eat of my loaves, and drink the wine which I have mingled for you. Forsake foolishness, and seek wisdom, and correct knowledge by understanding."

Photius, Bibliotheca 235:

Methodius says, of the words "In the Beginning God created the Heavens and the earth," that one will not err who says that the Beginning is Wisdom. For Wisdom is said by one of the Divine Band to speak in this manner con cerning herself: "The Lord created me the Beginning of His ways for His works; from eternity He laid my foundation." It was fitting and more seemly that all things which came into existence should be more recent than Wisdom, since they existed through her. Now, consider whether this saying "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God," whether these statements be not in agreement with those.

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Re: The remarkable career of Lady Wisdom.

Post by iskander »

The primordial soup from which religion originated. Isaiah describes the longing and awe of mankind ; the loathing of dried bones and the hope for an ever continuing bliss.

Isaiah 40:28
28.Do you not know-if you have not heard-an everlasting God is the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth; He neither tires nor wearies; there is no fathoming His understanding.

http://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo ... rashi=true
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