Book of Wisdom Wisdom, written by Unknown Jewish author of Alexandria, writing in the voice of Solomon
Create a PlanThe Wisdom of Solomon is a book of Jewish wisdom written in Greek, in which a king, who speaks as Solomon without being named, urges the rulers of the earth to love righteousness and seek wisdom. It first answers those who think death ends everything: the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and the just man the ungodly mocked and killed will stand before them in judgment. It then praises wisdom as the breath of God's power and the brightness of the everlasting light, and finally retells history from Adam to the Exodus as her work, contrasting the plagues of Egypt with God's care for Israel and mocking the folly of idols.
Chapters in Wisdom
Outline of Wisdom
An appeal to the judges of the earth, the claim that God did not make death, and the reasoning of the ungodly who plot against the just man.
The souls of the righteous are in God's hand; the childless and those who die young are not forgotten, and the ungodly confess their error at the judgment.
Rulers will be judged severely; wisdom lets herself be found by those who seek her and leads to a kingdom.
The king tells how he prayed for wisdom, describes her nature and her gifts, and gives the prayer in which he asks God for her.
From Adam to Moses, wisdom saves the righteous; in the wilderness, what punished Egypt becomes a blessing for Israel.
God judges little by little to leave room for repentance; nature worship, carved idols and the potter's gods are exposed one after another.
Beasts and quails, hail and manna, darkness and the pillar of fire, the death of the firstborn and the crossing of the Red Sea: each plague is set against a gift to God's people.
Key Themes in Wisdom
Immortality of the Righteous
Against those who say death ends everything, the book teaches that God created man for immortality and that the souls of the righteous are at peace in his hand, even when they die young or in shame.
Wisdom, Close to God
Wisdom is pictured as a person who sits by God's throne, was present at creation and enters holy souls; the book gives her the most exalted portrait in the Old Testament.
Justice for Rulers
The book is addressed to kings and judges: their power comes from God, and they will be judged all the more severely for it.
God's Mercy and Measure
God orders all things by measure, number and weight, loves everything he has made and punishes little by little so that sinners may repent.
The Folly of Idolatry
Chapters 13-15 mock gods made by carpenters and potters and trace every moral disorder back to the worship of idols.
Key Verses in Wisdom
For God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of his own eternity. Nevertheless through envy of the devil came death into the world: and they that do hold of his side do find it.
The book's answer to death: man was made for immortality, and death entered through the devil's envy, a reading of Genesis 3 that Paul echoes.
But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment touch them.
The best-known line of the book, often read at funerals: the righteous dead are kept by God.
For she is the brightness of the everlasting light, the unspotted mirror of the power of God, and the image of his goodness.
The height of the portrait of wisdom, whose words the Letter to the Hebrews applies to the Son.
For thou lovest all the things that are, and abhorrest nothing which thou hast made: for never wouldest thou have made any thing, if thou hadst hated it.
God's love for all he has made is the reason for his patience, even with Israel's enemies.
Characters in Wisdom
The king whose voice the book adopts, never named: he prays for wisdom and is charged with building the temple
The first formed father, whom wisdom preserved and brought out of his fall
The righteous man steered through the flood on a piece of wood of small value
The righteous man kept blameless and strong against his tender love for his son
The righteous man who was sold, whom wisdom followed into the pit and raised to the sceptre
The servant of the Lord and holy prophet through whom wisdom faced Pharaoh and led Israel
Locations in Wisdom
Christ in Wisdom
The Mocked Righteous One
The ungodly plot against a just man who calls himself the child of the Lord, saying God will deliver him if he is his son; at the cross the chief priests mock Jesus in almost the same words.
MAT 27:41-43The Radiance of God
Wisdom is the brightness of the everlasting light and the image of God's goodness; the New Testament speaks of the Son as the brightness of God's glory and the image of the invisible God.
HEB 1:3Creation Reveals the Creator
The book holds that God can be known from the beauty of his works and that idolaters are without excuse; Paul makes the same argument at the opening of Romans.
ROM 1:19-23Frequently Asked Questions
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