Last time we looked at the benefits of loving wisdom, and how all worldly gain cannot be compared with them. This time, we will be looking at the “beginning” of wisdom.
Ever since the time of the early church, Proverbs 8:22-31 has been almost universally applied to the Son of God, the Logos. Some have distanced themselves from this association, because of how the Arians have used the passage to try and prove that the Son of God is merely the first creature created by God. Theologically however, even as we have been studying wisdom, we can see that wisdom functions in very much the same way as Jesus, the “Word,” or Revelation of God. Just as wisdom is a gift of God for the true knowing of God, so is the incarnation of Christ a gift of God for our salvation, resulting in truly knowing (and being known by) God. The New Testament writers also seemed to borrow heavily from the language of wisdom in Proverbs when speaking about the divinity of the Son of God, and Proverbs 8 specifically has been used as an important text teaching a doctrine called “the eternal generation of the Son,” which is a key distinction in the Godhead between the persons of the Trinity. Here is the first part of today’s passage,
22 The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. 23 Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning 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 had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth, 26 before he had made the earth with its fields, or the first of the dust of the world.
The word translated “possessed” has overtones of begotteness, used first to communicate this idea in Genesis 4:1, where Eve said, “I have acquired a man from Yahweh” (the same underlying Hebrew word used for translating “possessed” in Proverbs 8:22). The LXX (Septuagint, or Greek Old Testament) translated the term into a Greek word that also means created, leading to the false idea that the Son was a created being. Aside from this misunderstanding , the wisdom in Proverbs very much describes the Son as the Word of God. Read with reference to the Son of God, verse 22 teaches that the Son was possessed, or received as eternally begotten, as the first act of God from eternity, before anything was ever created (before time—which the church has historically referred to as “change”—and before any matter was created out of nothing). Verse 23 teaches that wisdom “was set up,” meaning “established,” and “Ages ago” to “from everlasting” (i.e., eternity past). Thus, wisdom was established from everlasting. Verse 24 then speaks of wisdom’s begotteness, putting this begotteness before the creation of the waters, which is how Genesis begins when describing the creation of the heavens and the earth. Thus, wisdom was begotten before the creation of the heavens and the earth (as verse 23 says, “from everlasting”). Mountains are often referred to for their great age (verse 25), and the “dust” of the earth is considered a very basic element of the earth. Yet, wisdom was “brought forth” or “begotten” (repeated again in verse 25) even before these symbols of ancient time. These manifold descriptions of wisdom place it parallel with how the New Testament describes the Son of God as eternally begotten of the Father.
Proverbs takes this further than just Wisdom being eternally begotten. Wisdom is also described as that which the Father used to create all things,
27 When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, 28 when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, 29 when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, 30 then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, 31 rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man.
Jesus Himself claimed that His divine nature precedes the created order, being timeless as God. Here, wisdom is described as being alongside God the Father while He created the heavens, the deep, and the foundations of the earth (verses 27-29). Yet, Wisdom was not only with the Father as He creates, but was instrumental in that creation, being “beside him, like a master workman” (verse 30). Thus, Wisdom worked with the Father in creating all things (the heavens, earth, and the deep). Likewise, after creating all things, Genesis records that God called creation “very good,” since it reflected well the nature and beauty of the Creator. After Wisdom and the Father and the Holy Spirit created all things, Wisdom and even creation itself were a delight to God. Humanity, of course, sinned, and this displeased God, but this was not so at the beginning.
Having covered the eternal “beginning” of wisdom, it may be a good idea to look up some parallel passages used to describe the Son of God. See, for instance, Luke 11:49-54, where Jesus describes wisdom as describing His work from the beginning. See also 1 Corinthians 1:24, where Paul says, “Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (See also 1 Corinthians 2:7-8; Colossians 1:16, 28-2:3; John 1:1-18; Hebrew 1:2, and 1 Corinthians 8:6). After looking those up, read the remainder of todays passage below from Proverbs 8, likened to the words of Christ in the New Testament,
32 “And now, O sons, listen to me: blessed are those who keep my ways. 33 Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. 34 Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. 35 For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord, 36 but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.”
Before concluding, it is good to note that Christ Himself exhorts to the same obedience to God’s commands in John 14 (as He does in many other places as well). In fact, that whole chapter is reminiscent of Solomon’s exhortations to pursue wisdom, but placing Christ as the fulfillment and consummation of obeying God’s commands and assuring in Himself the blessings that come from pursuing Wisdom. Thus, all that wisdom is, including its benefits, value, and nature, are all found in Christ, who Himself brings us into that wisdom, to the salvation and beatification (sanctification or perfection) of our souls.
Next time we will be looking at Proverbs 9:1-6.