CENTRAL ASSUMPTION OF WISDOM - When we enter wisdom literature, the central belief we encounter is that in the beginning God created the earth and actively works to bring order to it. We must learn to live within its laws and rhythms that God has established. The Proverbs suggest that human beings had long been observing nature and society and that they drew inferences about life and creation. Thus, conventional wisdom sought to offer guidance, to reform the individual rather than society and to instruct people to live according to the rhythms of the world and society. Sages saw human beings as active agents who made choices and lived with logical consequences; they also saw in the promise of success and logical consequences a caveat: the problem of evil; thus, they concluded that wisdom is more than strategies to master life, wisdom was also connect people to God as the Source of wisdom.

DIRECT CORRELATION? - Throughout Jewish and Christian history, exegetes and theologians have sought to correlate the wisdom of Proverbs 8 with a significant "other." Jewish scholars, for example, identified the Torah as this cosmic wisdom. For Christians, it was messy. Christ was early on described in cosmic terms as God’s Word or Wisdom (John 1 / 1 Cor. 1:16, 24, 30). In the fourth century, the Arian controversy battled over a single verb that appeared in Proverbs 8:22a. More recently have some groups have seen a feminine between Wisdom and God, as the feminine article of the noun suggests in the Greek language. History’s lesson: avoid the wisdom equals God battleground and don’t push the poetry too hard.

As wisdom calls out to you what does she sound like-a talk show host? A football coach? A TV evangelist? Good ole grandma? Barker at a carnival?

Use your imagination. Picture the earth, fresh and new. Imagine God looking out upon this world and pronouncing each and every aspect "Good!" now see wisdom dancing with delight at the wonder of the world. Wonder every day at the details of the world around you . . . the bumble bee that hovers near the screen door, the seedling that needles its way through earth to the surface, the robin that stands in your yard cocking its head to better hear the movement of an earthworm. Wonder and worship God in awe.

For those considering a homily on this passage, DPS has a fine homily based on this passage that has appeared in The Biblical Journal, 2002. Check the archives for it.

For those who wish to preach another homily on this passage, consider this: use the inductive method that earlier was championed by Fred Craddock in which you bring honest questions to the text: Who/what is wisdom that we read of in Proverbs 8?

"Is wisdom this . . .?" (Jesus? Or a compendium of wise sayings? Or Rush Limbaugh spouting off," etc.)

"Of course, some Jewish exegetes came to the conclusion that Wisdom equaled the Torah; well that makes sense, doesn’t it?"

"Well, we know wisdom isn’t this, don’t we?" (Name current purveyors of wisdom that is not true wisdom-voices from culture and media.)

"But maybe we just need to look within Proverbs 8 a bit more closer to see what it is . . ." Wisdom is a poetic personification of one of God’s qualities-directional arrows that keep us on the path that leads to life. (Or whatever conclusion your own study of this passage leads you to.)