Reader Checked|OA 09/01/2014
“Wisdom” is a central concept in the Hebrew Bible and Early Jewish literature. An analysis of a
|selection of texts from the Second Temple period reveals that the way wisdom and its possession
|were understood changed gradually in a more exclusive direction. Deuteronomy 4 speaks of
|Israel as a wise people, whose wisdom is based on the diligent observance of the Torah. Proverbs
|8 introduces personified Lady Wisdom that is at first a rather universal figure, but in later
|sources becomes more firmly a property of Israel. Ben Sira (Sir. 24) stressed the primacy of Israel
|by combining wisdom with the Torah, but he still attempted to do justice to other nations’ contacts
|with wisdom as well. One step further was taken by Baruch, as only Israel is depicted as
|the recipient of wisdom (Bar. 3–4). This more particularistic understanding of wisdom was also
|employed by the sages who wrote the compositions 4Q185 and 4Q525. Both of them emphasize
|the hereditary nature of wisdom, and 4Q525 even explicitly denies foreigners’ share of wisdom.
|The author of Psalm 154 goes furthest along this line of development by claiming wisdom to be a
|sole possession of the righteous among the Israelites. The question about possessing wisdom has
|moved from the level of nations to a matter of debate between different groups within Judaism.