The Personification of Wisdom and Folly as Women in Ancient Judaism

Full title
The Personification of Wisdom and Folly as Women in Ancient Judaism
Updated By
Research notes

NR\Reader checked\07/07/2015

Reference type
Author(s)
Goff, Matthew
Editor(s)
Géza G. Xeravits
Year
2015
Journal / Book Title || Series Title
Religion and Female Body in Ancient Judaism and Its Environments
Issue / Series Volume
28
Series Title
Deuterocanonical and Cognate Literature Studies
Publisher
De Gruyter
Place of Publication
Berlin/Munich/Boston
Pages
128-154
Work type
Label
08/06/2015
Abstract

This article traces the personification of wisdom and folly as women in ancient Judaism. Wisdom was an important but enigmatic concept. Authors steeped in the sapiential tradition helped make wisdom more understandable by describing it as a woman. Male teachers used trope to make wisdom more desirable to their male students. The trope of personifying wisdom and folly as women is also associated with sexual ethics, in the pedagogical context of men being given advice about women, particualrly kinds of women that would make good wives and those whom men should avoid. These tropes are central in the book of Proverbs, which are then appropriated in a various ways by texts such as Ben Sira, the Wisdom of Solomon and various writings from the Dead Sea Scrolls.