Wisdom, Israel and Other Nations: Perspectives from the Hebrew Bible, Deuterocanonical Literature, and the Dead Sea Scrolls

“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.