Wisdom of Solomon

What the Wisdom of Solomon is about

The Wisdom of Solomon is written in polished Greek by a Jewish author addressing a sophisticated, sceptical audience — most likely in Alexandria, where Jews lived alongside Greek philosophy and Egyptian religion. It adopts the voice of Solomon, a long-standing convention for wisdom writing, and argues its case with the tools of the surrounding culture.

It opens with a passage that has echoed through Christian liturgy. The wicked are quoted at length, reasoning that life is short and pleasure is all there is, and plotting against the righteous man because he is inconvenient — let us test him with insult and torture. The book replies that they reasoned wrongly: the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will ever touch them. Their death looked like destruction, but they are at peace.

The middle section is a warm commendation of wisdom herself, sought in prayer and loved as a bride, and the source of everything the author values. The final third retells Israel’s history — particularly the exodus — as a demonstration of how wisdom guides, and includes a sustained satire on idol-making that a reader of Isaiah will find familiar.

One line has been quoted more than any other by Christians thinking about creation: you love all things that exist, and detest none of the things that you have made.

Where it sits

Wisdom belongs with Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, and Sirach as wisdom literature, and it is the most philosophically engaged of them. It was written close to the New Testament era, and its language has clear points of contact with Paul and Hebrews — which is one reason it has been so widely read in the church.

It is received as scripture by Catholic and Orthodox Christians. Protestants value it but do not treat it as canonical, and print it among the Apocrypha when they include it.

Why it is worth reading

Because it shows Jewish faith arguing confidently in a pluralist city, using the vocabulary of its neighbours without conceding its convictions. Its opening chapters, on the righteous who are vindicated after death, have shaped Christian funerals for centuries and are still read at them.