In Sunday’s first reading Lady Wisdom describes her beginning with God. Lady Wisdom personifies the creative providence of God at play in all creation. She expresses in Jewish tradition what Greek thought calls logos, the ideal and eternal blueprint in nature.
People in the centuries after Israel’s exile in Babylon no longer picture God as the invincible Lord of Hosts and Warrior of earlier history, but as Lady Wisdom, who builds her house in creation and sets her table for all with its fruit.
The exiled Israelites who come home after more than 50 years in Babylon return to a city in rubble. Their great temple, monument in stone to God’s power, lies in ruins. Those who return begin rebuilding the people as God’s true sanctuary. Lady Wisdom roots the spirituality for the rebuilders of Israel in creation rather than in their earlier history.
Lady Wisdom shows us God in the image of a creative homemaker and skilled artisan at play in the world, embodying the potential for rebuilding the shattered, scattered community of Israel. In Proverbs 8, Lady Wisdom is not so different from the familiar valiant woman of Proverbs 31, who rises early, provides for her household, and trades in the marketplace.
The Christ hymn that begins John’s gospel borrows Wisdom imagery to describe who Jesus is. John 1.1-18 substitutes Word for Wisdom to describe Jesus as pre-existent Son. “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” Sunday’s first reading begins much the same way, describing Wisdom as with God from the beginning and delighting in the children of earth.
Wisdom is at play.
Lady Wisdom speaks:
God created me at the beginning as the first of God’s acts long ago.
From of old I was poured forth,
at the first,
before the beginning of earth.
When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water; before the mountains were settled into place, before the hills
I was brought forth,
while as yet the earth
and the open fields were not made,
nor the first bits of soil.
When God established the heavens, I was there.
When God marked out the vault
over the face of the deep,
made firm the skies above,
established the fountains
of the deep, set for the sea its limit,
so that the waters should not
transgress God’s command,
then was I at God’s side
like a skilled artisan.
I was daily God’s delight,
playing before the Holy One always, rejoicing in the earth;
and I found delight
in the children of earth.
Proverbs 8.22-31
- What does Wisdom imagery add to your sense of who God is? Who Jesus is?
- How do your respond to feminine imagery for God?