Saturday 23 December 2023
The Lord created me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of long ago. (v. 22)
Background
The sub-title to this passage is 'Wisdom’s Part in Creation'. It helps us locate the person talking at this point – Wisdom. Wisdom is portrayed as a woman in this type of literature and some scholars use the Greek word for wisdom, 'Sophia'.
Some believe that this description of wisdom relates to the Holy Spirit. In some traditions, because the passage talks of wisdom being with God in the beginning, they believe this is another way of talking about Jesus.
The can all get a bit confusing! However, the key thing to hold on to here is that wisdom is there with God right from the beginning and was alongside God during creation. Wisdom was alongside God throughout the creation of the world and throughout time, and was delighting or rejoicing in each new thing that she saw God had created. In being alongside God from the beginning, and seeing wisdom as part of God’s creation means that wisdom is important to God, and is part of the eternal order of things.
In doing this the writer is establishing that wisdom is superior to other, more worldly signs of success and indeed wisdom rejoiced about the good work that God did with creation.
To Ponder:
- What do you think of when you hear the word wisdom?
- What do you see that God has created and takes delight in?