Featured Study

Lady Wisdom

The Woman who calls herself Wisdom and Understanding — Proverbs 1, 3, 8 and 9

In the book of Proverbs a Woman cries out in the streets, claims to have been with God before creation, and builds her house on seven pillars. This study separates what the biblical text says, how Jews and Christians have interpreted it, and the conclusion Yona Tree proposes.

Three ways to read Proverbs 8

Text, tradition and conclusion

The biblical text

What Proverbs says

Wisdom speaks as a woman and calls aloud in the streets (1:20; 8:1).
"The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way" (8:22).
"I was set up from everlasting… when there were no depths, I was brought forth" (8:23–24).
"Then I was by him, as one brought up with him… daily his delight" (8:30).
She is "a tree of life" (3:18) and builds a house of seven pillars (9:1).

Historical interpretation

How she has been read

Jewish tradition associated Wisdom with the Torah, God's instruction (Sirach 24).
Most Church Fathers read Wisdom as Christ, "the wisdom of God" (1 Corinthians 1:24).
Theophilus and Irenaeus (2nd century) identified Wisdom with the Holy Spirit.
Many modern scholars read her as a poetic personification of God's wisdom.

Yona Tree's conclusion

What we propose

Lady Wisdom is the Holy Spirit portrayed in feminine form: she names herself by two of the Spirit's seven attributes and claims the other five, was poured out from the Father before creation, whirled like the Spirit-wind of Ezekiel 1, stood as architect beside the Father, and is called a tree of life.

This is the ministry's theological interpretation, offered for prayerful study.

Wisdom in the book of Proverbs

Proverbs 1 — Wisdom calls. “Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets… Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you” (Proverbs 1:20, 23).

Proverbs 3 — Wisdom is a tree of life. “She is more precious than rubies… She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her… The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth” (Proverbs 3:15, 18–19).

Proverbs 8 — Wisdom before creation. “The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old… When he prepared the heavens, I was there… Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight” (Proverbs 8:22, 27, 30).

Proverbs 9 — Wisdom’s house. “Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars… she crieth upon the highest places of the city, Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither” (Proverbs 9:1, 3–4).

Notice in Proverbs 1:23 that Wisdom promises to “pour out my spirit.” And in Proverbs 8 she names, in her own words, each of the seven attributes of the Spirit listed in Isaiah 11:2. See the comparison.

Wisdom literature beyond Proverbs

Job asks, “But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?” and answers, “God understandeth the way thereof” (Job 28:12, 23). Two books printed among the Apocrypha in the 1611 King James Bible develop the theme further. The Wisdom of Solomon calls Wisdom “the breath of the power of God” and asks God to “send thy Holy Spirit from above” (Wisdom of Solomon 7:25; 9:17). 2 Esdras speaks of one who “hast called understanding thy mother” (2 Esdras 13:55).

How Wisdom has been read

In Jewish tradition, Wisdom came to be closely associated with the Torah, God’s instruction — Sirach describes Wisdom dwelling in Israel and identifies her with “the book of the covenant of the most high God” (Sirach 24:23).

In much of Christian tradition, Wisdom was read as Christ, “the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24). In the fourth century both sides of the Arian controversy applied Proverbs 8 to the Son.

Earlier Christian writers read her otherwise. Theophilus of Antioch spoke of “God, and His Word, and His Wisdom,” and Irenaeus of Lyons wrote that “Wisdom also, which is the Spirit, was present with Him, anterior to all creation.” Read these sources.

Many modern scholars understand Wisdom as a poetic personification of God’s own wisdom.

The proposed relationship between Wisdom and the Spirit

Yona Tree’s study rests on several converging lines:

Wisdom names herself by two of the seven attributes of the Spirit — wisdom and understanding — and claims the other five.
Her house rests on seven pillars, as the Spirit burns as seven lamps.
She was poured out from everlasting (Proverbs 8:23), as the Spirit proceeds from the Father.
She was brought forth “whirling” before creation (Proverbs 8:24), as the Spirit appears as a whirlwind (Ezekiel 1:4) and hovers over the waters (Genesis 1:2).
She was the architect at the Father’s side (Proverbs 8:30), as Psalm 33:6 names God’s Word and Breath as the agents of creation.
She is “a tree of life” (Proverbs 3:18) — another of Scripture’s symbols of the Spirit.
Jesus spoke of her as a mother: “wisdom is justified of all her children” (Luke 7:35).