Who is ‘God’s Elect’ in the Book of Wisdom (Wisdom of Solomon)?
《智慧書》中蒙天主揀選者，到底是誰？
CHANG, Iee-ming Paulus. Post-Doctoral Fellow, Academia Catholica
天主教學術研究中心博士後研究員 張毅民
It is widely accepted that the Book of Wisdom was written in Alexandria in the period of 30-20 BCE. The Book of Wisdom can be divided into three sections: (1) 1:1-6:21 (the Book of Eschatology); (2) 6:22-10:21 (the Book of Wisdom); and (3) 11:1-19.22 (the Book of History). With regard to the identity of the elect, in the Book of Eschatology, it is apparent that the suffering righteous ones are God’s elect, while the unrighteous constitute the non-elect; in the Book of Wisdom (the second section), Solomon is the only one elected by God; and in the Book of History, the whole Israel is identified to be God’s elect. Why are these three different answers? If there is a line between the elect and the non-elect, what it is in the author’s mind? Is it the ‘purely ethnic lines’ as John Barclay says,[1] or the ‘divine knowledge’ as Greg Schmidt Goering argues?[2] Or, if it is not (as the Book of Eschatology implies), what is it? Joel S. Kaminsky reminds us that there is another group of people in the Scriptures, they are the ‘anti-elect.’[3] In this case, how does the author deal with them? Lastly, if we step back from the focus of the divine election, what does it mean in terms of salvation? Are they the same? If not, what is it that really helps a human being in receiving God’s Salvation? What role does the elect play in the author’s soteriology?
1. Theological Argument on ‘the Divine Election’
1.1 Section One (1:1-6:21)
In this section, the author’s theological argument on the divine election is dual: biblical and Hellenistic. The author points out that it is the LORD (YHWH) who creates human ‘in the image of His own eternity/nature’ (2:3) and who gives humans a share of His own immortality ‘so that they might exist’ (1:14). Every person is created in the image of God’s own eternity (2:23) and ‘he [God] does not delight in the death of the living’ (1:13). Therefore, there is indeed a share of the divine nature inside everyone; the immortality of the soul is thus a gift of God, not an innate condition of the soul itself. And the gift of immortality of the soul is given to all mankind because all human beings are created by God. However, in the meantime, the author makes a clear distinction between the righteous and the wicked. Although the wicked ones are also God’s creation and share divine nature, ‘the wisdom [of God] will not enter a deceitful soul or dwell in a body enslaved to sin’ (1:4). And, although it is true that ‘God did not make death and he does not delight in the death of the living’ (1:13), death and destruction are ‘summoned’ (1:16) by the words and deeds of the ungodly themselves. (1:13)
John J. Collins points out that the author of the book presupposes a Hellenistic view of ‘natural theology’[4] that is: all human can observe the natural world and as such reason about the creator. But unfortunately, such reason often proves insufficient, and some humans end up worshipping the creation rather than the creator. Hence, as Greg Schmidt Goering argues, in pseudo-Solomon’s eyes, mortals need ‘a more perfect wisdom’ which is available to all who seek it, regardless of ethnic identity or religious affiliation.[5] Therefore, Greg Schmidt Goering claims that ‘what separates the elect from the non-elect is a specialized divine knowledge.’[6] However, this ‘specialized divine knowledge’ can only obtain by those who have a sincere heart that loves righteousness and seeks God. (1:1)
There is another dual theological argument in the first section of the book: this-life and after-life (eschatological). The author points out that for those who consider themselves righteous, it is not enough just to ‘love righteousness’ (1:1) and to call God one’s ‘father’ (2:16). They should have righteous deeds, that is, in this life, to go through sufferings and persecutions, even accept ‘a shameful death’ (2:20) in order to be among God’s elected people in the afterlife. The author’s persuasion of willingly accepting suffering, persecution, and death for the sake of truth (or, the Truth) is in accordance with Hellenistic philosophical tradition (such as Socrates) as well as the biblical tradition (such as Genesis 22:1-14, Daniel 3:8-100 and 14: 30-32, Psalm 22, Isaiah 52:13-12, and 2 Maccabees 6-7, etc.). According to the author, it is true that ‘the righteous man is God’s child, he [God] will help him, and will deliver him, … and he will be protected [by God]’ (2:18-20). Although God’s help, deliverance and protection may not appear in this life on earth (such as in the cases of Isaac in Genesis 22, or of the three young men in Daniel 3, or of Daniel himself in Daniel14), they definitely will be there in the Final Judgment. The author encourages his readers to endure sufferings and persecutions for being righteous in this life, even to embrace them because they are all tests from God. Only by endurance and perseverance can a righteous man be found by God to be ‘worthy of Himself’ and will be accepted by God as God’s elected one in the Final Judgment Day (3:5-6).
1.2 Section Two (6:22-10:21)
In the second section, the author’s theological argument on God’s election on Solomon is also biblical and Hellenistic. In 9:7-8, the author clearly points out that King Solomon is chosen by God, and God elects him to be king of God’s people and to build a temple and an altar for God. The biblical support to this is found in 1 Kings 3:4-9:9. Although in 1 Kings 1:11-31, it seems that prophet Nathan and Solomon’s mother, Bethsabee, are the ones who suggested King David to appoint Solomon as the successor of his kingship, text in 1 Kings 3:5-14 tells that the LORD manifests Himself in Solomon’s dream, promising to give him everything he wills from God; and the LORD is pleased by Solomon’s wise respond: he prays for nothing but God’s wisdom. God thus promises to grant Solomon not only wisdom but also wit, riches and glory.
The charismatic kingship[7] of Solomon who is chosen by God to inherit David’s throne and blessings is also very clear in 2 Sam 7:1-16. And this is another biblical reference of the divine commend to Solomon in Wisdom 9:8. The divine command further confirms his election. According to 2 Sam. 7:1-16, when David is thinking of building a house for the LORD, the LORD is pleased and rewards David with divine promises: to make him ‘a house’ (2 Sam 7:11) and will raise up David’s son (i.e. Solomon) and to establish his kingdom and his throne forever. (2 Sam 7:13). Therefore, in this sense, Solomon is chosen by God not because of his own characteristic or worthiness, but because of the (Davidic) covenant made by the LORD, and of the faithfulness of God. That is God’s Righteousness. His Righteousness manifests in His fulfillment of the divine promises to David, as well as in His divine command of building a house/temple for the LORD, expressing His willingness to dwell among His people. And only in this temple and through the house of David that all nations can find and worship God who is ‘the holy of the holies,’ and say to Israel that ‘God is with you [Israel] alone, and there is no other’ (Isaiah 45:14). The temple on God’s holy mountain is a ‘copy of the holy tent’ from which God’s glory shines forth to all peoples and nations. (Isaiah 60)
The mysterious ‘mark of insight’ that Solomon received in his childhood (8:2, and 8:21) triggers questions for the Gentiles. One might ask: can a person be guilty if he/she is not given a ‘mark of insight’ by God, and thus does not recognize the beauty of wisdom and pursue her, and thus eventually transgresses? In other words, if the divine favor of Israel’s God is arbitrary, what can the un-favored Gentiles say? Can an un-favored one do anything to earn God’s favor? Even the author raises a similar ‘chicken-and-egg’ question, using a Hellenistic philosophical language: ‘as a child I [Solomon] was naturally gifted, and a good soul fell to my lot; or rather, being good, I entered an undefiled body’ (8:19-20). Why was Solomon given divine wisdom? Is it because he ‘was naturally gifted,’ and therefore he had a good soul, and thus is granted the divine wisdom? Or is it because he is originally a pre-existing good soul and God implants the wisdom into him according to the capacity of the body[8] that is undefiled? A reader would be much more confused by the following text: ‘But I perceived that I would not possess wisdom unless God gave her to me’ (8:20). So, if a person who was ‘naturally gifted’ and had a good soul, but was not implanted with the divine wisdom by God, can this person be held accountable for being wicked? Or, if a good soul entered an undefiled body, but God did not give the divine wisdom to him/her, what kind of person is he/she? A good, moral, ethical but unwise, ungodly, stupid person? What is the cause of a person’s ungodliness, wickedness? Is it God? What does it mean to be elected by God? Does it mean that this elected person is more superior than others?
The answer to these kinds of questions is already given in the beginning of the book: ‘Love righteousness, you rulers of the earth, think of the LORD in goodness and seek him with sincerity of heart’ (1:1). Although God specifically elects someone (such as Solomon), each person is held accountable for his/her own decisions, deeds and thoughts. Greg Schmidt Goering also points this out. He says, ‘Pseudo-Solomon’s understanding of election rests less on divine determinism and divine caprice and more on human initiative in the divine human relationship.’[9] Therefore, not receiving the ‘mark of insight’ in one’s childhood (such as Solomon did) is not an excuse for transgressing or being a wicked person. Because the LORD ‘manifests himself to those who do not distrust him’ (1:4), and wisdom of God ‘hastens to make herself known to those who desire her’ (6:13). God does not only elect Solomon, but also fills the world with His Spirit (1:7); God does not only give a ‘mark of insight’ to Solomon, but also makes the wisdom ‘radiant and unfading, …easily discerned by those who loved her and is found by those who seek her’ (6:12). Therefore, God’s election of Solomon might be ‘exclusive’ in the eyes of the Gentiles, but His salvation through His wisdom is ‘inclusive’ and open to all peoples. This soteriology is in accordance with Isaiah 56:1-8 and Psalm 72. On the other hand, God indeed chose Solomon and deeply loved him; but, if Solomon does not learn from the divine wisdom, as Solomon says, he himself is not ‘worthy of the throne(s).’ (9:12) This is Solomon’s righteousness: he submits himself to God’s will, and asks nothing but God’s wisdom so that he may learn what is pleasing to God. (9:10) Although the divine election does make Solomon distinctive and unique from others, in terms of worthiness of receiving God’s salvation through wisdom, Solomon is not superior to anyone else.
1.3 Section Three (11:1-19.22)
In the third section, it is the people of Israel who are God’s elect. The author calls them ‘a holy people and blameless race’ (10:15), and he traces the history of God’s election of Israel back to the origin of the world. That is to say, God chooses Israel not from the calling of Abraham (Gen 12:1-3) but from the very beginning of the mankind: Adam. It is in God’s eternality and in His Wisdom that Israel is chosen; and this divine favor on Israel is clearly manifested by the deeds of the Wisdom in the Exodus event. However, in the text of 10:1-14, the author of the Book still emphasizes the significance of the righteousness of Israel’s patriarchs (such as Noah, Abraham, Lot, Joseph, Jacob). It is because of their righteousness so that the Wisdom recognized them and preserved them ‘blameless before God’. (10:5)
What does this mean to Israel as well as to the Gentiles? Does the divine election of Israel ‘imply the mistreatment of non-Israelites’? According to Joel S. Kaminsky, the idea of election in the Hebrew Scriptures actually presupposes three categories: the elect, the anti-elect, and the non-elect. Whereas the elect is Israel and the non-elect is the vast majority of foreign individuals and nations, the anti-elect are those few groups that are considered enemies of God and whom Israel is commanded to annihilate, i.e. the Midianites, the Canaanites, and the Amalekites.[10] He argues that the author of the Book of Wisdom is also troubled by the idea of the annihilation of the anti-elect in the biblical text, and sought ways to make ethical sense of this. The author’s solution is to comprehend the biblical text and history in the light of both God’s Righteousness and Mercy. God the Almighty is righteous and just, but God also overlooks people’s sins, so that they may repent (11:23). In the case of the Canaanites, God mercifully delayed their destruction in order to give them ‘opportunity to repent’ (12:3-11). In the case of the Egyptians, because they worship animals, the merciful God restrains His all-powerful hand, only lets them know ‘that one is punished by the very things by which one sins’ (11:16), therefore, they ‘were tormented by a multitude of animals’ (16:1). The author also uses a Hellenistic approach explaining why the Egyptians received those punishments: they have ‘uninstructed soul’ and thus ‘have gone astray’ (17:1), they are condemned ‘by its own testimony, distressed by conscience’ (17:11). They caged themselves in the darkness of fear because they rejected ‘the helps come that from reason’ (17:12). The author even compares the Egyptians to those of Sodom, whereas the latter ones ‘refused to received strangers’, the former one ‘made slaves of guests who were their benefactors’ (17:14). By appealing to readers’ reasoning capability and common sense, he argues that what the Egyptians received is what they deserved.
2. Comment And Reflection
In the Torah, the difference between the people of Israel and other peoples is very clear. However, in the Book of Wisdom, although this distinction remains, the line between ‘the elect’ and ‘the non-elect’ changes quite significantly. The pure ethic line seems no longer the criterion, but righteousness. A righteous man who is willing to endure all kinds of sufferings is God’s elect. This is the theme of the first section of the Book; whereas in the second section, King Solomon is God’s elect because of God’s Righteousness as well as Solomon’s righteousness and his willingness of learning from God’s wisdom. In the third section, God’s wisdom does not only recognize Israel’s patriarchs from the wicked nations because of their righteousness but also save them, preserve them blameless before God; the people of Israel is called ‘God’s children/servants’ (12:20-21) not because of their worthiness but God’s ‘oaths and covenants full of good promises’ (12:21) gave to the Israelites’ ancestors.
Indeed, Israel is God’s elect, but Israel is not the only one elected by God. In the Book of Wisdom, God indeed love and favor Israel, but His Love and Salvation is not confined to the Israelites. Gentiles who sincerely seek God’s wisdom and being righteous can be God’s elect as well. In the meantime, the whole Book of Wisdom also denotes the possibility of an unrighteous (or, ungodly) Israelite loosing his/her sublime status as a God’s elect. The author urges his readers: if they are sons and daughters of Israel, they should be loyal to the tradition and be faithful children of Abraham. And there are three aspects in this regard: (1) while accepting virtues that are revered in the Hellenistic world, an Israelite in the Diasporas should pursue God’s wisdom because ‘her [wisdom’s] labors are virtues’ (8:7) and ‘giving heed to her [wisdom’s] law is assurance of immortality’ (6:18). (2) Do not commit idolatry: they should not worship other gods, neither the nature nor the dead things, for ‘the worship of idols not to be named is the beginning and cause and end of every evil’ (14:27). (3) Being attentive to the deeds of God’s wisdom in the world, both in the past (especially in the Exodus event) and in the present; and be mindful that the Righteousness of God is waiting in the Final Judgment. And this is the definitive solution the author offers to his fellow Israelites.
On the other hand, for the gentile readers, the author exhorts them to love righteousness and to sincerely seek God who ‘is found by those who do not put him to the test’ (1:2). Gentiles should also seek wisdom and to learn from her, so that they also can also be ‘saved by wisdom’ (9:18). In the meantime, the gentiles should respect God’s election of Israel since His intention of choosing Israel as God’s chosen people has been revealed in the history.
It is not out of pride that Israel thinks of itself as God’s elect, but only because it believes in the God who has chosen them and calls Himself: ‘Israel’s God.’ ( 1 Chr 17:24) However, the author would argue that, although the election of Israel is true, God’s Salvation is not limited to them because all people could be saved by the Wisdom, and God is willing to give it to them and sent the Holy Spirit from on high (9:17). Even Solomon in the Book of Wisdom confesses that if he, as Jedidiah (beloved of God, or friend of God) and as a king of the chosen people, does not pray for God’s wisdom and do what is right according to God’s commandments (9:9), he himself will not ‘be worthy of the throne’(9:12). Indeed, no one really deserves ‘the throne’ unless God wants to give the dominion (6:2). And it is God who is seated on the Throne, and to whom the Salvation belongs.
The highly emphasis on the righteousness in the Book of Wisdom, especially in term of the sublime status as God’s elect, has a great significance not only to the Diaspora Israelites but also to the 1st century Christians who are Israelites. One of the great examples is Matthew’s highly emphasis on the ‘better righteousness’ that anyone who wish to follow Jesus Christ and want to enter the Kingdom. (Matt. 5:20-48, also 5:10) Apostle Paul’ epistle to the Romans also elaborates in great length the meaning of ‘righteousness’ and its relationship with being God’s elect as Christians. The emphasis on righteousness also appears in the works of the Apostolic Fathers such as the Didache (3.15); in the Epistle of Barnabas, righteousness is considered one of the ‘three doctrines of the Lord’. (1.6) In the 1 Clement, the great apostles Peter and Paul are called ‘the greatest and most righteous pillars of the Church’ (5.2, also 5.7) and they are models of all Christians. Careful examination of ‘God’s elect’ in the Book of Wisdom can help us understand how early Christians who inherit the tradition of Israel formed their identity as God’s chosen people and as followers of Jesus Christ.
[1]John M. G. Barclay. Jews in the Mediterranean Diaspora: from Alexander to Trajan (323 BCE - 117 CE). Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1996. Pp. 181-191.
[2]Greg Schmidt Goering, ‘Election and Knowledge in the Wisdom of Solomon’ in Géza G. Xeravits and József Zsengellér (ed.) Studies in the Book of Wisdom (Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism; v. 142). Boston: Brill. 2007. Pp. 165-182.
[3] Joel S. Kaminsky, ‘Did Election Imply the mistreatment of Non-Israelites?’ in Harvard Theological Review 2003 October, Vol.96(4). Pp.397-425.
[4] John J. Collins, ‘Natural Theology and Biblical Tradition: The Case of Hellenistic Judaism’ in The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 1998 JAN, Vol.60(1). Pp. 1-15.
[5]Greg Schmidt Goering. (2007).
[6]Greg Schmidt Goering (2007).
[7] G. W. Ahlstrőm, ‘Solomon, the Chosen One’ in History of Religions, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Nov. 1968). Pp. 93-110.
[8] Meeks, W. A. etc. (ed.) The HarperCollins Study Bible (NRSV, with Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books). NY: HarperCollins Publishers. 1993. Page 1510.
[9]Greg Schmidt Goering. (2007)
[10] However, Kaminsky argues that, the Midianites are often portrayed positively (Moses’ father-in-law himself is a Midianite); and both the textual and archaeological evidence indicate that the Canaanites were probably never purged in a genocidal campaign by Joshua; only the Amalekites is demonized and is depicted as God’s enemy ‘from generation to generation’ (Exodus 17:14). See: Joel S. Kaminky, ‘Did Election Imply the mistreatment of Non-Israelites?’ in Harvard Theological Review 2003 October, Vol.96(4). Pp.397-425.
