Unless otherwise noted, all citations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).
Manuscripts
We possess the Wisdom of Solomon in the Greek manuscripts Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, Vaticanus, Old Latin, and later Septuagint manuscripts. DeSilva writes, “Arguments for a Hebrew original of Wisdom have given way to a general consensus that the book was written in Greek.”[1] The author of this text quotes from the Septuagint at various points, which “almost necessitates a Greek original… The author’s familiarity with Greek rhetorical devices…, the affinity for compound words (common in Alexandrian Greek), knowledge of Greek words found only in the Greek poets, and use of technical Greek philosophical terminology are strong arguments for composition in Greek.”[2]
Author
Chapters 6-9 claim to be written by Solomon, but virtually no scholars believe this view today. Even ancient readers acknowledged that the author was pseudonymous (e.g. Augustine, Jerome, etc.).
Scholars have conjectured that Philo or Apollos wrote this book.[3] Metzger[4] and deSilva[5] both argue that the author must have been a Hellenistic Jew living in Alexandria with a philosophical education.
DeSilva states that scholars believe that whoever wrote the book was a singular author, rather than a composite group. The book contains “unusual words and expressions throughout… the echoes of the first part in the second half… [and contains a] tight structural interweaving of the main parts of the discourse.”[6]
The author wrote the book in Greek, and probably in Alexandria, Egypt. The book mentions the worship of animals (i.e. zoolatry), which was common in Egypt.
Date
DeSilva dates the book somewhere between 200 BC and AD 100.[7] Metzger gives a date somewhere between 100 BC and AD 40.[8]
Theological problems
God created from preexisting matter, rather than ex nihilo. The Wisdom of Solomon states, “Your all-powerful hand, which created the world out of formless matter” (11:17). Metzger writes, “The writer describes him as having ‘created the world out of formless matter’ (11:17), adopting here the very phrase which Platonists used to describe the pre-existent matter out of which the world was made, and implying that this unformed matter was itself uncreated.”[9]
Neo-Platonic view of the body. The Wisdom of Solomon states, “A perishable body weighs down the soul, and this earthy tent burdens the thoughtful mind” (9:15). Metzger writes, “As for man, his body is regarded as a mere weight and clog to the soul (9:15), a view which is foreign to both Old Testament and New alike.”[10]
Belief in the preexistence of souls. The Wisdom of Solomon states, “As a child I was naturally gifted, and a good soul fell to my lot; or rather, being good, I entered an undefiled body” (8:19-20).
Important content in this book
(2:24) Through the devil’s envy death entered the world, and those who belong to his company experience it.
[1] David A. deSilva, Introducing the Apocrypha (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002), 131.
[2] David A. deSilva, Introducing the Apocrypha (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002), 131.
[3] Bruce M. Metzger, An Introduction to the Apocrypha (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977), 67.
[4] Bruce M. Metzger, An Introduction to the Apocrypha (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977), 68.
[5] David A. deSilva, Introducing the Apocrypha (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002), 132.
[6] David A. deSilva, Introducing the Apocrypha (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002), 132.
[7] David A. deSilva, Introducing the Apocrypha (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002), 132-133.
[8] Bruce M. Metzger, An Introduction to the Apocrypha (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977), 67.
[9] Bruce M. Metzger, An Introduction to the Apocrypha (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977), 73-73.
[10] Bruce M. Metzger, An Introduction to the Apocrypha (New York: Oxford University Press, 1977), 74.