Wisdom’s delight
by Rachael Stelzer
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Then I was constantly at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind (Proverbs 8:30,31).
Wisdom. The very word conjures up images of tweed coats and booklined studies, lined faces and dignified pronouncements. It is an aspirational idea: Do I have wisdom? Have I done the hard yards of learning and experience to consider myself wise? Does acquiring wisdom mean leaving behind childish frivolity and putting away my smiles?
This passage from Proverbs seems to drop a bomb on our traditional ideas about wisdom. And it does it through an ambiguous translation.
Wisdom, personified as female, is contrasted with the brazen woman of chapter 7, who lures people with her smooth talk, whose false promises lead to death. Wisdom introduces herself as being present before and during the creation of the world and used by God in creation.
She then goes on in Proverbs 8:30,31:
Then I was constantly at his side.
I was filled with delight day after day,
rejoicing always in his presence,
rejoicing in his whole world
and delighting in mankind.
Verse 30 has been translated in two ways. ‘I was the master craftsman at his side’, and ‘I was like a little child at his side’.
Scholars suggest that either translation is possible, and this adds to the richness of our understanding. It is entirely appropriate to us that Wisdom was the master craftsman at God’s side – the architect of creation. But Wisdom as a small child, rejoicing at God’s world, and delighting in humanity? Can you see the small child giggling at a giraffe or with her eyes open wide at a mountain range?
For this is also God’s joy in us and the wonder of community.
Is it time we rediscover our ability to wonder, particularly this Christmas? Can we learn from children about awe and delight? Can we set aside our pride and remember to rejoice?
Dear Jesus, Wisdom helped you create the world, as the architect and the small child by your side. Please help me to explore what this means for me this Christmas. I delight in you. Amen.
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