The Structure of the Book of Wisdom: Two Instructions (Chs. 1–5, 6–19) in Line with Old Testament Wisdom Tradition

The four criteria that guide this reading of the Book of Wisdom (Wis) — vocabulary, grammatical and syntactic texture, literary genre and meaning — are the same that along the years guided the author’s research on the OT wisdom literature, a corpus unfortunately almost totally ignored by interpreters of Wis, who instead analyze this book essentially from the point of view of Hellenism. The main genre of Wis is instruction, with an introduction (direct appeal and exhortation), followed by contents of the instruction. Sub-genres of the OT wisdom instruction are self-presentation of the instructor and antithesis wicked-just, or similar.

On the basis of these criteria Wis. has two main sections, chs. 1-5 and 6-19, a proposal that differs from all the modern ones.

The first section consist of: ch. 1, introduction; and chs. 2–5, contents of the first instruction, structured as follows: A) life on earth and life after death (2,1–3,9); B) wife and descendants (3,10–4,6); B1) long life (4,7–14a); A1) God’s final judgment (4,14b–5,23). The antitheses impious-righteous cross the first section.

The second section consists of: chs. 6–9, introduction, with invitation (ch. 6), and self-presentation and the model experience of ‘Solomon’ (chs. 7–8,9); chs. 10–19, contents of the second instruction, structured as follows: A) ch. 10: a reflection on the activity of Wisdom in the history of humanity until the exodus from Egypt; B) chs. 11–12, linked to ch. 10: a reflection on the journey of the Israelites in the desert under the guidance first of Wisdom, then directly of God, with two antitheses Israelites-enemies (Egyptians and Canaanites); C) chs. 13–14, linked to ch. 12: a reflection on the foolishness of idolatry; C1) 15,1-13: two units of transition from the topic of idolatry (cf. C) to that of the antitheses between people of God-idolaters (cf. B); B1) 15,14–19,21: reflection on the foolishness of the Egyptians, the idolaters par excellence, on the plagues and the passage of the Red Sea, with seven antitheses Egyptians-Israelites; A1) 19,22: God has always benefited his people. In conclusion, Wis shows a strong compositional coherence and communicates a wonderful message on the dignity of the human being, a message that, although not fully perceived by scholars, reaches its fulfillment in Christ.