The Book Of Wisdom.

Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

Douay-Rheims Bible.

Illustration from Preserving Christian Publications at

http://www.pcpbooks.net/prestashop/55721.html

The following two paragraphs are taken from Wikisource

The Douay-Rheims Bible, also known as the Rheims-Douai Bible or Douai Bible and abbreviated as D-R, is a translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English. The New Testament was published in one volume with extensive commentary and notes in 1582. The Old Testament followed in 1609–10 in two volumes, also extensively annotated. The notes took up the bulk of the volumes and had a strong polemical and patristic character. They also offered insights on issues of translation, and on the Hebrew and Greek source texts of the Vulgate. The purpose of the version, both the text and notes, was to uphold Catholic tradition in the face of the Protestant Reformation which was heavily influencing England. As such, it was an impressive effort by English Catholics to support the Counter-Reformation.

The Douay–Rheims Bible, however, achieved little currency, even among English-speaking Catholics, until it was substantially revised between 1749 and 1752 by Richard Challoner, an English bishop, formally appointed to the deserted See of Debra. Challoner's revisions borrowed heavily from the King James Version, whose translators had themselves borrowed from the original Rheims NT of 1582. Challoner not only addressed the odd prose and many of the Latinisms, but produced a version which, while still called the Douay–Rheims, was little like it. At the same time, he aimed for improved readability and comprehensibility, rephrasing obscure and obsolete terms and construction; and in the process, consistently removing ambiguities of meaning that the original Rheims–Douay version had striven to retain.— Excerpted from Douay-Rheims Bible on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Book of Wisdom, often referred to simply as Wisdom or the Book of the Wisdom of Solomon, is one of the books of the Bible, which are considered deuterocanonical by some Churches, such as the Roman Catholic Church, and non-canonical or apocryphal by others, such as the Protestant Churches. It is one of the seven Sapiential or wisdom books or bound with the Septuagint, along with Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon (Song of Songs), and Sirach.

Some opine that Melito of Sardis, in the 2nd-Century A.D., considered Wisdom of Solomon as part of the Old Testament (without necessarily using the term "canonical"). Some may opine that it was considered canonical by Jews and Christians. On the other hand, the contrary claim has been made: "In the catalogue of Melito, presented by Eusebius, after Proverbs, the word Wisdom occurs, which nearly all commentators have been of opinion is only another name for the same book, and not the name of the book now called 'The Wisdom of Solomon'." A Hebrew translation of the Wisdom of Solomon is mentioned by Naḥmanides in the preface to his commentary on the Pentateuch.

The Book of Wisdom should not be confused with the Wisdom of Sirach, a work from the 2nd-Century B.C., originally written in Hebrew.

The book is believed to have been written in the Greek language, but in a style patterned on that of Hebrew verse. Although the author's name is nowhere given in the text, the writer was traditionally believed to be King Solomon because of references, such as that found in IX:7-8, "Thou hast chosen me to be a king of thy people, and a judge of thy sons and daughters: Thou hast commanded me to build a temple upon thy holy mount . . ."

The formulation here is similar to that of Ecclesiastes I:12, "I, Koheleth, was king in Jerusalem over Israel," which also fails to denote Solomon by name, but leaves no doubt as to whom the reader should identify as the author. King Josiah was king in Israel; he built (repaired) the temple; like Ezra, who came after him, he preached the law of the Lord to the kahal, the assembly of the people; and he is praised as being greater and wiser than any king who came before him, greater and wiser than Solomon, who sinned. 

The praise of Josiah's wisdom parallels the words found in Ecclesiastes I:16, "Lo, I am come to great estate, and have gotten more wisdom than all they that have been before me in Jerusalem . . ." The early Christian community showed some awareness that the book was not actually authored by Solomon, as the Muratorian fragment notes that the book was "written by the friends of Solomon in his honour." By the early Mediaeval period, it was held to have been written by a Hellenised Jew, named Jesus, around 70 B.C.

The traditional attribution of The Book of Wisdom to Solomon has been soundly rejected in modern times. Says the Catholic Encyclopedia: "At the present day, it is freely admitted that Solomon is not the writer of the Book of Wisdom, which has been ascribed to him, because its author, through a literary fiction, speaks as if he were the Son of David." 

Although the book of Wisdom is also called the Wisdom of Solomon, it was most likely composed centuries after the death of King Solomon. Scholars believe that the book represents the most literary post-classical Greek language found in the Septuagint, having been written during the Jewish Hellenistic period (the 2nd-Century or 1st-Century B.C.). The author of the text appears well versed in the popular philosophical, religious, and ethical writings adopted by Hellenistic Alexandria.

The philosophical influences on the Book of Wisdom may include those of Middle-Platonism. Some religious and ethical influences may also stem from Stoicism, found in the writings of the Alexandrian Jew, Philo, to whom Book of Wisdom has on occasion been wrongly attributed. (This is evident in the use of the four Stoic ideals which are borrowed from Plato.) A sorites appears in Chapter 6 (v. 17-20). This logical form is also called chain-inference, "of which the Stoics were very fond."

One passage (Wis. 8:2-18) has notable similarity to Virtue's speech to Heracles in Xenophon's Memorabilia, Book 2, 1:37.

Although the Book of Wisdom is non-canonical in the Rabbinical Jewish tradition, the work was at least known to Mediaeval Jews, as Rabbi Moses ben Nachman (Ramban)attests. That it was known to ancient Jews, as well, is trivially true, as that was the milieu of its composition.

According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, the last section (9:18-19:22) is devoid of all connection with what precedes it. The speaker is no longer Solomon, but the author or the Saints (16:28, 18:6 et passim), who recite the history of Israel's redemption from Egypt and other enemies. In like manner, the words are not addressed to the kings of the earth (9:18; 10:20; 11:4, 9, 17, 21; et passim), but to God, the deliverer from the Red Sea. The whole appears on close observation to be part of a Passover Haggadah recited in Egypt with reference to Gentile surroundings, and it accordingly abounds in genuine haggadic passages of an ancient character.

It is of some interest that the philosophy, which the Book of Wisdom in Chapter II puts in the mouths of the "ungodly," presumably the Epicureans, bears strong literary resemblance to a prominent passage from the Jewish High Holiday liturgy: "Man begins from dust and ends in dust" (אדם יסודו מעפר וסופו לעפר) from the Unetanneh Tokef prayer (cf. Genesis 3:19: כי‏ ‏עפר‏ ‏אתה‏ ‏ואל‏ ‏עפר‏ ‏תשוב). The relevant verses from Book of Wisdom (II:2-5) read in part, "the breath in our nostrils is as smoke... our body shall be turned to ashes, and our spirit shall vanish as the soft air... our life shall pass away as the trace of a cloud... and shall be dispersed as a mist... for our time is a very shadow that passeth away." The Unetanneh Tokef prayer seems to offer a close parallel: "As to man, his origin is dust and his end is dust... he is like a broken vessel of clay, like withering grass, a fading flower, a passing shadow, a drifting cloud, a fleeting breath, scattering dust, a transient dream."

If this similarity is more than coincidence or the common citation of a third text, such as Isaiah 40:7, it would not be the only instance of Apocryphal influences on the Jewish liturgy. Elements of Ben Sira are also found in the High Holiday service and other prayers.

There are found in the Book of Wisdom and other books of the wisdom literature to Wisdom as a personification with divine attributes.

In chapter seven, Wisdom is said to be “the fashioner of all things” (v. 22). Because she fashions all things, is “an associate in his [God’s] works” (8:4), and is a “pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty” (7:25), Wisdom is eternal and one in being (consubstantial) with the Father.

Because Wisdom is God’s “creative agent”, she must be intimately identified with God himself. It has been claimed that the most definite indication that personified Wisdom refers to the Messiah is the alleged paraphrasing of Wis 7:26 in Heb 1:3a. 

Wis 7:26 says that “she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness.” The author of Hebrews says of Christ: “He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power.”

Furthermore, Wisdom speaks of personified Wisdom in a Trinitarian way at 9:17: “Who has learned your counsel, unless you have given wisdom and sent your holy spirit from on high?”. The next verse says that salvation is an act of Wisdom. In Christianity, salvation is an activity reserved for God, but it is here given to Wisdom, thus identifying them with one another.

Some may see the second chapter of the Book of Wisdom (Wisdom 2) as building up to a prophecy of Christ’s Passion. First, the ungodly men are described (Wis 1:16-2:9), followed by their plotting against the righteous man (2:10-20). The passage describes in detail the treatment of Jesus by the Jewish authorities. The first indication for some that it is a prophecy of the Messiah is in verse 11. Where the RSV reads "weak", the Greek has "achreston" (ἄχρηστον), which some may claim is a play on the title Christos (Χριστός).

Verse 12 is a quote of the LXX version of Is 3:10; Is 3:10 was allegedly taken to refer to Jesus in the 1st-Century Epistle of Barnabas. On the whole, this treatment of the suffering of the righteous man is heavily indebted to Isaiah; particularly the fourth Suffering Servant song (Is 52:13-53:12). Verse 13 uses pais (παῖς), child or servant, from Is 52:13. Verse 15 says his very sight is a burden, referencing Is 53:2. In verse 16, he calls God his father, which is thought to be based on a poor understanding of pais, as in Is 52:13. Verse 18 is comparable to Is 42:1. Verse 19 makes reference to Is 53:7. A final reference to the Messiah is the righteous man’s “shameful death” in verse 20. This death has been identified with Jesus’ death on a Cross, a cursed death hanging on a tree.

In the realm of Bible criticism and theology, all sorts of opinions are held by all sorts of persons, whether ordinary persons or university professors. Some opine that the Gospel of Matthew may contain allusions to the Wisdom of Solomon in the structuring of Matthew's Passion Narrative. Supposed parallels between Wisdom and Matthew include the theme of testing, and the mocking of a servant of God's claim to be protected by God. Matthew's gospel teaches that Jesus is the suffering servant of God.

As another example of the myriad opinions and interpretations of the Bible: While some think that Wis 2:17-18, “Let us see if his words are true, and let us test what will happen at the end of his life; for if the righteous man is God’s son, he will help him, and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries,” was an influence on Mt 27:43, “He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him; for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”, it is more natural to see it as a reference to Ps 22:8: “He trusted on the LORD that he would deliver him: Let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.”