Why does proverbs refer to wisdom as she

Well, it too is neuter, and we might refer to its displacement or its paint job. However, these ships are often named after men like the USS Ronald Reagan … but that does not make them masculine. In fact, mariners usually refer to a ship in feminine terms. She is a fine ship; head her into port, etc. I bring all this up to show you that gender is a relatively arbitrary part of English grammar, but this is not so for many other languages.

Now in English, since these are both objects and not people, so we do not think of them in terms of gender at all. In these gender-based languages, most nouns have a strong gender component — but it is grammatical , and it does not necessarily indicate the sexual gender of the object. In fact, you can have the grammatical gender of a word fight against its natural gender, like in the Spanish word masculinidad which means masculinity. It is a feminine noun!

Therefore, when translating, we native English speakers must balance grammatical gender against our notions of sexual gender. In English, the word wisdom is grammatically neuter, but in Hebrew, Greek and Spanish, it is grammatically feminine. As previously mentioned, the author used the literary tool of personification to change the inanimate and abstract idea of wisdom into a virtual person.

The grammatical construction is an artifact of the process of personification. In other words, since the word wisdom is feminine by grammar, when we personify it, it becomes a she to satisfy diction — not to add information to its object. That being said, there are other feminizing factors. Proverbs also shows us the personified wisdom performing acts that are usually associated with a woman like preparing a meal. This transcends the technical grammar.

She has slaughtered her beasts; she has mixed her wine; she has also set her table. It is impossible to tell whether or not the author intended a feminine portrayal of wisdom from the outset. Learn more. Why is Wisdom personified as a woman? Ask Question. Asked 7 years, 10 months ago. Active 6 years, 9 months ago. Viewed 54k times. Improve this question. Dan 8, 4 4 gold badges 48 48 silver badges bronze badges.

It is a feminine noun. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Our evidence comes from different sources: Inner-biblical : Your question was prompted by our prime evidence - the presentation of Wisdom in Proverbs 8 in particular, but elsewhere in Proverbs as well, especially and Assessment This, of course, is the difficult part.

How to explain what we have outlined, above? Conclusion There is no final answer to the "why? See: R. Murphy, "The personification of Wisdom", pp. Hadley, "Wisdom and the goddess", pp. This book should be available in most seminary or university libraries. The latest full, scholarly treatment is the published version of an Oxford doctoral thesis: Alice M.

Sinnott, The Personification of Wisdom Ashgate, These both have a limited "preview" on Google Books. Notes There is an excellent, brief treatment of how the other female figures in Prov. It's well worth a read. In sum, he argues that there is a double movement between the literal and metaphorical female figures, so that "sexual fidelity is also a symbol of one's attachment to Lady Wisdom" p.

There is a fairly large corpus of extra-biblical literature on the personified city, but that's not the question here. I only mention it to show that it is not unique to the Hebrew Bible. For an early account, see William G. Dever, " Asherah, Consort of Yahweh? Judith Hadley's comprehensive study is also available; see J. Improve this answer. PS I created the point bounty to specifically award it to this answer but for various reasons, the system won't let me award it for 24 hours.

This is an exemplary response. I'm really looking forward to reading your questions and answers here. I guess it is Solomon's way of asking: "So who's door are you going to knock on? Niobius Niobius 5, 2 2 gold badges 25 25 silver badges 51 51 bronze badges. Good question. Positively there are both the woman Wisdom who lifts up her voice in Proverbs 8 and the "virtuous woman" in Proverbs 31, and negatively there are both the Great Harlot or "Babylon the Great," of John's Revelation of Jesus Christ , and the "woman clothed with the sun, [with] the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

The Great Harlot serves as a foil for the pregnant woman who gives birth to a son. I DV'd for a few reasons: 1. Denigrating the need to 'show your work'. That's the whole point of SE. These comments are unnecessary. Drawing on a variety of biblical texts without truly 'showing' how they help us understand the specific text s in Proverbs. A systematic connection between Proverbs and those texts can't be assumed. A perceived lack of PC in the bible isn't relevant to the question.

Bringing this into four of ten paragraphs is unnecessary. I do think this is a good answer pointing us to Amenemope is a good thing! Mark 1 was easily fixed: do feel free to edit in a case like this if you feel able. MarkEdward: Thanks for your comments.

The answer is we do not know because Scripture never tells us. However, many have speculated why wisdom is personified as a woman by suggesting different ideas, but we are never told. The explanations are merely speculation. It is wrong to state that Proverbs is written from a father to his son and then suggest that wisdom is personified as feminine in order to make wisdom appear attractive to the son when Proverbs warns men to avoid prostitutes.

Such a conclusion is contrary to the teaching of Scripture. Others suggest that wisdom is feminine because the Hebrew word is assigned the feminine gender. But this conclusion is wrong since the grammatical structure clearly refers to a female such as in Proverbs and Happy is the man who finds wisdom, And the man who gains understanding; For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver, And her gain than fine gold.

She is more precious than rubies, And all the things you may desire cannot compare with her. The most likely reason that wisdom is personified as wisdom is that those familiar with the English language do the same. But that does not mean that a car or a ship is a female. It is a figure of speech and nothing more. Jeremiah Why does Solomon refer to wisdom as a woman in Proverbs?