heaven and on earth to His nip, to His laws (ver. 33, comp. Jer. xxxi. 35, xxxiii. 35), and who makes the course of nature subserve His purpose. This purpose is, to speak generally (see § 53), the manifestation of the Divine glory. Hence the whole course of the universe, from the hour of creation, when, according to Job xxxviii. 7, the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy, has been of a continuous song of praise of this glory of God, a song in which all earthly creatures unite in one choir with the heavenly host, Ps. cxlviii. But the order of nature is further placed in close connection with the moral order of the world. What the Mosaic doctrine of retribution teaches (see vol. i. § 89) concerning this connection, viz. that the course of nature subserves the purposes Divine justice, is maintained to its full extent in the Khochmah. may here suffice to refer to the description in Job xxxvii. 12 sq., where God stands as it were in the midst of the elementary forces which rule in the storm, and where it is said: "It is turned round about by His counsels, that they may do whatsoever He commandeth them throughout the world, down to the earth. He causeth it to come (upon the earth), whether for a rod, or for the land, or for mercy” (1).

It

of

And yet that glory of God which man perceives in the world, that teleological connection which he recognises therein, is but a small portion of the whole, but a weak reflection of that glory. He finds, indeed, everywhere traces of the Divine wisdom, but he is not capable, as above remarked (§ 237), of fully comprehending it, Job xxxviii. The very abundance of that which he does know, makes him conscious that an infinitely greater abundance escapes his knowledge. "Lo, these are the ends, is, the barest outlines, as it were, of His ways; and what is the whisper which we perceive, and the thunder of His power who can understand?" are the words with which one of the most sublime descriptions in the Book of Job concludes (xxvi. 14, comp. xi. 7 sq.). The whole course of interrogation to which Job was subjected was calculated to bring

him to consciousness of the limits of human wisdom even in natural things, and especially with respect to the paradoxes of natural phenomena.

(1) The contents of many of the psalms touch on this matter, especially Ps. civ., to which I will not here further refer.

$239.

The Intervention of Wisdom in Human Affairs.

Not only nature, but human affairs, are controlled by wisdom as an objective Divine principle. That same wisdom which is the governing principle of the universe, has taken up its abode on earth, and rules as a sovereign all the events of life, in which a Divine design, and therefore Divine intelligence, is every where perceptible. And this is true without regard to the theocracy, with which the wisdom of the canonical books of the Old Testament does not concern itself. It is in the postcanonical monuments of Hebrew wisdom that we first find the objective wisdom regarded also as the principle of revelation in the stricter sense. It is already thus viewed in the Book of Ecclesiastes, where, in ch. xxiv. 10 sqq., the presence of the Shechinah in the sanctuary is exchanged for the dwelling of the Divine wisdom upon Mount Zion. Wherever law and government are found upon earth, they are an outcome of the Khochmah. "By me," it is introduced as saying, Prov. viii. 16,

princes rule, and nobles, even all the judges upon earth." Very significantly is wisdom, when making itself known to men, called, Prov. i. 20, ix. 1, nion, which must not be regarded, as by Ewald and Zöckler, as a singular form for man, for nip is construed not merely as a singular, but also as a plural. The expression denotes rather that the Divine wisdom includes all kinds of wisdom, and therefore especially the moral forces by which human life is directed. This Khochmah,

according to ix. 1 sqq., builds her house with seven pillars, and sends forth her maidens to the high places of the city to invite to her banquet. She herself also appears, i. 20 sqq., in the streets and public places of the town, and calls the ignorant to come unto her. This may, as already remarked, § 169, refer in the first place to the fact that in the public places, where justice was administered and public business transacted, sages were wont to address and prophets to preach, etc.; but it also implies generally that the appeals of Divine wisdom are ever being uttered to man in all human transactions, and even in the ordinary events of life; that to all who will but see and hear, the wise, righteous, and holy government of God makes itself evident. If we inquire more closely as to the means by which wisdom makes her appeal to man, i. 23 again points to those principles of revelation, the word and the Spirit: "Behold, I will pour out my Spirit upon you; I will make known words unto you." And truly the word is the vehicle of the Spirit. The effect of this upon men is first designated as instruction, pAD. The notion of instruction is one of the fundamental ideas of the Proverbs of Solomon,-one of the seven pillars, as Oetinger says (ix. 1), upon which the house of wisdom is supported. Wisdom and instruction are inseparably connected, i. 2, 7, xxiii. 23; the way to wisdom is called, i. 3, a reception of instruction (xix. 20). The preservation of wisdom is only possible by taking fast hold of instruction, iv. 13, x. 17, etc. The idea of must by no means be

my

weakened, as is often the case, to the notion of doctrina, institutio, since it is already evident from iii. 11 that the word is also used for the discipline of sorrow, in xiii. 24, xxii. 15, for the correction of children, and that instruction begins with nnɔin. nnɔin, from min = èλéyxew, is the admonition, which both convinces and rebukes, of i. 23, xxv. 30, and many subsequent passages. For the connection of the two notions, see iii. 11, v. 12, x. 17, xii. 1, xiii. 18, xv. 5, and elsewhere. Consequently it is with this instruction or reproof that the educa

tional agency of wisdom upon man must begin; for man is by nature ignorant of the way of salvation, and easily seduced to evil, or, as the expression is, 'n (i.e. one standing open), simple; comp. i. 4, 22, and other passages. Hence the worthlessness of his natural efforts must be revealed to him by the light of God's law, and he must be convinced of the perniciousness of those ungodly ways in which he is walking. He who will not be convinced, who in his self-sufficiency will not receive the reproofs of instruction, nay, hates them, shows himself thereby to be a fool, ↳ (b), nay 2, xii. 1, brutish, and is in his incorrigibleness hastening to irretrievable ruin (i. 24 sqq., xiii. 18, etc.). He, on the other hand, who fears God, submits to this reproof of instruction, resolutely turns from those evil ways to which his natural inclinations and the evil example of others seek to seduce him, and so walks in the way of wisdom, i. 8 sqq.; and thus, while following up the proceedings of objective wisdom, we have again arrived at its subjective result.

The Fear of the Lord the Subjective Principle of Wisdom.

The subjective principle of wisdom is, then, the fear of the

.ix תְּחִלַּת חָכְמָה יִרְאַת יְהוָה ;7 .Prov. i יִרְאַת יְהוָה רֵאשִׁית דַּעַת :Lord

10; comp. Ps. cxi. 10, Job xxviii. 28. This fear of the Lord is not, as Hegel, e.g., has defined it (1), a blind, gloomy, passive religious emotion, produced merely by the idea of an absolute power which utterly negatives human nature as such,-a definition applicable to the fear of God only in the sense of Islam, a system which renounces all free self-determination. fear of Jehovah is far rather, as it is called Prov. ix. 10,

The

DP, "the knowledge of the All-Holy." The Divine holiness, however, is, as was shown in Pt. I. (§ 45), absolute perfection, not merely in the sense of separateness from all created beings, and incomparable exaltation above them, in virtue of which it passes the sentence of vanity upon all that is finite, but still more decidedly in that of separateness from all the impurity and sinfulness of the creature. But it is not this alone; for God, as the Holy One, is not only separate from the world, but also imparts Himself thereto, for the purpose of abolishing its sin, and giving it a share in His perfection; in pursuance of which design He has sanctified to Himself a people, i.e. separated them from the world and taken them as a possession, and these He leads and governs in conformity with His plan of salvation.

This Divine holiness addresses itself, in that law which reveals the perfect will of God, to the free will of man. Consequently the fear of the Lord, as the knowledge of the All-Holy, has nothing to do with this gloomy passivity; but-presupposing the covenant relation into which He has entered with His people—is based upon that will of God which opposes all selfish and sinful human efforts, and appoints, in conformity to His purpose of salvation, an end and measure to all things, and it is the dread of disobeying this holy will of God. Hence it involves, according to the just definition of its moral characteristics, viii. 13, "hatred of evil, pride, arrogancy, and the evil way." From this fear of God proceeds also the effort, first, to perceive in everything the end designed by the Divine will; and, secondly, to realize it in every action, as it is said, ch. iii. 6," In all thy ways acknowledge Him." The former may be called theoretical, the latter practical wisdom. Thus the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, whose startingpoint accordingly is not the autonomy of the reason and the will, which would be that very leaning on our own understanding, that being wise in our own eyes, against which we are so earnestly warned, e.g. iii. 5. 7 (comp. xii. 15, etc.). The wise