Eternal Light
By Debbonnaire Kovacs, posted Sept. 9, 2015
For a devotion this week I thought I’d share a text most Adventists are not familiar with. This is a passage from the Apocryphal book Wisdom of Solomon, very reminiscent of several early chapters in Proverbs, where Wisdom is also personified as a woman. You may recognize the last line—it is quoted in the familiar song, “All Things Bright and Beautiful,” but is not actually found in the Protestant Bible at all. It is from this passage. I think this is a beautiful passage, and recommend some quiet meditation on its principles.
Wisdom of Solomon 7:26-8:1
For wisdom is a reflection of eternal light,
a spotless mirror of the working of God,
and an image of his goodness.
Although she is but one, she can do all things,
and while remaining in herself, she renews all things;
in every generation she passes into holy souls
and makes them friends of God, and prophets;
for God loves nothing so much as the person who lives with wisdom.
She is more beautiful than the sun,
and excels every constellation of the stars.
Compared with the light she is found to be superior,
for it is succeeded by the night,
but against wisdom evil does not prevail.
She reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other,
and she orders all things well.
Hi, Deb. Vera and I enjoyed meeting you at Mt. Vernon Academy last spring.
My comment is in reference to hymn 93 in our SDA Hymnal. Your statement that the reference from Wisdom of Solomon is quoted in the hymn does not seem to jibe exactly, where “Solomon” says that “she [wisdom] orders all things well,” and the poet Cecil Frances Alexander wrote that “[God] made all things well.” There is a difference between “orders” and “made.”
Furthermore, on page 800 of our hymnal, in the section Scriptural Allusions in Hymns, several scriptures are listed that correlate with number 93: Matt. 6:26, 30; Gen. 8:22; Mark 7:37; and John 1:3.
It could be that Mrs. Alexander’s use of those words was influenced by the Apocrypha, but I rather doubt it. In fact, Wikipedia says “The hymn may have been inspired by a verse from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner: “He prayeth best, who loveth best; All things great and small; For the dear God who loveth us; He made and loveth all.” Alternatively, inspiration may have come from William Paley’s Natural Theology, published in 1802, that argues for God as the designer of the natural world. For example, the hymn’s second verse alludes to “wings” and verse 7 refers to “eyes”. Paley cited wings and eyes as examples of complexity of design, analogous to that of a watch, with God as the Divine Watchmaker.”
I am so sorry I somehow missed this comment until now!! I wasn’t ignoring you! Thank you for your comment; I certainly don’t mean to imply that wisdom, personified or not, is above God! It isn’t even one of God’s “creations,” per se; wisdom is an attribute of the Creator, used in all God’s works, and passed on as a gift to those who choose to follow.