Messianic
Proverbs 8:22-31
Solomon · ~970 BC · Status: Fulfilled · Confidence: 65%
“The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.”
King James Version · the opening — all 10 verses are below
Wisdom speaking as the first of God's creative acts, interpreted as a portrait of the pre-existent Word/Christ.
Read the whole passage — all 10 verses (KJV)
8:22The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
8:23I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.
8:24When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water.
8:25Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth:
8:26While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.
8:27When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth:
8:28When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep:
8:29When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:
8:30Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him;
8:31Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.
Fulfillment References
John 1:1-3 Colossians 1:15-17 1 Corinthians 1:24
How Traditions Read This Prophecy
Apostolic (Oneness) PentecostalWisdom, present with God before creation and the agent of all His works, is read in the NT of Christ — 'Christ the... wisdom of God' (1 Cor. 1:24), by whom and for whom all things were made (Col. 1:15-17; John 1:1-3). This is not a second God beside the Father but the very Wisdom of the one God, which was made flesh in Jesus; the eternal Wisdom and the eternal God are one.
JewishPersonified Wisdom (chokmah) as God's first acquisition and delight, present at creation; a poetic personification of God's wisdom, foundational to later Jewish Wisdom literature.
CatholicRead of the eternal Son/Wisdom by whom the Father made all things; a key patristic text (with care over qanah, 'possessed/created me') in the Trinitarian debate.
ProtestantPersonified Wisdom anticipates Christ, the Wisdom of God (1 Cor. 1:24) and agent of creation (Col. 1:16; John 1:3), while noting the passage's poetic personification.
AcademicA personification of Wisdom at creation; the verb qanah (v. 22) was central to the Arian controversy. Most read it as poetic personification rather than a literal person.
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