What I notice about Wisdom in Proverbs 8 is that all of the world is a delight, and all of humanity is loved. Christendom has essentially written the artistic, feminine and childlike nature of Wisdom out of the scriptures and reduced her to a footnote. Christianity has suffered under the weight of God being worshipped as father, as king, as ruler and lord, as warrior, as judge and in those descriptions we have no inkling that right beside that glorious majesty is a bright, joyful, creative, imaginative, lovely, light-hearted and light-handed being of beauty. But I also find it curious because it seems to me that within Christianity, women, art and children have been largely excluded from our discussions of who God is. Now, as someone who has devoted her life to children, is an artist and a woman, I am thrilled about that multiple characterisation. And it is Wisdom who is also described in Proverbs 8 as "she." What emerges is an image of a young girl or woman who is an artist at God's side being joyful in the world and towards humanity taking delight in God and being instrumental in forming the earth. While English translations force us to choose between one meaning or the other, if we pay attention to the ambiguity we receive a more complete picture. Who is this "I"? This passage may be read as though Wisdom is saying: "Then I was constantly at God's side as an artisan" or "as a little child." The Hebrew language often delights in such ambiguity ― each meaning enhancing, expanding or qualifying the other. The Lord brought me forth as the first of his works,Īt the very beginning, when the world came to be … In Proverbs 8 there is a stunning passage about Wisdom it starts off describing how wisdom helped God create the earth: And as an artist, I think I might have some sense as to how maybe God is thinking as a creator. I don't believe in that version of how the battle of good and evil will be resolved, because I am an artist. We live in a world from which we need to be saved, and one day good will win and it will all be healed and bleed into one, and all our tears will be wiped away and we will live in non-dualistic forever bliss. We know the story well, and here we are, caught in a world that is a battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil, a world that has death and suffering and hatred and hurt teeming within it a world that is dangerous and violent and chaotic and unpredictable. When we are introduced to that duality, we are told that the knowledge of good and evil will surely cause humans to die ― and that is why we are not to eat of that famous tree. The only thing God did not separate in the seven days of creation is good from evil. God separates in order to create: from the dark God calls forth light the land is separated from the sea the night from the day unique creatures are made and put into their own unique place and, according to the story, God even separates woman from man.
Let me begin by going back to the very beginning ― to the story of creation.
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