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This chapter shows how continual re-interpretation, adaptation of, and addition to the biblical text allowed it to be a repertoire for all seasons. Late biblical texts in Greek guise, especially the book of Daniel, and newer parabiblical texts, like the story of Bel and the great snake (also a Daniel story), or the Epistle of Jeremiah or the Wisdom of Solomon, expressed a response to external political authority. They could be markedly subversive. Twists and subtle modifications intensified themes that were already prominent in places in the Hebrew Bible. Only occasionally can a Hebrew original different from the Masoretic (standard) text be suspected as lying behind the changes. The denunciation of ‘idol’ and ‘idol worship’ had new force and point when linked with the vanity of rulers in a period in which manifestations of the imperial cult impinged on everyone. Representations of tyrannical rage united motifs taken from Greek political philosophy with those of oriental wisdom literature. They stood in sharp contrast to the justified wrath of the God of Israel.

Chapter 3 explores the most important legacies of Hellenistic Jewish cosmology for early Christian doctrine on Creator and creation. “Hellenistic-Jewish cosmology” is not a single finalized system or worldview operative among Jewish communities in the Diaspora that had made their ultimate peace with Greco-Roman thought. The diverse literature of Second Temple Judaism, rather, evidences a complex process of critical adaptation and reformulation, providing important precedents for early Christianity on a number of levels, including the connection of cosmology and moral wisdom. The Wisdom of Solomon and Philo of Alexandria were indisputably the two most influential Hellenistic Jewish sources on patristic theologians. Wisdom of Solomon, in particular, projected a new teleology of creation, an integrative worldview that tied together the origins and destiny of material creation against the backdrop of God’s immanent action in the “meantime” of salvation history. Philo’s profound influence is assessed in terms of his nuanced philosophical interpretation of the “beginning” in Genesis 1, his ambiguous but important teaching on creation ex nihilo, and his highly sophisticated theory about “simultaneous” and “double” (ideal and actual) creation.

Aristobulus and the author of Wisdom of Solomon conceived of wisdom in much the same way that earlier Greek, non-Jewish thinkers did: as knowledge of the whole—of things human, cosmic, and divine—which underlies, requires, and informs the life of virtue. Moreover, they readily identified sophia with wisdom as found in the Jewish scriptures, especially in the figure of Solomon and in the Pentateuchal narratives. Their engagement with the scriptures yields a wisdom program centered on rational monotheism, virtue, and the hope of immortality. This program, however, was also characterized by a strong emphasis on the national form of wisdom. In its capacity as ruling knowledge, wisdom must also belong to human leaders. Understanding wisdom in these terms, as that which brings the metaphysical, cosmic, social, and personal into harmony, Hellenistic Jews commended their way of life to the nations.

This chapter provides information on the wisdom literature of the Old Testament (OT) by focusing on several biblical persons including Job, Ben Sira, and Solomon. Wisdom literature reflects a general orientation to human life, and pictures individual persons in their everyday existence in a world created by God. The Book of Job tells the story of a saintly person who was tested by God through unexpected and unmerited suffering. He loses his weight, posterity, health, and social life. This book also relates his theological discussions with friends on the origins and nature of his suffering, and finally a response from God. Moreover, Sirach is considered as the most extensive example of Jewish wisdom literature. Wisdom appears at the beginning of Sirach (1: 1–30), at the halfway mark (24: 1–34), and at the end (51: 1–27). Lastly, the Wisdom of Solomon deals with retribution for good and evil, and the effects of immortality of Sophia as well.

Chapter 2 provides a preliminary account of biblical and classical wisdom traditions. Within the Old Testament, wisdom themes are found especially but not exclusively in wisdom literature (notably the quasi-divine figure of wisdom in Proverbs 8-9). A survey is also provided of the place of wisdom within classical culture, whose chief achievement is summed up precisely as the ‘love of wisdom’ (philosophy). Particular attention is paid to Platonic, Aristotelian, and Stoic understandings of wisdom. Within the context of the New Testament, pre-existing wisdom traditions, both biblical and classical, helped make some sense of the encounter with the person of Jesus Christ (for example as teacher and as pre-eternal) while also being soundly exploded by that same encounter, as most ably expressed by St Paul.

Some scholars have traditionally battled over distinctions between resurrection and immortality. This chapter examines the problem as reflected in early Jewish writings. Josephus and Pseudo-Phocylides reveal how the two concepts might stand in some complementary relation to each other. In these cases, resurrection demonstrates its adaptability to differing philosophical contexts within Judaism and its clear compatibilities with conceptions of immortalization. Wisdom of Solomon, Philo, and 4 Maccabees, however, may be viewed as more intentionally avoiding overt reference to resurrection in an exclusive preference for immortality. These writings indicate that within some approaches to theodicy in early Judaism, the immortality of the soul was a sufficient expression of divine justice on its own, apart from resurrection. Such tensions between resurrection and immortality comprise yet another facet of diversity within ancient Jewish reflection on the future life.

This chapter explains the varieties of features one encounters in texts of thematic discourse or description, a key branch of ancient Jewish literature. In particular, both texts of proverbial wisdom, such as Wisdom and Sirach, and texts of law, such as 4QMMT and Mishnah, have conspicuously ‘loose’ thematic coherence. The contribution to this of stereotypical small forms and their ‘mere juxtaposition’ is explained. The chapter addresses the problematic role which modern coherence expectations, which often go unexamined in scholarship, play in diachronic criticism of apparently ‘incoherent’ ancient Jewish texts. The chapter also takes into view thematic discourse which is set in a narrative frame, such as 4 Ezra, 1 Baruch and some ‘Testaments’.