@Sunstone Two very good answers already from
@KAT-KAT and
@Left Coast both of which I agree with.
Coast is right about the predominant value in the biblical texts being placed upon the pursuit and cultivation of a "
wise" state of mind. Indeed, there is an entire genre in the Bible - amounting to five Old Testament books in the Catholic canon (Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, Sirach and Wisdom of Solomon) - known by scholars as the "
sapiential" (Latin for "
relating to Wisdom") literature.
Wisdom is not set in contradiction to 'reason / understanding': “
By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding [
תָּבוּן, tebunah]
it is established” (
Proverbs 24:3), the translation of the Hebrew word '
tebunah' being:
Strong's Hebrew: 8394. תָּבוּן (tebunah) -- an understanding
And (feminine) tbuwnah {teb-oo-naw'}; or towbunah {to-boo-naw'}; from biyn; intelligence; by implication, an argument; by extension, caprice -- discretion, reason, skilfulness, understanding.
Wisdom is like an unmediated insight into the nature of things, which the sapiential books portray as a divine gift of grace, whereas 'reason / intelligence / understanding' is basically the mediated way in which that intuitive grasp of knowledge is then 'skilfully' arranged and applied using the intellect (i.e. discursive reasoning).
By implication wisdom, however, is a higher and purer form of knowledge - but you need 'intelligence' also to apply its insights practically (as in the metaphor of a house, built according to the grand vision of a 'wise man' through his subsequent 'understanding' of the actual construction process).
As the Book of Sirach - one of the Wisdom books found only in Catholic and Orthodox canons - writes:
"Every intelligent person knows wisdom, and praises the one who finds her. Those who are skilled in words become wise themselves, and pour forth apt proverbs"
(Sirach 18:28-29)
"A wooden beam firmly bonded into a building
is not loosened by an earthquake;
so the mind firmly resolved after due reflection
will not be afraid in a crisis.
A mind settled on an intelligent thought
is like stucco decoration that makes a wall smooth.
Fences set on a high place
will not stand firm against the wind;
so a timid mind with a fool’s resolve
will not stand firm against any fear."
(Sirach 22:16-18)
Solomon was the prototypical biblical exemplar of a ruler who lived in harmony with Wisdom:
“God said to him [Solomon], “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice. I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart” (
1 King 3:11-12). In the New Testament, wisdom is likewise described as being characterised by the following qualities: "
the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason [eupeithes], full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere” (
James 3:17).
The Greek word
eupeithes rendered in the ESV and NASB translations as "open to reason" means: "
an attitude that thinks of others instead of self. True wisdom does not insist on its own way but is open to persuasion from others. The wise person is compliant and reasonable, not a know-it-all. He ‘listens carefully to the other instead of attacking him” (
The College Press NIV Commentary: James and Jude), as St. Paul writes in his epistles: "
[if] I understand all mysteries and all knowledge...but have not love, I am nothing...Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way" (
1 Corinthians 13:2-4).
Thus, wisdom is necessary to temper and tame the arrogance, closed-mindedness and trenchant refusal of some 'smart' people in not being open to persuasion from others, that can arise from 'intelligence' on its own: if sundered from a proper ethical framework and lacking in compassionate loving-kindness for others.
Wisdom - in the biblical framework - enables a person to understand how one should respond in any given situation: at the right time, in the right way, with the right mindset formed by the right attitude and using the right means to that end:
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace."
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)
Wisdom is thus knowing what one is to do with the time that is given. As JRR Tolkien said in the
Lord of the Rings:
“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
Many of these sapiential books expound upon the nature of Wisdom - equating it with a semi-divine emanation of the eternal God (personified as a woman), which existed with Him from the beginning as the first of His works, functioned as His agent of creation and immanent activity in the world - and the means by which the human seeker is to become a wise person, living according to the insights and knowledge of the Divine Wisdom (which is both a mental and religious activity, inasmuch as Wisdom comes to "dwell" within the person who imitates her, thus amounting to a mystical immersion in God).
The Wisdom tradition was, therefore, early biblical Judaism's mystical strain of thought (akin to Vedanta) before the Merkabah mysticism and Kabbalah emerged. Again, from one of the wisdom books found only in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles:
"For Wisdom is a breath of the power of God,
and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty;
therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her.
For she 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..."
(Wisdom of Solmon 7:25-27)
(continued...)