followed the common tendency of his day. Although the book has many
characteristic Hebrew idioms, which are due to its Jewish authorship, it
was without doubt originally written in Greek. Its author was evidently
acquainted with the writings of many of the Greek poets and philosophers.
He accepted Plato's doctrine of the pre-existence of the soul (8:19, 20),
of the limitations of the body (9:15), and of the creation of the world
out of formless matter (11:17). He was especially influenced by the
beliefs of the Epicureans and Stoics. He was acquainted with Hellenic art,
astronomy, and science (7:17-29) and throughout shows the influence of
Greek methods of thinking. His rejection of the teachings of the book of
Ecclesiastes, his wide learning and his conception of immortality indicate
that he lived some time after the beginning of the Maccabean struggle. His
reference in 3:1-4 is probably to the persecutions through which the Jews
of Egypt passed during the reign of Ptolemy Psycon (140-117 B.C.). On the
other hand the book clearly antedates the writings of the Jewish
philosopher Philo, who lived during the latter part of the first century
B.C. The Wisdom of Solomon, therefore, may be dated somewhere between 100
and 50 B.C.

VII. Its Important Teachings. The author of the Wisdom of Solomon aimed,
first, to commend Israel's faith to the heathen by showing that it was in
substantial accord with the noblest doctrines of the Greek philosophers,
and second, to furnish the Jews of the dispersion, who were conversant
with Hellenic thought and yet trained in the religion of their race, a
working basis for their thought and practice. From the first it appears to
have been highly esteemed by the Jews outside Palestine, although it never
found a place in the Palestinian canon. Like most wisdom books, it
describes at length the beauty and value of wisdom. The figure of Proverbs
8 and 9 is still further developed under the influence of the Greek
tendency to personify abstract qualities. In the mind of the author,
however, wisdom is simply an attribute of the Deity which he shares in
common with men. The book is unique in two respects: (1) it contains the
earliest references in Jewish literature to a personal devil and
identifies him with the serpent that tempted the woman in the garden
(2:24, cf. Gen. 3) Elsewhere, however, the author traces sin and evil to
men's voluntary acts (e.g., 1:16). (2) It teaches the immortality
of righteou