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Who is 'God's Elect' in the Book of Wisdom (Wisdom of Solomon)?

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天主教學術研究中心博士後研究員 張毅民

It is widely accepted that the Book of Wisdom was

written in Alexandria in the period of 30-20 BCE. The Book of
Wisdom can be divided into three sections: (1) 1:1-6:21 (the
Book of Eschatology); (2) 6:22-10:21 (the Book of Wisdom);
and (3) 11:1-19.22 (the Book of History). With regard to the
identity of the elect, in the Book of Eschatology, it is apparent
that the suffering righteous ones are God’s elect, while the
unrighteous constitute the non-elect; in the Book of Wisdom
(the second section), Solomon is the only one elected by
God; and in the Book of History, the whole Israel is identified
to be God’s elect. Why are these three different answers? If
there is a line between the elect and the non-elect, what it is
in the author’s mind? Is it the ‘purely ethnic lines’ as John
Barclay says,[1] or the ‘divine knowledge’ as Greg Schmidt
Goering argues?[2] Or, if it is not (as the Book of Eschatology
implies), what is it? Joel S. Kaminsky reminds us that there is
another group of people in the Scriptures, they are the ‘anti-
elect.’[3] In this case, how does the author deal with them?
Lastly, if we step back from the focus of the divine election,
what does it mean in terms of salvation? Are they the same?
If not, what is it that really helps a human being in receiving
God’s Salvation? What role does the elect play in the
author’s soteriology?

1.       Theological Argument on ‘the Divine Election’

1.1 Section One (1:1-6:21)

In this section, the author’s theological argument on the

divine election is dual: biblical and Hellenistic. The author
points out that it is the LORD (YHWH) who creates human ‘in
the image of His own eternity/nature’ (2:3) and who gives
humans a share of His own immortality ‘so that they might

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Who is ‘God’s Elect’ in the Book of Wisdom (Wisdom of Solomon)?

exist’ (1:14). Every person is created in the image of God’s

own eternity (2:23) and ‘he [God] does not delight in the
death of the living’ (1:13). Therefore, there is indeed a share
of the divine nature inside everyone; the immortality of the
soul is thus a gift of God, not an innate condition of the soul
itself. And the gift of immortality of the soul is given to all
mankind because all human beings are created by God.
However, in the meantime, the author makes a clear
distinction between the righteous and the wicked. Although
the wicked ones are also God’s creation and share divine
nature, ‘the wisdom [of God] will not enter a deceitful soul or
dwell in a body enslaved to sin’ (1:4). And, although it is true
that ‘God did not make death and he does not delight in the
death of the living’ (1:13), death and destruction are
‘summoned’ (1:16) by the words and deeds of the ungodly
themselves. (1:13)

John J. Collins points out that the author of the book

presupposes a Hellenistic view of ‘natural theology’[4] that is:
all human can observe the natural world and as such reason
about the creator. But unfortunately, such reason often
proves insufficient, and some humans end up worshipping
the creation rather than the creator. Hence, as Greg Schmidt
Goering argues, in pseudo-Solomon’s eyes, mortals need ‘a
more perfect wisdom’ which is available to all who seek it,
regardless of ethnic identity or religious affiliation.[5]
Therefore, Greg Schmidt Goering claims that ‘what separates
the elect from the non-elect is a specialized divine
knowledge.’[6] However, this ‘specialized divine knowledge’
can only obtain by those who have a sincere heart that loves
righteousness and seeks God. (1:1)

There is another dual theological argument in the first

section of the book: this-life and after-life (eschatological).
The author points out that for those who consider themselves
righteous, it is not enough just to ‘love righteousness’ (1:1)
and to call God one’s ‘father’ (2:16). They should have
righteous deeds, that is, in this life, to go through sufferings
and persecutions, even accept ‘a shameful death’ (2:20) in
order to be among God’s elected people in the afterlife. The
author’s persuasion of willingly accepting suffering,
persecution, and death for the sake of truth (or, the Truth) is
in accordance with Hellenistic philosophical tradition (such as
Socrates) as well as the biblical tradition (such as Genesis
22:1-14, Daniel 3:8-100 and 14: 30-32, Psalm 22, Isaiah
52:13-12, and 2 Maccabees 6-7, etc.). According to the
author, it is true that ‘the righteous man is God’s child, he
[God] will help him, and will deliver him, … and he will be
protected [by God]’ (2:18-20). Although God’s help,
deliverance and protection may not appear in this life on
earth (such as in the cases of Isaac in Genesis 22, or of the
three young men in Daniel 3, or of Daniel himself in
Daniel14), they definitely will be there in the Final Judgment.
The author encourages his readers to endure sufferings and
persecutions for being righteous in this life, even to embrace

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Who is ‘God’s Elect’ in the Book of Wisdom (Wisdom of Solomon)?

them because they are all tests from God. Only by

endurance and perseverance can a righteous man be found
by God to be ‘worthy of Himself’ and will be accepted by God
as God’s elected one in the Final Judgment Day (3:5-6).

1.2 Section Two (6:22-10:21)

In the second section, the author’s theological argument

on God’s election on Solomon is also biblical and Hellenistic.
In 9:7-8, the author clearly points out that King Solomon is
chosen by God, and God elects him to be king of God’s
people and to build a temple and an altar for God. The
biblical support to this is found in 1 Kings 3:4-9:9. Although in
1 Kings 1:11-31, it seems that prophet Nathan and
Solomon’s mother, Bethsabee, are the ones who suggested
King David to appoint Solomon as the successor of his
kingship, text in 1 Kings 3:5-14 tells that the LORD manifests
Himself in Solomon’s dream, promising to give him
everything he wills from God; and the LORD is pleased by
Solomon’s wise respond: he prays for nothing but God’s
wisdom. God thus promises to grant Solomon not only
wisdom but also wit, riches and glory.

The charismatic kingship[7] of Solomon who is chosen

by God to inherit David’s throne and blessings is also very
clear in 2 Sam 7:1-16. And this is another biblical reference
of the divine commend to Solomon in Wisdom 9:8. The divine
command further confirms his election. According to 2 Sam.
7:1-16, when David is thinking of building a house for the
LORD, the LORD is pleased and rewards David with divine
promises: to make him ‘a house’ (2 Sam 7:11) and will raise
up David’s son (i.e. Solomon) and to establish his kingdom
and his throne forever. (2 Sam 7:13). Therefore, in this
sense, Solomon is chosen by God not because of his own
characteristic or worthiness, but because of the (Davidic)
covenant made by the LORD, and of the faithfulness of God.
That is God’s Righteousness. His Righteousness manifests
in His fulfillment of the divine promises to David, as well as in
His divine command of building a house/temple for the
LORD, expressing His willingness to dwell among His
people. And only in this temple and through the house of
David that all nations can find and worship God who is ‘the
holy of the holies,’ and say to Israel that ‘God is with you
[Israel] alone, and there is no other’ (Isaiah 45:14). The
temple on God’s holy mountain is a ‘copy of the holy tent’
from which God’s glory shines forth to all peoples and
nations. (Isaiah 60)

The mysterious ‘mark of insight’ that Solomon received

in his childhood (8:2, and 8:21) triggers questions for the
Gentiles. One might ask: can a person be guilty if he/she is
not given a ‘mark of insight’ by God, and thus does not
recognize the beauty of wisdom and pursue her, and thus
eventually transgresses? In other words, if the divine favor of
Israel’s God is arbitrary, what can the un-favored Gentiles

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Who is ‘God’s Elect’ in the Book of Wisdom (Wisdom of Solomon)?

say? Can an un-favored one do anything to earn God’s

favor? Even the author raises a similar ‘chicken-and-egg’
question, using a Hellenistic philosophical language: ‘as a
child I [Solomon] was naturally gifted, and a good soul fell to
my lot; or rather, being good, I entered an undefiled body’
(8:19-20). Why was Solomon given divine wisdom? Is it
because he ‘was naturally gifted,’ and therefore he had a
good soul, and thus is granted the divine wisdom? Or is it
because he is originally a pre-existing good soul and God
implants the wisdom into him according to the capacity of the
body[8] that is undefiled? A reader would be much more
confused by the following text: ‘But I perceived that I would
not possess wisdom unless God gave her to me’ (8:20). So,
if a person who was ‘naturally gifted’ and had a good soul,
but was not implanted with the divine wisdom by God, can
this person be held accountable for being wicked? Or, if a
good soul entered an undefiled body, but God did not give
the divine wisdom to him/her, what kind of person is he/she?
A good, moral, ethical but unwise, ungodly, stupid person?
What is the cause of a person’s ungodliness, wickedness? Is
it God? What does it mean to be elected by God? Does it
mean that this elected person is more superior than others?

The answer to these kinds of questions is already given

in the beginning of the book: ‘Love righteousness, you rulers
of the earth, think of the LORD in goodness and seek him
with sincerity of heart’ (1:1). Although God specifically elects
someone (such as Solomon), each person is held
accountable for his/her own decisions, deeds and thoughts.
Greg Schmidt Goering also points this out. He says, ‘Pseudo-
Solomon’s understanding of election rests less on divine
determinism and divine caprice and more on human initiative
in the divine human relationship.’[9] Therefore, not receiving
the ‘mark of insight’ in one’s childhood (such as Solomon did)
is not an excuse for transgressing or being a wicked person.
Because the LORD ‘manifests himself to those who do not
distrust him’ (1:4), and wisdom of God ‘hastens to make
herself known to those who desire her’ (6:13). God does not
only elect Solomon, but also fills the world with His Spirit
(1:7); God does not only give a ‘mark of insight’ to Solomon,
but also makes the wisdom ‘radiant and unfading, …easily
discerned by those who loved her and is found by those who
seek her’ (6:12). Therefore, God’s election of Solomon might
be ‘exclusive’ in the eyes of the Gentiles, but His salvation
through His wisdom is ‘inclusive’ and open to all peoples.
This soteriology is in accordance with Isaiah 56:1-8 and
Psalm 72. On the other hand, God indeed chose Solomon
and deeply loved him; but, if Solomon does not learn from
the divine wisdom, as Solomon says, he himself is not
‘worthy of the throne(s).’ (9:12) This is Solomon’s
righteousness: he submits himself to God’s will, and asks
nothing but God’s wisdom so that he may learn what is
pleasing to God. (9:10) Although the divine election does
make Solomon distinctive and unique from others, in terms of
worthiness of receiving God’s salvation through wisdom,

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Solomon is not superior to anyone else.

1.3 Section Three (11:1-19.22)

In the third section, it is the people of Israel who are

God’s elect. The author calls them ‘a holy people and
blameless race’ (10:15), and he traces the history of God’s
election of Israel back to the origin of the world. That is to
say, God chooses Israel not from the calling of Abraham
(Gen 12:1-3) but from the very beginning of the mankind:
Adam. It is in God’s eternality and in His Wisdom that Israel
is chosen; and this divine favor on Israel is clearly manifested
by the deeds of the Wisdom in the Exodus event. However,
in the text of 10:1-14, the author of the Book still emphasizes
the significance of the righteousness of Israel’s patriarchs
(such as Noah, Abraham, Lot, Joseph, Jacob). It is because
of their righteousness so that the Wisdom recognized them
and preserved them ‘blameless before God’. (10:5)

What does this mean to Israel as well as to the Gentiles?

Does the divine election of Israel ‘imply the mistreatment of
non-Israelites’? According to Joel S. Kaminsky, the idea of
election in the Hebrew Scriptures actually presupposes three
categories: the elect, the anti-elect, and the non-elect.
Whereas the elect is Israel and the non-elect is the vast
majority of foreign individuals and nations, the anti-elect are
those few groups that are considered enemies of God and
whom Israel is commanded to annihilate, i.e. the Midianites,
the Canaanites, and the Amalekites.[10] He argues that the
author of the Book of Wisdom is also troubled by the idea of
the annihilation of the anti-elect in the biblical text, and
sought ways to make ethical sense of this. The author’s
solution is to comprehend the biblical text and history in the
light of both God’s Righteousness and Mercy. God the
Almighty is righteous and just, but God also overlooks
people’s sins, so that they may repent (11:23). In the case of
the Canaanites, God mercifully delayed their destruction in
order to give them ‘opportunity to repent’ (12:3-11). In the
case of the Egyptians, because they worship animals, the
merciful God restrains His all-powerful hand, only lets them
know ‘that one is punished by the very things by which one
sins’ (11:16), therefore, they ‘were tormented by a multitude
of animals’ (16:1). The author also uses a Hellenistic
approach explaining why the Egyptians received those
punishments: they have ‘uninstructed soul’ and thus ‘have
gone astray’ (17:1), they are condemned ‘by its own
testimony, distressed by conscience’ (17:11). They caged
themselves in the darkness of fear because they rejected ‘the
helps come that from reason’ (17:12). The author even
compares the Egyptians to those of Sodom, whereas the
latter ones ‘refused to received strangers’, the former one
‘made slaves of guests who were their benefactors’ (17:14).
By appealing to readers’ reasoning capability and common
sense, he argues that what the Egyptians received is what
they deserved.

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Who is ‘God’s Elect’ in the Book of Wisdom (Wisdom of Solomon)?

2.       Comment And Reflection

In the Torah, the difference between the people of Israel

and other peoples is very clear. However, in the Book of
Wisdom, although this distinction remains, the line between
‘the elect’ and ‘the non-elect’ changes quite significantly. The
pure ethic line seems no longer the criterion, but
righteousness. A righteous man who is willing to endure all
kinds of sufferings is God’s elect. This is the theme of the first
section of the Book; whereas in the second section, King
Solomon is God’s elect because of God’s Righteousness as
well as Solomon’s righteousness and his willingness of
learning from God’s wisdom. In the third section, God’s
wisdom does not only recognize Israel’s patriarchs from the
wicked nations because of their righteousness but also save
them, preserve them blameless before God; the people of
Israel is called ‘God’s children/servants’ (12:20-21) not
because of their worthiness but God’s ‘oaths and covenants
full of good promises’ (12:21) gave to the Israelites’
ancestors.

Indeed, Israel is God’s elect, but Israel is not the only

one elected by God. In the Book of Wisdom, God indeed love
and favor Israel, but His Love and Salvation is not confined to
the Israelites. Gentiles who sincerely seek God’s wisdom and
being righteous can be God’s elect as well. In the meantime,
the whole Book of Wisdom also denotes the possibility of an
unrighteous (or, ungodly) Israelite loosing his/her sublime
status as a God’s elect. The author urges his readers: if they
are sons and daughters of Israel, they should be loyal to the
tradition and be faithful children of Abraham. And there are
three aspects in this regard: (1) while accepting virtues that
are revered in the Hellenistic world, an Israelite in the
Diasporas should pursue God’s wisdom because ‘her
[wisdom’s] labors are virtues’ (8:7) and ‘giving heed to her
[wisdom’s] law is assurance of immortality’ (6:18). (2) Do not
commit idolatry: they should not worship other gods, neither
the nature nor the dead things, for ‘the worship of idols not to
be named is the beginning and cause and end of every evil’
(14:27). (3) Being attentive to the deeds of God’s wisdom in
the world, both in the past (especially in the Exodus event)
and in the present; and be mindful that the Righteousness of
God is waiting in the Final Judgment. And this is the definitive
solution the author offers to his fellow Israelites.

On the other hand, for the gentile readers, the author

exhorts them to love righteousness and to sincerely seek
God who ‘is found by those who do not put him to the test’
(1:2). Gentiles should also seek wisdom and to learn from
her, so that they also can also be ‘saved by wisdom’ (9:18).
In the meantime, the gentiles should respect God’s election
of Israel since His intention of choosing Israel as God’s

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Who is ‘God’s Elect’ in the Book of Wisdom (Wisdom of Solomon)?

chosen people has been revealed in the history.

It is not out of pride that Israel thinks of itself as God’s

elect, but only because it believes in the God who has
chosen them and calls Himself: ‘Israel’s God.’ ( 1 Chr 17:24)
However, the author would argue that, although the election
of Israel is true, God’s Salvation is not limited to them
because all people could be saved by the Wisdom, and God
is willing to give it to them and sent the Holy Spirit from on
high (9:17). Even Solomon in the Book of Wisdom confesses
that if he, as Jedidiah (beloved of God, or friend of God) and
as a king of the chosen people, does not pray for God’s
wisdom and do what is right according to God’s
commandments (9:9), he himself will not ‘be worthy of the
throne’(9:12). Indeed, no one really deserves ‘the throne’
unless God wants to give the dominion (6:2). And it is God
who is seated on the Throne, and to whom the Salvation
belongs.

The highly emphasis on the righteousness in the Book of

Wisdom, especially in term of the sublime status as God’s
elect, has a great significance not only to the Diaspora
Israelites but also to the 1st century Christians who are
Israelites. One of the great examples is Matthew’s highly
emphasis on the ‘better righteousness’ that anyone who wish
to follow Jesus Christ and want to enter the Kingdom. (Matt.
5:20-48, also 5:10) Apostle Paul’ epistle to the Romans also
elaborates in great length the meaning of ‘righteousness’ and
its relationship with being God’s elect as Christians. The
emphasis on righteousness also appears in the works of the
Apostolic Fathers such as the Didache (3.15); in the Epistle
of Barnabas, righteousness is considered one of the ‘three
doctrines of the Lord’. (1.6) In the 1 Clement, the great
apostles Peter and Paul are called ‘the greatest and most
righteous pillars of the Church’ (5.2, also 5.7) and they are
models of all Christians. Careful examination of ‘God’s elect’
in the Book of Wisdom can help us understand how early
Christians who inherit the tradition of Israel formed their
identity as God’s chosen people and as followers of Jesus
Christ.

[1]John M. G. Barclay. Jews in the Mediterranean Diaspora:

from Alexander to Trajan (323 BCE - 117 CE). Edinburgh:
T&T Clark, 1996. Pp. 181-191.
[2]Greg Schmidt Goering, ‘Election and Knowledge in the
Wisdom of Solomon’ in Géza G. Xeravits and József
Zsengellér (ed.) Studies in the Book of Wisdom
(Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism; v.
142). Boston: Brill. 2007. Pp. 165-182.
[3] Joel S. Kaminsky, ‘Did Election Imply the mistreatment of
Non-Israelites?’ in Harvard Theological Review 2003

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Who is ‘God’s Elect’ in the Book of Wisdom (Wisdom of Solomon)?

October, Vol.96(4). Pp.397-425.

[4] John J. Collins, ‘Natural Theology and Biblical Tradition:
The Case of Hellenistic Judaism’ in The Catholic Biblical
Quarterly, 1998 JAN, Vol.60(1). Pp. 1-15.
[5]Greg Schmidt Goering. (2007).
[6]Greg Schmidt Goering (2007).
[7] G. W. Ahlstrőm, ‘Solomon, the Chosen One’ in History of
Religions, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Nov. 1968). Pp. 93-110.
[8] Meeks, W. A. etc. (ed.) The HarperCollins Study Bible
(NRSV, with Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books). NY:
HarperCollins Publishers. 1993. Page 1510.
[9]Greg Schmidt Goering. (2007)
[10] However, Kaminsky argues that, the Midianites are often
portrayed positively (Moses’ father-in-law himself is a
Midianite); and both the textual and archaeological evidence
indicate that the Canaanites were probably never purged in a
genocidal campaign by Joshua; only the Amalekites is
demonized and is depicted as God’s enemy ‘from generation
to generation’ (Exodus 17:14). See: Joel S. Kaminky, ‘Did
Election Imply the mistreatment of Non-Israelites?’ in Harvard
Theological Review 2003 October, Vol.96(4). Pp.397-425.

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