Why is wisdom referred to as "she" in proverbs?

bliz

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thanks, but why would a diversion from "He" occur, even start? Like Jesus is referred to (without change) as "He"......that did not, does not change...even to this day...

Where and why did a "she" get inserted? Solomon wrote most of Proverbs, didn't he? And wasn't the wisdom God gifted him with, from God, and therefore the "she" that he inserted into what he wrote regarding wisdom, from God? my question is, why would God refer to wisdom as a "she"?


What is your objection to wisdom being referred to as "she"?
 
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Fireinfolding

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Sure look concerning men travailing with child here...

Jerm 30:6 Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?

Jesus was talking to men with child here...

John 16:21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.

After they do, they appear to do it AGAIN (with others)

Gal 4:19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again ^_^ until Christ be formed in you,

Hey, breast feeding kings

Isaiah 60:16 Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings

1Cr 3:2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat

:p
 
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brinny

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Originally Posted by brinny
thanks, but why would a diversion from "He" occur, even start? Like Jesus is referred to (without change) as "He"......that did not, does not change...even to this day...

Where and why did a "she" get inserted? Solomon wrote most of Proverbs, didn't he? And wasn't the wisdom God gifted him with, from God, and therefore the "she" that he inserted into what he wrote regarding wisdom, from God? my question is, why would God refer to wisdom as a "she"?

What is your objection to wisdom being referred to as "she"?

i have no objection. i find it intriguing.
 
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brinny

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Sure look concerning men travailing with child here...

Jerm 30:6 Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?

Jesus was talking to men with child here...

John 16:21 A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.

After they do, they appear to do it AGAIN (with others)

Gal 4:19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again ^_^ until Christ be formed in you,

Hey, breast feeding kings

Isaiah 60:16 Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings

1Cr 3:2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat

:p

LOL well yes, but aren't they metaphors?
 
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Christos Anesti

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that is interesting....i wonder why?

One of the reasons is that in both Hebrew and Aramaic the word for spirit is feminine (Ruah, Ruha) . The Holy Spirit also plays a motherly type role for Christians so I think that may have contributed as well. Until the 5th century feminine attributes were general used for the Holy Spirit among Syriac Christians. After that the male pronoun was used more often but the feminine language was never totally forgotten.
 
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Dorothea

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Duleigh

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Because Wisdom has been traditionally personified as female, courtesy of the Greeks and other cultures.
Proverbs predates the Greek invasion of the middle east by over 600 years, it's more likely that the Greeks got it from reading Solomon's proverbs.

Consider Proverbs for what it is: a poem, it's important to keep that in mind as you read. If you read Treasure Island and ignore the context you may mistake it for a historical document, but it's a novel, a tale of imagination. Proverbs 8 is a specific type of poem called an encomium—a poem of praise. So, when we read that Wisdom is a “she,” understand that Proverbs is heavily artistic; therefore, we are not reading a technical definition of wisdom.

Also: English does not use grammatical gender (classifying words as masculine, feminine, or neuter). However, the Hebrew language (in which Proverbs was written) does use grammatical gender, much like Spanish, French, and many other languages do. Herein is our problem. “She,” as we understand it, is not necessarily “she” as it was intended in Hebrew. In English, the word wisdom is grammatically neuter, but not so in Hebrew. The Hebrew word is chokmoth, and it is grammatically feminine. In Hebrew, it would have been natural to speak of wisdom as a “she.”
 
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W2L

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Are you folks suggesting that this scripture should read "Her" instead of "Him"?

John 14:15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you
 
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