Some Christian interpreters correctly recognize that Wisdom in Proverbs 8 represents Jesus Christ. Wisdom in Proverbs 8 is the hypostasis of divine Wisdom, and it has an independent existence. This Wisdom is a celestial person and Co-Creator with Yahweh.1 Wisdom was here before the beginning of creation and refers to Jesus Christ. Wisdom assumes the very prerogatives elsewhere reserved for Yahweh alone: giver of life and death (Prov 8:35–36); source of legitimate government (8:15–16); the one who is to be sought after, found, and called upon as well as to be loved (8:17); the source of revelation (8:6–10, 19, 32, 34; 30:3–5); and the giver of wealth (8:18–21).
The Wisdom in the book of Proverbs is the giver of security (1:33), builds herself a Temple as befits a deity of her status (9:1), and uses divine self-acclaim: “I am Wisdom,” similarly to “I am Yahweh” (or, like in the ancient near East, “I am Ishtar”) as this rhetorical form is reserved for deity in Scripture (Prov 8:12; Ezek 12:25; 35:12; Zech 10:6; Mal 3:6). Wisdom is a divine figure and speaks like a deity.
The poetic passage of Proverbs 8:22–31 contains a phrase that uses a language of birth, so the question poses itself: Is Jesus born as Wisdom according to Proverbs 8? The text states, The LORD created me [qanani] at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of long ago. Ages ago I was set up [nissakhti], at the first, before the beginning of the earth. When there were no depths I was brought forth [kholalti], when there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, Before the hills, I was brought forth [kholalti]. (Prov 8:22–25, RSV)
Compare with the KJV translation:
The LORD possessed me [qanani] in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up [nissakhti] from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth [kholalti]; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth [kholalti].
See also the NLT translation of the same passage:
The LORD formed me [qanani] from the beginning, before he created anything else. I was appointed [nissakhti] in ages past, at the very first, before the earth began. I was born [kholalti] before the oceans were created, before the springs bubbled forth with water. Before the mountains were formed, before the hills, I was born [kholalti].
Remember that each translation is already an interpretation of the text. The meaning of different key terms in our studied text is as follows:
• qanah (Prov 8:22) means “possess” or “bring forth”
• nsk III (Prov 8:23) means “establish” or “set” or “install” or “appoint”
• kholalti (Prov 8:24) from “khul“ means “be brought forth” or “give birth”
It is significant that the Hebrew verb root nsk III occurs only in Proverbs 8:23 and Psalm 2:6. The Lord says in this royal poem, “‘Yet I have set [nsk III] My King on My holy hill of Zion.’ ‘I will declare the decree [khoq]: The LORD has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You [yalad]’“ (Ps 2:6–7 NKJV). The Hebrew verb nsk III is technical language of installation and means “set,” “appoint,” or “install.” The NIV, NAB, and NAS Bible translations, for instance, render it correctly: “‘I have installed [nsk III] my king on Zion, my holy mountain.’ I will proclaim the Lord’s decree [khoq]: He said to me, ‘You are my son; today I have become your father [yalad]‘“ (NIV). This unique vocabulary of Proverbs 8 and Psalm 2 uses “birth” as technical language to describe the formal installation of royalty into a new office. Thus, it is a metaphorical language, a symbol, or better to say, a Hebrew idiomatic expression. Here one cannot take the language literally.
The meaning becomes transparent: “The Lord appointed me [Wisdom] before other creation to a specific task.” Proverbs 8 refers to a time of His installment into His office of “communication” at the beginning of God’s creation of other beings. Jesus Christ at that time assumed the new role—namely, to be the Communicator or Mediator between Godhead and the rest of His creation. Jesus took upon Himself voluntarily this function of mediation.
The Wisdom states in Proverbs 8:30–31: “I was the architect [‘amon] at his side. I was his constant delight, rejoicing always in his presence. And how happy I was with the world he created; how I rejoiced with the human family!” (NLT). The same text is put in NKJV in the following way: “Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman; And I was daily His delight, Rejoicing always before Him, Rejoicing in His inhabited world, And my delight was with the sons of men.” The Hebrew word ‘amon means “master craftsman,” “workman,” “artist,” or “architect.” The Wisdom is described as the master craftsman—that is, the Co-Creator with God, always beside and with Him and rejoicing together in creative work.
In summary, Jesus Christ is a hypostasis of Wisdom (“hypostasis” means description of an actual divine being). Jesus is a personified Wisdom, a divine person, not literally “begotten” or “born” (poetic language). Proverbs 8 refers to the time of Christ’s installment into a new office of communication, to His mediatorial role. It describes a time, sometime in the eternity past, when Jesus was “set” or “installed” (nsk III) into that function of Mediator. The Father and Jesus were equal members of the Godhead as Co-Creators and when the triune God began to create, then it was decided among the three members of the Godhead that Jesus would assume the role of the Communicator between the Heavenly Trio and the whole world of creation. Wisdom is a divine counterpart for Yahweh. Thus, Jesus has taken upon Himself a role of mediating between the Godhead and humanity.
Thus, Jesus Christ is the Mediator who communicates to us God’s will. Ellen G. White powerfully declares that if this role were to be undertaken by the Father, it would be performed in the same way:
Had God the Father come to our world and dwelt among us, veiling His glory, humbling Himself, that humanity might look upon Him, the history that we have of the life of Christ would not have been changed in unfolding its record of His own condescending grace. In every act of Jesus, in every lesson of His instruction, we are to see and hear and recognize God. In sight, in hearing, in effect, it is the voice and movements of the Father. But language seems to be so feeble! I refrain, and with John exclaim, “Behold what manner of love hath the Father bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God; therefore the world knoweth us not because it knew him not.”2
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1 For details, see Richard M. Davidson, “Proverbs 8 and the Place of Christ in the Trinity,” Journal of the Adventist Theological Society 17/1 (Spring 2006): 33–54.
2 Letter 83, 1895, from Ellen White to her son James Edson White, published in part in Ellen G. White, That I May Know Him (Washington, DC: Review and Herald, 1964), 338; and in full in idem, Manuscript Releases, vol. 21 (Silver Spring, MD: Ellen G. White Estate, 1993), 393.