O Come, Thou Wisdom From on High

In the Bible, wisdom is much more than being smart. It’s not simply an intellectual knowledge. The Wisdom literature of the Old Testament (which including the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes) contains wise counsel. The Hebrew sage transmits the lessons of experience in the way of fatherly advice to a son – mainly practical advice about how to live a good and prosperous life while also contemplating the meaning of life. Wisdom literature is often short instructions (proverbs), but can include longer stories (parables). Wisdom includes goals such as honesty and diligence, leading to life. Disregard for wisdom leads to folly and destruction.

O Come, Thou Wisdom from on high,
And order all things far and nigh.
To us the path of knowledge show,
And teach us in her ways to go.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

When we sing “O come, Thou Wisdom from on high,” we recognize that humanly wisdom is not enough. We need to receive and follow the Wisdom of God.

In 1 Corinthians 1:24, the Apostle Paul recognizes Jesus as the Wisdom of God. The Gospel writers present Jesus as a wisdom teacher even greater than Solomon (e.g. Luke 11:31; Mark 6:2). Jesus taught in proverbs and parables comparable to the sages. More importantly, however, is the fact that Jesus not only taught wisdom as did the sages, but he is the true Wisdom from God. He shows to us the path of knowledge and teaches us the ways to go, leading to success and life. This gives us reason to rejoice!