Context No. 4277 of 4322 · Wisdom

Wisdom 7:1-16: in context

1I myself am also mortal, like everyone else, and am a descendant of one formed first and born of the earth. 2I molded into flesh in the time of ten months in my mother’s womb, being compacted in blood from the seed of man and pleasure of marriage. 3I also, when I was born, drew in the common air, and fell upon the kindred earth, uttering, like all, for my first voice, the same cry. 4I was nursed with care in swaddling clothes. 5For no king had a different beginning, 6but all men have one entrance into life, and a common departure. 7For this cause I prayed, and understanding was given to me. I asked, and a spirit of wisdom came to me. 8I preferred her before sceptres and thrones. I considered riches nothing in comparison to her. 9Neither did I liken to her any priceless gem, because all gold in her presence is a little sand, and silver will be considered as clay before her. 10I loved her more than health and beauty, and I chose to have her rather than light, because her bright shining is never laid to sleep. 11All good things came to me with her, and innumerable riches are in her hands. 12And I rejoiced over them all because wisdom leads them; although I didn’t know that she was their mother. 13As I learned without guile, I impart without grudging. I don’t hide her riches. 14For she is a treasure for men that doesn’t fail, and those who use it obtain friendship with God, commended by the gifts which they present through discipline. 15But may God grant that I may speak his judgment, and to conceive thoughts worthy of what has been given me; because he is one who guides even wisdom and who corrects the wise. 16For both we and our words are in his hand, with all understanding and skill in various crafts.

Solomon, renowned for his wisdom and wealth, begins his reflection on wisdom with a startling confession of his ordinariness. I too am mortal, he says, like everyone else; I was born as all are born, and drew my first breath and gave my first cry like every other infant. No king, he insists, had a different beginning; all have one entrance into life, and a common departure. For all his glory, he shares the common human lot.

What stands out is this humble recognition of a shared humanity. The king does not set himself above others; he acknowledges that in the things that matter most, birth and death, he is exactly like everyone else. Rich or poor, king or commoner, all enter life the same way and leave it the same way. This leveling truth undercuts every pretension of superiority.

Whatever our status, achievements, or advantages, we share one common humanity: we were all born the same way, we all depend on the same air and earth, and we all face the same death. The remembrance of this levels our pride and teaches us humility, both before God, in whose sight all stand equal, and toward others, who share our frame. It was from this humble recognition that Solomon prayed for wisdom; and it is the humble whom God gives grace.

Do I remember, whatever my status or advantages, that I share one common humanity with everyone else, born and dying like all, so that this truth levels my pride and teaches me humility before God and toward others who share my frame?

Sources

Wisdom 7:6: "For no king had a different beginning, but all men have one entrance into life, and a common departure."
Wisdom 7:1: "I myself am also mortal, like everyone else, and am a descendant of one formed first and born of the earth."
James 4:6: "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble."