Jehovah possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
In Proverbs 8, Wisdom speaks in the first person. From verse 22 that voice looks back before creation itself. Two questions have divided readers for centuries. Who is really speaking here? And does "possessed" mean that God made this Wisdom?
Some readers deny that this chapter speaks of Christ at all. They treat Wisdom as one of God's qualities. One writer reports how the objection came up in a discussion:
"As to Proverbs 8, one man was definite, and no one challenged him when he said: 'Wisdom is not Christ... I cannot love Wisdom, it is a quality.'"
Commentators differ. But most answer that Wisdom cannot stay an idea here, because of what Wisdom says and does:
Solomon traces wisdom back to a time when there was no beginning. He writes as if Wisdom were a person speaking: "I was set up [anointed] from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth was" (chap 8:23). Only One who is God could say this. It is Deity who speaks here. Again, "I love those who love Me, and those who seek Me early will find Me" (v. 17). You can admire a quality. You cannot love a quality. We can love a Person, and in this case rejoice that this wonderful Person loves us.
One verb in this verse has caused centuries of argument. Read one way, it makes Wisdom sound like the first thing God made:
The word "possessed" has also the meaning of "formed". "This word has been a battleground of controversy since the days of the Arian heresy. But it is worth remembering this. Set all theological questions aside: whatever translation we choose, the word cannot mean that wisdom ever had a beginning, or that wisdom was ever created in the strict sense of that word. Wisdom is inseparable from any worthy conception of Him who is 'the only wise God' (1 Tim. 1:17), and therefore is like Him 'from everlasting to everlasting'" (Perowne).
Another writer reaches the same point from where Wisdom stands — with God, and before all His works:
"Jehovah possessed me in the beginning of his way." There was Wisdom, not simply in Him, but with Him. John 1:1 says the same of the Word: "the Word was with God" — and just as surely, He "is God"... "I was set up [lit. anointed] from everlasting, from the beginning before the earth was." He was not a creature God made; He existed before His works.
This is not first about the skill God showed in making the world:
The point here is not that wisdom showed itself in creation (no doubt it did). The point is that wisdom had its place with God before the world existed... No doubt wisdom showed itself when He prepared the heavens and drew a circle on the face of the deep; but wisdom was there before it all.
Wisdom is with God before anything else exists. So the chapter shows one Divine Person delighting in another:
Christ is set before us as the object of Jehovah's daily delight. Scripture presents to our faith, in language fitted to our spiritual understanding, One Divine Person Who finds His delight in Another Divine Person (verse 30).
Some translations read "in the beginning of his way" — the course God was about to take. This verse tells us who stood at the start of it:
Here is One who filled the thoughts of the Creator "in the beginning of His way." The way He was going to take, to carry out the thoughts of His gracious mind, had to do entirely with this Person whom the Lord possessed. So only those who have learned something of Him can trace His way, and no step of that glorious way was taken without Him... Nothing was done without Him. Everything was done with reference to Him.
Another writer explains what God's "way" means:
The first statement is this: Jehovah already possessed this wisdom when His way began — the move to produce anything outside Himself, to reveal Himself.
What begins before creation does not stay there. The chapter runs on to the human race:
Christ was the object of God the Father's delight, as the centre and fullness of all wisdom. In turn, men have been the delight of Christ, and so have the parts of Jehovah's earth where people live. We see Christ in connection with men when we consider Him as uniting and unfolding in Himself every feature of the wisdom and counsels of God.
- A Person — Wisdom loves, calls and rejoices. A quality cannot do those things, and you cannot love a quality back.
- No beginning — writers have argued over "possessed" since the Arian dispute. On any translation, Wisdom never had a start. God is "from everlasting to everlasting," and so is His Wisdom.
- Before the works — Wisdom is not skill shown off in creation. It was already with God when nothing existed to display it in.
- Two Persons — the chapter sets One Divine Person before us as the daily delight of Another. That is John 1:1 in Old Testament words.
- Down to us — God's way began with Christ, and the delight fixed on Him before creation ends up resting on men.
I was set up from eternity, from the beginning, before the earth was.
In this chapter wisdom speaks in the first person, and here that voice reaches back to before the earth existed. The writers quote older translations, which read "from everlasting" where the ESV reads "Ages ago."
The claims made here go far past anything an abstract quality could make. One writer tests them with a simple observation about love.
Solomon traces it back to a time when there was no beginning. He writes as if Wisdom personified were speaking: "I was set up [anointed] from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth was" (chapter 8:23). This could only be said of One who is God — it is Deity who speaks here. Again, "I love those who love Me, and those who seek Me early shall find Me" (v. 17). You can admire a quality. You cannot love a quality. We can love a Person, and in this case rejoice that this wonderful Person loves us.
Another writer puts the same question to the wording of the verse itself:
How could a mere attribute correct people, demand obedience, give counsel, rejoice before God, or be sinned against? Words like these strongly recall John 1: "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way before His works of old." "I was set up from everlasting, before the earth was." "When there were no depths I was brought forth!" (vv. 22, 25). Here we have twice the thought of "generation" — "I was brought forth," "I was brought forth." How can we avoid the conclusion that it is the Eternal Son who was then brought forth? Eternal sonship and eternal existence in the past clearly fit together, however much human reason may stumble.
Commentators read "set up" as meaning anointed. One writer follows that word forward into the New Testament.
The Anointed, or Christ, is more than a Jewish title. "Set up" is the same as anointed. He was anointed from everlasting. So He was the Christ in the mind of God in the past eternity. He was the Christ in God's purpose before incarnation. In history He was anointed as Christ at His baptism. And God made Him Lord and Christ, confirming Him as such, in resurrection.
The word "possessed" in verse 22 can also be rendered "formed." People have argued over it for centuries. One writer answers that neither rendering makes wisdom something that began.
Whatever rendering we adopt, the word cannot mean that wisdom ever had a beginning, or was, strictly speaking, ever created. Wisdom cannot be separated from any worthy thought of Him who is "the only wise God" (1 Tim. 1:17). So wisdom is like Him, "from everlasting to everlasting." Wisdom, the Son of God, was always with God from everlasting. Nothing had yet been created. The mountains did not yet stand, and the earth had not been made. He was. And when creation began He was there.
Another writer sets the verse beside the opening of John's Gospel.
Wisdom was not simply in Him, but with Him. John 1:1 says the same of the Word: "the Word was with God" — and just as surely, He "is God." "I was set up [literally, anointed] from everlasting, from the beginning before the earth was." He was no creature of God. He already existed before His works.
Many read this passage as praise for God's skill in making the world. One writer argues the point sits earlier than creation — and that man was already in Wisdom's thoughts.
People often take that passage as celebrating God's wisdom in creation, which every devout mind gladly owns. But that is not its object. It declares that wisdom was in God before creation, before His ways began. "I was set up from everlasting." The statement is that wisdom was there before the earth existed, when there was no creation. What was in the mind of Wisdom, of which the created earth was only the sphere? … Man occupied Wisdom's thought: Wisdom's delight was there.
This wisdom does not stay in eternity past. One writer ties the wisdom that shaped the universe to the way we walk now.
In this wonderful chapter we see wisdom at work in the creation of the universe. It is this same wisdom that is available to us in the passage we are considering. The One who ordered creation rightly for the pleasure of the Godhead presents that same wisdom to us. So we may walk rightly in that creation, for the pleasure of the Godhead.
- Before — the verse reaches back past the earth's beginning to a point where there was no beginning at all. No rendering of the word makes wisdom something that started.
- Beside — wisdom is not described as inside God but with Him, echoing the words about the Word in John 1:1.
- Anointed — "set up" means anointed, so the title Christ reaches back into eternity, long before His baptism.
- A Person — you can admire a quality, but you cannot love one. This speaker loves, gives counsel, rejoices before God, and can be sinned against.
- Available — the same wisdom that ordered the universe is offered to you, to order your own walk.