Q:   Why is wisdom always referred to in a feminine manner?

A:   Not only is the Bible God's message to us, it is also a masterful piece of literary work. We should expect nothing less from a book written by the God who spoke the universe into existence. In this book, the Holy Spirit, through the pen of men, utilizes nearly every writing technique known to literature. Especially in what we call the poetic books, the "wisdom literature," (the books attributed to David and Solomon), do we find a richness of literary technique. A close observation will reveal the use of acrostics, recurring refrains, and didactics. A vast array of figurative language is also employed: simile, metaphor, hyperbole, irony, synecdoche, prolepsis, rhetoric, metonymy, allegory, parallelism, and others.

We use figurative language in our everyday conversations usually without even being conscious that we are doing it. It is used even in this email. We speak of "heads" of cattle. We don't really mean only the head but the whole cow. This is synecdoche, where the part is put for the whole. In another case, someone shows up for an event in shabby clothes and we say, "I see you dressed up for the occasion." This is irony, where we say the exact opposite of what we mean.

We use figurative language not to obscure but to enhance and emphasize. The same is true in Scripture. Jesus said, "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:26). He did not really mean we should hate our parents. This figure of speech is hyperbole, where a statement is an exaggeration. By this, He emphasizes how much more we should love God by comparison. In Matthew 10:13, the disciples ask Jesus why He taught in parables, another form of figurative language. Interestingly, Jesus explains that it was both to reveal and to conceal.

When Solomon (Proverbs 8:1, 11 and 9:1) and even Jesus Himself (Luke 7:35) speaks of wisdom in the feminine, it is simply a figure of speech called personification, where inanimate and abstract things are given the attributes of humans. An example of personification is Psalm 144:3, "the sea saw it and fled." Here the sea is suggested to have eyes like a man to see, a mind to perceive, and feet to run.

The feminine gender is quite commonly used today to describe things that are neuter, such as ocean vessels. Moreover, Paul uses the feminine to describe the church (Ephesians 5:25-27), which enhances his description of the church as the bride of Christ. In Proverbs, wisdom is portrayed as a woman calling to simple minded men in the streets (Proverbs 1:20), which seems a bold contrast to the adulteress who would do the same (Proverbs 9:13-18). Wisdom, therefore, is set forth as a precious thing of beauty and purity to be cherished and desired.

The richness of the Bible as a literary work is a testimony to its divine inspiration.