Female imagery in wisdom literature

This chapter examines the female characteristics adduced in the biblical wisdom literature in the form of personification, metaphor, allegory, and concrete figures. It reviews the various feminine aspects associated with Wisdom-Lady Wisdom, Lady Folly, the Other Woman, the Woman of Valor, the Wife of One's Youth, and Wisdom as mother, hostess, ideal wife, treasure, and adornment. The remarkable degree to which Wisdom and Folly are personified in the biblical wisdom literature suggests that this does not merely constitute a literary device but also serves as a vehicle to express biblical tenets and paradigmatic ideas. Two sections of the chapter are devoted to Ben Sira's view of women and 4Q184-The Wiles of the Wicked Woman. In addition, the intimate language and the metaphor of the hunter to represent the adulterous women are also analyzed.