IV.  Their Prominence in the Greek Period.  The transformation of the wise into religious as well as secular teachers apparently came after the destruction of Jerusalem.  It was the result of a variety of forces which have already been studied.  The destruction of the Hebrew state and the resulting prominence of the individual led the wise to turn their attention from questions of political to those of personal import.  The result is that the word “Israel” is found nowhere in the book of Proverbs.  The teachings there found are both individual and universal and apply to Gentile as well as Jew, to the present as well as the past.  The gradual disappearance of the prophets during the latter part of the Persian period, and the fact that the priests ever devoted themselves more and more to the ritual and less to teaching, left a great need in the life of Judaism which called to the front the wise.  At the same time the problems of the individual became more and more complex and insistent.  Especially was this true during the Greek period when Hellenic civilization, with its corrupting influences, swept over Palestine and the lands of the dispersion.  It was a period when the principles enunciated by the earlier prophets had been in general adopted by the Jewish race.  The task, however, of interpreting these principles simply and practically into the every-day life of the people was left to these lovers and teachers of men, the wise.  The evidence of the voluminous writings of Ben Sira, as well as of the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, makes it quite clear that it was during the Greek period, and possibly in part under the intellectual stimulus of Greek thought, that the wise attained their greatest prominence and influence.

V. The Aims of the Wise.  The aims of the wise are in part defined in the remarkable preface to the book of Proverbs, which was intended primarily to describe the purpose of the collection of proverbs which embodies their teachings.  Four distinct classes commanded their attention:  (1) The ignorant, those who were unacquainted with the moral, religious, and practical heritage received from preceding generations. (2) The inexperienced, those who had not yet learned in the school of life the art of adjusting themselves successfully to their environment. (3) The scoffers, who openly rejected the counsel of the sages.  And (4) the disciples who were eager to learn and profit by the teachings of the wise.

The definite aims of the wise must be inferred from their teachings.  They were concerned with the development of the individual, not the nation.  Their first aim was to instruct the ignorant in the fundamental moral and religious principles already laid down by earlier priests and prophets.  In the words of the preface to the book of Proverbs they taught,

That men may learn wisdom and instruction,
May understand intelligent discourses,
May receive instruction in wise dealing,
In justice, judgment, and equity.