Sirach 24:1-12
I'm not feeling like Jerermiah this week, so I'm going with the alternate OT entry in Sirach. Sirach was written in the 2nd century BC, in the period after the OT prophecies had kind of run their course and before the NT. In researching this passage, I came across something titled, "Praying in a Post-Eisteneinian Universe". That's the kind of title I seek out.And, often, I'm disappointed. Sirach just gets a mention, saying this entry is about the wind that is blown into the big bang chaos. The author of Sirach wouldn't have known what a "big bang" was. The author of the article knows about the history of science but chooses to try to find what's wrong with it, saying, Isaac Newton and Francis Bacon had an "equation of knowledge and power; inert nature was simply there to be conquered and exploited, of purely instrumental significance for its human users."
I don't know what Bible this guy has read, but it's pretty clear in mine that God gave us the world to have dominion over it. Some interpret more of a "caretaker" role, but many see it as a temporary stop on the way to heaven. Why he thinks understanding nature makes it "purely instrumental", I don't know. For him, the god created physical laws of the universe make a place for order and for a way to subvert that order. This is squeezing observation into myth in my opinion. To Newton and Bacon, a world where there is conflict, imperfection, rising and falling of empires, is exactly what one would expect in a universe that is not actively participating or listening to the words or actions of mortals.
Scripture on the other hand, likes to introduce characters like this, to add some color and flavor to the creation of the universe, a female side to it, waves and clouds traversing the earth. But, always, it comes back to God commanding it to take its place.
Wisdom of Solomon 10:15-21
Also written in the centuries just before the New Testament, this is a recount of the Exodus. In the first line here, the "nation of oppressors" is Egypt. This text may be a defense of Judaism, written during the Hellenistic period when Greek cultural ideas were spreading. Israel is painted in glowing terms, and none of the murmurs or complaints of the people of the Exodus are mentioned.The book warns of "false wisdom" and admonishes leaders to seek wisdom. It never strays from the idea that wisdom comes from the Lord and that should be your ultimate consideration. After this chapter, Woman Wisdom switches to being the "artisan" and "it is your providence, O Father, that steers its course" (14:2-3)