i.e., Egypt. That life was only built upon the backs of slaves. The Egyptian wisdom tradition failed to address the bare injustice of their social system. The canonical audience would have also experienced the wisdom traditions of great Near Eastern civilizations and also the harsh realities of exile. If this passage in part is critiquing the wisdom tradition, it is the traditions of the polytheistic cultures of Egypt and Babylon, not the wisdom school in Israel. 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty