9:10). However, it would imply the meaning “primus gradus” for ראשית, which is unlikely. The saying, also, seems to play a more positive part. Let us remember, only, that one can hear polemical overtones:79 the sharp antithesis between true wisdom and its opposite, which is peculiar to Biblical wisdom,80 is very present in the background. “The fear of the LORD is the principle of wisdom” could restrict wisdom to moral obedience, at least subordinate knowledge to ethical character: to be wise is