earlier in the ancient world, in Egypt, Babylon, and elsewhere. The wisdom literature in Scripture (Proverbs, Song of Solomon, Ecclesiastes) is similar to extrabiblical wisdom literature in many ways, but unlike it, the biblical wisdom teachers declare that “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Ps. 111:10; Prov. 9:10; cf. Prov. 15:33; Eccl. 12:13). What distinguishes the Greek philosophers from the Greek religions and from other ancient wisdom teachers is their insistence on the supremacy
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