Sirach (first quarter of the second century B.C.) do specifically Israelite themes appear. Like Sirach, Wisdom of Solomon similarly combines universal and national themes. The author portrays Israel in its defining moment, the exodus. In ancient Near Eastern cultures, the moment of origin was deemed particularly important, for it was then that the imprint of the creating gods was clearest. In antiquity, people thought of the world as “given” at the beginning, having already the institutions (kingship,