Wisdom In 'Solomon And Saturn' By Ericksen

Ericksen’s findings of genre are found in the similarities between other Latin works and “Christ and Satan” from the argument of wisdom in these different works. The comparison is stemmed from the question found in multiple works, such as, the Old English “Solomon and Saturn” question “Tell me what God is?” (304) Whereas, Junius manuscript question is stated as “Who possess pure intelligence except eternal God?” (304) These questions focus on the same idea but say it in very different ways. As well as seeing similarities in how these different works phrase the same general questions the answers to these questions are all generally similarities. Ericksen shows how “Christ and Satan” answers the question with “pure intelligence” (304) and go …show more content…
He himself appointed by his true power the number of days.” (304) Just as this list of God’s wisdoms is shown at the open of “Christ and Satin”, Ericksen uses other works such as the book of Ecclesiasticus that also use this list in the open of the poem. Ericksen shows multiple works that open with the same list as well as focuses of the ultimate wisdom of God to show that works during the Anglo-Saxon period focused on God and his wisdom over all. For example, in many of the works the list is shown as “ the sand of the sea, the drops of rain, the days of the world, the height of heaven, the number of stars, the vastness of the earth, and the bottom of the abyss…these are to be numbered by god alone.”(307) Later, going on to prove how this theory that only god is able to do these things by saying “we can all count drops of rain, but only the misguided or the spiritually blind will fail to see that god or Christ alone can count them all, that only the author of all creation can reckon such multitudes” (311). This abundance of wisdom is also proven when Christ tells Satan to measure hell in two hours this is showing the inability to do this task by Satan because of his lack of