As
a child I was naturally gifted, and a good soul fell to my lot; or rather,
being good, I entered an undefiled body. (Wisdom of Solomon 8:19-20 | NRSV)
The
preexistence referred to here is therefore not to be taken in its Greek
philosophical sense but to be understood only as consisting in the creation of
the soul immediately before its “coming” into a determinate body, as in the
case of Adam (Larcher:277). It seems to me, however, that had the author merely
wished to emphasize the primacy of the soul in the identity of the personal
‘I’, his initial formulation would have been completely apt, and in need of no
further revision. For once having asserted that the body-soul complex
constituting the child Solomon could be called “well-endowed” merely by virtue
of its being allotted a noble soul, he had already thereby clearly indicated
the primacy of soul over body. (Larcher’s statement that pais apparently refers
to the “état embryonnaire” is unwarranted.) Since he was not indeed satisfied
with his initial formulation, and felt constrained to correct it, we must
conclude that the words “I entered an undefiled body” are meant to suggest the
preexistence of souls of varying spiritual capacities, and that in the case of
Solomon it was a noble soul that had taken the initiative of entering an
undefiled body.
.
. . This verse is as clear a statement of the concept of preexistent souls as
one could wish, and there is no need to explain it away as many commentators
have done. (David Winston, The Wisdom of Solomon: A New Translation with
Introduction and Commentary [AB 43; New Haven: Yale University Press,
2008], 26, 198)
(Van Hale, Mormon Miscellaneous Note Cards, 3 vols. [Sandy, Utah: Mormon Miscellaneous,