Book of Sirach
[3] This prologue is generally considered to be the earliest witness to a tripartite canon of the books of the Old Testament[5] and thus the date of the text is the subject of intense scrutiny by biblical scholars.
The ability to precisely date the composition of Sirach within a few years provides great insight into the historical development and evolution of the Jewish canon.
[4] The person who translated the Book of Sirach into Koine Greek states in his prologue that he was the grandson of the author, and that he came to Egypt (most likely Alexandria) in the thirty-eighth year of the reign of "Euergetes".
Ben Sira's grandson completed his translation and added the prologue circa 117 BCE, around the time of the death of Ptolemy VIII.
[3] At that time, the usurping Hasmonean dynasty had ousted the heirs of Simon II after long struggles and was finally in control of the High Priesthood.
Similarly, the New Latin Vulgate and many modern English translations of the Apocrypha use the title Ecclesiasticus, literally "of the Church" because of its frequent use in Christian teaching and worship.
As with other wisdom books, there is no easily recognizable structure in Sirach; in many parts it is difficult to discover a logical progression of thought or to discern the principles of arrangement.
[3] The exceptions are the first two chapters, whose reflections on wisdom and fear of God provide the theological framework for what follows, and the last nine chapters, which function as a sort of climax, first in an extended praise of God's glory as manifested through creation (42:15–43:33) and second in the celebration of the heroes of ancient Israel's history dating back to before the Great Flood through contemporary times (see previous section).
[11] The Book of Sirach is a collection of ethical teachings that closely resembles Proverbs, except that—unlike the latter—it is presented as the work of a single author and not as an anthology of maxims or aphorisms drawn from various sources.
The question of which sayings originated with the Book of Sirach is open to debate, although scholars tend to regard Ben Sira as a compiler or anthologist.
He advocates distrust of and possessiveness over women,[12] and the harsh treatment of slaves (which presupposes the validity of slavery as an institution),[13] positions which are not only difficult for modern readers, but cannot be completely reconciled with the social milieu at the time of its composition.
Occasionally Ben Sira digresses to attack theories that he considers dangerous; for example, that man has no freedom of will, and that God is indifferent to the actions of mankind and does not reward virtue.
Throughout the text runs the prayer of Israel imploring God to gather together his scattered children, to bring to fulfillment the predictions of the Prophets, and to have mercy upon his Temple and his people.
Of particular interest to biblical scholars are Chapters 44–50, in which Ben Sira praises "famous men, our ancestors in their generations", starting from the antediluvian Enoch and continuing through to Simon, son of Onias (300–270 BCE).
[17] The ability to date the composition of Sirach within a few years given the autobiographical hints of Ben Sira and his grandson (author of the introduction to the work) provides great insight regarding the historical development and evolution of the Jewish canon.
[33] The Apostolic Canons (recognized by the Eastern Orthodox Church during the 5th and 6th centuries) also described "the Wisdom of the very learned Sirach" as a recommended text for teaching young people.
However, in 1896, several scroll fragments of the original Hebrew texts of the Book of Sirach, copied in the 11th and 12th centuries, were found in the Cairo Geniza (a synagogue storage room for damaged manuscripts).
[41] According to scholars including Solomon Schechter and Frederic G. Kenyon, these findings support the assertion that the book was originally written in Hebrew.
The Babylonian Talmud and other works of rabbinic literature occasionally paraphrase Ben Sira (e.g., Sanhedrin 100b, Hagigah 13a, Bava Batra 98b, Niddah 16b, etc.
[50] Yosef Tabori questioned whether this passage in the Book of Sirach is referring at all to Yom Kippur, and thus argued it cannot form the basis of this poem.
[51] Some early 20th-century scholars also argued that the vocabulary and framework used by the Book of Sirach formed the basis of the most important of all Jewish prayers, the Amidah, but that conclusion is disputed as well.
"[53] However, they stop short of concluding a direct relationship existed; rather, what "seems likely is that the Rabbis ultimately borrowed extensively from the kinds of circles which produced Ben Sira and the Dead Sea Scrolls ....".
