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Subject: Introduction to Apocryphal Books :

Assignment: Write a summary of Moral/ Ethical teachings of the book of

SIRACH to live a righteous life.

The Book of the All-Virtuous Wisdom of Joshua ben Sira, commonly called
the Wisdom of Sirach or simply Sirach, and also known as the Book of
Ecclesiasticus or Ben Sira, is a work of ethical teachings, from approximately 200 to
175 BCE, written by the Jewish scribe Ben Sira of Jerusalem, on the inspiration of
his father Joshua son of Sirach, sometimes called Jesus son of Sirach or Yeshua
ben Eliezer ben Sira.

In Egypt, it was translated into Greek by the author's (unnamed) grandson,

who added a prologue. This prologue is generally considered the earliest witness to
a canon of the books of the prophets, and thus the date of the text as we have it is
the subject of intense scrutiny. The book itself is the largest wisdom book from
antiquity to have survived. Sirach is accepted as part of the Christian biblical
canons by Catholics, Eastern Orthodox,and most of Oriental Orthodox.
The Anglican Church does not accept Sirach as proto-canonical, and say it
should be read only "for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth not
apply them to establish any doctrine." Similarly, the Lutheran Churches include it in
their lectionaries, and as a book proper for reading, devotion, and prayer. It was cited
in some writings in early Christianity. There are claims that it is cited in the Epistle of
James, and also the non-canonical Didache and Epistle of Barnabas. Clement of
Alexandria and Origen quote from it repeatedly, as from a holy book. The Catalogue
of Cheltenham, Pope Damasus I, the Councils of Hippo and Council of Carthage,
Pope Innocent I, the second Council of Carthage and Augustine, all regarded it as
canonical, although the Council of Laodicea, of Jerome, and of Rufinus of Aquileia,
ranked it instead as an ecclesiastical book. The Apostolic Canons (not recognized by
the Catholic Church) stated as venerable and sacred the Wisdom of Sirach. The
Roman Catholic Church declared it to be canonical in 1546 during the fourth session
of the Council of Trent.

Sirach is not part of the Jewish canon, once thought to have been established
at the hypothetical Council of Jamnia, perhaps due to its late authorship, although it
is not clear that the canon was completely "closed" at the time of Ben Sira. Others
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have suggested that Ben Sira's self-identification as the author precluded it from
attaining canonical status, which was reserved for works that were attributed (or
could be attributed) to the prophets, or that it was denied entry to the canon as a
rabbinical counter-reaction to its embrace by the nascent Christian community.

However, some Jews in the Diaspora considered Sirach scripture. For instance, it
was included in the canon of the Septuagint, the 2nd century BCE Greek version of
the Jewish scriptures used by Diaspora Jews, through which it became part of the
Greek canon. The multiplicity of manuscript fragments uncovered in the Cairo
Genizah, evidence its authoritative status among Egyptian Jewry until the Middle
Ages. Because it was excluded from the Jewish canon, Sirach was excised from
the Protestant canon following the Reformation.

It is most like the book of Proverbs with its collection of apparently

unconnected sayings. Sirach is known for its disillusionment of experience and
nostalgia for days gone by. By the time of the New Testament, Jewish wisdom
literature (like Proverbs) had come into contact to Greek ethical
teaching (like the Stoics or Epicureans). The book of Sirach (written
about 200 B.C., but translated into Greek two generations later). The
book was popular in the first century and reflects an attempt to teach
the wisdom of the Hebrew Bible in a world infused with Greco-Roman ethics.

There are several similarities between wisdom literature and James. First,
Proverbs 9 and Sirach 24 closely relate wisdom and Law. Sirach teaches that the
Torah as the essential path to attaining wisdom, but is not identical to wisdom. If this
is true, then the path to wisdom must come through Israel, the nation to whom the
Law was entrusted. Sirach 24 says that God commands wisdom to “dwell in the tents
of Jacob.” For James, living a life according to the “Royal Law” is more or less
equivalent to living a life of Wisdom.

Second, in Sirach, wisdom is clearly a gift of God (Sirach 20:9-12, 1:1-10,

42:17-19, 43:32-33). This theme is sounded in the very first verse of the book, “All
wisdom is from the Lord” (Sirach 1:1, 10, 24:3-7). So too in James 1:5: “if anyone
lacks wisdom, you should ask God for it.” James does not recommend the ethics of
the Greco-Roman world because God is the source of wisdom; it is all a gift of God.

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Sirach always describes the process of obtaining wisdom as an act of the will: one
must choose wisdom (6:18f, 15:15). Other verbs are used: one must seek (4:12),
hold on to (4:13), serve (4:14), obey (4:15), chain one’s self to wisdom and carry it
on your back (6:24-25). Attaching one’s self to an elder or other wise man is a critical
step in attaining wisdom (6:34-36, 8:8-9). So too James, where a life of wisdom is an
active choice to act (James 3:13-14). A person is not wise, but his actions are wise.
Like most wisdom literature, one does wisdom in James.

Obedience to the Law and fear of God is a requirement for receiving Wisdom
as a gift (Sirach 2:15-16, 20:19, 41:8). In fact, one might argue that many of the wise
sayings in Sirach are meditations on the Torah. The person who holds to the Law will
obtain wisdom (Sirach 15:1, cf 4:16). James also sees keeping the good, perfect, or
Royal Law as pre-requisites for a life of Wisdom (James 2:8-11).

While there are similarities to Sirach, James runs his ethics through the
lens of Jesus. James does not allude to the book of Sirach nor are the parallels an
indication James had read the book (although if he was a mid-first century Jew he
was, at the very least, aware of the book). But James stands within a stream of
wisdom literature that includes both Sirach and the teaching of Jesus.

Ultimately, there is anything in James which Sirach would dispute, ethically

speaking. But for James, the “biblical life of wisdom” is the way to live out a
commitment to Jesus. Perhaps this is something of an evangelistic strategy – the
Jewish believer in Jesus will behave in a way which is consistent with
Torah and Wisdom. The Torah and Jewish law states that life’s highest good was to
obey God. James stressed that faith without works is dead, and I think that this is the
relation to the wisdom tradition of Judaism. James assumes the wisdom tradition of
Judaism, but as it has been transposed by Jesus’ teaching. This is the light in which I
have read the book of James, and how James describes the necessity to obey God
and demonstrate his likeness as much as humanly possible if you are a Christian.
He gives the idea that if an individual is truly involved in a personal relationship with
God, then they will be pursing after him and radiating out likenesses of God that are
proof of their relationship with him. James 3:13 says, “Who is wise and
understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the

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humility that comes from wisdom.” To put this all together, wisdom can be defined as
the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgment, which means that
our walk with God will produce these qualities since he is the only source of perfect
and true wisdom. So the closer we are in our relationship with him, the more wisdom
we will attain.

Of all the books of the Apocrypha, perhaps the one known as The
Wisdom of Ben-Sirach (also called Ecclesiasticus) offers the reader the most easily
accessible practical instruction. That is because, mentioned above, it is very similar
to the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. In fact, these three books are all
classified as ``wisdom literature,'' a genre of ancient Jewish literature that was
apparently pioneered by King Solomon. However, this overall likeness between Ben-
Sirach's book and King Solomon's cautionary memoir Ecclesiastes is entirely
unrelated to the confusing similarity of the words ``Ecclesiastes'' and
``Ecclesiasticus.'' Ben-Sirach's book was not named in imitation of Solomon's.
Rather, ``Ecclesiastes'' is a Greek translation of the Hebrew title of Solomon's
book, Qoheleth (meaning ``preacher, teacher, lecturer, or schoolmaster''). In
contrast, ``Ecclesiasticus'' is a Latin word. During the Middle Ages, the clergy
(``ecclesiastics'') of the Catholic Church relied very heavily on The Wisdom of Ben-
Sirach for instruction in morality. Consequently The Wisdom of Ben-Sirach came to
be designated as Liber Ecclesiasticus, or ``Church-ish Book'' as we might say in
English. Even today this book has a prominent place in Catholic liturgy. It has also
exerted some influence on the worship traditions of non-Catholic Christians. For
instance, the text of the old hymn ``Now Thank We All Our God,'' which is sung in
Christian churches the world over (e.g. the WCG Hymnal, p.22), was adapted in the
seventeenth century from the words of Sirach 50:22-24 by Martin Rinkart.

I believe that almost the best introduction to The Wisdom of Ben-Sirach that one
could receive is the prologue that was written by Ben-Sirach's own grandson, who
translated his grandfather's book into Greek. This is what he had to say about his
grandfather's compilation of wisdom:

``Many great teachings have been given to us through the Law and the Prophets and
the other books that followed them, and for these we should praise Israel for

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instruction and wisdom. Now, those who read the Scriptures must not only
themselves understand them, but must also as lovers of learning be able through the
spoken and written word to help the outsiders.So my grandfather Jesus, who had
devoted himself especially to the reading of the Law and the Prophets and the other
books of our fathers, and had acquired considerable proficiency in them, was himself
also led to write something pertaining to instruction and wisdom, so that by becoming
familiar with what he too had written those who love learning might make even
greater progress in living according to the Law. . . . When I came to Egypt in the
thirty-eighth year of the reign of Euergetes [132 B.C.] and stayed for some time, I
found a reproduction of our valuable teaching [i.e., probably the Greek Septuagint]. It
seemed highly necessary that I should devote some diligence and labour to the
translation of this book. During that time I have applied my skill day and night to
complete and publish the book for those living abroad [i.e. Greek-speaking Jews,
and interested Gentiles] who wished to gain learning and are disposed to live
according to the Law.''

From this we are able to learn the name of the author of this book, the general
period of time when he lived, why he undertook to write his book and what he hoped
to accomplish by writing it. When one considers ancient Hebrew religious literature,
whether biblical or extra-biblical, it is quite rare to be able to discern so clearly an
author's intent-let alone ascertain an author's name and the time he wrote his book.
But in the case of The Wisdom of Ben-Sirach, the author and his grandson provide
us with several clear facts and suggestive clues. As we have seen in the prologue
written by the author's grandson, this book was written by a man named Jesus
(Hebrew Yeshua). Even more, the author identifies himself in his epilogue in this
way: ``Instruction in understanding and knowledge I have written in this book-Jesus
son of Eleazar son of Sirach of Jerusalem, whose mind poured forth wisdom.''
(Sirach 50:27)

This information reveals that the author-Yeshua ben El'azar ben Sirach-was a
resident of Jerusalem. The book he wrote testifies to his impressive grasp of the
Hebrew Scriptures, which in turn makes it likely that he was a scribe, perhaps a
Levite or even a priest. In any event he placed great value in the Aaronite High
Priesthood and the Temple worship in Jerusalem, as one can readily discern from

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Ben-Sirach's lofty praise of the High Priest Shimon II (Sirach 50:1-21). In praising
him, Ben-Sirach provides us with a glimpse of a High Priest whom he had seen with
his own eyes, for Shimon II served as High Priest from 219 to 196 B.C. This helps to
narrow down the likely dates that Ben-Sirach wrote his book, for we know that his
grandson translated the book into Greek a few years after 132 B.C. Ben-
Sirach therefore must have flourished around 200 B.C., and in all likelihood wrote his
book no later than 175 B.C. (By the way, the testimony of Ben-Sirach's grandson is
also important as evidence that by 200 B.C. the Hebrew Scriptures already had their
traditional tripartite classification of Torah (Law), Nebi'im (Prophets),
and Kethubim (Writings)-though of course the Jewish authorities of that era had not
yet settled the exact order of the books, nor were they sure whether to include
certain books in their Bible.

But how did it come about that Yeshua Ben-Sirach was, as his grandson said, ``led
to write something pertaining to instruction and wisdom''? Ben-Sirach himself
provides the answer to that question in Sirach24:23-34, where he compares the
wisdom of God to a river of living waters, and then says:

``As for me, I was like a canal from a river, like a water channel into a garden.
I said, `I will water my garden and drench my flower-beds.' And lo, my canal
became a river, and my river a sea. I will again make instruction shine forth
like the dawn, and I will make it recognisably clear even from a great distance.
I will again pour out teaching like prophecy, and leave it to all future
generations. Observe that I have not labored for myself alone, but for all who
seek wisdom.''
In other words, as he acquired more and more wisdom, what had started as merely a
private desire to gain wisdom and understanding quickly gave way to a
dawning realisation that he needed to help everyone else find wisdom too. One can
very well imagine that the fifty-one chapters of Ecclesiasticus had germinated in
stray notes that Ben-Sirach had originally prepared for his own personal study.

New Testament Awareness of The Wisdom of Ben-Sirach:

As mentioned above, as a rule the early Church was thoroughly familiar

with Ecclesiasticus, and accepted this book along with the rest of the Greek
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Septuagint as the inspired Word of God. In the first century A.D., Ecclesiasticus was
highly regarded by both Jews and Christians-although, regrettably, as time went on
the Jews began to avoid this book the more Christians made use of it. This high
esteem in which Ecclesiasticus was held is shown by numerous allusions to it
throughout the New Testament. In addition to direct or indirect allusion to Ben-
Sirach's teachings, there are also a great many features of Ecclesiasticus that
provide linguistic and cultural context to New Testament teachings and events,
without which it would be impossible for us properly to understand the teachings of
Jesus and His Apostles. Here are a few representative samples from the Gospel of
Matthew:

Jesus Christ's teachings on blessedness during the Sermon on the Mount, the
``Beatitudes'' (Matt. 5:2-11), were delivered in a way that apparently testifies to the
familiarity that Jesus and His audience had with Sirach 25:7-10. In that passage,
Ben-Sirach says:

 ``I can think of nine whom I would call blessed

 and a tenth my tongue proclaims
 a man who can rejoice in his children
 a man who lives to see the downfall of his foes
 Blessed is the man who lives with a sensible wife
 and the one who does not plough with ox and ass together
 Blessed is the one who does not sin with his tongue and the one who has not
served an inferior
 Blessed is the one who finds a friend and the one who speaks to attentive
listeners
 How great is the one who finds wisdom!
 But none is superior to the one who fears the Lord."

In content, the nine Beatitudes of Jesus Christ are quite unlike Ben-
Sirach's list of nine (or ten rather) types of blessed individuals-and no doubt Christ
intended this sharp contrast in content. However, it is plain to see that the basic
structure of nine beatitudes is common to both of these great Jewish teachers.

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Sirach 9:8 is another instance in which a teaching from the Sermon on the
Mount had been anticipated some 230 years before by Ben-Sirach. In that place,
Ben-Sirach admonished his readers, ``Turn away your eyes from a shapely woman,
and do not gaze at beauty that belongs to another man; many have been seduced
by a woman's beauty, and by it passion is kindled like a fire.'' That is the essence of
Jesus Christ's declaration in Matt. 5:28 that ``any man who looks on a woman with
lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.''

There is also an interesting parallel in Jesus' words found in Matt. 6:7 (``When
you pray, do not use babbling repetitions . . . .'') and the words of Ben-
Sirach in Sirach 7:14 (``Do not babble in the assembly of the elders, and do not
repeat yourself when you pray.'') This helps to demonstrate the strong continuity of
both the tradition and the theology of Jewish and Christian prayer.

Finally, there is even an anticipation of the Golden Rule (Matt. 7:12) in the
Book of Ecclesiasticus. Now, Jesus Christ is certainly the most important ancient
sage to teach His followers to ``do unto others as you would have them do unto
you.'' But before Him the Golden Rule had already been pronounced by such
worthies as Confucius among the Chinese, and among the Jews by Philo Judaeus of
Alexandria and the unknown author of the Book of Tobit (ch. 4:15). Significantly, at
about the time that Jesus Christ was born the great Rabbi Hillel the Elder also taught
the Golden Rule as the essential spirit and teaching of the Torah. When a Gentile
dared him to explain the entire Law of Moses while balancing on one foot, Hillel said,
``What is hateful to thyself do not to thy fellow-man. This is the whole Torah-the rest
is commentary. Now go and study.'' Rabbi Hillel's explanation of the Golden Rule is
virtually identical to the version found in the Book of Tobit. But about two centuries
before Hillel's day, the Jewish sage Ben-Sirach wrote his own version of the Rule:

``Judge your neighbour’s feelings by your own, and in every matter be considerate.''
(Sirach 31:15)

Among uninformed Christians and non-Christians, it is not uncommon to find

the mistaken belief that Jesus Christ personally came up with the Golden Rule.
Faced with the disappointing testimony showing that both Jews and Gentiles were
quite familiar with the Golden Rule prior to the birth of Jesus, some Christians have
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sought solace by claiming that Jesus formulated the Rule in a positive way (``Do
unto others''), whereas everyone else formulated it negatively (``Do not unto
others''). However, this distinction between the positive and negative forms is purely
arbitrary, being founded upon the odd notion that being told to do good things is
somehow holier than being told to avoid doing bad things. In any case the early
Church was unaware of any special significance in the positive form of the Golden
Rule as opposed to the negative form. We know this from the fact that when the
author of the Didache (circa 100 A.D.) adapted the Gospel of Matthew to provide
Christian converts with moral instruction, he took it on himself to reformulate Jesus'
version of the Golden Rule in the negative form. And not many years after that, the
Christian apologist Marcianus Aristides also cited the Rule in negative form.

However, Sirach 31:15 shows that just as Jesus Christ did not originate the
Golden Rule, so also He had nothing to do with the origin of the positive form of the
rule. On the contrary, when we compare the words of Jesus Christ to the words of
Rabbi Hillel and Ben-Sirach, one is led to conclude that Jesus freely adapted the
teachings of Hillel and Ben-Sirach, borrowing from Ben-Sirach the positive form of
the Rule, and from Rabbi Hillel the claim that the Golden Rule is the whole of the
Law. However, as The Wisdom of Ben-Sirach shows, there is no reason whatsoever
to believe that Jesus' use of the positive form of the Rule is a special sign of the
manifestly greater nobility of His teachings in comparison to the teachings of the
other sages of old.

Historically viewed, Christianity was a higher Judaism. The ethical teaching of

Jesus was a higher interpretation of the best ethical teaching of the Jewish people,
based upon their Old Testament Scriptures, in the first century A.D. Jesus was a
representative Jew of his day, and an exponent of the finest Judaism. However, he
was not a mere repeater of what other Jews were thinking and saying. Instead, he
had superior ethical insight, judgment, enthusiasm, impulse; he had a higher power
of expression and of effectiveness; he was a creator in the ethical field-not a creator
ex nihilo, but one who could reconstruct the best ethical materials of Judaism into a
new, a higher, ethics that was destined to become the moral ideal of the whole
Mediterranean world and of occidental civilization. The Old Testament was the
standard of Jewish faith and practice. It was diligently studied by the Jewish moral-

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religious teachers and leaders, and it was systematically taught to the people in the
home and in the synagogues. The Jews were unsurpassed for piety and moral
earnestness. Jesus represents these qualities at their best. He knew and
appreciated the Old Testament thoroughly. It was to him, as it was to them, a sacred
literature, full of the revelation of God's character, purposes, actions, and demands.
He said that he came to fulfil the Law and the Prophets, meaning that his message
was to be regarded as the message of the Old Testament in a higher interpretation,
a fresh disclosure of God's will for men, impressing the eternal issues of obedience
and disobedience. Jesus especially pointed out and urged the deeper moral
principles underlying the statutory provisions of the Pentateuchal Code. The statutes
provided that men should not kill or steal or commit adultery; Jesus reinforced these
prohibitions, but also strongly interdicted the feelings of hatred, covetousness, and
lust that prompted such acts. He insisted upon less ritualism and more
humanitarianism in the exposition and enforcement of all the Law. He criticized
severely some of the "traditions of the elders" which made the Law a "heavy yoke
upon the necks" of the people; he stood for freedom, simplicity, individual
conscience, and initiative in the religious life.

Jesus attempted, not an abrogation of Judaism, but a reform. The Judaism of

Jesus' higher interpretation was a more lofty, winning, and forceful ethical religion
than the standard Judaism of the scribes and Pharisees. The difference between his
message and theirs was so considerable that they opposed him to the death. The
superiority of Jesus' message is self-evident to us; it was also obvious to the
Mediterranean world of the first century A.D., which took up Christianity and made it
a world-religion where Judaism had failed. The whole historical process by which
Hebrew religious ethics developed into the Old Testament religion, and from that into
the Judaism of the first century A.D., and from that into the gospel of Jesus, and from
that into universal Christianity, is a most fascinating and instructive study in the
growth of civilization. The information is available for this study in the Hebrew-Jewish
writings from the eighth century B.C. to the first century A.D. We may for
convenience divide these nine hundred years of history into three periods of three
hundred years each: 800-500 B.C., 500-200 B.C., and 200 B.C.-IOO A.D. From the

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earlier portions of the Old Testament literature we may gather the ethical teaching of
the first period, 800-500 B.C., which we may call Hebrew ethics. From the later
portions of the Old Testament literature we may gather the ethical teaching of the
second period, 500-200 B.C., which we may call early Jewish ethics. And from the
Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, as well as from the New Testament, Philo,
Josephus, and the rabbinical writings we may gather the ethical teaching of the third
period, 200 B.C.-100 A.D., which we may call the later Jewish ethics. In this third
period we have the immediate antecedents and environment of Jesus and Paul, out
of which arose the Christian movement.

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