Texts in Conversation
Matthew 8:20 describes the Son of Man as having no place to rest, a statement that may allude to Sirach 36:31, which compares a rootless man to a wandering thief and questions his trustworthiness. Both texts highlight social suspicion toward those without a home.
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Sirach 36:31
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon
28 If kindness and humility mark her speech, her husband is more fortunate than other men. 29 He who acquires a wife gets his best possession, a helper fit for him and a pillar of support. 30 Where there is no fence, the property will be plundered; and where there is no wife, a man will become a fugitive and a wanderer. 31 For who will trust a nimble robber that skips from city to city? So who will trust a man that has no nest, but lodges wherever night overtakes him?
Date: 195-175 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Matthew 8:20
New Testament
18 Now when Jesus saw a large crowd around him, he gave orders to go to the other side of the lake. 19 Then an expert in the law came to him and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 20 Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens, and the birds in the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” 21 Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
Date: 70-90 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... According to Witherington, the sayings of Jesus here might imply raise the question of the credibility of an itinerant person in Sirach: “So who will trust a man that has no nest, but lodges wherever night overtakes him?” (Sirach 36:31). Thus, the mention of nests in both Matthew 8:20 / Luke 9:58 suggests the possibility that Jesus associated his experience and that of Wisdom. In addition, the lament found in Mathew 23:37–39 / Luke 13:34–35 provides further evidence that Jesus saw his rejection by Jerusalem as the rejection of God’s wisdom, also depicted in Sirach for the wandering wisdom who seeks to a place to dwell (Siracj 24:11) ..."
Kim, Juheon
Christology of Q and Wisdom: The Case Study on the Johannine Thunderbolt Pericope
(pp. 12-13) Chongshin University, 2015
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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