Texts in Conversation
Sirach teaches to not speculate about things beyond human understanding, which is quoted in Rabbinic tradition in Genesis Rabbah. Some rabbis treated Sirach as an authoritative source, integrating his teaching into their tradition.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Sirach 3:21
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon
17 My son, go on with your business in humility; so you will be loved by an acceptable man. 18 The greater you are, humble yourself the more, and you will find favor before the Lord. 20 For the power of the Lord is great, and he is glorified by those who are lowly. 21 Don’t seek things that are too hard for you, and don’t search out things that are above your strength. 22 Think about the things that have been commanded you, for you have no need of the things that are secret. 23 Don’t be overly busy in tasks that are beyond you, for more things are shown to you than men can understand. 24 For the conceit of many has led them astray. Evil opinion has caused their judgment to slip.
Date: 195–180 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Genesis Rabbah 8:2
Aggadah
Rabbinic
Rav Ḥama bar Ḥanina began: “Have you known this from [oldest times?]” (Job 20:4). Rav Ḥama bar Ḥanina said: This is analogous to a city that received its supplies by donkey drivers. They would ask one another: ‘What is the price of grain in the province today?’ The Friday ones would inquire of the Thursday ones; the Thursday ones of the Wednesday ones; the Wednesday ones of the Tuesday ones; the Tuesday ones of the Monday ones; the Monday ones of the Sunday ones. The Sunday one, whom would he ask? Would he not ask the businessmen of the city? Here, too, everything that was made on each day would ask one another: ‘What creations did the Holy One blessed be He create on your day?’ The sixth day would ask the fifth day, and so on until the first day. Whom would it [the first day] ask? Is it not the Torah, that preceded the creation of the world? As Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: The Torah preceded the creation of the world by two thousand years. That is what is written: “I was with Him, as a protégé; [I was a delight day after day]” (Proverbs 8:30), and the day of the Holy One blessed be He is one thousand years, as it is written: “As one thousand years in Your eyes are like yesterday” (Psalms 90:4). That is, “have you known this [from oldest times?]” (Job 20:4). The Torah knows what preceded the creation of the world. But you have license to expound only “from when man was placed upon the earth” (Job 20:4). Rabbi Elazar said, citing ben Sira: “Do not seek what is too great for you, do not interrogate what is stronger than you, do not seek knowledge of what is hidden from you, and do not ask regarding what is concealed from you. Observe what is permitted for you, and you have no business with the esoteric.”
Date: 500 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Source (1) is from Ben Sira 3:21–22. These lines appear in the name of R. Eleazar (a third-generation Palestinian Amora) in the Yerushalmi and in Bereshit Rabba. The tradition appears in a related context in the Babylonian Talmud in the name of an Amora known to cite Palestinian traditions (see above), and this source can therefore be considered secondary to the two Palestinian traditions, not an essentially Babylonian tradition. The closeness between all three of these rabbinic traditions and its two extant Hebrew versions in Ben Sira is striking. In fact, the second clause varies slightly both between the manuscripts of Ben Sira and between the rabbinic versions, but the rest of the text is almost identical in all five witnesses ..."
Jenny R. Labendz, “The Book of Ben Sira in Rabbinic Literature,” AJSR 30 (2006): 347–392.
* 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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