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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 child, perform your tasks with humility; then you will be loved by those whom God accepts. 18 The greater you are, the more you must humble yourself; so you will find favor in the sight of the Lord. 20 For great is the might of the Lord; but by the humble he is glorified. 21 Neither seek what is too difficult for you, nor investigate what is beyond your power. 22 Reflect upon what you have been commanded, for what is hidden is not your concern. 23 Do not meddle in matters that are beyond you, for more than you can understand has been shown you. 24 For their conceit has led many astray, and wrong opinion has impaired their judgment.
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 C.E. (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 ..."
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