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The Christian theologian Dionysius of Alexandria uses Sirach as an authoritative source to teach about the order and harmony of creation, repeating its account of how God created everything to last forever.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Sirach 16:26
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon
24 My son, listen to me, learn knowledge, and heed my words with your heart. 25 I will impart instruction with precision, and declare knowledge exactly. 26 In the judgment of the Lord are his works from the beginning. From the making of them he determined their boundaries. 27 He arranged his works for all time, and their beginnings to their generations. They aren’t hungry or weary, and they don’t cease from their works. 28 No one pushes aside his neighbor. They will never disobey his word.
Date: 195–180 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Dionysius of Alexandria, Miscellaneous Writings 1:23–24
Early Christian
“And the vast and varied community of stars, whom the much-wandering and ever-scattered atoms put together, divided territories among themselves by agreement, as if taking up a colony or settlement, with no founder or master of the house presiding; and they keep their neighborly relations with those next to them under oath and in peace, not overstepping the boundaries they took at the beginning, as if governed by atoms with royal authority. But those do not rule; how could those that do not even exist? But listen to the divine oracles: ‘By the judgment of the Lord are his works. From the beginning and from their making he distinguished their portions; he ordered his works forever, and their beginnings to their generations.’
Date: 248–264 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... In the Bible, the angels are mentioned in several places, but nothing is said about their creation. Many ancient interpreters, therefore, found it necessary to speak about their creation sometime during the first six days. (See, e.g, Sirach 16:26-30; 11Q5 xxxi 'Hymn to the Creator'; 2 Enoch 29:3; Targum Pseudo-Jonathan 1:26; Genesis Rabbah 1:3; Pirke De'Rabbi Eliezar ...) According to Jubilees, the angels were even created on the first day of creation. It occurs as the fourth work of creation on that day (2:2–3), and hence it occupies a central position ..."
Jaques T. A. van Ruiten, “Angelic Authority: Continuities and Transformation in the Angelic World of the Book of Jubilees,” in Representations of Angelic Beings in Early Jewish and in Christian Traditions, ed. Amsalu Tefera and Loren T. Stuckenbruck (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2021), 47–78.
* 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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