Texts in Conversation
The Didache and Sirach share a common tradition that using the image of a yoke to describe the acceptance of instruction. In Sirach the yoke symbolizes wisdom, and in the Didache it represents teaching based on the authority of Jesus.
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Sirach 51:26
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon
24 Why do you say you are lacking in these things, and why do you endure such great thirst? 25 I opened my mouth and said, Acquire wisdom for yourselves without money. 26 Put your neck under her yoke, and let your souls receive instruction; it is to be found close by. 27 See with your own eyes that I have labored but little and found for myself much serenity. 28 Hear but a little of my instruction, and through me you will acquire silver and gold.
Date: 195-175 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Didache 6:2
Early Christian
1 Be careful that no one leads you astray from this Way of teaching, for those who do so are teaching you without God. 2 If you can bear the full burden of the Lord's requirements, you will be perfect; but if you cannot, do what you can. 3 Regarding food, eat what you can tolerate, but always avoid food that has been offered to idols, as it represents the worship of lifeless gods.
Date: 50-70 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The use of ζυγόν ('yoke') twice in the famous 'Heilsanruf' in Matthew 11:29-30 has been much debated, but the parallel with Sirach 51:26 and with other Wisdom literature suggest that here too the point at issue is the Law and its interpretation. Reference to the Law as a yoke is well attested in Rabbinic Judaism, as in the saying of Nehunya b. Ha-Kanah: 'He that takes upon himself the yoke of the Law, from him shall be taken the yoke of the kingdom and the yoke of worldly care' (Pirkei Avot 3:5). The only reference to 'yoke' in the Qumran literature is to the yoke of the Kittim (1QpHab 6:6). While Ba. does not have a parallel to Didache 6:2, it is concerned with the problem of the applicability of the Jewish Law to Gentile Christian converts ... [it] sounds like a polemic against Didache 6:2 and rejects the 'yoke of necessity' in favor of the 'new law of our Lord Jesus Christ' ..."
Draper, Jonathan Alfred
A Commentary on the Didache in the Light of the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Documents
(p. 135) St. John's College, 1983
* 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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