Texts in Conversation
The Christian theologian Clement of Alexandria uses Sirach as an authoritative source for teaching when he repeats its emphasis that wisdom comes through listening and discipline, showing how Sirach influenced early Christian tradition.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Sirach 6:33
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon
31 You shall put her on as a robe of glory, and shall put her on as a crown of rejoicing. 32 My son, if you are willing, you will be instructed. If you will yield your soul, you will be prudent. 33 If you love to hear, you will receive. If you incline your ear, you will be wise. 34 Stand in the multitude of the elders. Attach yourself to whomever is wise. 35 Be willing to listen to every godly discourse. Don’t let the proverbs of understanding escape you.
Date: 195–180 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Early Christian
For it were strange that the followers of the Samian Pythagoras, rejecting demonstrations of subjects of question, should regard the bare ipse dixit as ground of belief; and that this expression alone sufficed for the confirmation of what they heard, while those devoted to the contemplation of the truth, presuming to disbelieve the trustworthy Teacher, God the only Saviour, should demand of Him tests of His utterances. But He says, "He that hath ears to hear, let him hear." And who is he? Let Epicharmus say: "Mind sees, mind hears; all besides is deaf and blind." Rating some as unbelievers, Heraclitus says, "Not knowing how to hear or to speak;" aided doubtless by Solomon, who says, "If thou lovest to hear, thou shalt comprehend; and if thou incline thine ear, thou shalt be wise.
Date: 195 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The Hebrew of Ben Sira was not included in the Jewish biblical canon. Testimony to its survival, however, is found in the numerous quotations of the book in rabbinic literature. Of course, the medieval manuscripts discovered in the Cairo Genizah constitute prima facie evidence for its continued existence in Hebrew. The Greek translation seems to have been influential in early Christianity, and it eventually was included in the Christian Old Testament (only to be excised by Protestants in the sixteenth century). Sirach is not cited explicitly in the New Testament, and scholars differ as to how much influence it had on the New Testament writings. Those who see broad influence have argued for it primarily in Matthew, Luke, some of Paul’s letters and the Epistle of James (compare Harrington, Invitation, p. 90; Schürer, History, vol. III.1, pp. 205–208). In other early Christian literature, Didache 4:5 and Barnabas 19:9 bear a very close resemblance to, and perhaps are taken from, Sirach 4:31. If these texts do depend on Sirach, they would be the earliest examples of direct Christian use of the book. A healthy number of Greek and Latin church fathers, including Clement of Alexandria, Origen, John Chrysostom, Tertullian, Jerome and Augustine, use Sirach in their writings, and as early as Clement of Alexandria Sirach is cited as scripture, demonstrating the high regard the book came to have in Christian tradition ..."
Daniel Ryan, “Sirach (Ecclesiasticus),” in The T&T Clark Companion to the Septuagint, ed. James K. Aitken, Bloomsbury Companions (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2015), 410–424.
* 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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