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The Christian theologian Clement of Alexandria uses Sirach as an authoritative source for teaching when he repeats its teaching to limit time among the foolish and spend more time with the wise, showing how Sirach influenced early Christian tradition.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Sirach 27:12
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon
10 The lion lies in wait for prey. So does sin for those who do evil. 11 The discourse of a godly man is always wise, but the fool changes like the moon. 12 Limit your time among people void of understanding, but persevere among the thoughtful. 13 The talk of fools is offensive. Their laughter is wantonly sinful. 14 Their talk with much swearing makes hair stand upright. Their strife makes others plug their ears.
Date: 195–180 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Early Christian
"And pray that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith." And the Poetics of Cleanthes, the Stoic, writes to the following effect: "Look not to glory, wishing to be suddenly wise, And fear not the undiscerning and rash opinon of the many; For the multitude has not an intelligent, or wise, or right judgment, And it is in few men that you will find this." And more sententiously the comic poet briefly says: "It is a shame to judge of what is right by much noise." For they heard, I think, that excellent wisdom, which says to us, "Watch your opportunity in the midst of the foolish, and in the midst of the intelligent continue." And again, "The wise will conceal sense." For the many demand demonstration as a pledge of truth, not satisfied with the bare salvation by faith.
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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