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The Christian theologian Clement of Alexandria uses Sirach as an authoritative source to teach about humility and repentance, repeating its claim that those who fear God will turn back to him, showing how it was influenced by Jewish traditions.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Sirach 21:6
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon
4 Terror and violence will waste away riches. So the house of an arrogant man will be laid waste. 5 Supplication from a poor man’s mouth reaches to the ears of God, and his judgment comes speedily. 6 One who hates reproof is in the path of the sinner. He who fears the Lord will repent in his heart. 7 He who is mighty in tongue is known far away; but the man of understanding knows when he slips. 8 He who builds his house with other men’s money is like one who gathers stones for his own tomb.
Date: 195–180 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 1.8
Paedagogus
Early Christian
At this stage some rise up, saying that the Lord, by reason of the rod, and threatening, and fear, is not good; misapprehending, as appears, the Scripture which says, And he that fears the Lord will turn to his heart; and most of all, oblivious of His love, in that for us He became man. For more suitably to Him, the prophet prays in these words: Remember us, for we are dust; that is, Sympathize with us; for You know from personal experience of suffering the weakness of the flesh. In this respect, therefore, the Lord the Instructor is most good and unimpeachable, sympathizing as He does from the exceeding greatness of His love with the nature of each man. For there is nothing which the Lord hates. For assuredly He does not hate anything, and yet wish that which He hates to exist.
Date: 198 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Within early Christianity, the Letter of Barnabas echoes Sirach 5:12–14 about the danger of a double tongue, as well as the warning in Sirach 4:31 against an ungenerous attitude (Barnabas 19:7–9). Origen (d. 254 ce) quotes Ben Sira as scriptural when commenting on several Old Testament passages (Genesis 12:5; Joshua 15:6; Jeremiah 16:6). Clement of Alexandria (d. 215 CE) quotes about eighty Sirach verses, while John Chrysostom (d. 407 CE) includes about three hundred citations from the book. Augustine (d. 430 CE) not only cites Sirach about 300x, but also preached sermons on Sirach passages. Rabanus Maurus (d. 856 CE), abbot of Fulda in Germany, composed the earliest surviving Latin commentary on Sirach ..."
Jeremy Corley, “Sirach,” in The Oxford Handbook of the Apocrypha, ed. Gerbern S. Oegema (New York: Oxford University Press, 2021), 284–305.
* 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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