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The Christian theologian Clement of Alexandria uses the Wisdom of Sirach as an authoritative source for teaching about divine compassion and moral instruction, echoing its language about mercy extending to all creation.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Sirach 18:13
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon
11 For this cause the Lord was patient over them, and poured out his mercy upon them. 12 He saw and perceived their end, that it is evil. Therefore he multiplied his forgiveness. 13 The mercy of a man is on his neighbor; but the mercy of the Lord is on all flesh: reproving, chastening, teaching, and bringing back, as a shepherd does his flock. 14 He has mercy on those who accept chastening, and that diligently seek after his judgments. 15 My son, don’t add reproach to your good deeds, and no harsh words in any of your giving.
Date: 195–180 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 1.9
Paedagogus
Early Christian
In fine, the system He pursues to inspire fear is the source of salvation. And it is the prerogative of goodness to save: The mercy of the Lord is on all flesh, while He reproves, corrects, and teaches as a shepherd His flock. He pities those who receive His instruction, and those who eagerly seek union with Him. And with such guidance He guarded the six hundred thousand footmen that were brought together in the hardness of heart in which they were found; scourging, pitying, striking, healing, in compassion and discipline: For according to the greatness of His mercy, so is His rebuke. For it is indeed noble not to sin; but it is good also for the sinner to repent; just as it is best to be always in good health, but well to recover from disease. So He commands by Solomon: Strike your son with the rod, that you may deliver his soul from death. And again: Abstain not from chastising your son, but correct him with the rod; for he will not die.
Date: 198 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The eighty-fifth of the Apostolical Canons gives a list of the books of the Hebrew Canon, and adds the first three books of the Maccabees and the Wisdom of Sirach; these last four are not, however, included in the Canon, though the Wisdom of Sirach is specially recommended for the instruction of the young. Again, in the Apostolical Constitutions, 6:14, 15, quotations from Sirach are given with the same formula as those from the books of the Hebrew Canon, but in the list given in 2:57 of the same work, there is no mention of any of the books of the Apocrypha ... The evidence of Clement of Alexandria is conflicting; in his Paedagogus he quotes very often from Sirach, and speaks of it as 'scripture', from which it would evidently appear that he regarded it as canonical Scripture; but, according to Eusebius, Clement reckoned Sirach among the 'Antilegomena', for in speaking of Clement's works he mentions the Stromateis, or 'Medleys', and says: 'He quotes in them passages from the disputed Scriptures, the so-called Wisdom of Solomon, for example, and of Jesus the son of Sirach, and the Epistle to the Hebrews, and those of Barnabas, Clement, and Jude ..."
R. H. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament (Oxford University Press, 1913), 299.
* 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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