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The Christian theologian Clement of Alexandria quotes Sirach’s teaching on disciplining children, showing how it was used as an authoritative source for early Christian teaching and practice, and showing how it was influenced by Jewish traditions.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Sirach 30:8
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon
6 He left behind him an avenger against his enemies, and one to repay kindness to his friends. 7 He who makes too much of his son will bind up his wounds. His heart will be troubled at every cry. 8 An unbroken horse becomes stubborn. An unrestrained son becomes headstrong. 9 Pamper your child, and he will make you afraid. Play with him, and he will grieve you. 10 Don’t laugh with him, lest you have sorrow with him, and you gnash your teeth in the end.
Date: 195–180 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor 1.9
Paedagogus
Early Christian
There is a twofold species of fear, the one of which is accompanied with reverence, such as citizens show towards good rulers, and we towards God, as also right-minded children towards their fathers. For an unbroken horse turns out unmanageable, and a son who is let take his own way turns out reckless. The other species of fear is accompanied with hatred, which slaves feel towards hard masters, and the Hebrews felt, who made God a master, not a father. And as far as piety is concerned, that which is voluntary and spontaneous differs much, indeed entirely, from what is forced. For He, it is said, is merciful; He will heal their sins, and not destroy them, and fully turn away His anger, and not kindle all His wrath. See how the justice of the Instructor, which deals in rebukes, is shown; and the goodness of God, which deals in compassions. So David — that is, the Spirit by him — embracing them both, sings of God Himself, Justice and judgment are the preparation of His throne: mercy and truth shall go before Your face. He declares that it belongs to the same power both to judge and to do good. For there is power over both together, and judgment separates that which is just from its opposite. And He who is truly God is just and good; who is Himself all, and all is He; for He is God, the only God.
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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