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The Christian theologian Clement of Alexandria treats the book of Sirach as an authoritative source for teaching, repeating its contrasts between the foolish and the educated and referring to it as scripture.
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Sirach 21:21
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon
19 To a senseless person education is fetters on his feet, and like manacles on his right hand. 20 A fool raises his voice when he laughs, but the wise smile quietly. 21 To the sensible person education is like a golden ornament, and like a bracelet on the right arm. 22 The foot of a fool rushes into a house, but an experienced person waits respectfully outside. 23 A boor peers into the house from the door, but a cultivated person remains outside.
Date: 195-175 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Clement of Alexandria The Instructor 3.11
Paedagogus
Early Christian
And if it is necessary for us, while engaged in public business, or discharging other avocations in the country, and often away from our wives, to seal anything for the sake of safety, He (the Word) allows us a signet for this purpose only. Other finger-rings are to be cast off, since, according to the Scripture, instruction is a golden ornament for a wise man.
Date: 198 C.E. (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 ..."
Charles, R. H.
The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament
(p. 299) Oxford University Press, 1913
* 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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