Texts in Conversation
Sirach echoes Deuteronomy to describe teaching from different perspectives. Deuteronomy urges parents and grandparents to teach the Torah to their children, while Sirach speaks to the children and grandchildren, telling them to listen to their elders.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Deuteronomy 4:9
Hebrew Bible
7 In fact, what other great nation has a god so near to them like the Lord our God whenever we call on him? 8 And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this whole law that I am about to share with you today? 9 Again, however, pay very careful attention, lest you forget the things you have seen and disregard them for the rest of your life; instead teach them to your children and grandchildren. 10 You stood before the Lord your God at Horeb and he said to me, “Assemble the people before me so that I can tell them my commands. Then they will learn to revere me all the days they live in the land, and they will instruct their children.” 11 You approached and stood at the foot of the mountain, a mountain ablaze to the sky above it and yet dark with a thick cloud.
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Sirach 8:9
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon
7 Don’t rejoice over anyone’s death. Remember that we all die. 8 Don’t neglect the discourse of the wise. Be conversant with their proverbs; for from them you will learn discipline and how to serve great men. 9 Don’t miss the discourse of the aged, for they also learned from their parents, because from them you will learn understanding, and to give an answer in time of need. 10 Don’t kindle the coals of a sinner, lest you be burned with the flame of his fire. 11 Don’t rise up from the presence of an insolent man, lest he lie in wait as an ambush for your mouth.
Date: 195–180 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Those documents advanced perspectives critical of the contemporary priesthood by presenting themselves as the “teachings” of priest-sages yet older than Moses. Ben Sira, in contrast, writes in his own name, praises the contemporary priesthood, and affirms the Mosaic Torah as the decisive teaching above others. Partly because Ben Sira does not purport to be an archaic record of preMosaic instruction, it provides more direct evidence than the pseudepigrapha about contemporary educational practices. Like them, Ben Sira reflects smallscale, writing-supported, oral education of a literate elite. The book does not witness to any public school or universal literate education yet. When Ben Sira talks of education in general, he presupposes that parents are the primary teachers of their children (Sirach 8:9; 30:3–4; compare also 14:26). He also envisions the Aaronide priests as those responsible for teaching the people God’s commandments (Sirach 45:5, 17) ..."
David M. Carr, Writing on the Tablet of the Heart: Origins of Scripture and Literature (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 208.
* 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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