Texts in Conversation
Isaiah describes the Spirit of the Lord resting on an ideal ruler from Jesse’s line, that will be known by wisdom and discernment. Sirach takes this same language of the Spirit, but instead of limiting it to a future leader, he applies it to all wise people who devote themselves to study.
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Isaiah 11:2
Hebrew Bible
1 A shoot will grow out of Jesse’s root stock, a bud will sprout from his roots. 2 The Lord’s Spirit will rest on him—a Spirit that gives extraordinary wisdom, a Spirit that provides the ability to execute plans, a Spirit that produces absolute loyalty to the Lord. 3 His smelling is in the fear of the Lord7. He will not judge by mere appearances or make decisions on the basis of hearsay. 4 He will treat the poor fairly and make right decisions for the downtrodden of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and order the wicked to be executed.
Date: 7th-5th Centuries B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Sirach 39:6
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon
4 He serves among the great and appears before rulers; he travels in foreign lands and learns what is good and evil in the human lot. 5 He sets his heart to rise early to seek the Lord who made him, and to petition the Most High; he opens his mouth in prayer and asks pardon for his sins. 6 If the great Lord is willing, he will be filled with the spirit of understanding; he will pour forth words of wisdom of his own and give thanks to the Lord in prayer. 7 The Lord will direct his counsel and knowledge, as he meditates on his mysteries. 8 He will show the wisdom of what he has learned, and will glory in the law of the Lord's covenant.
Date: 195-175 B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The Book of Isaiah has images of the ideal leader that contrast with the failing king in Jerusalem. Such positive images do not occur in the deuterocanonical books. In the Book of Wisdom, however, the idea of royal power as something given instead of being grasped - an idea that is part of the ideal images in the Book of Isaiah - is attributed to the ideal king in Jerusalem in 9:7. Solomon confesses that it is God who made him king, and not over Solomon’s people, but over God’s people. Because the divine act is described by using the verb 'to choose', which is a hapax in the Book of Isaiah, only occurring in 7:15, to describe the right choice of the Immanu-El between good and evil, an allusion to the sign of the Immanu-El arises. Solomon, the climax of wisdom, therefore, could be understood in Wisdom of Solomon 9:7 as an implementation of the Immanu-El as well. It seems to me that in the Book of Ben Sira the idea of the ideal king is re‐interpreted as meaningful for every human being. The negative description of Babel, using the word 'worm' in Isaiah 14:11 LXX, is alluded to in Sirach 10:11 in the description of the mortality of every human being. The positive description of the Shoot of Jesse, expressed by the phrase 'the spirit of understanding' (Isaiah 11:2 LXX), is re-used in Sirach 39:6. God’s spirit is not exclusively meant for the ideal leader, but can be given by the Lord to every human being ..."
van Wieringen, Archibald L.H.M.
"The Concept of the City in the Book of Isaiah and in the Deuterocanonical Literature" in De Troyer, Kristin (ed.) The Early Reception of the Book of Isaiah
(pp. 17-35) De Gruyter, 2019
* 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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