Texts in Conversation
Sirach 37 alludes to Obadiah, contrasting false friendship with the Edomites’ betrayal of Judah during a foreign invasion. Obadiah criticizes Edom for doing nothing as outsiders attacked Jerusalem, while Sirach says a true friend resists a “foreigner.”
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Obadiah 1:11
Hebrew Bible
10 “Because you violently slaughtered your relatives, the people of Jacob, shame will cover you, and you will be destroyed forever. 11 You stood aloof while strangers took his army captive and foreigners advanced to his gates. When they cast lots over Jerusalem, you behaved as though you were in league with them. 12 You should not have gloated when your relatives suffered calamity. You should not have rejoiced over the people of Judah when they were destroyed. You should not have boasted when they suffered adversity.
Date: 600–501 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Sirach 37:4
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon
2 Isn’t there a grief in it even to death when a companion and friend is turned into an enemy? 3 O wicked imagination, why were you formed to cover the dry land with deceit? 4 There is a companion who rejoices in the gladness of a friend, but in time of affliction will be against him. 5 There is a companion who for the belly’s sake labors with his friend, yet in the face of battle will carry his buckler.
Date: 195–180 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Sirach 37:4 also contains an indirect allusion to Edom’s failure to help his brother Jacob: (“on the day that you stood aloof,” Obadiah 11) during an attack by “foreigners” (Obadiah 11). In contrast, Sirach 37:5 praises the good friend who fights against a “foreigner” ..."
Jeremy Corley, Ben Sira's Teaching on Friendship (Providence, RI: Brown Judaic Studies, 2020), 78.
* 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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