Texts in Conversation
Sirach describes rulers being brought down and the humble being raised up, a theme repeated in Luke’s account of Mary’s song, where the powerful fall and the lowly are lifted. Both use reversal to teach that the marginalized will one day be honored.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Sirach 10:14
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon
12 It is the beginning of pride when a man departs from the Lord. His heart has departed from him who made him. 13 For the beginning of pride is sin. He who keeps it will pour out abomination. For this cause the Lord brought upon them strange calamities and utterly overthrew them. 14 The Lord cast down the thrones of rulers and set the lowly in their place. 15 The Lord plucked up the roots of nations and planted the lowly in their place. 16 The Lord overthrew the lands of nations and destroyed them to the foundations of the earth. 17 He took some of them away and destroyed them, and made their memory to cease from the earth. 18 Pride has not been created for men, nor wrathful anger for the offspring of women.
Date: 195–180 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Luke 1:52
New Testament
51 He has demonstrated power with his arm; he has scattered those whose pride wells up from the sheer arrogance of their hearts. 52 He has brought down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up those of lowly position; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and has sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering his mercy, 55 as he promised to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” 56 So Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then returned to her home.
Date: 75–85 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The principle that God exalts the humble and casts down the proud was common in the Old Testament (e.g., Proverbs 3:34; Isaiah 2:11-12, 17; compare Sirach 10:14). “Filling the hungry” comes from Psalm 107:9, where God helps those in distress, because he is merciful ..."
Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, 2nd ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2014), 182.
* 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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