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Sirach describes humans given the capacity for free choice, a description also found in Rabbinic tradition in Genesis Rabbah, where the “yetzer” or inclination, is used to emphasize freedom and responsibility in choosing between opposing paths.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Sirach 15:14
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon
11 Don’t say, “It is through the Lord that I fell away;” for you shall not do the things that he hates. 12 Don’t say, “It is he that caused me to err;” for he has no need of a sinful man. 13 The Lord hates every abomination; and those who fear him don’t love them. 14 He himself made man from the beginning and left him in the hand of his own counsel. 15 If you choose, you can keep the commandments. To be faithful is a matter of your choice. 16 He has set fire and water before you. You will stretch forth your hand to whichever you desire.
Date: 195–180 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Genesis Rabbah 9:7
Aggadah
Rabbinic
Rabbi Naḥman bar Shmuel bar Naḥman said in the name of Rav Shmuel bar Naḥman: “Behold it was very good” – this is the good inclination; “and behold it was very good” – this is the evil inclination. Is the evil inclination, then, very good? This is a rhetorical question. Rather, were it not for the evil inclination, a man would never build a house, would never marry a wife, would never beget children, and would never engage in commerce. Likewise, Solomon says: “[And I have considered all toil and all excelling in work,] that it is each man’s envy of his counterpart” (Ecclesiastes 4:4).
Date: 500 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The starting point for a study of Syriac usage of yaṣrā is the small collection of biblical passages in the Peshitta that use the word, namely Genesis 6:5, 8:21b, and Deuteronomy 31:21a. In each of these passages the Syriac yaṣrā renders the Hebrew yetzer. It is also found in three passages in Sirach, which was included in the Peshitta biblical canon, and was translated into Syriac from Hebrew (rather than Greek). In the first of these, Sirach 15:14, the Hebrew text is preserved, and includes the term yetzer. In the other two passages, Sirach 17:31 and 21:11, the Hebrew is now lost. However, the presence of yaṣrā in these passages is strong evidence that the lost Hebrew verses also contained yetzer. This is significant, not just because it adds a few more references to our list of citations, but also because these verses provided early readers with further information about the yaṣrā. While the Genesis passages emphasize the habitual and protracted wickedness of the human yaṣrā, Sirach 17:31 introduces the possibility that the yaṣrā can be subdued (kbaš) - and this I presume is also the origin of the rabbinic tradition that the yetzer can be subdued (כבשׁ) - and Sirach 21:11 states that the one who keeps the law restrains (ā leṣ) his yetzer ..."
David G. K. Taylor, “‘Inclination’ (yasra) in the Syriac Tradition,” in The Evil Inclination in Early Judaism and Christianity, ed. James Aitken, Hector M. Patmore, and Ishay Rosen-Zvi (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021), 262–279.
* 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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