Texts in Conversation
4 Ezra alludes to Sirach 34, presenting travel as a source of wisdom, reinforcing the idea that experience builds knowledge. This connection suggests that 4 Ezra draws on the Jewish wisdom traditions to give authority to its apocalyptic perspective.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Sirach 34:10
Ben Sira, Ecclesiasticus
Deuterocanon
9 A well-instructed man knows many things. He who has much experience will declare understanding. 10 He who has no experience knows few things. 11 But he who has traveled increases cleverness. 12 I have seen many things in my travels. My understanding is more than my words. 13 I was often in danger even to death. I was preserved because of these experiences.
4 Ezra 3:33
2 Esdras
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
31 and you have not shown how your way may be comprehended. Are the deeds of Babylon better than those of Zion? 32 Or is there any other nation that knows you beside Israel? Or what tribes have so believed your covenants as these tribes of Jacob? 33 Yet their reward doesn’t appear, and their labor has no fruit, for I have gone here and there through the nations, and I see that they abound in wealth, and don’t think about your commandments. 34 Weigh therefore our iniquities now in the balance, and theirs also who dwell in the world, and so it will be found which way the scale inclines.
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Notes and References
"... 4 Ezra is of particular significance for the details of ongoing debate about the roots of apocalyptic, since it has many features in common with wisdom writings, especially Sirach and the Qumran text 4QInstruction. Typically, wisdom literary forms employed in 4 Ezra include riddles (4:5-8) and parables (5:13-18), and shared themes also occur as an interest in Creation and natural phenomena (4:7; 6:1-4, 38-54), and the idea that the wise person is widely travelled (3:29, 33; compare Sirach 34:10-11). There are obvious parallels with the book of Job, too, in the lengthy dialogues and challenges to the reality of God's justice ..."
Docherty, Susan E.
The Jewish Pseudepigrapha: An Introduction to the Literature of the Second Temple Period
(p. 140) Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2014
* 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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