§ 7. THE INFLUENCE OF SIRACH ON LATER LITERATURE

The influence of our book on the later literature of the Christian Church may be measured, in a general way, by the history of its relation to the Canon, which is summarized in the next section.6 Restrictions of space will only allow of citations here to illustrate the influence of the book on (a) the New Testament, and (b) later Jewish literature.

(a) The relation of Sirach to the New Testament. When it is remembered that the New Testament writers, as a rule, use the Greek Bible in their citations of Scripture it is somewhat surprising to find so few direct quotations from the books which find no recognition in the Palestinian Canon. Not even all the books included in the latter are cited—no quotation occurring from Canticles, Qoheleth, Esther, or Ezra-Nehemiah. On the other hand, a rich use is made of the Pentateuch, Prophets, and Psalms, while the historical books are referred to more rarely. Still some quotations from deutero-canonical and extra-canonical books do occur, such as the citation from the Book of Enoch in the Epistle of Jude. In view of the important place occupied by Sirach in the Wisdom-Literature, and the popularity enjoyed by this literature, especially among the Jews of the Greek Dispersion, it would be surprising not to find any traces of its influence on those books of the New Testament which markedly reflect the Alexandrine spirit. If there are no actual citations of Sirach in the Epistle to the Hebrews, there are at least some possible indications of acquaintance with it (in its Greek form). Thus in Heb. 12:12 a citation is made of Isa. 35:3 (τὰς παρειμένας χεῖρας καὶ τὰ παραλελυμένα γόνατα) in a form which exactly agrees with that of Sirach 25:23, against the LXX (which has χεῖρες ἀνειμέναι). Such examples are not, it must be confessed, decisive. On the other hand, in the Epistle of St. James indications of direct acquaintance with our book are abundant and clear. The more important may be given here.

Ep. of St. James.	Sirach (G).
1:5: But if any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not (καὶ μὴ ἀνειδίζοντος).	18:18: A fool will upbraid (ὀνειδιεῖ) ungraciously, &c. 20:15: He [the fool] will give little and upbraid (ὀνειδιεῖ) much. 41:22a: After thou hast given upbraid not (μετὰ τὸ δοῦναι μὴ ὀνείδιζε).
1:6, 8: But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting; for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed … a doubleminded man (ἀνὴρ δίψυχος), unstable in all his ways (ἀκατάστατος ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ὁδοῖς αὐτοῦ).	1:28: Disobey not the Lord; and come not unto Him with a double heart (ἐν καρδίᾳ δισσῇ). 2:12 f.: Woe unto fearful hearts, and to faint hands, and to the sinner that goeth two ways; woe unto the faint heart, for it believeth not, &c.; cp. 5:9 (ὁ δίγλωσσος), 7:10 (Be not faint-hearted in thy prayer).
1:2–4: Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold temptations, &c. (cf. v. 12).	2:1 f.: My son, if thou comest to serve the Lord, prepare thy soul for temptation, &c. (cp. 1:23).
1:13–15: Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempteth no man, &c.	15:11–20: Say not thou, It is through the Lord that I fell away.… Say not thou, It is He that caused me to err, For He hath no need of a sinful man, &c.
1:19: Let every man be swift to hear (ταχὺς εἰς τὸ ἀκοῦσαι), slow to speak.	5:11: Be swift to hear (γίνου ταχὺς ἐν ἀκροάσει σου): cp. 4:29.
1:23: For if any one is a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror (ἐν ἐσόπτρῳ).	12:11: And thou shall be unto him as one that hath wiped a mirror (ὡς ἐκμεμαχὼς ἔσοπτρον).
5:5: Ye have lived delicately on the earth, and taken your pleasure (ἐσπαταλήσατε).	27:13: The discourse of fools is an offence, and their laughter is in the wantonness of sin (ἐν σπατάλῃ ἁμαρτίας).
5:14: Is any among you sick? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.	38:9–15: My son, in thy sickness be not negligent, but pray unto the Lord and He shall heal thee, &c.

There are also many resemblances in thought and theme throughout the two books: cf. e.g. the treatment of humility (Jas. 1:9, Sirach 3:18), pride (Jas. 4:6, Sirach 10:7), of poor and rich (Jas. 2:1–6, Sirach 10:19–24; cp. 13:9), of stumbling (Jas. 3:2, Sirach 19:16), and of true wisdom (Jas. 3:13–17, Sirach 19:18–22); and other parallels are to be noticed in the use of figure, such as that of the crown of life (Jas. 1:12, cp. Sirach 15:6), and of rust (Jas. 5:2, 3, cp. Sirach 29:10, 12:10).1

If these examples are not sufficient to establish a relation of direct dependence, they are sufficient to justify the inference—which is confirmed by the general character of the Epistle and its relation to other books of the Wisdom-Literature—that the author of St. James was well acquainted with, and was influenced by, Sirach.

It is difficult to believe that a book that enjoyed in the early centuries of the Christian era such popularity both among the Jews of Palestine and the Dispersion could have been entirely unknown to the writers of the other New Testament books. And, in fact, possible signs of acquaintance with it are not wanting. In this connexion the following parallels have been noted:2

Matt. 6:14 ἐὰν γὰρ ἀφῆτε τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὰ παραπτώματα αὐτῶν, ἀφήσει καὶ ὑμῖν ὁ πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ οὐράνιος.	Sirach 28:2 ἄφες ἀδίκημα τῷ πλησίον σου, καὶ τότε δεηθέντος σου αἱ ἁμαρτίαι σου λυθησόνται.
Matt. 6:19 f. μὴ θησαυρίζετε ὑμῖν θησαυροὺς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ὅπου σὴς καὶ βρῶσις ἀφανίζει, καὶ ὅπου κλέπται διορύσσουσι καὶ κλέπτουσι· θησαυρίζετε δὲ ὑμῖν θησαυροὺς ἐν οὐρανῷ κτλ.	Sirach 29:12 σύνκλεισον ἐλεημοσύνην ἐν τοῖς ταμείοις σου, καὶ αὕτη ἐξελεῖταί σε ἐκ πάσης κακώσεως.
Matt. 16:27 καὶ τότε ἀποδώσει ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὴν πρᾶξιν αὐτοῦ.	Sirach 32:24 ἕως ἀνταποδῷ ἀνθρώπῳ κατὰ τὰς πράξεις αὐτοῦ κτλ.
Luke 1:17 ἐπιστρέψαι καρδίας πατέρων ἐπὶ τέκνα κτλ. (of Elijah).	Sirach 48:10 ἐπιστρέψαι καρδίαν πατρὸς πρὸς υἱὸν κτλ. (of Elijah).

These parallels are, it must be confessed, not very convincing. On the other hand, the Parable of the Rich Fool (Luke 12:15 f.) may have been suggested by more than one passage in Ben-Sira. The theme of the parable finds an exact parallel in Sirach 31:3 ἐκοπίασε πλούσιος ἐν συναγωγῖ χρημάτων, καὶ ἐν τῇ ἀναπαύσει ἐμπίπλαται τῶν τρυφημάτων αὐτοῦ. St. Luke has parallels to some of the phrases used here (συνάξω, ἀναπαύου). There is also the remarkable parallel to the same passage, presenting similar features, in Sirach 11:18–19:

There is that waxeth rich by his wariness and pinching,

And this is the portion of his reward:

When he saith, I have found rest,

And now will I eat of my goods;

Yet he knoweth not what time shall pass,

And he shall leave them to others, and die (R.V.).

It will be convenient in concluding this paragraph to note a passage from the Didache, which looks like a real quotation either from Ben-Sira or a common source.

Sirach 4:31 runs:

Let not thy hand be stretched out to take,

And closed in the midst of giving (so HA).

This is apparently quoted in the Didache 4:5:

Be not one that stretches out his hands to receive,

But draws them in when he should give.

It is difficult to believe that our book did not exercise a considerable influence on the formation of the Didache as a whole. There are many parallels both in thought and sentiment.

(b) Sirach and later Jewish Literature. In this connexion it will be convenient to note some of the more striking parallels between our book and (1) Aḥiqar, (2) Tobit, (3) other non-Rabbinical Jewish literature, and then (4) to estimate and illustrate its influence on the Rabbinical literature.

It is difficult to determine priority of date in the case of Ben-Sira’s relation to Aḥiqar and Tobit. The parallels may merely imply the presence of common matter from older sources. A strong case, however, can be made out for the priority of Aḥiqar. Thus the famous dictum, which is repeated over and over again in different forms in later literature, and appears in Tobit as

Alms delivereth from death,

And suffereth not to come into darkness (4:10, cp. 12:9),

already implies the legend of Aḥiqar, and is only explicable by it.1 In Sirach we meet with the same maxim, but in a form modified from that of Tobit:

Store up almsgiving in thy treasuries,

And it shall deliver thee from all evil;

Better than a mighty shield and a heavy spear

Shall (this) fight for thee against an enemy.2

1. Parallels with Aḥiqar. Of matter common to Sirach and Aḥiqar the following are striking examples:

Stand not against the stream.

Sirach 4:26

Stand not against a river in its flood.

Aḥiqar 2:65

Again,

What is heavier than lead?

And what is its name but ‘Fool’?

Sand and salt and a weight of iron

(Are) easier to bear than a senseless man.

Sirach 22:14, 15

A close parallel occurs in Prov. 27:3; but Aḥiqar (Syriac version) 2:45 contains one even nearer:

My son, I have carried salt and removed lead: and I have not seen anything heavier than that a man should pay back a debt that he did not borrow.

My son, I have carried iron and removed stones, and they were not heavier on me than a man who settles in the house of his father-in-law.3

2. Parallels with Tobit. The following may be cited to illustrate the parallels that occur in Tobit:

Despise not the supplication of the poor,

And turn not away from the afflicted soul.

Sirach 4:4

Turn not away thy face from any poor man,

And the face of God shall not be turned away from thee.

Tobit 4:7

My son, let tears fall over the dead;

…

In accordance with what is due to him bury his body.

Sirach 38:16

Compare with this the passages in Tobit which commend the pious duty of burying the dead; esp. 12:13:

And when thou didst not delay to rise up … that thou mightest go and cover the dead, thy good deed was not hid from me, &c.

3. Parallels with other non-Rabbinical Jewish Literature. Sirach has apparently influenced two other important books, viz. 2 Enoch (the Slavonic Enoch) and the Psalter of Solomon.

In 2 Enoch passages of Sirach are sometimes cited verbally; thus 47:5 (Who has numbered the dust of the earth, and the sand of the sea, and the drops of rain, &c.) is cited from Sirach 1:2; in 2 Enoch 51:1–3 parallels occur with Sirach 7:32, 14:13, 29:20, 29:10, and 2:4.

The following further parallels are noted by Charles (Secrets of Enoch, p. 96): 2 Enoch 30:15 = Sirach 15:14, 15; 2 Enoch 42:11 = Sirach 7:3; 2 Enoch 43:2, 3 = Sirach 10:20, 22, 24; 2 Enoch 52:5 = Sirach 39:14; 2 Enoch 52:8 = Sirach 31:26; 2 Enoch 52:12 = Sirach 28:9; 2 Enoch 61:2 = Sirach 39:25; 2 Enoch 61:4 = Sirach 31:21–24, 28; 2 Enoch 65:2 = Sirach 17:3, 5; 2 Enoch 65:11 = Sirach 14:19.

In the case of the Psalms of Solomon there are many parallels, but dependence cannot be shown conclusively to exist. ‘The language and thought of Sirach often illustrate’ these Psalms; ‘actual correspondences of expression are found, but the agreement is generally to be explained by some passage of Scripture from which both writers have borrowed’ (Ryle and James).

The following passages are cited by Ryle and James in their ed. of the Psalms of Solomon (p. 63 f.): Ps. S. 2:19, cp. Sirach 32:12; Ps. S. 3:7, 12, cp. Sirach 3:25, 5:5, 21:1; Ps. S. 5:15–17, cp. Sirach 18:12; Ps. S. 5:14, cp. Sirach 40:14; Ps. S. 9:16–18, cp. Sirach 36:17; Ps. S. 13:2, 3, cp. Sirach 39:29, 30; Ps. S. 14:3, cp. Sirach 17:14; Ps. S. 16:2, cp. Sirach 51:6; Ps. S. 16:7, 8, cp. Sirach 9:8; Ps. S. 17:6, cp. Sirach 45:18.

4. The influence of Ben-Sira on Rabbinical Literature. That Ben-Sira’s book has exercised a considerable influence on Rabbinic literature hardly needs any further demonstration. Allusion has been already made more than once, in the course of this Introduction, to the large number of quotations from the book that occur in the Talmuds, the Midrashim, and the works of some great Jewish scholars and poets like Sa‛adya and Ibn Gebirol.1 Even after the work had been banned by distinguished Rabbinical authority, and so became suspect to the orthodox, collections of extracts from it were still circulated and read (in the original Hebrew) among the Jews.2 Apparently, also, it was at some time or other translated, either in whole or in part, into Aramaic for Jewish use. It was only in the Middle Ages that the original work entirely vanished from knowledge in Jewry. The extent of its influence in the earlier period can be measured by recalling one or two important facts. It apparently exercised a formative influence on such important Jewish works as the tractates Pirqe Aboth and Derek ˒ereṣ (rabba and, perhaps, zuta). Not only is Ben-Sira actually cited in Pirqe Aboth 4:7 (= Sirach 7:17; see note), but a whole series of parallels can be traced throughout the tractate,3 which shows that the book was, in the earlier period, closely studied and much esteemed in Rabbinical circles. For parallels in the tractate Derek ereṣ rabba reference must be made to the notes in the commentary. A good illustration is to be seen in the section concerning behaviour at banquets (31:12–24 and notes).4 This tractate is mainly concerned with rules about behaviour in social intercourse. Ben-Sira’s book also influenced the liturgy. At any rate, in the prayer contained in 36:1–17 there are some remarkable parallels to parts of the Shĕmōnēh ˓Esrēh (‘Eighteen Blessings’), which occupies so important a position in all the synagogue services.5 Of course, it is possible that an earlier form of this liturgical prayer was already in existence in the time of Ben-Sira, and that he is quoting from or alluding to it. This is, on the whole, the most probable explanation. Ben-Sira’s prayer has a liturgical ring about it which suggests that it is not his own individual composition. The following citations will illustrate the parallelism referred to:

As Thou hast sanctified Thyself (נקדשׁת) before them

So glorify Thyself in them before us.

Sirach 36:4

Compare paragraph 3 of the Shĕmōnēh ‛Esrēh (‘the sanctification of the Name’):

Thou art holy and Thy name is holy …

Blessed art Thou the holy God.

The key-note here is ‘holy’ (sanctification).

Again, Sirach 36:11 a runs:

Gather all the tribes of Jacob,

That they may receive their inheritance as in the days of old.

The tenth paragraph of the Shĕmōnēh ‛Esrēh is:

Sound the great horn for our freedom … and collect us from the four corners of the earth.

Possible parallels or allusions exist in this section to all except the sixth, eighth, and ninth paragraphs of the prayer, which it must be remembered in its present form contains nineteen sections. There is, however, at least one important part of the Jewish liturgy which is unquestionably dependent on Sirach. This is the rapturous description of the beautiful appearance of the High-Priest as he officiated in the temple on the Day of Atonement, which is still recited in the services of the day. It is largely based upon, and imitated from, the description of the High-Priest Simon the Just, given in Sirach l. It begins:

In truth, how glorious was the High-Priest as he came forth from the Holy of Holies in perfect peace.1