Ben Sira Series

Ben Sira

Ben Sira, also known as Shimon ben Yeshua ben Eliezer ben Sira or Yeshua Ben Sirach (2nd century BCE), was a Hellenistic Jewish scribe, sage, and allegorist from Seleucid-controlled Jerusalem of the Second Temple period. He is the author of Sirach, also known as the "Book of Ecclesiasticus."

He wrote his work in Hebrew, possibly in Alexandria in Egypt in the Ptolemaic Kingdom 180–175 BCE, where he is thought to have established a school.

While Ben Sira is sometimes claimed to be a contemporary of Simeon the Just, it is more likely that his contemporary was High Priest Simon II (219–199 BCE) due to confusion with his father, Yeshua.'

The Alphabet of Sirach, a medieval text, was falsely attributed to him.

In the *Koine Greek text of the Book of Sirach, the author's father is called "Jesus, the son of *Sirach of Jerusalem.” Jesus is the Anglicized form of the Greek name ??s???, the equivalent of the Aramaic borrowed from late Biblical Hebrew Yeshua?, derived from the older Masoretic Hebrew Yehoshua?.

*Koine Greek, also known as Alexandrian dialect, typical *Attic, Hellenistic or Biblical Greek, was the common supra-regional form of Greek spoken and written during the Hellenistic period, the Roman Empire, and the early Byzantine Empire. It evolved from the spread of Greek following the conquests of Alexander the Great in the fourth century B.C. It served as the lingua franca of much of the Mediterranean region and the Middle East during the following centuries. It was based mainly on

*Attic and related Ionic speech forms, with various admixtures brought about through dialect leveling with other varieties. The copy owned by Saadia Gaon, the prominent rabbi, Jewish philosopher, and exegete of the 10th century, had the reading "Shim?on, son of Yeshua?, son of El?azar ben Sira'"; and a similar reading occurs in the Hebrew manuscript B.

*Sirach is the Greek form of the family name Sira. It adds the letter Chi, like that in Hakel-dama-ch in Acts 1:19.

In the Greek version, though not according to the Syriac, the author traveled extensively (xxxiv. 11; 34) and was frequently in danger of death (xxxiv; 34 verse 12). In the hymn of chapter li (51), he speaks of the perils of all sorts from which God had delivered him, although this is probably only a poetic theme in imitation of the Psalms. The calumnies to which he was exposed in the presence of a certain king, supposed to be one of the Ptolemaic dynasties, are mentioned only in the Greek version, being ignored both in the Syriac and in the Hebrew text. The only fact known with certainty, drawn from the text itself, is that Ben Sira was a scholar and a scribe thoroughly versed in the Law, especially in the "Books of Wisdom."

Grandson

Little is known about his grandson, who claims in the text to be the translator of Sirach into Greek. He did the translation years later after the original was written.

The Prologue in the Greek text, attributed to him, is considered the earliest witness to a canon of the books of the prophets.

The grandson states that he came to Egypt in the thirty-eighth year of the reign of Euergetes. Ptolemy VIII (eighth), Physcon, must be intended; he ascended the throne in 170 BCE, together with his brother Philometor, but he soon became sole ruler of Cyrene, and from 146 to 117 BCE, held sway over all Egypt. He dated his reign from the year he received the crown (i.e., from 170 BCE). The translator must therefore have gone to Egypt in 132 BCE.

THE WISDOM OF BEN SIRA (ECCLESIASTICUS)

The Wisdom of Ben Sira derives its title from the author, "Yeshua [Jesus], son of Eleazar, son of Sira" (50:27). This seems to be the earliest title of the book. The designation "Liber Ecclesiasticus," meaning "Church Book," appended to some Greek and Latin manuscripts, is perhaps due to the extensive use the church made of this book in presenting moral teaching to catechumens and the faithful. The title "Sirach" comes from the Greek form of the author's name.

The author, a sage who lived in Jerusalem, was thoroughly imbued with love for the wisdom tradition and the Law, priesthood, Temple, and divine worship. As a wise and experienced observer of life, he addressed himself to his contemporaries with the motive of helping them to maintain religious faith and integrity through the study of the books sacred to the Jewish tradition.

The book contains numerous well-crafted maxims, grouped by affinity and dealing with various subjects such as the individual, the family, and the community in their relations with one another and God. It treats friendship, education, poverty and wealth, laws, religious worship, and many (being of a large but indefinite number) other matters that reflect the religious and social customs of the time.