Genre
This book is wisdom literature, which gives rules of proper conduct, usually in the form of maxims, pithy insights, and “words to live by.” Wisdom literature attempts to show the way things are and the way things should be. Also of this genre are Job, Ecclesiastes, and the book of Wisdom.
The goal of wisdom in this context is to live the good life here and now, marked by length of days, prestige, and prosperity. Wisdom literature highlights patterns of living that brought happiness in the past, and exhorts readers to live those patterns in the hope of finding the same happiness in the future.
The way that wisdom literature teaches is not the way that we are accustomed to being taught in modern society. We want a full and linear explanation of something from beginning to end with all the finer points in between. Wisdom literature does not give us that. Rather, it gives us a thought or an image and invites us to sit with it, to probe the depths of it over an extended period of time. You could spend a lifetime praying with any of these verses and find something fruitful every single time! We usually don’t give ourselves the time and space to sit with scripture like that, and We lose so much when we rush over a passage to get to the next good thing.
Author and Date
This is the only Old Testament book with a reliable author attribution. It was written by Yeshua ben Eleazar ben Sira, a Jewish man who was a well-travelled scribe and teacher, a native of Jerusalem. He lived and wrote the book in Hebrew in the late 3rd to early 2nd centuries BC. It was translated into Greek by his grandson around 180 BC. This is the last Old Testament writing.
The Hebrew text is quoted by some rabbinic sources but has otherwise been lost to us.
Canonicity
Sirach is considered a deuterocanonical book. Because the primary text was in Greek, it is not considered part of the Jewish canon. But it was included in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible). The Latin Vulgate translation used the Septuagint as a base and, therefore, included books like Sirach. The Roman Catholic canon is determined by the contents of the Vulgate; therefore, Sirach is a canonical book, albeit of secondary importance.
General Observations
Sirach uses Hebrew parallelism, where a statement is made and the corresponding statement either reinforces, enlarges, or negates the original statement.
There is no reference in this book to any sacred traditions or the covenant. The lectionary has more readings from this book than any other wisdom book.
The book is also called Ecclesiasticus, from ecclesial meaning “church.” It was a book used by the early Christians to instruct catechumens preparing for Christian baptism.
The book, like much wisdom literature, presents a well-ordered world where everything is black and white. It does not invite readers to question what seem to be gray areas.
The purpose of the book was to demonstrate that the Jewish way of life is superior to the surrounding Greek culture. True wisdom resides in Jerusalem, not Athens. The irony is that the book was written in the language and style of the Greek culture!
Trivia on verse numbering: there are several arrangements of this book:
- The Greek/Latin layout – In this layout, the full version of Sirach is presented; that is, no verses are missing from the main text. This is the layout used in versions based on the Latin Vulgate.
- The Hebrew layout – Due to recent Biblical scholarship primarily from the Dead Sea Scrolls, it was discovered that some verses in the Greek/Latin Sirach were already glosses to the original Greek/Latin Sirach. In this arrangement, you’ll see some verses left out from the main text. A gloss is a note that a scribe or reader made that was later copied in as part of the original text.
- The NRSV has its own peculiar layout. This is essentially the Hebrew system; however numbered very differently. The NSRV preface indicates that the numbering comes from Joseph Ziegler as used in the Gottingen Septuagint. This is the numbering used by most scholarship on the book.
How to check which version you have: look for Sirach 1:5 and 1:7 in your Bible. If you find them, it is the Greek layout. Otherwise, you are dealing with the Hebrew.
Outline
The book does not lend itself to an outline. Think of it more as someone’s “quote journal.” But, in general, the quotes around topics are loosely grouped together.