THE BOOK OF JOB

THE BOOK OF JOB

Authorship: The subscript in 51:30 gives the name of the author as follows: Sophia Iesou huiou Seirach (Wisdom of Jesus, son of Sirach). In this texts 51:30 and 50:27, the Hebrew has “Wisdom of Simeon, son of Jesus, son of Eleazar, Son of Sira” as the author.

Purpose: Chapter 50:27 tells us that this books serves the purpose of instruction in understanding and knowledge. Ben Sira is an example of a devout or pious Jews. He is regarded as the last of the Israelites sages and an excellent scribe. He had studied thoroughly the Law, the Prophets and the Writings, and gained wisdom from them.

He wanted to share this wisdom and the Israelites tradition with others (33:18; 50: 27). For Ben Sira, wisdom is rooted in the fear of God. Although he believes in the tradition of divine retribution and human destiny, like Job and Ecclesiastes, he is quite uncertain how God will reward one as one’s conduct deserves.

Title: The title of book in the Vulgate is Ecclesiasticus. It is from the time of ST. Cyprian of Carthage that the book acquired the title, Ecclesiasticus.

Date: The Wisdom of Ben Sira was originally written in Hebrew, but, it was translated into Greek by the author’s grandson in 132 BC. It is this translation which is accepted as “Ecclesiasticus”, though sizeable fragments of the original Hebrew text have recently been discovered. Ben Sira himself presumably lived and wrote some sixty years before his grandson, about 190/180 BC.

Historical Setting or Background

Unlike the books of Proverbs, Job and Ecclesiastes, of which their authors and dates are not know with certainty, every compositional information about Sirach is known to great extent. The period of writing was the time of Hellenism, when some Jews led by some of their leaders were abandoning the Jewish tradition and embracing the Greek way of life. Palestine was under the Ptolemies of Egypt between 325 BC to ca. 200 BC.

But as from 198 BC, Palestine (Syria and Israel) passed from the Ptolemies over to the Seleucids who enforced Hellenisation, which reached its apogee during the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes (175-164). Ben Sira could have written at the time when the Maccabean revolt was beginning; and he could have prayed for its success (chapter 36). Since many Jews were abandoning the stipulation of the Law and embracing the Greek way of Life, Ben Sira could have written to his contemporaries, emphasizing the Israelites Law and traditions as the only way to true wisdom.

Canonicity

The book of Sirach is one of the seven Deutero-canonical Books. It means that the book exists only in the Greek Septuagint (LXX); and it is not in the Hebrew Bible. However, about two-third of the book was discovered in 1896 in a Hebrew text. Also in 1964, a Hebrew text containing Sirach 39:27-44:17 was discovered at Masada of Qumran.

These discoveries are indications that the book was originally written in Hebrew but underwent different recessions. This accounts for the differences in the Hebrew and Greek texts. However, it is only the Greek translation that is recognized as canonical.

Literary Form: Sirach within the rich variety of its contents and of the forms used: moral, cultic and ethical maxims, folk proverbs, psalms or poem of praise and lament, theological and philosophical reflections, homiletic exhortation, and pointed observations about the life and customs of the day.

Structure or Outline of the Book: The books of Ben Sira is the most difficult among the Wisdom Books, when it comes to grouping them into sections. This is because unrelated ideas are presented randomly in the most part of the book. However, the book could be roughly divided as follows:

Section One: Miscellaneous Maxims and Instructions                      –          1:1-23:27

Section Two: Wisdom Personified and Miscellaneous Instruction    –          24: 1- 42:8

Section Three: The Glory of God in Nature and History                   –          42:15-50:24

Section Four: Epilogue and Appendices                                            –          50:27-51:30

Exegesis of the Text 24:1-34 (Wisdom Personified)

Sirach 24:1-2 sets the scene for Wisdom’s speech to God’s people on earth and the heavenly hosts. Sirach 24:3 equates wisdom with God’s utterance, similarity, John’s prologue describes Jesus as the Word (John 1:1). Despite wisdom’s cosmic scope (24:7), she is presented as looking for a home on earth. Sirach 24:13-14 likens wisdom to six kinds of trees: the majestic Lebanon cedar, the cypress and the palm tree.

Sirach 24:16-17 then compares wisdom with the terebinth and the vines. In Sirach 24:19 wisdome makes appeal to her disciples to approach her and receive fruits. We compare with Jesus’s invitation to come him for rest (Matt:11:28). Sirach 24:23 makes a significant theological statement, by connecting wisdom with the covenant law of Moses (Exod 24:7).

In Sirach 24:24-27, Ben Sira then compares wisdom’s abundant life giving power to six famed rivers, Pishon, Tigeris, Euphrates, Jordan, Nile, and Gihon. Finally, Sirach:30-34 continues the water imagery (Deut 32:2), as the sage seeks to be channel for the divine wisdom that offer abundant life.

Theology

Like Proverbs 8:22-36, this poem (Sirach 24:1-34) is an important witness to Israel’s developing theology of Wisdom. According to Prov 8:22 wisdom came into being as the first of God’s works and was present at the creation. Ben Sira specifies that Wisdom is found in the Law of Moses (24:23).

Multiple offerings is keeping the Law, which comprises showing gratitude, abandoning wickedness, almsgiving and generosity of fruits and tithes, all with cheerfulness and smile (35:1-10). God does not accept wrongly motivated sacrifice (35:11). Wisdom flows like notable rivers and seas (23:25-29); and a sage is like a conduit, channeling her light far and wide to wisdom seekers (23:30-34). Christian theology has equated Wisdom with Christ (1 Cor. 1:30). In Catholic piety the female figure of Wisdom in Sirach 24 has also been applied to Mary as the “Seat of Wisdom”.

Relationship to New Testament

In some Roman Catholic Mariology there is a study of how Mary’s role in the Gospel of Luke was foreshadowed in certain Old Testament passage, on the principle that, just as God prepared the way for His Son in the history of Israel, so too he prepared the way for the Mother of His sons. Among the more prominent passage in such a discussion is the female portrait of wisdom in Sirach 24, Proverb 8, and Wisdom 2:2ff.

The New Testament already begins to describe Jesus as Divine Wisdom (Cf. Luke 11:49, Matt 23:34, Heb 1:2-3, 1 Cor 1:24, and Col 1:15). However, some of the reasons why the Catholic Church led ultimately to a shift of reference from Jesus to Mary, especially in the liturgy are:

1.      Firstly, in Hebrew and Greek “wisdom” is feminine gender and the incarnate Christ is male. (Proverb 8, and Wisdom 2:2ff.)

2.      Secondly, it was specifically stated in Sirach 24:9, that Wisdom was created by God. Now we know that our Lord Jesus Christ certainly was not created. To say that Christ is created is to utter the blasphemy of the heresiarch Arius.

Therefore, all these assertions indicate that the Wisdom personified of Sirach is a type of the Immaculate Virgin Mary as we see in the New Testament especially in the Gospel of Luke. On the day of the Annunciation (Lk 1:26-37), she received the Wisdom in the name of all. This is why she has been granted to be the first of God’s people and the mother of all others.  

The Catholic is convinced that Mary is the Seat of Wisdom, and God created or preserved her from original sin for her to be the Mother of God and to fulfill her role in the economy of salvation. Therefore, her memory “is unto everlasting generations” as Mary herself sang in her Magnificat in Luke 1:45-56.

Relevance

1.      If we want to have abundant life we must seek for divine wisdom; this is to say we must choose wisdom and be faithful in our commitment to love accordingly. This way of living will attract blessings of God to us in our daily lives; although we may face trials which are God’s ways of testing us.

2.      More so, people today, like in the case of the Nigerian Society are found to disobey the law and committing all sorts of crimes in the society. As rational beings this verse reminds us that there is wisdom in keeping both the divine, natural and social law.

3.      This texts informs us that Wisdom can praise herself and this is actually dangerous for an ordinary person. St. Paul says: It is God who, for his own generous purpose, gives you the intention and powers to act so we are to imitate Christ’s humility. (Phil 2:13)

4.      Like Proverbs 8, this section relates to the Blessed Virgin Mary even though the text did not refer to her directly yet inasmuch as her Son Jesus is the wisdom of the Father (cf. 1 Cor 1. 24) and she, as Pius XII said (Munificentissimus Deus, 1950) is "always sharing His lot," in a way it does apply to her. Therefore, there is need to enroll in her school of grace.