Sirach or Ben Sira--it's all interesting and inspiring

Today's reading was in Sirach 10. I just love this book of the Bible, because as a Protestant, I'd never heard it or read it until a few years ago--probably didn't know it existed. The Catholic, Orthodox, Syriac and African canons have it, so well over half of all Christians have an opportunity to hear or read its wisdom, at least in a church service during certain seasons or festivals. It's like the book of Proverbs, but much more in depth and more topics. Chapter 10 concerns governments and rulers. So true for today and regardless of your political leanings, it can comfort you. God is in control. See verse 4.

Chapter 10
A wise magistrate educates his people,
and the rule of an intelligent person is well ordered.
2 As the people’s judge is, so are his officials;
as the ruler of the city is, so are all its inhabitants.
3 An undisciplined king ruins his people,
but a city becomes fit to live in through the understanding of its rulers.
4 The government of the earth is in the hand of the Lord,
and over it he will raise up the right leader for the time.
5 Human success is in the hand of the Lord,
and it is he who confers honor upon the lawgiver. [a]

The book of Ben Sira was collected around 130 B.C and was used by Greek speaking Jews, and the early Christians. Jesus himself probably knew this book. However, in 1896 the Hebrew manuscripts from 180 B.C. were found by 2 British sisters. (see The sisters of Sinai by Janet Soskice which our book club read). That's what got me really interested. Since joining Academia.edu web site I've found hundreds of scholarly papers on this fascinating book.
https://www.bensira.org/introduction.html

Thoughts on Ben Sira

Ben Sira (also known as Ecclesiasticus or Sirach) is part of the Apocrypha, or more accurately the Deuterocanonical books of the Bible. I've only been in one Bible study that even mentioned this lovely collection of proverbs, wise sayings, advice and counsel to all types of people from physicians to fool. And the female leader (on video) of that class railed against the writer/translator as being a misogynist. Not so. It's a lovely book, and I really like the longer advice pieces. As far as being anti-female, what's wrong with this advice? It's directed at men and how they behave around women.

 
Chapter 9: 3 Keep away from other men's wives or they will trap you. 4 Don't keep company with female musicians; they will trick you. 5 Don't look too intently at a virgin, or you may find yourself forced to pay a bride price. 6 Don't give yourself to prostitutes, or you may lose everything you own. 7 So don't go looking about in the streets or wandering around in the run-down parts of town. 8 When you see a good-looking woman, look the other way; don't let your mind dwell on the beauty of any woman who is not your wife."

 
That advice would work in the 21st century.

But more to the point. If 7% of Sirach is addressed to problems with women, then that means the other 93% is addressed to problems with men. What do Paul and Jesus lay at the feet of men (to whom they were talking) Well, how about Mark 7: greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, arrogance, folly, evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, and blasphemy for starters. Paul was just as straightforward as Jesus: Colossians 3: 8: "But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language from your lips. "

Abraham was a liar; Noah was a drunkard; Moses lost his temper and killed a man; Elijah was despondent; David was an adulterer and murderer; Peter denied his Lord; Paul (Saul) chased down Christians and killed them. Thomas doubted. So, it seems the Bible doesn't always reflect well on men, yet they were all part of God's plan of redemption.

I don't recall where I read it, but Luther and Calvin didn't remove those 7 books from the Protestant canon. Later Reformers did that.

Cairo Genizah and the Wisdom of Ben Sira

 The book of Ecclesiasiticus (church book) also called Sirach or Wisdom of Ben Sira is part of the Catholic, Orthodox, Syriac Peshitta, Coptic and African canons, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church with 81 books.  It does not appear in the Protestant canon, having been removed during the Reformation.  Although I've enjoyed reading Sirach when it appears as part of the liturgy, I didn't know about its discovery in Hebrew in 1896 until our book club read Sisters of Sinai, How Two Lady Adventurers Discovered the Hidden Gospels by Janet Soskice (2009).

https://youtu.be/mSVPUU8unms?si=xgFChUUoM_UOb369   Sisters of Sinai - Janet Soskice on Scottish Twins Agnes Lewis & Margaret Gibson YouTube lecture

18 facts about the Cairo Genizah

"14. The Original Hebrew Ben Sirah Was Discovered There

"Ben Sira is part of what is known as the Apocrypha—works of Jewish wisdom that were not included in the 24 Books of the Hebrew Bible. In fact, it was when two sisters, Agnes Lewis and Margaret Gibson, found a piece of Hebrew Ben Sirah (which they could not identify) that scholars realized what a treasure the Geniza was. This work—quoted numerous times by the Sages—had only survived in Greek. Thanks to the Geniza (and the Dead Seas Scrolls), at least six sections of Ben Sira in Hebrew have been rediscovered."

The Cairo Genizah - Its History and Importance - Chabad.org

The Book of Sirach - Intro (youtube.com) Ben Sira

How the wisdom of Ben Sira has impacted the church (Sirach, Ecclesiasticus, Apocrypha) (youtube.com)

Ben Sira (also known as Sirach or Ecclesiasticus) is one of our most important sources of ancient Hebrew literature. It is also one of 7 books that belong to the Apocrypha/Deuterocanonical books of the Bible. This great source from second temple Judaism has played an important role to the Christianity since the early church. Our guest, Peter Beckman, is completing his PhD at Saint Paul University in Ottawa, Ontario and is a pastor at a Lutheran church. We discuss a number of topics * The placement (or lack thereof) of Ben Sira in the biblical canon * The different names for the book and what they show * The author of Ben Sira * The differences between the Hebrew and Greek versions * The purpose, style, and message of the book of Ben Sira * The unique prologue to the Greek version of Ben Sira * How Ben Sira navigates challenges that people of faith deal with today * How Ben Sira interprets Scripture * The “canon consciousness” of Ben Sira * We have a little debate about literacy and the target audience of Ben Sira * How has the book of Ben Sira been used in the church throughout history up to today in different denominations * How all wisdom should lead to worship and prayer

https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/bibliographies/genizah/search?query=2665&queryType=TITLEID Palestinian Syriac texts : from palimpsest fragments in the Taylor-Schechter collection, Cambridge Digital Library

https://oxfordre.com/classics/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199381135.001.0001/acrefore-9780199381135-e-8128 Oxford Dictionary, Ben Sira

"Welcome to www.bensira.org, the website devoted to the ancient and medieval Hebrew manuscripts of the book of Ben Sira. These documents, which are housed in Cambridge, Oxford, London, Paris, New York, Los Angeles, and Jerusalem, are here presented in a single platform, to allow the scholar and the interested layperson to view these precious texts. To learn more about the remarkable recovery of the once-lost Hebrew original of Ben Sira, and its presentation at our website, click on 'Introduction'. To proceed directly to the images of the disparate manuscripts, click on 'View the Manuscripts'. We invite you to explore, peruse the website, and learn more about the book of Ben Sira, its contents, and its textual history."  https://www.bensira.org/  The book of Ben Sira [website]

"The known and published textual witnesses of Ben Sira in Hebrew are as follows: the five manuscripts discovered in the Cairo Genizah, beginning in 1896; the Ben Sira Scroll from Masada, discovered in 1964; fragments of Ben Sira found in two caves at Qumran (cave 2 and cave 11); quotations from Ben Sira scattered throughout the talmudic and midrashic literature; and the ancient Greek and Syriac translations.

In 1982, another manuscript from the Cairo Genizah was discovered by the Hungarian scholar Alexander Scheiber in the Taylor-Schechter Genizah Collection (Additional Series) at Cambridge. Scheiber published the manuscript in a Hungarian journal that was not generally accessible to
the scholarly community.4 He identified the new manuscript as belonging to the same source as that of MS D from the Cairo Genizah. . . . Di Lella’s  conclusion is that this is a totally new Genizah manuscript of Ben Sira, which he designates MS F. (Linguistic Innovations in Ben Sira Manuscript F. by Haim Dihi, Hebrew in the Second Temple Period; The Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls and of Other Contemporary Sources, 2013)  Linguistic Innovation in Ben Sira Manuscript F | HAIM DIHI - Academia.edu

Key Aspects and Themes in Recent Scholarship on the Book of Ben Sira | Markus Witte - Academia.edu