1. Author, date and language of the book. Around 200 B.C., the tradition of the Law merged with the tradition of the Hakam sages. From now on, the scribes began to rely more on the Torah. This was reflected in the Book of Kings. Wisdom written by a man named Jesus, son of Sirach (Hebrew Yeshua Ben-Sirah).

Although his Wisdom was not included in the Bible by the Jews, and the Church relegated it to non-canonical writings, it was highly respected among Christians. St. Cyprian of Carthage even called it the "Church Book" – Ecclesiasticus. Under this name, it is often found in Catholic publications (not to be confused with Ecclesiastes). St. The Fathers saw in Wisdom a kind of guide to everyday life and an antidote to unhealthy daydreaming.

Biographical information about Sirach has not been preserved[39]. Apparently, he came from a noble family in Jerusalem and spent his youth in travels, from which he brought a variety of knowledge. Perhaps he was familiar with ancient literature, but best of all he knew the Bible, which he read almost in full.

Wisdom also depicts the image of the author himself: a sober, reasonable man, benevolent to people. The last of the hakamas, he perfectly embodies the sage-scribe. He loves his literary work and puts it above all professions. For him, the law is the key to a righteous and right life. Without knowledge of the Torah, a person becomes arrogant and thus plunges himself into innumerable misfortunes (10:7-9).

During the reign of Ptolemy VII, the grandson of Sirach came to Egypt, who noticed that the Jews of Alexandria did not know enough about the basics of the religion of their fathers. To help them, he decided to translate from Hebrew into Greek the book of his grandfather, which he considered the most appropriate instruction in faith and life. He began his work in 132 (the preface written by him has been preserved in Slavonic translation). Sirach himself probably wrote around 190.

Until the end of the 19th century, only the Greek versions of the book were known. In 1896, the Hebrew scholar S. Schechter published information about the manuscript of the Hebrew text of Sirach found in Cairo. This discovery (published in 1899) not only brought biblical scholars closer to the original text of the book, but also made it possible to clarify many obscure passages in the Greek translation.

2. The nature of the book. The Wisdom of Jesus, the son of Sirach, consists of verse chapters that are collected without a strict plan. It is amazingly multifaceted. This is a real encyclopedia of life: it speaks of court customs and temple rites, of trade and the Holy Trinity. Scriptures, about medicine and the upbringing of children. It contains psalms that rise to the level of the best works of holy biblical poetry. However, the author is first of all a teacher of life. He preaches "knowledge"; but not scientific knowledge, as the Greeks understood it, but a kind of "science of life"; Sirach is a moralist who views human existence from a religious point of view. He weighs his practical experience on the scales of the Law of God.

Sirach says little about things to come; He is focused on today. This distinguishes him and other hakams from prophets.

3. The Doctrine of Creation, the Wisdom of God and Man. Jesus of Sirach lived in a turbulent and troubled era. That is why he valued strength, inviolability, and constancy most of all. He associated the immutability of all created things with faith in the Creator who is above the world:

According to the Lord's decree of His works from the beginning, and from their creation he divided the parts of them. He has arranged His affairs for ever; and their beginnings were in their generations. (16,26-27)

The dynamics of nature and history are little reflected in the book. First of all, it emphasizes the immutability of the order of the universe. For him, the laws of the world are manifestations of the supreme Wisdom of Being, which was already spoken of in Book II. Proverbs and Kings. Job.

But Sirach is characterized by the identification of the Wisdom of God with the Law given to the Old Testament Church through Moses. St. the writer puts into the mouth of Wisdom words from which it is clear that it and the Law are only different expressions of the one divine Will:

I came out of the mouth of the Almighty, and covered the earth like a cloud. I set the tabernacle on high; and my throne is in a pillar of cloud. I went around the circle of heaven alone and walked in the depths of the Abyss. In the waves of the sea and all over the land and in every nation and nation I had possession. Between all of them I sought peace, and in whose inheritance shall I dwell. Then the Creator of all commanded me; and He who made me showed me a dwelling place in rest And he said, "Settle in Jacob and receive the inheritance in Israel. Before the world from the beginning he made me; and I will never die. I served before him in the holy tabernacle; and so was established in Zion. (24,3-11)

If nature, according to Sirach, cannot violate the order predestined by God, then man is in a different position before the Wisdom-Law. He is a free being. Endowed with great gifts, created in the image of the Creator, he must choose for himself the true path: