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:

He created man from the beginning and left him in the hand of his will. If you want, you will keep the commandments and thou shalt preserve thy pleasing fidelity... Life and death are before man, and whatever he wills will be given to him. (15,14-15,17)

Here, for the first time in the Old Testament writing, the idea of man's freedom and responsibility is so clearly expressed. A wise life is the realization in actions, thoughts, and feelings of the highest wisdom, that is, the will of God, sealed in the law.

4. The Doctrine of Sin. In the Wisdom of Sirach one cannot find a developed theological teaching about original sin; At that time, Old Testament thought was only approaching this idea. (The teaching about original sin will be revealed in its entirety only in the writings of the Apostle Paul.) However, Jesus the son of Sirach already knows that sin had a beginning and connects it with the story of Book II. Genesis (Sir 25:27). Unlike his contemporaries, the Greek moralists, the sage does not believe that the "natural man" is a naturally virtuous being. He knows only too well the power of evil in the human soul:

Flee from sin as from the face of a serpent; for if you come near him, he will bruise you. His teeth are the teeth of a lion, which kill the souls of men. (21,2-3)

Sirach considers the world in its fallen state, when evil is an integral part of existence. But a person should not consider himself doomed. He is given the opportunity to choose:

When the wicked curse Satan, then curses his soul. (21,30)

In other words, even the influence of dark forces does not relieve people of moral responsibility for their actions.