JESUS cincrofis ; relit% son of Sirach, - : called arnong the Jews WIND Ben-Sira, the cele brated author of the Book of Sirach, or Ecclesiasti C7IS, flourished in Jerusalem about B. C. 310-270. This date is obtained from the following facts : 1. Ben Sira celebrates in xliv. 21, the praises of Israel's worthies in an almost chronological order. Beginning with Enoch, he continues to recount the deeds or mentions the names of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, Phinehas, Joshua, Caleb, Samuel, Nathan, David, Solomon, Elijah, Elisha, Josiah, Ezekieljeremiah, the twelve Minor Prophets, Zerubbabel, Nehemiah, and con cludes the list with Simon, son of alias, whom he mentions next to Nehemiah. Now, it is morally certain, that if Ben Sira had lived in the days of Simon B.C. 217, and had terminated his cata logue of national benefactors with this insignificant high-priest, he would most assuredly not have omitted the great men between Nehemiah and Simon II., and above all would not have passed over with silence Simon I., whom the Jewish nation regarded as the personification of goodness, nobility, and grandeur, and whom they crowned with the title, the Yust, the Pious, From the regu larity of the catalogue, therefore, and especially from the extraordinary terms of the description, it is evident that it is Simon I. (flour. B.C. 370-300) who is celebrated next to Nehemiah, and that Ben Sim, who was a contemporary of Simon [EccLE srasTicusl, must have about 310 B.C. 2. The Talmud most distinctly describes the work of Ben Sira as the oldest of the Apocryphal books (comp. Tosifoth Idaim, c. ii.) 3. It had a general cur rency and was quoted at least as early as so B.C. (COMp. Aboth. 5 ; 2erusalem Nazier,v. 3), which shows that it must have existed a long period to have obtained such circulation and respect ; and 4. In the description of these great men, and through out the whole of the book, there is not the slightest trace of those Hagadic legends about the national worthies which wem so rife and numerous two cen turies before Christ.
As to the life and personal character of Ben Sira, this must be gathered from his book, as it is the only source of information which we possess upon the subject. Like all his co-religionists, he was trained from his early life to fear and love the God of his fathers. He travelled much both by land and sea when he grew up, and was in frequent perils (Ecclus. xxxiv. it, fa). Being a diligent student, and having acquired much practical know ledge from his extensive travels, he was entrusted with some office at court, and his enemies, who were jealous of him, maligned him before the king, which nearly cost him his life (E. 6, 7). To us, however, his religious life and sentiments are of the utmost importance, inasmuch as they describe the opinions of the Jews during the period elapsing between the O. and N. T. Though deeply pcne tratcd with the fear of God, which he declared was the only glory of man, rich, noble, or poor (x. 22-24), still the whole of Ben Sira's tenets may be described as limited, and are as follows : Resigna tion to the dealings of Providence (xi. 21-25) ; to seek truth at the cost of life (iv. 28) ; not to use muth babbling in prayer (vii. 14) ; absolute obedi ence to parents, which in the sight of God atones for sins (iii. x-16 ; vii. 27, 28) ; humility 17-19 ; x. 7-18, 28); kindness to domestics (iv.
3o ; vii. 20, 21 ; XXXiii. 30, 3I). 10 relieve the poor (iv. r-9) ; to act as a father to the fatherless, and a husband to the widow (iv. to) ; to visit the sick (vii. 35) ; to weep with them that weep (vii. 34) ; not to rejoice over the death of even the greatest enemy (vii. 7), and to forgive sins as we would be forgiven (xxviii. 2, 3). He has nothing in the whole of his book about the immortality of the soul, a future judgment, the existence of spirits, or the expectation of a Messiah. These are remarkable facts.—C. D. G.