7.1.2 Anachronism of
Biblical Canon
The view that Ben Sira is
the earliest evidence for a biblical canon often relies on concepts developed
before the rediscovery of the ancient Dead Sea Scrolls in the mid-20th century CE.
Rather than proving the existence of “the” Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls attest
to the diversity and variability of texts in antiquity. In addition, material
limitations of ancient writing practices, especially the use of scrolls rather
than codices, exclude the possibility of writing the entire Hebrew Bible or a
significant part thereof on one document before the Common Era. The terms
“Bible” and “canon” are anachronistic for the 2nd century BCE when the Book of
Ben Sira was written. Alternative terms such as “scriptures” and “authoritative
texts” are suggested in research on the Dead Sea Scrolls for texts which are
quoted and referred to in ways implying textual authority. However, the Book of
Ben Sira does not include any explicit references to textual authority except
for references to itself. It does not include a single quotation of any text
in- or outside today’s Hebrew Bible. At the same time, oral teaching is
explicitly mentioned and plays an important role in the Book of Ben Sira. Only
the Greek Prologue refers to specific groups of books.
7.1.3 Key Passages: Greek
Prologue, Sir 38:24–39:11, Sir 44–50
Only the Greek Prologue,
written later than the Book of Ben Sira itself, mentions three categories of
books as authoritative for Israel: “the law and the prophets and the other
ancestral books”. This seems similar to the tripartite canon of today’s Hebrew
Bible. However, the content of the three categories of books is not actually
mentioned in the Prologue, and the Book of Ben Sira itself is described as
having some of the same authority.
Sir 38:24–39:11, mostly
extant in Greek only, does not show any references to a canon in its
description of a scribe’s activities. God’s “law” is referred to as an
especially important source of wisdom, but a written form or the content of the
“law” are not mentioned. Other sources of wisdom including travel and divine
inspiration explicitly play an important role. If compared to the Hebrew Bible,
at most a one-part canon of “Law” can be seen in the Greek text of Sir
38:24–39:11LXX. However, the “law” is not equated there with today’s
Pentateuch. The passage does not explicitly refer to any written texts, and
does not mention writing or reading among the scribe’s activities.
Sir 44–50, the “Praise of
the Ancestors”, contains some of the same figures as the first two parts of the
tripartite canon of the Hebrew Bible, while figures found in the “Writings”
part of this canon are mostly missing. If compared to the Hebrew Bible, at most
a bipartite canon of “Law” and “Prophets” can be seen in Sir 44–50. However,
the order of figures praised differs from the Hebrew Bible, for example
regarding the mentions of David, Job, and Phineas, and the lack of any mentions
of Saul or Ezra. Sir 44–50 does not refer to the authority of any written texts
except the Book of Ben Sira itself. Sir 48:10 about Elijah does not contain a
quotation of Mal 3:23–24 and shares words and contents with a variety of extant
texts. The five passages on Enoch, the judges, Isaiah, Job, and the twelve
prophets – which are frequently used to argue for canonical references – only
refer to persons, never books. They do not contain intertextual references to
the Hebrew Bible or the Greek Septuagint or any other texts. Their contents
also differ significantly from those found in the Hebrew Bible. At the same
time, the passages share words and contents not found in the Hebrew Bible with
other literature prior and contemporary to Ben Sira such as 1 Enoch and
Jubilees. Since there are numerous differences between these passages in Ben
Sira and the Hebrew Bible and, at the same time, similarities with other extant
texts, it is unlikely that Ben Sira refers to the Hebrew Bible only and invents
changes to most of its words and contents himself in an intentional deviation
from the Hebrew Bible. More probably, Ben Sira uses a wide range of
contemporary traditions.
The study of the three key
passages also demonstrates that even if the Hebrew and Greek texts of Ben Sira
are combined, today’s canon of the Hebrew Bible is taken as a point of
comparison, and the strongest similarities are highlighted, the Prologue, Sir
38:24–39:11, and Sir 44–50 only indicate a tripartite, one-part, and bipartite
canon, rather than any common canon at all. But more importantly, the Greek
Prologue contains the only explicit mentions of authoritative written texts.
The two key passages in Book of Ben Sira itself show hardly any interest in
written texts at all, and do not refer to any textual authority other than the
Book of Ben Sira itself. (Alma Brodersen, The Beginning of the Biblical
Canon and Ben Sira [Forschungen zum Alten Testament 162; Tübingen: Mohr
Siecbeck, 2022], 188-89)
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