Ben Sira is known to have been written
in Hebrew probably in the first half of the second century B.C.E. It was later translated
into Greek by his grandson. However, the Hebrew text disappeared until 1896
when Schechter uncovered Hebrew manuscripts of Ben Sira among other manuscripts
found in the Cairo Geniza. Later some more Hebrew manuscripts of Ben Sira have
been found from Masada in 1964. The Masada text, which contains significant portions
of Sir 39:26-44:17, supports the reliability of the medieval Cairo Geniza
texts. Among these Hebrew manuscripts of Ben Sira, the Aaron and Phinehas section
(Sir 45:6-25) remains only in Cairo Geniza B manuscripts (MS B 14v.4 to 15v.7).
In relation to the present study, it is noteworthy that two small fragments of
the Hebrew Ben Sira text among the Dead Sea Scrolls have been published in
1962. (Dongshin Don Chang, Phinehas, The Sons of Zadok, and Melchizedek: Priestly
Covenant in Late Second Temple Texts [Library of Second Temple Studies 90;
London: T&T Clark, 2022], 66)
