Sir 25:24: Original
Sin or a Wicked Wife?
Perhaps the most prominent of Ben Sira’s brief references to
sin is Sir 25:24:
|
LXX |
Hebrew MS C |
|
ἀπὸ γυναικὸς ἀρχὴ ἁμαρτίας, καὶ
δι᾽ αὐτὴν ἀποθνῄσκομεν πάντες. |
מאשה תחלת עון, ובגללה גוענו יחד |
|
From a woman is the beginning
of sin, and because of her we all die. |
From a woman is the beginning
of sin, and because of her we die together/we die alike. |
It is possible that this verse is one of the few references
in Second Temple literature to “original sin,” the idea that humans have
inherited sin from Adam as a result of his eating the forbidden fruit offered
him by Eve. This idea existed alongside the tradition that death resulted from
the first sin. Both these aspects of the “original sin” tradition are seldom
found in surviving Second Temple literature. Apart from this verse in Ben Sira
and the well-known passage in Paul (Rom 5: 12–21), this idea is found
principally in literature written soon after the destruction of the Temple,
namely 2 Baruch and 4 Ezra, indicating that the idea of “original
sin” may have become more popular following the destruction.
However, the possible reflection of “original sin” in this
verse becomes far less prominent once the verse is read in its context, namely,
a passage that describes the disaster of being married to an evil wife. The
verse that states that the “beginning of sin” is from “woman” is immediately
preceded by the declaration, “A dejected heart and a sullen face and a wound of
the heart is a wicked wife; slack hands and weakened knees (are from) a woman
who does not make her husband happy” (Sir 25: 23). From this perspective, the
“woman” who is the beginning of sin in v. 24 is the evil wife, not the Eve of
antiquity. This forms a contrast with the good wife in 26: 1, who doubles her
husband’s days.
Thus, Sir 25: 24 is principally an observation regarding the
wicked wife that may nevertheless allude to the tradition according to
which death or sin came to the world through the sin of Adam and Eve. The
context of 25: 24, however, determines that Ben Sira’s primary focus is on the
wicked wife; this verse is not meant to reflect his primary view of sin, but
testifies to a common metaphor of sin “beginning” with a woman.
Two other verses in Ben Sira have sometimes been cited
regarding views of the evil inclination: Sir 17: 31 and Sir 21: 11. While Sir
17: 31 refers to the inevitability of sin, the verse at Sir 21: 11 explains how
the inclination may be controlled. An additional section that is relevant for
exploring Ben Sira’s view of sin is Sir 23: 2–6, a passage that demonstrates
the significance of the prayer genre in determining how the desire to sin is
portrayed in Second Temple texts. (Miryam T. Brand, Evil Within and Without:
The Source of Sin and Its Nature as Portrayed in Second Temple Literature [Journal
of Ancient Judaism Supplements 9; Göttingen:
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2013], 113-15)
