Table Of ContentThe Book of Ben Sira 
in Modern Research 
W 
DE 
G
Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die 
alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 
Herausgegeben von 
Otto Kaiser 
Band 255 
Walter de Gruyter * Berlin · New York 
1997
The Book of Ben Sira 
in Modern Research 
Proceedings of the 
First International Ben Sira Conference 
28-31 July 1996 
Soesterberg, Netherlands 
Edited by Pancratius C. Beentjes 
Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · New York 
1997
©  Printed on acid-free paper which falls within the guidelines of the ANSI 
to ensure permanence and durability 
Library of Congrus Catakging-m-Publìcatùm Data 
International Ben Sira Conference (1st : 1996 : Soesterberg, Netherlands) 
The book of Ben Sira in modern research : proceedings of the first 
International Ben Sira Conference, 28-31 July 1996, Soesterberg, Ne-
therlands /edited by Pancratius C. Beentjes. 
p.  cm. -  (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestament-
liche Wissenschaft, ISSN 0934-2575 ; Bd. 255) 
Includes bibliographical references. 
ISBN 3-11-015673-3 
1. Bible.  O. T.  Apocrypha.  Ecclesiasticus -  Criticism, interpreta-
tion, etc -  Congresses.  I. Beentjes, Pancratius Cornells.  II. Tide. 
III. Series: Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissen-
schaft ; 255, 
BS1765.2.I58  1997 
229'.406-dc21  97-34015 
CIP 
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[Zeitschrift  für  die  alttestamentliche  Wissenschaft  /  Beihefte] 
Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft. — Berlin ; 
New York : de Gruyter 
Früher Schriftenreihe 
Reihe Beihefte zu: Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 
Bd. 255. The book of Ben Sira in modern research. -  1997 
The book of Ben Sira in modern research : proceedings of the First 
International Ben Sira Conference, 28-31 July 1996, Soesterberg, Nether-
lands / ed. by Pancratius C. Beentjes. -  Berlin ; New York : de Gruy-
ter, 1997 
(Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft ; Bd. 
255) 
ISBN 3-11-015673-3 
ISSN 0934-2575 
©  Copyright 1997 by Walter de Gruyter & Co., D-10785 Berlin 
All rights reserved, including those of translation into foreign languages. No part of this book 
may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, 
including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permis-
sion in writing from the publisher. 
Printed in Germany 
Printing: Werner Hildebrand, Berlin 
Binding: Lüderitz & Bauer-GmbH, Berlin
Introduction 
The year 1996 commemorated the centenary of a major event, namely 
the  discovery  in the  Cairo  genizah  of  some  Hebrew  fragments that 
turned  out  to  be  the  Hebrew  text  of  the  Book  of  Ben  Sira 
(Ecclesiasticus) given up as lost for many centuries. The first couple of 
decades after these discoveries were almost exclusively devoted to text-
critical research of the recovered Hebrew Ben Sira manuscripts origi-
nating from the 11th or 12th Century. 
The discovery at Masada in April 1964 of a substantial portion of a 
Hebrew Ben  Sira Scroll that has been set in the first half of the  1st 
Century  BCE  brought  another  revolution  in  Ben  Sira  research.  For 
these very old Scroll fragments were solid proof of the reliability of the 
text-critical state of the mediaeval manuscripts, as brought to light be-
tween 1896 and 1931. Since the late 1960s, a shift in Ben Sira research 
has been visible. Some excellent monographs were published in which 
the Book  of Ben  Sira was more and more studied  from  theological, 
cultural and literal perspectives.1  The publication by Gerhard von Rad 
of his Weisheit in Israel  (1970) was a further impulse to the renewed 
scholarly attention to Ben Sira. So in the early  1980s, it became  ex-
tremely popular: about 600 publications on the Book of Ben Sira have 
been published since 1980. 
See,  for instance,  J. Haspecker,  Gottesfurcht  bei  Jesus  Sirach  (AnBib  30) 
Rome  1967; J. Hadot, Penchant  mauvais  et volonté  libre dans la Sagesse  de 
Ben Sira (L'Ecclésiastique)  Bruxelles 1970; J. Marböck, Weisheit im  Wandel. 
Untersuchungen  zur Weisheitstheologie  bei ben Sira (BBB 37) Bonn 1971; Th. 
Middendorp, Die Stellung Jesus Ben Siras zwischen  Judentum  und  Hellenis-
mus, Leiden 1973; O. Rickenbacher, Weisheitsperikopen  bei Ben Sira (OBO 1) 
Freiburg/Schw.  1973;  G.L.  Prato, Il Problema  della  teodicea  in Ben  Sira 
(AnBib 65) Rome 1975; H. Stadelmann, Ben Sira als Schriftgelehrter  (WUNT 
2. Reihe, Band 6) Tübingen  1980; P.C. Beentjes, Jesus  Sirach  en  Tenach, 
Nieuwegein 1981.
VI  Introduction 
Over all these years, Ben Sira scholars had only met one other inci-
dentally.  An  excellent  opportunity,  however,  to organize  an  interna-
tional meeting of Ben Sira experts was offered by the commemoration 
of the 1896 discoveries of the first Hebrew Ben Sira genizah  fragments. 
So at the end of July 1996 the 'First International Ben Sira Conference' 
was held at Soesterberg in the Netherlands. The present volume con-
tains the Proceedings of this meeting. At the risk of not doing justice to 
the depth of research invested in the individual papers and the variety 
of opinions, some points of interest should be emphasized. 
The history and rivalry beween scholars at the end of the  1890s is 
outlined by Dr. Stefan Reif, Director of the Taylor-Schechter  Genizah 
Collection at Cambridge University Library. Many facts about to the 
British scholarly environment at the end of the 19th Century shed light 
on the personalities of scholars involved in the discovery and identifi-
cation of the mediaeval Ben Sira manuscripts, their relationships  and 
the human elements functioning at the centre of scholarly enterprise. 
Professor F.V. Reiterer, Director of the 'Ben Sira Forschungsprojekt' 
of  the  Paris-Lodron  University  of  Salzburg  (Austria)  reviews  the 
themes and main points of the 600 or so publications about the Book of 
Ben  Sira that have been published  since  1980. Two much  discussed 
topics of Ben Sira research, namely the structure of the book and its re-
daction history, are treated in a separate chapter by Professor Johannes 
Marböck (Graz, Austria). As there is a real lack of research into both 
form and structure of the Book of Ben Sira, Marböck's contribution is 
well suited as a starting point for further inves-tigations into this very 
complicated subject. The analysis by Professor Núria Calduch-Benages 
(Rome) of the 'trial motive' in the Book of Ben Sira surprisingly shows 
that Sir 2,1-6 contains a programmatic occurrence of this motive, which 
is worked out in various ways and contexts througout the book. In all 
instances, testing is part of the search for Wisdom, which in any way is 
a major element in the book's structure. 
According  to Dr.  Claudia  Camp  (Fort  Worth,  Texas),  Ben  Sira's 
adoption of the female personification of Wisdom is part of his gender 
ideology. Not only has Ben Sira linked Wisdom to Torah and cult, but 
also anchored Wisdom, Torah, and cult to the ideology of 'honor and 
shame'.  Not  only  Chapters  23-26,  but  also  the  priestly  imagery  in 
Chapter 50 highlight the cultic need for control of the feminine.
Introduction  VII 
On priests, there is a vivid debate among scholars whether Ben Sira 
be considered a priest or not. In a stimulating contribution, Dr. Benja-
min Wright  (Bethlehem,  Penn.,  USA) advances  an intriguing  theory 
relating to some works (1 Enoch, Aramaic Levi), roughly contemporary 
to Ben Sira, that were criticizing the Jerusalem priesthood. He points 
out some passages in the Book of Ben Sira (e.g. 3,21-24; 34,1-8; 43,2-
5) opposing these contemporary works. 
Two  distinguished  Ben  Sira  scholars  demonstrate  that  a  careful 
reading of Ben Sira texts should always be the basis for a fruitful exe-
getical investigation. Professor Alexander Di Leila (Washington  DC, 
USA) shows that Sir 1,11-30 is to be read as an elegantly crafted poem 
that must go back to a rhetorically well structured Hebrew parent text. 
Professor Maurice Gilbert (Namur, Belgium) offers a thorough analysis 
of Sir  10,19-11,6, a pericope that has been studied intensively  (H.-P. 
Rüger, A.A. Di Leila, G.L. Prato, and A. Minissale). Evidence is ad-
duced that this poem on 'the wisdom of the poor' is a well structured 
diptych describing the right way to be honoured, which is the fear of 
God and Wisdom. 
The significance of the Hebrew Ben Sira texts and fragments discov-
ered in the Judaean Desert (Qumran and Masada) cannot be underesti-
mated, as those texts are crucial to the textual history of the Book of 
Ben Sira. The contribution of Dr. Corrado Marione (Turin, Italy) is a 
fine example of how a careful reading and reconstruction of those texts 
can help towards a better understanding of Ben Sira. 
Professor Pancratius Beentjes (Utrecht, Netherlands) reflects on the 
considerations in his decision to publish a new text edition of all extant 
Hebrew Ben Sira manuscripts together with a synopsis of all parallel 
Hebrew Ben Sira texts. During the compilation of this synopsis a tex-
tual phenomenon  showed up, namely a consonantal  interchange,  that 
had never been systematically described nor analysed for the Hebrew 
Ben Sira manuscripts. It could probably shed some new light upon the 
manufacture of the mediaeval Ben Sira manuscripts and their prove-
nance. 
Of course I like to thank all the sponsors of the 'First International 
Ben Sira Conference': 
'Katholieke Theologische Universiteit Utrecht' (KTU) 
'Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen' (KNAW) 
'Stichting voor Filosofie en Theologie' (SFT)
Vili  Introduction 
'Nederlandse Onderzoekschool voor Theologie en Religiewetenschap-
pen' (NOSTER) 
'Wetenschappelijk Onderwijsfonds Radboudstichting' 
'Stichting Sormani Fonds' 
'Mr. Paul De Gruyter Stichting' 
'Maatschappij tot Nut der Israelieten in Nederland'. 
I am also indebted to J. Christopher Rigg (Bennekom, Netherlands) 
for correcting the texts of the authors who are not native speakers of 
English. 
Finally, let me thank Professor Dr. Otto Kaiser, editor of Beihefte zur 
Zeitschrift  für  die  allttestamentliche  Wissenschaft,  and  Publishing 
House Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, for accepting the proceedings of the 
Ben Sira conference in the series. 
Nieuwegein, Netherlands  P.C. Beentjes 
June 199/
Contents 
Introduction  V 
Stefan C. Reif 
The Discovery of the Cambridge Genizah Fragments 
of Ben Sira: Scholars and Texts  1 
Friedrich Vinzenz Reiterer 
Review of Recent Research on the Book of Ben Sira 
(1980-1996)  23 
Johannes Marböck 
Structure and Redaction History in the Book of Ben Sira 
Review and Prospects  61 
Corrado Mattone 
Ben Sira Manuscripts from Qumran and Masada  81 
Pancratius C. Beentjes 
Reading the Hebrew Ben Sira Manuscripts Synoptically 
A New Hypothesis  95 
Alexander A. Di Leila O.F.M. 
Fear of the Lord as Wisdom: Ben Sira 1,11-30  113 
Núria Calduch-Benages 
Trial Motive in the Book of Ben Sira 
with Special Reference to Sir 2,1-6  135 
Maurice Gilbert S.J. 
Wisdom of the Poor: Ben Sira 10,19-11,6  153
χ  Contents 
Claudia V. Camp 
Honor and Shame in Ben Sira: 
Anthropological and Theological Reflections  171 
Benjamin G. Wright III 
"Fear the Lord and Honor the Priest" 
Ben Sira as Defender of the Jerusalem Priesthood  189 
Abbreviations of Sigla  223 
Abbreviations of Periodicals, Reference Works and Series  225 
Index of references  229 
Personalia  233