Current scholarship takes a more conservative approach. On one hand, scholars find that “Ben Sira links Torah and wisdom with prayer in a manner that calls to mind the later views of the Rabbis”, and that the Jewish liturgy echoes Sirach in the “use of hymns of praise, supplicatory prayers and benedictions, as well as the occurrence of [Biblical] words and phrases [that] take on special forms and meanings.” However, they stop short of concluding a direct relationship existed; rather, what “seems likely is that the Rabbis ultimately borrowed extensively from the kinds of circles which produced Ben Sira and the Dead Sea Scrolls ….”
In the New Testament
Some people claim that there are several allusions to the Wisdom of Sirach in the New Testament. These include the Virgin Mary’s Magnificat in Luke 1:52 following Sirach 10:14; the description of the seed in Mark 4:5, 16-17 following Sirach 40:15; the statement by Jesus in Matthew 7:16,20 following Sirach 27:6; and James 1:19 quoting Sirach 5:11.
The distinguished patristic scholar Henry Chadwick has claimed that in Matthew 11:28 Jesus was directly quoting Sirach 51:23, as well as comparing Matthew 6:12 “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” (KJV) with Sirach 28:2 “Forgive your neighbor a wrong, and then, when you petition, your sins will be pardoned.”
Some Christians regard the catalogue of famous men in Sirach as containing several messianic references. The first occurs during the verses on David. Sir 47:11 reads “The Lord took away his sins, and exalted his power for ever; he gave him the covenant of kings and a throne of glory in Israel.” This references the covenant of 2 Sam 7, which pointed toward the Messiah. “Power” (Heb. qeren) is literally translated as horn. This word is often used in a messianic and Davidic sense (e.g. Ezek 29:21, Ps 132:17, Zech 6:12, Jer 33:15). It is also used in the Benedictus to refer to Jesus (“and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David”).
Another verse (47:22) that Christians interpret messianically begins by again referencing 2 Sam 7. This verse speaks of Solomon and goes on to say that David’s line will continue forever. The verse ends telling us that “he gave a remnant to Jacob, and to David a root of his stock.” This references Isaiah’s prophecy of the Messiah: “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots”; and “In that day the root of Jesse shall stand as an ensign to the peoples; him shall the nations seek…” (Is 11:1, 10).
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The Wisdom of Solomon or Book of Wisdom is a Jewish work composed in Alexandria (Egypt) around the 1st century CE, with the aim of bolstering the faith of the Jewish community in a hostile Greek world. It is one of the seven Sapiential or wisdom books included within the Septuagint, along with Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs (Song of Solomon), Job, and Sirach, and is included in the canon of Deuterocanonical books by the Roman Catholic Church and the anagignoskomenona (Gr. ἀναγιγνωσκόμενον, meaning “that which is to be read”) of the Orthodox Church.
The structure can be divided into three sections:
Book of Eschatology
exhortation to justice
speech of the impious, contrasts of the wicked and the just
exhortation to wisdom
Book of Wisdom
Solomon’s speech concerning wisdom, wealth, power and prayer
Book of History
introduction, followed by diptychs of plagues
digression on God’s power and mercy
digression on false worship and further plagues
recapitulation and concluding doxology.
