to exalt the study of Holy Scripture above the secular learning of the Greek ecfiools. However this may be, Ben-Sira was still true to Jewish traditions and uninlluenced by Hellenistic culture. He had travelled in other countries, and studied perhaps in other literatures, but he remained ' a true "scribe," and gloried in the name' (38"). The object his translator had in view, as we learn from his preface to his grandfather's work, 'was to correct the inequalities of moral and religious culture (watdeia) among the Jews of Egj-pt by setting before them a standard and a lesson book of true religious wisdom ' (Cheyne, Job and Solomon), 'llie Wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach,' or * Ecclesiasticus,' is therefore avowedly a manual of ethics, and as such deserves more space than we can give it in this review of Jewish educational history. ' Draw near unto me, ye unlearned,' we read in the ei)ilogue, ' and lodge in the house of instruction. Say, wherefore are ye lacking in these thinjjs, and your souls are very thirsty ? ' (Sir BV"-). His religious standpoint is essentially that of the Book of Proverbs, on which his own is modelled. Thus the fear of the Lord is not only 'the beginning of wisdom ' (1"), but also wisdom's fulness (1") and crown (1"). Yet the author's ethical tone is distinctly lower than that of his model. As a disciplin.arian he is severe even to excess (30'"" 7"- **). Tlie principles of humane conduct are exhibited in many lights, including even the 'manners' of the dinner table (31""^'). The notable passa<j;e (38°^-39") in wliich he sketches his ideal of the scribe has been already adverted to. One point, however, must be further emphasized, viz. the assertion that learning is the monopoly of the wealthy: 'Tlie wisdom of the scribe cometh by opportunity of leisure. How shall he become wise that holdeth the plough,' etc. ? (SS-*"-) Educa- tion is costly (SI'"), but he himself oilers the means of culture 'withoutmoney and without price' (cf. 51**). Many questions regarding the practical aspects of education in this period suggest themselves, to which only tentative answers can be given. Where, for example, did the teachers of whom we read (Pr 5», Ps 1199», perhaps Dn 12')— be they sages or scribes — meet their pupils? What were their methods of instruction ? The synagogues first occur to one as the scene of those expositions of Scripture to which the name of MUlrash was already applied (2 Ch 13-- 24'"). There the people were instructed on Sabbaths and fea-st-days oy competent expounders of the .Scriptures, as a rule, no doubt, by the scribes, although these never had a monopoly of the synagogue teaching. As early as the beginning of the Srd cent, the scribes had apparently facilities for teaching within the temple precincts : such, at least, seems the legiti- mate inference from their description as 'scribes of the temple' in the edict of Antiochus III. (Jos. Ant. XII. iii. 3). 'Within the massive city gates or in the adjacent squares or " broad places on which the streets converged (Pr l""", cf. Job 29') the " wi.se men " awaited their disciples ' (Cheyne, op. cil. p. 124). Most of the in.struction, however, was doubtless given by sage and scribe alike in private houses, their own or those of wealthy dis- ciples. ' My son,' saj's Hen-.Sira, ' if thou .secst a man of understanding, get thee betimes unto him, an<i let thy foot wear out the steps of his house' (Sir 6^ K\'). With this advice wo compare that of Jos6 l>en-Joezer of Zeredah, in the early Macca- ba'an days: 'Let thy hou.se be a meeting-place ("lit'! n'3) for the wise ; sit amidst the du.st of their feet, and drink their words with thirst' {Ab. i. 4).*
" The n'lS^S;;'^ which, occorilins,' to Solo, Ix. 9, coued since JoHd> ttme, cannot, u somo have thouKhl. mean Dchools (r^'Aii —In late Ueb. '7^3px); Me Dcrenljourg, Hint, dt la PaUttint, p. 4MIIT.
Here was found the opportunity for those ' words spoken in quiet' that were ' like nails fastened by the masters of a-ssemblies' (Ec 12").
As to methods, we have still less information. To judge from the practice of a later aL-e, the pupus would learn by frequent repetition tlie pro- verbs of the wise (cf. Cheyne, loc. cit.). The alphabet was already used in ways calculated to assist the memory, as in the 119th Psalm. To this period may be assigned the invention of the mnemonic device known as Athba.ih (irnnx), of which the pre.sent text of Jer 25-' 51' aHbrds the classical examples (see Giesebrecht's Comm. in loc), as also the introduction of the ' numerical ' pro- verbs, so much In vogue in later times (cf. Pr 30""" with A both, v.).
Finally, we may assume that, at least from the beginning of the Creek period, a fairly high standard of general culture prevailed. It was now that the editor, if not the author, of Ecclesiastes could write : ' Of making many books there is no end ; and much study is a weariness of the tlesli ' (Ec 12'-). At the beginning of the Maccaba-an revolt, also, the possession of copies of the ' book of the covenant' was certainlj' not the exclusive privilege of priest and scribe (1 Mac 1").