In the Ilibirw text we read at the end, ' Ilitlierto the words of Simeon ben Jeshua who is called ben Sirii. The Wisdom (n2:n) of Simeon ben Jeshua ben Eleazar ben Sira. Tlie name of Jahweh be blessed from now and till eternity.'
From these Greek, Syriac, and Hebrew state- ments it would apjx-ar that the title of the book was ■ Wisiloin,' '^oipia, in Heli. -"rri (or ic'") ; tut how is this to be recuncilud with the statinient of Jerome that the title was in Hebrew Parabolcc (i.e. "^fp)? Is this a confusion with Proverbs, a solution recommended by the fact that in the Hebrew seen by .lerome Keel, and Cant, followed ; or was tin.' copy seen Ijy .Jerome not a copy of the original, hut a retranslation from the (ireek, as already Scaliger suggested ? And then, Jewish i| notations from Sirach, where they mention not only the name of the author as ktd [3 nax, or in
in Sj/mh.), after the canonical books of the OT, amonp which he mentioned '.Salomonis vero tres': 'Sciendum tamcn est, <l(iod et alii liliri sunt, qui non canonici sed ecclvtdailici a maiuribus ap)>ellati sunt, ut est Sapientia Salomonis et alia .Sapientia qviro dicitur fllii Syrach, qui liber apud latinos hoc i|M*o jfenerali vocabulo I-Jccleifiastiatji appcllatur, quo vocabuto non auctor libri, sed Scriptural qualitas co^^nominata est.'
• How are these words to be understood ? Just as there are
three liooksof Solomon (I'rov., EccL, Cant.), so there were cxtra-
«nonical books equal In number and contents (Siraeh-l-Eccl.-f
Oant. T).
t Thus also Opiucula I'atoriana, p. 107, and after a remark,
enilctti Bar Sira.'
Aramaic kto id, or ntd p nsD, have twice "v'k 'ri'in ' the Parabolint said,' or kto p tsn nSna ' a, proverb said ben Sira' (see C-N, p. xxiv n. v. liv and p. xx n. X.). The same word x^nD ' proverbs ' occurs in the Syriac VS at 50-'' ; the Heli. text has there ^za noio, and the book is quoted as i:i3 "iSD by Saadia (C-N, p. ix n. 4). The question of the original title is, after all, a puzzle, and new puzzles as to the author's name arise from the newly discovered texts.
iv. The Name of the Author.— (a) Hitherto it has been generally held that the author's name was Jesus the son ot Sira (Jesus lilius Sirach, Jesus Siracida). Especially subsequent to the Reforma- tion this name became current instead of the Latin book - name Ecclesiasticus. Compare the title of the first separate edition of the book in Greek by Joachim Camerarius (Basilea;, 1551), ' Senti'ntiae Jesu Siracidje Gnece.'* But now new difficulties arise. In the Greek text the author himself (50'-'') gives his name as 'Iijcrovj i/ios -apax 'EXeaj'ap 6 'IfpoaoXv/uirris ; t instead of the last word the first hand of codex S had Upeui 6 ZoXup-eirris ; the name 'EXeofap is omitted by cod. 248 and the Complutensian and Sixtine editions ; 'EXcafapou is written in cod. 68 and the Aldine Bible, 'EXcdfapot in V 253. The Syriac Hexapla has 'Jesus son of Sirach of Eliezer' (^IV■^N^) ; the Pesh. omits the iw.ssage altogether ; in the Latin Vulgate it runs, ' Jesus lilius Sirach .Jerosoljinita ' ; and now in the Hebrew in the twice-repeated colophon, p \vjau'7 NTO p -wiihtt p yiB" ' by Shimeon son of Jesus son of Eleazar son of Sira.' And .so the author is called also by Saadia (see S-T, p. 65). Many recent writers thiiiK the Hebrew pedigree Simeon — Jesus — Eleazar — Sira a mere clerical error for the sequence Jester — Simeon — Eleazar — Siru. But it must be pointed out that the name Simeon is firmly attached to the author of this book in the S3'riac Church. There he was identified with the -rp.(iiv 6 0(000X0! of the NT, the author of Nunc iliinittis. On this identification see especially Geor", bishop of the Arabs (Brieft iind Oedichte, ed. llyssel, p. 59 f., 80 f., 159 f.), who ojiposes the identification for chronological reasons, the author of the book having lived, according to Georg, 244 years before Christ, in the 65th year of the Greek era, under Euergetes. Cf. furtlier, Gregory Bar- hebneus (Scholien, cd. Kaatz), who identifies hira at the same time with Simeon (II.) son of Onias; Opiiseula Nestoriana (ed. G. Holl'mann, p. 107, J 139 §); History oj I he Blessed Virgin Mary, ed. Budge (p. 36), where cod. B for 'Simeon the old ' has ' Simeon Asira ' — he becomes priest after
• There Is a Rood story told by Slelanchthon, which, whether It refers to this edition or not, on^jlit not to he suppressed : '(^liilam sacriticulus cum in bibliopolio vidis-^et S^racidem cditnm dixit: c^uam uiali liomines sunt Luthcrani ; etiam Christo nomen aliud afflngrunt : antea vocabatur (.'hristus Jesus, nunc illi vocant eum Jesus Syrach' (see GGN, 1S94, ISO).
t AV 'Jesus the son of Sirach of Jerusalem ' ; KV ' Jesms the son of Sirach Eleazar of Jerusalem.' Note the Grecized form of the name (instead of ' \%fiauirtt>.v,u.).
t ' That be was called bar Sirft ; they relate that he called hia father NTDx, because he is the Simeon whose tongue wai bound (KI.'CN) by the Holy Ghost, till he should see the Christ, and when he had seen Him, he spoke. Let me now part in jcace to my fathers.*