QUESTIONS: 1. Describe the evidence regarding the date of Jesus the son
of Sirach. 2. The character of the man. 3. The history of his writings.
4. The nature of the Greek translation. 5. The recovery of the Hebrew
original. 6. Its picture of the Jewish life of the period. 7. Its
description of the wise men and scribes. 8. Its social teachings.
9. Its religious teachings.
SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL RESEARCH: 1. The Hebrew fragments of Ben Sira.
Cowley and Neubauer, _The Original Heb. of a Portion of Ecclus._;
Schechter and Taylor, _The Wisdom of Ben-Sira;_ Hastings, _D.B._, IV,
546-9; _En. Bib._, II, 1166-9. 2. The character of Ben Sira as revealed
in his writings. Hastings, _D.B._, IV, 550; _En. Bib._, II, 1175-8; Bevan,
_Jerusalem under the High Priests_, 49-51. 3. A comparison of the moral
and social teachings of Ben Sira with those of the book of Proverbs.
Bevan, _Jerusalem under the High Priests_, 52-68.