More Fun with Ben Sira…
In honor of today’s final in Second Temple Jewish Lit., I’ve decided to revisit our good friend Ben Sira. We covered several overarching themes to the book during our discussion of the text. His perspective of women is quite memorable.
Ben Sira, along with the rest of Hellenistic and ancient Jewish culture during the Intertestamental period, had a pretty low view of women. Here are some examples…
“Any iniquity is small compared to a woman’s iniquity; may a sinner’s lot befall her!” ~ Sir. 25:19
“From a woman sin had its beginning, and because of her we all die.” ~ Sir. 25:24
“Keep strict watch over a headstrong daughter, or else, when she finds liberty, she will make use of it. Be on guard against her impudent eye, and do not be surpirsed if she sins against you.” ~ Sir. 26:10-11
“A silent wife is a gift from the Lord.” ~ Sir. 26:14
“Better is the wickedness of a man than a woman who does good; it is woman who brings shame and disgrace.” ~ Sir. 42:14
Here’s the final conversation we had in class about Ben Sira’s perspective.
Rollston: When looking at some of these texts, we see that Ben Sira has a pretty low view of women. He desires a wife, however, who is beautiful, smart, and chaste. One he can keep in check and in line. How is it you reflect on this?
Adrienne: Maybe he’s gay.
Maybe you had to be there, but I thought it was pretty funny.
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It’s funny because it’s ESR. Someone could write a dissertation on WHY that makes it funny, but it’s the truth.
Amazing…
One of the questions on the final was…
Discuss Ben Sira’s views of women
Yes, posting this actually helped me study. Imagine that!
I thought about saying he was gay, but figured that wouldn’t be good on an actual test.