Glimpses into Ben Sira’s Society

The paper attempts to shed light on Ben Sira’s ambivalent view on the society in which he lived with a view to the similarities between his attitude to society and that of the prophet Amos. In many of the relevant Ben Sira passages a certain distrust may be discovered towards the wealthy or Israel’s leaders perhaps due to the fact that some of them associated with the Hellenistic rulers. Especially during the transition from Ptolemaic to Seleucid rule the status of and relation between the local rulers, and between them and their Greek overlords may have been complex, making it difficult for the individual-dependant on the upper classes-to choose allies. This atmosphere may have been the hotbed of distrust in the web of relations of the individual, at the level of friendship but even within familial bonds. Another consequence of the turbulence of the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE was that the number of poor people did not decrease. Ben Sira has important comments about the attitude towards the marginalized, which is also a significant topic in prophetic literature. Through comparing Sir 13:15-23 with Am 5:10-13, and Sir 2 7:16-21 with Am 3 :3-8 certain similarities between the passages’ respective concepts and vocabularies become apparent. The first two comments offer a glimpse into the ills of society, in Ben Sira from the viewpoint of the sage who has m any r elation-focal sayings, in Amos, from a prophet who is to appeal to Israel’s consciousness about the nature and purpose of her covenant with God, while the second two passages- using notions evident for everyone-affirm God’s sovereignty and, in the wider context of their respective works, demonstrate the conviction that the day of the Lord bringing judgment is inevitable. In different ways both Ben Sira and Amos exhibit important principles of creation theology: God is transcendent, omnipotent and omnipresent, and the guilty cannot escape his wrath.