Anakalypsis / Unveiling the Word
← →
⚙ Annotations & References ▾
Manuscript witnesses 2 ▾
Codex Sinaiticus Aleph c. AD 330-360 Codex Vaticanus B c. AD 300-325
What is Sirach 45 about?

Continuing the praise of Israel's fathers, Ben Sira turns from the patriarchs to the bearers of the law and the priesthood. Moses is honored as beloved of God and men, entrusted with the commandments face to face on the mountain; Aaron is described at length in the splendor of his priestly vestments, his consecration, and the everlasting covenant that made his line the ministers of the sanctuary, while the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram stands as a warning; and Phinehas is praised as third in glory for the zeal that secured him a lasting priesthood of peace. The chapter closes with a prayer that God grant wisdom to the people and keep His covenant with the sons of Aaron. As the book presents it, the honor given to lawgiver and priest commends reverence for God's ordinances and the fear of the LORD that upholds them.

Historical backdrop

Ben Sira taught in Jerusalem around 180 BC, in the last calm before the storm. Judea had passed from Ptolemaic to Seleucid hands, Greek ways pressed in from every side, and the second temple still stood in the glory the high priest Simon had restored, the Simon whose splendor the book remembers. Within a generation Antiochus would defile that temple, and the grandson who carried the work to Egypt and turned it into Greek wrote in the aftermath, for the Jews of Alexandria.

The Church Fathers on Sirach 45
Deuterocanon (Catholic & Orthodox) · Accepted as canonical Scripture by the Catholic and Orthodox traditions and included in the original 1611 KJV (between the Old and New Testaments). Not in the Protestant 66-book canon. Read with the same care you bring to other Scripture, conscious that Protestants and Catholics weigh its authority differently.

Sirach 45

Sirach Chapter 45
45
← Chapter 44 Chapter 46 →
What is Sirach 45 about?

Continuing the praise of Israel's fathers, Ben Sira turns from the patriarchs to the bearers of the law and the priesthood. Moses is honored as beloved of God and men, entrusted with the commandments face to face on the mountain; Aaron is described at length in the splendor of his priestly vestments, his consecration, and the everlasting covenant that made his line the ministers of the sanctuary, while the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram stands as a warning; and Phinehas is praised as third in glory for the zeal that secured him a lasting priesthood of peace. The chapter closes with a prayer that God grant wisdom to the people and keep His covenant with the sons of Aaron. As the book presents it, the honor given to lawgiver and priest commends reverence for God's ordinances and the fear of the LORD that upholds them.