The wisdom of the scribe cometh by opportunity of leisure;
And he that hath little business shall become wise.
How shall he become wise that holdeth the plough,
That glorieth in the shaft of the goad,

That driveth oxen, and is occupied in their labours,
And whose discourse is of the stock of bulls?

He will set his heart upon turning his furrows;

And his wakefulness is to give his heifers their fodder.

So is every artificer and workmaster,

That passeth his time by night as by day;

They that cut gravings of signets,

And his diligence is to make great variety;

He will set his heart to preserve likeness in his protraiture,
And will be wakeful to finish his work.

So is the smith sitting by the anvil,

And considering the unwrought iron:

The vapour of the fire will waste his flesh;

And in the heat of the furnace will he wrestle with his work:

The noise of the hammer will be ever in his ear,
And his eyes are upon the pattern of the vessel;
He will set his heart upon perfecting his works,
And he will be wakeful to adorn them perfectly.
So is the potter sitting at his work,
And turning the wheel about with his feet,
Who is alway anxiously set at his work.
And all his handywork is by number;

He will fashion the clay with his arm.

And will bend its strength in front of his feet;

He will apply his heart to finish the glazing;

And he will be wakeful to make clean the furnace.1

Ben-Sirach goes on to recognize the useful and necessary function of skilled artisans in the body politic:

All these put their trust in their hands;
And each becometh wise in his own work.
Without these shall not a city be inhabited,

And men shall not sojourn nor walk up and down therein.2

He speaks with the superiority of the intellectual aristocrat:

1 Ecclesiasticus 38 24-30.

2 Ibid. 38 31-32

And in the assembly they shall not mount on high;
They shall not sit on the seat of the judge,

And they shall not understand the covenant of judgment:
Neither shall they declare instruction and judgment;

And where parables are they shall not be found.
But they will maintain the fabric of the world;
And in the handywork of their craft is their prayer.

Not so he that hath applied his soul,

And meditateth in the law of the Most High;
He will seek out the wisdom of all the ancients,
And will be occupied in prophecies.

He will keep the discourse of the men of renown,
And will enter in amidst the subtilties of parables.
He will seek out the hidden meaning of proverbs,
And be conversant in the dark sayings of parables.
He will serve among great men,

And appear before him that ruleth:

He will travel through the land of strange nations;
For he hath tried good things and evil among men.

He will apply his heart to resort early to the Lord that made him,
And will make supplication before the Most High,

And will open his mouth in prayer,

And will make supplication for his sins.1

Earlier in the same chapter, the honorable service of the physician is discussed at length.

Honour a physician according to thy need of him with the honours due unto him:

For verily the Lord hath created him.

The skill of the physician shall lift up his head;
And in the sight of great men he shall be admired.
The Lord created medicines out of the earth;

And a prudent man will have no disgust at them.2

The function of the apothecary is closely associated with that of the physician.

1 Ecclesiasticus 38 83-39 5.

2 Ibid. 381, 3-4. The idea, still regnant in the early nineteenth century A.D., that the more nauseous the concoction the more efficient, must have prevailed in that day.

With these will the apothecary make a confection;
And his works shall not be brought to an end;

And from him is peace upon the face of the earth.1

This paragraph ends with a quirk, suggesting that, after all, the physician is a necessary evil in a wicked world.

He that sinneth before his Maker,

Let him fall into the hands of the physician.2

The disrepute of mercantile pursuits that prevailed in the economic thought of Europe down to a recent date is suggested in Ben-Sirach.

A merchant shall hardly keep himself from wrong doing;
And a huckster shall not be acquitted of sin.3

The inherent difficulty of free social intercourse between those differing widely in wealth, a difficulty that political equality has proved powerless to overcome, is interestingly set forth.

Take not up a burden above thy strength;

And have no fellowship with one that is mightier and richer than thyself. What fellowship shall the earthen pot have with the kettle?

This shall smite, and that shall be dashed in pieces.

Hath he had need of thee? then he will deceive thee,

And smile upon thee, and give thee hope:

He will speak thee fair, and say, What needst thou?

And he will shame thee by his meats,

Until he have made thee bare twice or thrice,

And at the last he will laugh thee to scorn:

Afterward will he see thee, and will forsake thee,

And shake his head at thee.*

Corruption and bribery add their factitious element in creating advantages for the rich and putting the poor at disadvantage.

Contend not with a mighty man,

Lest haply thou fall into his hands.

Strive not with a rich man, lest haply he overweigh thee:

For gold hath destroyed many,

And turned aside the hearts of kings.5

1 Ecclesiasticus 38 8.

3 Ibid. 26 29.

2 Ibid. 38 15.

4 Ibid. 13 2, 6-7.

5 Ibid. 8 1-2.

All these and many other aspects of the intimate life of the age are open to one who cares to view them through the shrewd and kindly eyes of Ben-Sirach.

The book is a natural sequel to the great gnomic anthology, Proverbs; throughout, the same theory of rewards prevails and the same motives of self-interest are urged. At times, counsel seems prompted by generous thought of others, but usually consideration of personal advantage enters before the paragraph is finished. Generally the connection of thought extends through several couplets, or a considerable section, as in the "sayings of the wise" and the appendixes in the book of Proverbs; occasionally we come upon terse aphorisms like those in the Solomonic sections of Proverbs. One would need to be very familiar with the contents of the earlier writing to distinguish some sections of Ecclesiasticus from the book of Proverbs. Even the numerical form of proverb appears.

Of three things my heart was afraid;

And concerning the fourth kind I made supplication:

The slander of a city, and the assembly of a multitude, and a false accusation:

All these are more grievous than death.1

Beginning with chapter 44, there is a long section in praise of famous men, quite different from anything in earlier books. The list commences with Enoch who "pleased the Lord and was translated" and proceeds on its unimpassioned way through Noah, Abraham, and their successors. After this comes a brief conclusion for the book (50 27-29), followed by an appended "prayer of Jesus the son of Sirach," which proves a psalm of thanksgiving. At its conclusion, the writer tells how in his youth he prayed for wisdom, before the temple, and appeals to the unlearned to draw

near

And lodge in the house of instruction.

1 Ecclesiasticus 26".

CHAPTER XXV

LYRIC POETRY OF THE GREEK AGE

Song of Songs and Psalms

(332 to 168 B.C.)

IN strongest contrast to the didactic gnomes and songs of the sages, who flourished in the Greek age of Jewish history, is the lovelyric of the same era. Fortunately for our knowledge of Jewish literature, the fanciful interpretation given to early writings among the Jews at the close of the first century A.D. led them to regard the Song of Songs as an allegory representing the love of God and Israel. With such interpretation this book, in 90 A.D., secured final recognition in the third division of the Hebrew canon, and thus escaped the oblivion which it could so easily have found along with the other love songs of ancient Israel.

Post-exilic Judaism, which gradually selected that portion of the nation's literature forming the canon, was not primarily interested in ancient literature as literature. The Psalter might preserve a royal marriage hymn,' but its character as the temple hymnal excluded from its treasures most lyrics of human love. Isaiah might sing in the gay measure of the love songs familiar to his hearers and catch their dull ears for his parable of doom; but the love song was never finished. David's lament might preserve noblest expression of ideal love between man and man, or the poem in praise of a worthy woman2 give admirable description of the wife approved by an aged philosopher, but song's great prompter through the ages, the rapturous love of youth and maid, was almost excluded from the poetry preserved by ancient Israel.

The treasured prose was richer in this element. The narrative of one who served seven years for his bride, "and they seemed 2 Proverbs, 311-9.

1 Psalm 45, see p. 136.