[268]. Ewald (History, v. 263, n. 3) refers to iv. 15, x. 13-17, xi. 5 sq., xxxii. 17-19, xxxiii. 1-12, xxxvi. 11-17, xxxvii. 25, xxxix. 23, xlviii. 10 sq., but only for a vague Messianism (in the last passage the Greek seems to be interpolated). I would add xxxv. 17-19, xxxvi. 1-10.
[269]. True, the Greek version of Sirach has, at xxi. 27, the words, ‘When the ungodly curseth the Satan, he curseth his own soul;’ but ‘the Satan’ may here be synonymous with the depraved will, the yéçer rā (this seems to have Talmudic authority; see Weber, System der altsynag. pal. Theol., pp. 228-9). In Baba bathra, 15a, Satan is not distinguished from the yéçer rā.
[270]. Chap. xxii. 11. Comp. xiv. 11-19 (correcting by the help of the Syriac), xvii. 27, 28, 30. Contrast the glowing language of the ‘Wisdom of Solomon,’ iii. 1-4.
[271]. The Syriac has, ‘Nevertheless he dieth not, but liveth indeed.’ The Greek version I have quoted farther on. Also the Latin, which probably corresponds most to the original. See Geiger, Zeitschr. d. d. morg. Ges., xii. 536. The false reading κεκοιμημένοι, adopted by A.V., for κεκοσμημένοι, in xlviii. 11a, is due to the same theological motive.
[272]. Antiquities, xii. 3, 3.
[273]. Ch. xi. 17; comp. ii. 7 &c.; xvi. 6 &c.; xl. 13, 14. There are, however, passages in which Sirach betrays some little feeling of the practical difficulties of the older form of the doctrine of retribution: see xxxv. 18 [xxxii. 18].
[274]. See Dukes, Rabbinische Blumenlese, pp. 29, 30; Grätz, Schir ha-schirim, p. 86. Grotius even supposed the author to be a physician.
[275]. καὶ μὴ ἐμποδίσῃς μουσικά. So xlix. 1. ὡς μουσικὰ ἐν συμποσίῳ οἴνου; comp. Ex. xxxii. 18 Sept. That Greek music was known in Palestine very shortly afterwards may be inferred from the Greek names of musical instruments in the Book of Daniel.
[276]. Wessely was one of the most eminent fellow-workers of the great Moses Mendelssohn. See Wogue, Histoire de la Bible et de l’exégèse biblique (1881), pp. 334-337.
[277]. The Mussaph prayer in the liturgy of the Day of Atonement (German ritual) contains a striking imitation of Sirach’s eloquent description of the high priest (see Delitzsch, Gesch. der jüd. Poesie, p. 21), every verse of which closes with the refrain mar’eh kōhēn ‘the appearance of the priest;’ Meshullam bar-Kleonymos is known to be the author.