ABSTRACT
It is a commonplace that Ben Sira was the first Jewish wisdom writer to concern himself with historical events and persons. Some scholars have argued that the new factor in Ben Sira's writing was his concept of scripture. He was familiar with virtually all those books that would eventually form the canon of the Old Testament, and held them in reverence as holy scripture. As far as Ben Sira's use of history is concerned, the Hellenistic argument is not as conclusive as it is sometimes believed to be. That Ben Sira as a cultured man of his time was thoroughly familiar with Hellenistic culture and literature is undoubted. It has often been suggested that the Hymn of the Fathers bears marks of Greek historiography. The Hymn of the Fathers consists of a series of unconnected episodes each listing what Ben Sira considered to be the principal activity of a particular individual.
