Books Jesus Read

Introduction

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the points of contact between [Sirach’s] teachings and the recorded sayings of Jesus are so striking and numerous as to render it certain that Yeshua Ben Joseph [Jesus, son of Joseph] knew and valued some of the sayings of Yeshua Ben Sira [Jesus, son of Sirach], even if this wisdom came to him through living teachers rather than direct acquaintance with the written form of Ben Sira’s wisdom. 17 Whether or not Jesus studied the written text of Sirach, DeSilva concludes, his community would have been familiar with its teachings and, therefore, it would have played a role in his instruction. DeSilva continues, Ben Sira was a respected teacher in Jerusalem, active two centuries before the births of Jesus and James. His was a voice for scrupulous observance of God’s commands as the path of wisdom and thus a voice that many Jewish teachers would echo throughout the synagogues of Palestine as well as the Diaspora, 18 thanks to the translation made by Ben Sira’s own grandson. 19 Passages such as Luke 2:51–52 suggest that Jesus was raised in a home of traditional Jewish learning. DeSilva has done the hard work of identifying those teachers and teachings that likely influenced Jesus. His comparison of Apocryphal texts with Gospel teachings yields insights into the religious instruction of Jesus’ day. The result is an interpretive tool that gives insight into Jesus’ schooling, and even helps us imagine his interactions with the teachers of the law in the temple. 17 David deSilva, The Jewish Teachers of Jesus, James, and Jude: What Earliest Christianity Learned from the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 68. 18 Diaspora – communities of Jews outside Israel, established as Jews fled persecution. 19 deSilva, The Jewish Teachers of Jesus, James, and Jude , 84–85.