Pan de sensatez y agua de sabiduría: Estudios sobre el libro de Ben Sira by Nuria Calduch-Benages

Abstract

Reviewed by: Pan de sensatez y agua de sabiduría: Estudios sobre el libro de Ben Sira by Nuria Calduch-Benages J. L. Manzo nuria calduch-benages, Pan de sensatez y agua de sabiduría: Estudios sobre el libro de Ben Sira (Asociación Bíblica Española Artículos Selectos; Estella: EDV, 2020). Pp. 453. Paper $37. The title of this collection of essays comes from Sir 15:3 "bread of learning . . . and water of wisdom" (NRSV). The twenty-one articles, written by Nuria Calduch-Benages and previously published, reflect three decades of research and teaching dedicated to the study of Ben Sira. The volume consists of an introduction and five sections. Section 1 ("Cuestiones Intoductorias") includes three articles. In "Ben Sira y el canon de las Escrituras," C.-B. offers a textual history of Ben Sira and its canonization in rabbinic Judaism and early Christianity. In "La inspiración en el Sirácida o libro de Ben Sira," C.-B. argues for the inspiration and canonicity of all four versions of Ben Sira. Lastly, "Los títulos griegos y latinos de Sirácida 1–2" is a discussion of the complex process of transmission of Sirach 1–2 through a comparative analysis of the additions of titles in the Greek and Latin versions. Section 2 ("Estudios Temáticos y Semánticos") offers five essays. First, "El motivo de la prueba en el libro de Ben Sira con especial referencia a Si 2, 1–6" is a thematic study of human suffering from the perspectives of wisdom, fear of the Lord, and the law. Next is "El servicio cultural en el Sirácida: Estudio del vocabulario," a philological study of the vocabulary of the cult, followed by "Aromas, fragrancias y perfumes en el Sirácida," in which C.-B. considers the vocabulary of fragrances in Sir 24:15 in the Greek, Syriac, Syro-Hexaplar, and Latin versions. In "Simbología animal en el texto hebreo de Ben Sira," C.-B. studies primarily the images of the lion, the horse, and the moth as metaphors for reproachable human behavior and the pairs wolf/lamb, fodder/slave as illustrations of social categories. The last essay in the section, '"El ser humano se compadece de su prójimo, El Señor, de todo viviente' (Sr 18, 13ab): La misericordia en el Sirácida," offers an examination of human compassion as a divine attribute and its relation to the fear of the Lord, justice, forgiveness, salvation, human frailty, and prayer. The six articles in section 3 ("Estudios Exegéticos") begin with "Traducir-Interpretar: La versión siríaca de Sirácida 1," a general overview of the history of composition of the [End Page 151] Syriac text, followed by a formal and thematic analysis of Sirach 1 in Syriac and Greek. The addition of twelve eschatological verses in the Syriac version reflects an advanced process of redaction and theological reflection from the original text. According to "La sabiduría y la prueba en Si 4, 11-19," wisdom's testing (nsh) consists in reliving the exodus experience, accepting and enduring moral and physical pain, rejecting evil behaviors, and resisting the enemies' attacks to demonstrate faith and trust in the Lord. Next, in "Un juego de palabras sobre el término mûsar (Si 6,22)," C.-B. reviews various interpretations of the Hebrew word and concludes that the sage does not follow the etymological meaning of mûsar in its strict sense but rather plays on the term in the light of the words sûr (apartarse, alejarse, retirarse, "to withdraw, distance oneself), mōser (cadena, atatura o vinculo, "chain, to tie, link or attachment"), and mûsettār (derives from the verb satar [esconcido] or hidden). She is arguing that Ben Sira does not intend to provide an etymological explanation of mōser, but to illustrate through a wordplay the difficulty of attaining wisdom. The essay entitled "Es mejor perdonar que guardar rencor: Estudio de Si 27, 30–28, 7" features the Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions of Sir 27:30–28:7 with textual notes. This is followed by a study on anger and its consequences (Sir 27:30–31), the...