I teach an adult Sunday school class, and we are working our way through the sermon known as “The Epistle to the Hebrews.” This week we were continuing through Heb 11, and I noticed a fascinating parallel with Heb 11 and Sirach 44-50. It seems that the author of Hebrews was well aware of Sirach, as both he and the author of Sirach list heroes of the Old Testament. The following list illustrates a few of the comparisons between Heb 11 and Sirach:
| Hebrews 11 | Sirach |
| Enoch (11.5) | Enoch (44.16; 49.14) |
| Noah (11.7) | Noah (44.17-18) |
| Abraham (11.18-22) | Abraham (44.19-21) |
| Isaac (11.9, 20) | Isaac (44.22) |
| Jacob (11.9, 20-21) | Jacob (44.23) |
| Joseph (11.23) | Joseph (49.15) |
| Moses (11.23-28) | Moses (45.1-5) |
| Joshua (11.30 allusion) | Joshua (46.1-8) |
| Samuel (11.32) | Samuel (46.13-20) |
| David (11.32) | David (47.2-11) |
| Elijah (11.35 allusion) | Elijah (48.1-12) |
I am not your advocate for source criticism, but I do believe that we are all source critics. None is completely free of sources; we are all influenced by the things we read, hear, see, etc. Why should this be any different with the author of Hebrews? He most likely used Sirach as a model to base his own “Hall of Faith” on.
1 comments:
I'm glad that you've started this blog. Hebrews is one of my favorite books - both for study as well as for personal devotion, if it is even possible to separate the two.
Is it possible that the author of Hebrews found his "Hall of Faith" reading through the Pentateuch, Joshua, and Samuel? His list seems to parallel the ordering in the Tanak closer than Sirach. I noticed that your comparison does not meantion Sarah, Rahab, Hebrews, Gideon, Barak, Samson, or Jephthah who are all listed in Hebrews 11 in the order of appearance in the Tanak. Are these listed in Sirach? (I do not have access to Sirach at the moment.)
I'm looking forward to your studies in the book of Hebrews!
-Alan
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