In recent months I’ve assigned myself a project of reading through the “Apocrypha.” These are texts included in the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament) or Vulgate (Latin) Bibles but not in the Hebrew text of the Old Testament. These books are not considered part of the Biblical canon by Protestants, but some of them are considered canonical by the Roman Catholic Church or by different parts of the Orthodox churches, and portions of some of the Apocryphal texts are used in the Anglican lectionary.
There are all sorts of interesting and contentious historical, theological, and polemical reasons why different parts of the church have included or excluded the Apocryphal books from the canon. (One relates to Purgatory – the Reformers didn’t like that 2 Maccabees 12:43-46 supports the idea of Purgatory, so they removed it from the canon!) What’s interesting me in my study, however, is the light these books shed on Jewish life, wisdom, and practices during the “Second Temple” period – that is, after the reconstruction of the Jerusalem Temple by Jewish Exiles following the destruction of the First Temple (Solomon’s Temple) during the Babylonian conquest in 586 BCE. The New Testament Gospels are set in the Second Temple period after Herod the Great had substantially expanded this reconstruction in about 20 CE. To understand Jesus the Jewish prophet, it’s important to understand something about the social, theological, and political hothouse of the Second Temple period.
Recently I was particularly captivated by a slice of life in the book of Sirach, which was probably composed as a teaching manual by a Jewish sage who ran a school in Palestine in the early second century BCE, that is, about two hundred years before Jesus began his ministry. Sirach 31-32 gives instructions for how to behave at a banquet – probably a kind of literary feast modeled after the Greek Symposium, in which the guests were expected to offer learned opinions on questions of the day, as informed by liberal quantities of wine. Younger men (Sirach’s society was patriarchal), Sirach said, should speak cautiously and respectfully – not bad advice in any age. But Sirach’s advice for older men is particularly amusing: “Speak old man, you’ve earned the right — but speak truthfully, and don’t interrupt the music!” Sirach 32:3 (my loose translation).
Part of me knows that Jesus-as-fiery-prophet disapproved of the Hellenistic syncretism between Jewish and Epicurean philosophies represented in Sirach’s easy approval of the Symposium. “Eat, drink, and be merry” as a complete philosophy of life, after all, was something Jesus called foolish. (Luke 12:13-21). But Jesus the holy fool also confounded the self-righteousness of the Pharisees – a strict party that developed in response to the more liberal Hellenistic groups – and used his Divine power to make sure the good wine didn’t run out at a wedding (John 2:1-11).
So, I like to think Jesus would have approved of Sirach’s advice to those of us who have earned some right to speak through age and experience. Our favored place at the table is deserved, and we have something important to say (Millennials, are you listening?! Bueller? Anyone?). But no one must listen unless we speak truth born of that hard-won wisdom. And, no one should interrupt the music, not even us! The music, after all, is something we all enjoy together.
Image: By Nikias Painter – Marie-Lan Nguyen (User:Jastrow), 2008-05-02, CC BY 2.5