JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

Wisdom of Ben Sira is highly significant. The fact that in the
middle of the second century C.E. it was necessary to emphasize
the uncanonical status of this book (Tosef., Yad. 2:13) and
to forbid its reading (TJ, Sanh. 10:1, 28a) proves that the corpus
of Ketuvim was still fluid at this time, and that Ben Sira had acquired
a measure of sanctity in the popular consciousness. Despite
the ban, the book continued to achieve wide circulation.
The amoraim even quote from it, employing the introductory
terminology otherwise exclusively reserved for Scripture (cf.
Nid. 16b di-khetiv; Ber. 55b she-ne’emar). In one instance, a
third-generation Babylonian amora actually cites Ben Sira as
Ketuvim as opposed to Torah and Prophets (BK 92b).
It is true that in the generation after the destruction
of the Temple the author of IV Esdras 14:41–46 (cf. Joseph.,
Apion, 1:39–41) seems to imply a closed biblical canon of 24
books; nevertheless, tannaitic and amoraic disputes about
the canonicity of Proverbs, Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes
(Eduy. 5:3; Yad. 3:5; ARN 1:2), as well as of Esther (Meg. 7a),
show that the widely held, though unsupported, view that the
formal and final canonization of the Ketuvim occurred at the
Synod of Jabneh (c. 100 C.E.) has to be considerably modified.
More probably, decisions taken on that occasion came
to be widely accepted and thus regarded as final in succeeding
generations.
The Hellenistic Canon
The needs of the Hellenistic Jews, whether of Alexandria in
particular or of the Greek-speaking Diaspora in general, led
to the translation of the Bible into Greek. Beginning with the
Torah about the middle of the third century B.C.E. the process
took many centuries to complete. The formation of much of
the Greek canon was thus coeval with the emergence of the
Hebrew Bible as a sealed collection of sacred literature. The final
product, however, diverged from the Hebrew – apart from
the problem of the text – in two important respects. It adopted
a different principle in the grouping and sequence of the biblical
books, and it included works not accepted into the normative
Hebrew canon. It must be understood, however, that, with
the exception of a few fragments, all extant manuscripts of the
Greek Bible are of Christian origin, and while it is reasonable
to assume a Jewish prototype, the content and form of the Hellenistic
Jewish canon cannot be known with certainty.
The Greek Ben Sira (prologue) clearly shows that the
Palestinian tripartite division of the Bible was known in Alexandria
in the second century B.C.E.; yet the Greek Bible does
away with the Ketuvim as a corpus and redistributes the books
of the second and third divisions according to categories of literature,
thus creating a quadripartite canon of Torah, history,
poetic and didactic writings, and prophecy. The sequence of
books in the Greek Bible varies greatly in the uncial manuscripts
and among the different patristic and synodical lists
of the Eastern and Western churches. The Torah, however, always
takes priority, followed by the Former Prophets. Ruth is
attached to Judges, sometimes before, sometimes after it. The
Minor Prophets invariably appear as a unit, though in slightly
different order (Hosea, Amos, Micah, Joel, Obadiah, Jonah,
etc.) and frequently preceding the three major prophets. Lamentations
is affixed to Jeremiah, its reputed author. Of those
books excluded from the Hebrew canon but included in the
Greek Bibles, the number varies, but the following are found
in the fullest collections: I Esdras (Ezra), Wisdom of Solomon,
Wisdom of Ben Sira, Judith, Tobit, Baruch, the Letter of Jeremiah,
I–IV Maccabees, and the Psalms of Solomon.
The order of the books in the Greek Bibles is illustrated
in the table below:
Order of the Books in the Greek Bibles
(the Hebrew Codex Aleppo is given for comparison)
CODEX
VATICANUS (B)
CODEX
ALEXANDRINUS (A)
CODEX
ALEPPO (C)
bible
4th century 5th century 10th century
Genesis-Judges Genesis-Judges Genesis-Judges
Ruth Ruth I–II Samuel
I–IV Kings I–IV Kings I–II Kings
(Samuel, Kings) I–II Chronicles
I–II Chronicles Isaiah
I Ezra (apochryphal) Hosea Jeremiah
II Ezra Amos Ezekiel
(Ezra-Nehemiah) Micah Hosea
Joel Joel
Psalms Obadiah Amos
Proverbs Jonah Obadiah
Ecclesiastes Nahum Jonah
Song of Songs Habakkuk Micah
Job Zephaniah Nahum
Wisdom of Solomon Haggai Habakkuk
Wisdom of Sirach Zechariah Zephaniah
Esther Malachi Haggai
Judith Isaiah Zechariah
Tobit Jeremiah Malachi
Baruch
Hosea Lamentations I–II Chronicles
Amos Letter of Jeremiah Psalms
Micah Daniel Job
Joel Ezekiel Proverbs
Obadiah Ruth
Jonah Esther Ecclesiastes
Nahum Tobit Lamentations
Habakkuk Judith Esther
Zephaniah I Ezra Daniel
Haggai II Ezra Ezra
Zechariah I–IV Maccabees
Malachi Psalms
Isaiah Job
Jeremiah Proverbs
Baruch Ecclesiastes
Lamentations Song of Songs
Letter of Jeremiah Wisdom of Solomon
Ezekiel Wisdom of Sirach
Daniel Psalms of Solomon
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3 579