Chupacabra Canoe

Chupacabra Canoe has formed a Catholic Canoeists – Lenten Observance (Click Here). You are encouraged to take part and follow the rigorous disciplines for the 40 days of Lent (starting this Ash Wednesday – March 3rd). Included in the faith section of the observance are daily bible readings where you will read through books such as Exodus, Hosea, Sirach, Revelation and more. These books were specifically chosen as they point us towards God through penance, fasting, prayer, and ultimately the Resurrection. The books will deal with patriarchal figures and masculinity in some way or another. I know many of you are suffering with low T, this should help.

I intend to introduce the books as we journey through. On Ash Wednesday, we start reading three books Exodus, Tobit, and Sirach. This blog will set the context for Sirach. My simpletonian research consisted mostly of referring to the new Saint Ignatius Catholic Study Bible.

The Book of Sirach is one of the few books of the bible in which both the author and time period it was written is known – not debated. This is due to the fact that the author says just that, who is he is and when he is writing. The books’ original content is first from Ben Sira – a Jewish Scribe and in Hebrew. Though the translation we use today is from his grandson who did it in Greek (see the footnote at the bottom). The time period is clear because of Ben Sira’s refute of Hellenistic culture that influenced the Jews of the time (i.e. the Greeks were making the Jews less Jewish). This puts us at about 200 – 175 BC.

In this time period, known as Diaspora, many jews began to spread out or disperse. With this, the Greek culture began to influence many Jews. Ben Sira was greatly concerned with this. The Book of Sirach is a guide to the Jewish faith as it existed in a culture that rejected it.

Ben Sira wrote at a time when the culture of Jews was eroding with the societies that encapsulated them. He emphasized the importance of denying these cultural pressures, while praising wisdom and scholarship. He writes because he felt too many Jews had become laxed about faith and tradition. Certainly we can relate.

May your boat be steady,

Summer Sausage

Footnote: I mention the translation languages because Sirach is not included in Protestant Bibles. During the Protestant Reformation, the Protestants decided to keep Old Testament books that were originally written in Hebrew. At the time the only known translation of Sirach was that of Ben Sira’s grandson, hence in Greek and therefore not included. However, the original Hebrew translation of the Book of Sirach (Ben Sira’s) was later found in the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 1900s. That’s another point for Catholics – who’s keeping score though…