by
Damien F. Mackey
In short, the reason why the renowned priest and scribe Ezra is missing, seemingly inexplicably, from the list of “illustrious men” in Sirach 44-50, is because Ezra was the author of the book.
At least, that can be concluded from the following argument of mine, identifying Ezra as the author’s ben Sira.
Sirach 51:1, 2, 4:
“I will give thanks to you, Lord and King … for you have been protector and support to me, and redeemed my body from destruction … from the stifling heat which hemmed me in, from the heart of a fire which I had not kindled …”.
Saved “from the heart of a fire”, “hemmed in” by its “stifling heat”.
Could Sirach’s be a graphic description by one who had actually stood in the heart of the raging fire? - had stood inside “the burning fiery furnace” of King Nebuchednezzar? (Daniel 3:20)
Another translation (GNT) renders the vivid account of the Lord’s saving of Sirach as follows (Sirach 51:3-5): “… from the glaring hatred of my enemies, who wanted to put an end to my life; from suffocation in oppressive smoke rising from fires that I did not light; from death itself; from vicious slander reported to the king”.
According to the far more dispassionate account of the same (so I think) incident as narrated in Daniel 3:49-50:
… the angel of the Lord came down into the furnace beside Azariah and his companions; he drove the flames of the fire outwards, and fanned into them, in the heart of the furnace, a coolness such as wind and dew will bring, so that the fire did not even touch them or cause them any pain or distress.
Note that both texts refer almost identically to “the heart of the fire [the furnace]”.
Azariah – {who, unlike “his companions”, Hananiah and Mishael, is named here in Daniel} - I have identified as Ezra the scribe:
Ezra heroic in the face of death
(2) Ezra heroic in the face of death | Damien Mackey - Academia.edu
In this article I had noted that: “Ezra [is] a mostly obscure character throughout the Scriptures, despite his immense reputation and status …”. And also that: “… Azariah is always listed as the last of the trio (Daniel 1:6): “Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah”, variously as “Abednego” (cf. vv. 11, 19; 2:17, 49; 3:12-30), perhaps because he was the youngest …”.
To which comment, however, I had added, “… it is apparent that it is he [Azariah] who will take the leading part in the confession of guilt and the prayers”.
And that would make sense if Azariah were Ezra, for, as also noted in the article with reference to Ezra 7:1-5, “[Ezra was] … a priest in the line of Aaron, hence, potentially, the High Priest”.
So why might it be that the Daniel 3 text above names only “Azariah”, he perhaps being the youngest of the trio?
Well, if Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) chapter 51 has any relevance to the fiery furnace situation, if Sirach were Azariah-Ezra, then he himself appears to have been the one who had decided to appeal prayerfully to the Divine mercy for help and protection (vv. 6-12):
I was once brought face-to-face with death; enemies surrounded me everywhere. I looked for someone to help me, but there was no one there. But then, O Lord, I remembered how merciful you are and what you had done in times past. I remembered that you rescue those who rely on you, that you save them from their enemies. Then from here on earth I prayed to you to rescue me from death. I prayed, O Lord, you are my Father; do not abandon me to my troubles when I am helpless against arrogant enemies. I will always praise you and sing hymns of thanksgiving. You answered my prayer, and saved me from the threat of destruction. And so I thank you and praise you.
O Lord, I praise you!
The three young Jewish men, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, had had no hope whatsoever of obtaining any human deliverance. But once again Azariah alone will be the one to proclaim this (“Then Azariah stood still and there in the fire he prayed aloud”) (Daniel 3:32-33):
‘You have delivered us into the power of our enemies, of a lawless people, the worst of the godless, of an unjust king, the worst in the whole world; today we dare not even open our mouths, shame and dishonour are the lot of those who serve and worship You’.
Might Sirach 51 be an echo of this terrifying situation, when Sirach prays to God,
“You have redeemed me
[v. 3] from the fangs of those who would devour me, from the hands of those seeking my life
…
[v. 6] From the unclean tongue and the lying word –
The perjured tongue slandering me to the king.
….
[v. 7] They were surrounding me on every side, there was no one to support me;
I looked for someone to help – in vain”.
Now, just as it was found (in the “Ezra” article) that the name “Ezra” was related to the name “Azariah”, apparently a shortened version of the latter, so, I think, can the Hebrew (or Aramaïc) name, “Sira” (Greek Sirach), be plausibly connected with Azariah, a name that may appear in the El Amarna letters as Aziru, Azira (= Sira?), or Azaru.
Accordingly, in the New World Encyclopedia article, “Ben Sira”, we read:
https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Ben_Sira#:~:text=(%22Jesus%22%20is%20the%20Anglicized,%22the%20thorn%22%20in%20Aramaic.
The author is named in the Greek text (l. 27), "Jesus the son of Sirach of Jerusalem." The copy owned by Saadia Gaon had the reading "Shim`on, son of Yeshua`, son of El`azar ben Sira;" and a similar reading occurs in the Hebrew manuscript. By interchanging the positions of the names "Shim`on" and "Yeshua`," the same reading is obtained as in the other manuscripts. The correctness of the name "Shim`on" is confirmed by the Syriac version, which has "Yeshua`, son of Shim`on, surnamed Bar Asira." The discrepancy between the two readings "Bar Asira" and "Bar Sira" is a noteworthy one, "Asira" ("prisoner") being a popular etymology of "Sira." The evidence seems to show that the author's name was Yeshua, son of Shimon, son of Eleazar ben Sira. ("Jesus" is the Anglicized form of the Greek name Ιησους, the equivalent of Syriac Yeshua` and Masoretic Hebrew Yehoshua`.) ….
If the one whom we call Sirach was actually Eleazar ben Sira, as in this quote, then that would do no harm whatsoever to my identification, and would likely even enhance it.
For, according to Abarim, the Hebrew name, Eleazer, is related to both Azariah and Ezra: https://www.abarim-publications.com/Meaning/Eleazar.html
Moreover, the name of Ezra’s father, Seraiah (Ezra 7:1), “… Ezra son of Seraiah …”, can easily be equated with Sira, which would give us the perfect equation:
Ezra (= Eleazer) son of Seraiah;
= Eleazer son of Sira(ch)
Of course any correlation between the young Azariah at the time of King Nebuchednezzar, and Sirach, estimated to have lived early in the Maccabean period, is quite unrealistic in terms of the over-extended conventional chronology.
My above-mentioned article on “Ezra”, though, suggests that this is possible, with the holy man living to as late as the wars of Judas Maccabeus.
While the Book of Daniel (chapter 3) will recount the story of the three young men in the burning fiery furnace in a somewhat objective and dispassionate fashion, presenting the three young heroes there as respectfully defiant before the Great King, Sirach, on the other hand, reads like a dramatic eye-witness window into the utter fearfulness and terror of the situation – a young man, who had actually experienced it, having been filled with the anxiety of expecting that he was about to lose his life in a most horrifying fashion.
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