The Expositor's Bible: The General Epistles of St. James and St. Jude. Alfred Plummer

The Expositor's Bible: The General Epistles of St. James and St. Jude

are nearly all earlier than the New Testament writers, who could not well have been ignorant of them; and therefore coincidences between the former and the latter are not likely to have been the result of mere accident."[37]

But it will be worth while to quote a decided expression of opinion, on each side of the question immediately before us, from the writings of scholars who are certainly well qualified to give a decided opinion. On the one hand, Bernhard Weiss says, "It has been incorrectly held by most that the author adheres very closely to Jesus Sirach. … But it must be distinctly denied that there is anywhere an echo of the Book of Wisdom."[38] On the other hand, Dr. Edersheim, after pointing out the parallel between Ecclus. xii. 10, 11, and James v. 3, concludes, "In view of all this it cannot be doubted that both the simile and the expression of it in the Epistle of St. James were derived from Ecclesiasticus." And then he gives some more coincidences between the two writings, and sums up thus: "But if the result is to prove beyond doubt the familiarity of St. James with a book which at the time was evidently in wide circulation, it exhibits with even greater clearness the immense spiritual difference between the standpoint occupied in Ecclesiasticus and that in the Epistle of St. James."[39] And Archdeacon Farrar quotes with approval an estimate that St. James "alludes more or less directly to the Book of the Wisdom of Solomon at least five times, but to the Book of Ecclesiasticus more than fifteen times. … The fact is the more striking because in other respects St. James shows no sympathy with Alexandrian speculations. There is not in him the faintest tinge of Philonian philosophy; on the contrary, he belongs in a marked degree to the school of Jerusalem. He is a thorough Hebraiser, a typical Judaist. All his thoughts and phrases move normally in the Palestinian sphere. This is a curious and almost unnoticed phenomenon. The "sapiential literature" of the Old Testament was the least specifically Israelite. It was the direct precursor of Alexandrian morals. It deals with mankind, and not with the Jew. Yet St. James, who shows so much partiality for this literature, is of all the writers of the New Testament the least Alexandrian, and the most Judaic."[40]

Let us endeavour to form an opinion for ourselves; and the only way in which to do this with thoroughness is to place side by side, in the original Greek, the passages in which there seems to be coincidence between the two writers. Want of space prevents this from being done here. But some of the most striking coincidences shall be placed in parallel columns, and where the coincidence is inadequately represented by the English Version the Greek shall be given also. Other coincidences, which are not drawn out in full, will be added, to enable students who care to examine the evidence more in detail to do so without much trouble. Two Bibles, or, still better, a Septuagint and a Greek Testament, will serve the purpose of parallel columns.

It will be found that by far the greater number of coincidences occur in the first chapter, a fact which suggests the conjecture that St. James had been reading Ecclesiasticus shortly before he began to write. In the middle of the Epistle there is very little that strongly recalls the son of Sirach. In the last chapter there are one or two striking parallels; but by far the larger proportion is in the first chapter.

ECCLESIASTICUS.	ST. JAMES.
1. A patient man will bear for a time, and afterward joy shall spring up unto him (i. 23). My son, if thou come to serve the Lord, prepare thy soul for temptation (πειρασμόν). Set thy heart aright, and constantly endure. … Whatsoever is brought upon thee take cheerfully, and be patient when thou art changed to a low estate. For gold is tried (δοκιμάζεται) in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of adversity (ii. 1–5).	Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold temptations (πειρασμοῖς), knowing that the proof (τὸ δοκίμιον) of your faith worketh patience. And let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing (i. 2–4). Blessed is the man that endureth temptation (πειρασμόν); for when he hath been approved (δόκιμος γενόμενος), he shall receive the crown of life (i. 12).
2. If thou desire wisdom (σοφίαν), keep the commandments, and the Lord shall give her unto thee (i. 26). I desired wisdom (σοφίαν) openly in my prayer. … The Lord hath given me a tongue for my reward (li. 13, 22). Thy desire for wisdom (σοφίας) shall be given thee (vi. 37. Comp. xliii. 33). [A fool] will give little, and will upbraid (ὀνειδίσει) much (xx. 15). After thou hast given, upbraid (ὀνείδιζε) not (xli. 22. Comp. xviii. 18).	But if any of you lacketh wisdom (σοφίαν), let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not (μὴ ὀνειδίζοντος); and it shall be given him (i. 5).
3. Distrust not the fear of the Lord; and come not unto Him with a double heart (i. 28). Woe be to fearful hearts, and faint hands, and the sinner that goeth two ways (ii. 12). Be not faint-hearted when thou makest thy prayer (vii. 10. Comp. xxxiii. 2; xxxv. 16, 17).	But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting: for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord; a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways (i. 6–8. Comp. iv. 8).
4. Exalt not thyself, lest thou fall, and bring dishonour upon thy soul (i. 30). The greater thou art, the more humble thyself, and thou shalt find favour before the Lord (iii. 18. Comp. xxxi. 1–9).	But let the brother of low degree glory in his high estate; and the rich in that he is made low (i. 9, 10).
5. Say not thou, It is through the Lord that I fell away: for thou oughtest not to do the things that He hateth. Say not thou, He hath caused me to err: for He hath no need of the sinful man (xv. 11, 12).	Let no man say, when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempteth no man (i. 13).
6. Be swift in thy listening (ταχὺς ἐν ἀκροάσει σου); and with patience give answer (v. 11).	Let every man be swift to hear (ταχὺς εὶς τὸ ἀκοῦσαι), slow to speak, slow to wrath (i. 19).
7. Thou shalt be to him as one that hath wiped a mirror (ἔσοπτρον), and shalt know that it is not rusted (κατίωται) for ever (xii. 11). Like as bronze rusteth (ἰοῦται), so is his wickedness (xii. 10). Lose money through a brother and a friend, and let it not rust (ἰωθήτω) under the stone unto loss (xxix. 10).	He is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a mirror (ἐν ἐσόπτρῳ). … Your gold and your silver are rusted (κατίωται); and their rust (ἰός) shall be a testimony against you (i. 23; v. 3).
8. He that looketh in (ὁ παρακύπτων) through her windows, i.e. the windows of wisdom (xiv. 23). A fool peepeth in (παρακύπτει) at the door (xxi. 23).	He that looketh into (ὁ παρακύψας) the perfect law (i. 25).
9. A prey of lions are wild asses in the wilderness; so the fodder of the rich are the poor (οὕτω νομαὶ πλουσίων πτωχοί: xiii. 19. Comp. xiii. 3, 17, 18).	But ye have dishonoured the poor man (τὸν πτωχόν). Do not the rich (οἱ πλούσιοι) oppress you, and themselves drag you before the judgment-seats? (ii. 6).

It will be observed that of these nine examples all come out of the first two chapters of St. James, and six are from the first two chapters of Ecclesiasticus. This fact is worth considering

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