04_Reymond_224_246 15/07/14 12:18 Pagina 227 THE WISDOM OF WORDS 227 II. Past Research Although the topics of context and ambiguity in communication are intuitive and easily recognizable problems, and although they are partially addressed in classical literature, this was not a particular point of interest in other Hebrew texts before Ben Sira. Thus, these are not the subject of much scholarly attention. Nevertheless, ambi- guity is explicitly mentioned briefly in a longer work on speech in Ben Sira by John Ifeanyichukwu Okoye 6. Where Okoye discusses ambiguity, he is referring only to insincere and misleading commu- nication, things which the ideal speaker will always avoid; he does not refer to the kind of ambiguous language found in wordplay and metaphor. Okoye stresses that the ideal speaker must be certain of what he or she is saying, an ideal speaker must be “firm” and “stead- fast in what he knows” 7. Okoye goes on to write: This firmness in knowledge is to prevent the language user from hav- ing double thoughts, which could give rise to double ways of signi- fication … Once convinced of what he knows, there is no danger of duplicity in thinking or in speech; ambiguity would be eliminated. The language user’s words will always have the same meaning 8. While Okoye’s description of the ideal speaker may be correct, it obscures some of the more interesting aspects of Ben Sira’s views on communication. As with other aspects of his teaching, Ben Sira’s attitude on communication admits of a certain tension between ide- alistic advice and that which is practical. For example, he writes that one must “argue for righteousness to the death” (Sir 4,28) and, 6 J.I. OKOYE, Speech in Ben Sira with Special Reference to 5,9 – 6,1 (Euro- pean University Studies. Theology 535; Frankfurt am Main 1995) 34. On the subject of speech in Ben Sira, see also A.A. DI LELLA, “Use and Abuse of the Tongue: Ben Sira 5,9 – 6,1”, “Jedes Ding hat seine Zeit … ”. Studien zur is- raelitischen und altorientalischen Weisheit, Diethelm Michel zum 65. Geburts- tag (eds. A.A. DIESEL et al.) (BZAW 241; Berlin 1996) 33-48 and IDEM, “Ben Sira’s Doctrine on the Discipline of the Tongue: An Intertextual and Syn- chronic Analysis”, Wisdom of Ben Sira. Studies on Tradition, Redaction, and Theology (eds. A. PASSARO – G. BELLIA) (DCL 1; Berlin 2008) 233-252. 7 OKOYE, Speech, 95. See also similar statements in Speech, 107, 183. 8 OKOYE, Speech, 95.