Sirach Chapters 22 & 23

Typical proverbial rants against fools, interesting comparisons - fools are worse than dead people - at last the dead are at peace! And a lovely prayer at the end of chapter 22: very reminiscent of Psalm 141. It’s a humble prayer for help against sin, and displays the attitude that we’re helpless without God. Sin can creep up on us, surprise us when a bad habit bursts out at an inappropriate time, and bring us to ruin. So keep the law!

Sirach Chapters 20 & 21

I suppose my verdict so far on this book would be “yes but?” I don’t disagree with what I’m reading (much) but it’s hardly new, or deep, or revolutionary. So I’m shifting to two chapters a day, to get through it a little faster. If I stumble across a gem, I’ll slow down and take a closer look, but otherwise, for my own sake, I need to stave off boredom.

Today there are a strong of proverbs, some quite salty. Like this one: Winning an argument by trying too hard is like a eunuch trying to rape a woman(!) Or this: An impolite person is like one of those off-color stories that ignorant people are always telling.
Chapter 21 deals with sin - it causes incurable wounds, it needs to be shunned. Fall into its trap, and you will die. There’s a brief mention of forgiveness, but it’s certainly not held out as a universal hope.
The chapter finishes with some contrasts between wisdom and folly. All very black and white, none very memorable.

Sirach Chapters 18 & 19

For a few chapters now, Sirach has been expanding on the theme of human weakness and our short-lived lives, in contrast to God’s eternal glory.
When God looks at us, he knows we are doomed to die, and he is sorry for us. He offers us his love, he has compassion on us. So we should be like him. Give gifts with kindness, not with a grudging heart.
Then he urges us to examine ourselves, to act rightly before God. Don’t put off your repentance until you‘re on your death bed. You may not get the time. If you know what’s right, why wait before you do it? It’s time for some self-control - let’s not be ruled by our passions, which will make beggars of us.
We should also learn to keep our mouths shut. If people would stop passing on malicious gossip, without checking out whether it’s true first, the world would be a better place. One of the things that Christians can do is use their social media accounts to bless, and not to gossip.
Real wisdom stands out. Even online. Sirach would probably agree.

Sirach Chapter 17

As God made creatures to rise from the dust and return to it again, he made humans with the unique ability to raise their eyes and see god’s glory during their brief time on earth. This is so that they will praise his name and come into relationship with him, and then there will be more to their lives than the cycle of dust returning to dust.
Our short and dingy lives are in stark contrast to God’s everlasting brightness. He has chosen Israel, and his hatred of evil is terrible. But his mercy and forgiveness and sweet indeed.

Sirach Chapter 16

I’m abandoning the day numbers for my Apocrypha posts - since I’m not keeping up a daily regime this year, there’s little point. But on with wonderful Sirach. Godless children are nothing to be proud of, in his eyes. Having many children was regarded as a great blessing in Jewish culture - a sign of God’s favour. But if they aren’t fearing the Lord, Sirach would rather be childless. He wants us to remember that God forgets no one. No sins are overlooked, even if their punishment seems erratic to our eyes. God will right every wrong in time.
Poetically, Sirach looks back to creation, when God declared everything good. Every part worked as it should. That’s not how it is these days, but Sirach is confident that one day things will be back in order.

Day 69: Sirach Chapter 15

Yesterday, Sirach was in the realm of metaphor, telling us to camp in the garden of Wisdom’s house, to shelter under her spreading branches. Today he’s more practical, and tells us what that actually means: keep the Law, fear the Lord.
It’s good to hear him say it straight out, because so much of this book is pragmatic common sense, and God doesn’t get much of a mention. But here he makes plain that it all depends on our relationship with God.
We all have a choice, whether we go God’s ways or whether we don’t. But we mustn’t blame God for the bad consequences of our choosing - he never wills us to do evil.

Day 68: Sirach Chapter 14

Why is miserliness such a sin, and generosity such a virtue? Sirach explains it in terms of the miser being turned in upon himself. “Greed will shrivel up a person’s soul.” I might say that generosity is a sign of being like God, who is endlessly, recklessly generous.
So - enjoy life, don’t waste a day. It is going to end, after all. That’s not a sad thought - as old leaves wither and fall off the tree. new ones unfold. It’s all part of a greater plan.
And where do you fit in to this greater plan? Well, to get an answer to that, you need to spend much time camping out at Wisdom’s house.

Day 67: Sirach Chapter 13

Here we are again. “Don’t touch tar, it will stick to you.” Sirach would not have liked Jesus. He would have been scandalized at the way he associated with dirty people.
But Sirach persists with his advice. Animals flock together, he says. People do too. They naturally associate with similar people. I don’t disagree. Such behaviour is natural and normal - it’s our unthinking, default mode. But sometimes you need to think, to step out of the default. I think what I object to is Sirach’s advice to make the instinctive behaviour something that is thought out and principled. I can see all sorts of nasty places where that can lead.

Day 66: Sirach Chapter 12

“Give to good people, but don’t help sinners.” Today’s advice continues the theme that I’m disagreeing with more and more. Sirach keeps urging us to stick to the insider, the safe choice, never take risks with your friendship, avoid dodgy people.
I don’t regard myself as a risk taker, and I’m not the world’s most outgoing person, but I don’t like the idea of steering clear of people just because they might do me harm. Never have.
What’s the old advice? Keep your friends close, keep your enemies closer. That’s said so that you know what they’re up to, but also it works if you want to influence them for good.

Day 65: Sirach Chapter 10

We are assured that God oversees our rulers. He makes sure we get the rulers we need. Hmmm. I think we have to make do with the rulers we deserve, more often.
“The Creator never intended for human beings to be arrogant and violent.” Well, we learned fast. We specialise in pride and destruction, perhaps because it is easier to destroy than to create.
But Sirach would have us learn humility, to shun the dangers of pride. Value yourself at your true worth, he says.
Wise words.

Day 64: Sirach Chapter 9

Some sexual advice this morning - flee temptation. Don’t look. Sirach understands how men are led by their eyes, and so his advice is simple: don’t look. I wish our culture had taken this on board, but it hasn’t. The opposite is true, and everywhere there are open invitations to ogle, to gaze, to peek, to pry, to stare. And it’s very hard not to.
I like the line, “friendship is like wine, it grows better as it gets older.” Old friends are a precious resource, and need nurturing.
There’s lots of advice about keeping the right company. All common sense stuff, but |i can’t help thinking it’s the opposite of what Jesus did. He sought out the company of the disreputable, not being afraid of the damage it might do to him, but thinking instead about how his influence might rub off on them.

Day 63: Sirach Chapter 8

Common sense advice today: don’t provoke people who’ve got the power to hurt you - you’re asking for it if they retaliate. Even more spiritual subjects are backed up with a pragmatic “it’ll be worse for you if you do” comment - for instance, “ You should not provide a sinner with more opportunity to sin. You might get hurt yourself” from verse 8.
Chapter 7 with its theme of God’s sovereignty might have capped this piece of advice with a word about God’s ultimate authority to punish, but here , it’s all more mundane and matter of fact. So there are two reasons to do the right thing - a spiritual one (God isn’t pleased with your sin) and a practical one (harmful actions will damage you in the end).

Day 62: Sirach Chapter 7

A ragbag of advice today, perhaps summed up by these words from verse 17: “Be very humble, because the decay of death awaits us all.”
The fault that seems to be under attack in these aphorisms is that of arrogantly thinking that you are captain of your own destiny. God will intervene and leave you powerless. He raises people up, and he casts people low. It’s not your own doing.
This is one of the prevailing themes of Wisdom literature: don’t forget God.
But of course, we all do.

Day 61: Sirach Chapter 6

Sirach turns to the subject of friends. We’re in familiar “Proverbs” territory, with sage advice about how to avoid being led astray, how to make friends who will truly help. There’s a hint that Sirach was a wealthy individual - he talks about some friends sticking close to you while times are good, even “giving orders to your servants.”
Then there are more exhortations to persevere in your quest for Wisdom. He implies that it will be hard at first, and undisciplined people will give up, but it is necessary to accept her bonds. In words reminiscent of Jesus saying “take my yoke upon you and learn from me,” Sirach urges us to take up the burden of Wisdom.
A crown might be heavy, but you are royalty if you wear it.

Day 60: Sirach Chapter 5

The key point of the advice in this chapter is about wanting to be independent. You might try to rely on money to enable you to manage without God, you might think that you can please yourself and he won’t punish you, but he will catch up with you in the end. So turn back to him before it’s too late! People cannot disconnect themselves from God, and live their lives without reference to him completely. They might try, kidding themselves that they are their own masters, but God is only being merciful, and hasn’t started punishing them yet.
Similarly, the opposite is true - we shouldn’t be so connected to other people that we get led astray by them into behaving in an ungodly way. God is not fooled, even if we are.

Day 59: Sirach Chapter 4

Chapter 4 continues with the thought about almsgiving, and returns to the subject of humility. Be like this, he says, and God will love you more than your Mum.
It’s hard to say no to any of this, it’s all good sensible stuff, but hardly revolutionary or deep. Why did Grandson think it was worth translating? Or was he just being humble and obeying instructions?
Moving on, the advice is that in following Wisdom you need to go through the pain barrier. At first, following her requirements will seem hard, because she is testing you. but persevere, and she will come to you with no delay. This implies that sometimes the way of the wise will seem counter-intuitive, or even against your self-interest. Sometimes the right thing to do will bring harm to you, although it will benefit others. Jesus could tell you that.

Day 58: Sirach Chapter 3

Chapter 3 first gives us some familiar instructions about honouring parents. Clearly this is aimed at grown up children honouring their elderly parents and, although not stated explicitly, it derives from the fact that this command when first given in the 10 commandments was accompanied by a promise, that those who obeyed it would live long in the land.
Then there is the injunction to be humble. Don’t concern yourself with matters that are beyond you. Have quiet faith, sit back and trust that God will do what is right. This is hard to swallow in today’s culture, when we all believe we have the right to know everything, and to be told that something is “none of your business” is an insult. Would it have been the same then? Plenty of people in the Bible questioned God  - the Psalmist asked repeatedly why his prayers were not answered, or why underserved suffering came his way. If he’d listened to Sirach, we’d have had a shorter Psalter.

Day 57: Sirach Chapter 2

More on the ultimate prize for a devoted Jew - the gift of Wisdom.
First, a plea for patience - something that Jewish people have always needed. Familiar words about gold being tested by fire are used again: if any race should be pure and valuable surely it is the Jews, who have been through the furnace more times than most.
So hang in there! Has anyone ever trusted in the Lord and been disappointed? asks Sirach. I’m tempted to reply, “Yes!” but he responds with a blast against those who give up and lose heart.
He finishes with a lovely verse: “Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, but not into the hands of mortals.”
If you’re going to fall, make sure God catches you.

Day 56: Sirach Chapter 1

Another Wisdom book to begin - and this one is unusual in that it begins with a helpfully informative Prologue.
The Wisdom of Jesus ben Sirach, a book which I previously knew as Ecclesiasticus, starts by explaining where it came from. It is a translation by a Jewish exile living in Egypt, of his grandfather’s book. he translated it from Hebrew into Greek. This man is a fan of Wisdom, that Jewish concept that is part knowledge and understanding, and part personification of attributes of God. Let’s see what his granddad had to say.
Verse 1 sums up my definition of Wisdom above:  “All wisdom comes from the Lord,
     and Wisdom is with him forever.”
Wisdom was God’s first creation, and understands the mysteries that puzzle human minds. God pours her out on people - a little to everyone, but a lot on those he favours. So, fearing God is the first step to Wisdom, because she is a gift from God. Those who approach God with a sincere heart will receive their reward.

Day 55: Wisdom Chapter 19

The story continues, with the Egyptians enraged pursuit of their departing slaves. Another chance for gloating as the writer pictures the Israelites skipping with glee across the dry bed of the Red Sea.
The Egyptians are being punished for not showing hospitality to strangers, because although they initially welcomed the family of Jacob, later they enslaved his descendants.
To release them from slavery, God plays a new chord on the harp of Creation. A wonderful way to finish this thought-provoking book - a very rich and inventive metaphorical description of miracle.