Scripture Daily

Context No. 1031 of 4322 · Sirach

Context · Reflection

Sirach 45:17-26: in context

17He gave to him in his commandments, authority in the covenants of judgments, to teach Jacob the testimonies, and to enlighten Israel in his law. 18Strangers conspired against him and envied him in the wilderness: Dathan and Abiram with their company, and the congregation of Korah, with wrath and anger. 19The Lord saw it, and it displeased him. In the wrath of his anger, they were destroyed. He did wonders upon them, to consume them with flaming fire. 20He added glory to Aaron, and gave him a heritage. He divided to him the first fruits of the increase, and prepared bread of first fruits in abundance. 21For they eat the sacrifices of the Lord, which he gave to him and to his offspring. 22However, in the land of the people, he has no inheritance, and he has no portion among the people, for the Lord himself is your portion and inheritance. 23Phinehas the son of Eleazar is the third in glory, in that he was zealous in the fear of the Lord, and stood fast when the people turned away, and he made atonement for Israel. 24Therefore, a covenant of peace was established for him, that he should be leader of the sanctuary and of his people, that he and his offspring should have the dignity of the priesthood forever. 25Also he made a covenant with David the son of Jesse, of the tribe of Judah. The inheritance of the king is his alone from son to son. So the inheritance of Aaron is also to his seed. 26May God give you wisdom in your heart to judge his people in righteousness, that their good things may not be abolished, and that their glory may endure for all their generations.

Ben Sira is praising the priestly line, Aaron and after him Phinehas. He recalls the authority God gave Aaron to teach and to judge, how the rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram against him was consumed by fire, and how God added glory to Aaron and gave him the offerings for his portion. But then a striking line: in the land Aaron has no inheritance and no portion among the people, for the LORD himself is your portion and inheritance. And Phinehas, zealous for God when the people turned away, made atonement and received a covenant of peace and a lasting priesthood.

The heart of it is that line about Aaron's inheritance: he has none, no tribal land, no territory of his own, because the LORD himself is his portion. The other tribes got their share of Canaan; the priests got God. On the surface that looks like being shortchanged, no land to farm, dependent on the offerings, but scripture keeps presenting it as the better portion, not the lesser. To have God himself as your inheritance rather than a piece of real estate is the deepest kind of wealth, and it is held out not only to priests but eventually to all God's people, whose portion is the Lord. And Phinehas is remembered for zeal at the moment the people turned away, standing firm and making atonement, receiving a covenant of peace. The passage honors those whose whole security is God rather than possessions, and whose faithfulness holds precisely when everyone else is drifting. To be able to say the LORD is my portion, and to mean it, is to be free of needing the land everyone else is scrambling for.

Can I say with the priests that the LORD himself is my portion and inheritance, or is my real security still in the land and possessions everyone else is scrambling to hold?

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