Scripture Daily

Context No. 1301 of 4322 · Sirach

Context · Reflection

Sirach 16:1-17: in context

1Don’t desire a multitude of unprofitable children, neither delight in ungodly sons. 2If they multiply, don’t delight in them unless the fear of the Lord is in them. 3Don’t trust in their life. Don’t rely on their numbers; for one can be better than a thousand, and to die childless than to have ungodly children. 4For from one who has understanding, a city will be populated, but a race of wicked men will be made desolate. 5I have seen many such things with my eyes. My ear has heard mightier things than these. 6In a congregation of sinners, a fire will be kindled. In a disobedient nation, wrath is kindled. 7He was not pacified toward the giants of old time, who revolted in their strength. 8He didn’t spare Lot’s neighbors, whom he abhorred for their pride. 9He didn’t pity the people of perdition who were taken away in their sins, 10or in like manner, the six hundred thousand footmen who were gathered together in the hardness of their hearts. 11Even if there is one stiff-necked person, it is a marvel if he will be unpunished; for mercy and wrath are both with him who is mighty to forgive, and he pours out wrath. 12As his mercy is great, so is his correction also. He judges a man according to his works. 13The sinner will not escape with plunder. The perseverance of the godly will not be frustrated. 14He will make room for every work of mercy. Each man will receive according to his works. 17Don’t say, “I will be hidden from the Lord,” and “Who will remember me from on high?” I will not be known among so many people, for what is my soul in a boundless creation?

Ben Sira warns against valuing children by number rather than by godliness: one who fears God is worth more than a thousand who do not, and it is better to die childless than to leave ungodly offspring. Then he turns to God's justice, surveying the past: God did not spare the giants of old, or Lot's proud neighbors, or the rebellious in the wilderness. Even one stubborn person will not go unpunished; mercy and wrath are both with God. His mercy is great, but so is his correction; he judges each according to his works. And he ends by rebuking a certain thought: do not say, I will be hidden from the Lord; who will remember me among so many; what is my soul in the vastness of creation?

The passage builds to the objection Ben Sira wants to demolish: do not say, I will be hidden from the Lord, who will remember me among so many, what is my soul in a boundless creation? It is a very human thought, and a tempting one, the notion that in a universe this vast, among billions of people, one small life could slip beneath God's notice, that our sins and our selves are too insignificant to register. Ben Sira answers it flatly by surveying history: God has never overlooked anyone. He noticed the giants of old, Lot's neighbors, the rebels in the wilderness; not one slipped past him. The vastness of creation does not shrink us out of God's sight; the God who governs it all sees each life within it. And the passage holds mercy and justice together: mercy and wrath are both with God, his mercy great and his correction great, and he judges each according to his works. There is both warning and comfort in that. The warning is that no one is too small to escape God's notice; the comfort is the same truth from the other side, that no one is too insignificant to be remembered, that in the boundless creation not one soul is lost from God's sight. You are not hidden from the Lord, for judgment or for love.

Do I ever tell myself I am too small or insignificant to register with God, hidden in the vastness of creation, when scripture insists that not one life slips past his notice, for either justice or love?

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