Scripture Daily

Context No. 1382 of 4322 · Sirach

Context · Reflection

Sirach 41:1-16: in context

1O death, how bitter is the memory of you to a man who is at peace in his possessions, to the man who has nothing to distract him and has prosperity in all things, and who still has strength to enjoy food! 2O death, your sentence is acceptable to a man who is needy and who fails in strength, who is in extreme old age, is distracted about all things, is perverse, and has lost patience! 3Don’t be afraid of the sentence of death. Remember those who have been before you and who come after. This is the sentence from the Lord over all flesh. 4And why do you refuse when it is the good pleasure of the Most High? Whether life lasts ten, or a hundred, or a thousand years, there is no inquiry about life in Hades. 5The children of sinners are abominable children and they frequent the dwellings of the ungodly. 6The inheritance of sinners’ children will perish and with their posterity will be a perpetual disgrace. 7Children will complain of an ungodly father, because they suffer disgrace because of him. 8Woe to you, ungodly men, who have forsaken the law of the Most High God! 9If you are born, you will be born to a curse. If you die, a curse will be your portion. 10All things that are of the earth will go back to the earth; so the ungodly will go from a curse to perdition. 11The mourning of men is about their bodies; but the evil name of sinners will be blotted out. 12Have regard for your name, for it continues with you longer than a thousand great treasures of gold. 13A good life has its number of days, but a good name continues forever. 14My children, follow instruction in peace. But wisdom that is hidden and a treasure that is not seen, what benefit is in them both? 15Better is a man who hides his foolishness than a man who hides his wisdom. 16Therefore show respect for my words; for it is not good to retain every kind of shame. Not everything is approved by all in good faith.

Ben Sira reflects on death and on what outlasts it. Death is bitter, he says, to the one at ease in his prosperity, and welcome to the one worn out by suffering and age; and he counsels, do not fear the sentence of death, for it is the lot appointed by the Lord for all flesh. Then he turns to what remains when a life is over. Have regard for your name, he urges, for it stays with you longer than a thousand great treasures of gold; a good life has its number of days, but a good name endures forever. Guard your name, he tells his children, and follow instruction in peace.

The counsel worth carrying away is about what actually lasts: a good name endures forever, longer than a thousand treasures of gold. Ben Sira sets a good name against wealth and finds it the more enduring possession. Gold, however much of it, stays behind when we die and passes to others; but a name, a reputation for integrity and goodness, a life remembered as faithful and honest, goes on after us and cannot be spent or stolen. He is not speaking of fame or celebrity, the shallow renown that fades, but of the deeper thing, the character by which a person is remembered, the good name that is really the shadow a good life casts forward. It is worth asking which we spend our energy building, the treasure of gold that we cannot keep, or the good name that endures. Much of a life can be poured into accumulating what death will take, and comparatively little thought given to the name we will leave, the memory of what kind of person we were, the integrity that outlives us. Ben Sira reorders the values: the good name is worth more than the treasure, because the treasure is left behind and the name goes on. A life well lived, remembered as faithful, is a legacy that no amount of gold can buy and that death cannot end.

Am I spending my energy building the treasure that death will take, or the good name that endures, the integrity and faithfulness by which I will be remembered, worth more than a thousand treasures of gold?

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