Scripture Daily

Context No. 1401 of 4322 · Sirach

Context · Reflection

Sirach 29:1-16: in context

1He who shows mercy will lend to his neighbor. He who strengthens him with his hand keeps the commandments. 2Lend to your neighbor in time of his need. Repay your neighbor on time. 3Confirm your word, and keep faith with him; and at all seasons you will find what you need. 4Many have considered a loan to be a windfall, and have given trouble to those who helped them. 5Until he has received, he will kiss a man’s hands. For his neighbor’s money he will speak submissively. Then when payment is due, he will prolong the time, return excuses, and complain about the season. 6If he prevails, the creditor will hardly receive half; and he will count it as a windfall. If not, he has deprived him of his money, and he has gotten him for an enemy without cause. He will pay him with cursing and railing. Instead of honor, he will pay him disgrace. 7Many on account of fraud have turned away. They are afraid of being defrauded for nothing. 8However be patient with a man in poor estate. Don’t keep him waiting for your alms. 9Help a poor man for the commandment’s sake. According to his need don’t send him empty away. 10Lose your money for a brother and a friend. Don’t let it rust under a stone and be lost. 11Allocate your treasure according to the commandments of the Most High and it will profit you more than gold. 12Store up almsgiving in your store-chambers and it will deliver you out of all affliction. 13It will fight for you against your enemy better than a mighty shield and a ponderous spear. 14A good man will be surety for his neighbor. He who has lost shame will fail him. 15Don’t forget the kindness of your guarantor, for he has given his life for you. 16A sinner will waste the property of his guarantor.

Ben Sira gives frank counsel about lending and generosity. Show mercy by lending to your neighbor in his need, he says, and keep your own word to repay on time. But he is honest about the trouble that lending brings: many treat a loan as a windfall and make trouble for those who helped them, flattering the lender until they have the money, then delaying, making excuses, and repaying kindness with complaint. Because of such fraud, he admits, many refuse to lend at all. And yet he insists: be patient with the poor, do not turn them away empty; lose your money for a brother rather than let it rust under a stone; store up almsgiving, which will deliver you in the day of trouble.

What is striking is that Ben Sira does not pretend generosity is safe. He knows, and says plainly, that some who borrow will not repay, will dodge and make excuses and repay help with ingratitude, and that many have grown so wary of being cheated that they will not lend at all. He does not deny the risk; he names it clearly. And then, having named it, he commands generosity anyway: help the poor for the commandment's sake, do not send them away empty, lose your money for a brother rather than hoard it. The risk of being taken advantage of is real, and it is not a sufficient reason to close the hand. There is a hard wisdom here for anyone who has been burned by helping and grown cautious. It is easy to let one experience of being cheated harden into a policy of never being generous again, to protect ourselves so thoroughly against loss that mercy dies. Ben Sira will not allow it. Some generosity will be wasted, some help will be repaid with ingratitude, and we are to be generous anyway, because the command to help the poor does not come with a guarantee against loss. Better to lose some money in mercy than to let it rust under a stone; the treasure stored up in giving to the needy outlasts and outweighs what we might have lost.

Have I let the fear of being cheated, or the memory of being burned, harden my heart into caution, when Ben Sira commands generosity to the poor despite the real risk of loss, better to lose some money in mercy than to hoard it safely under a stone?

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