Scripture Daily

Context No. 1679 of 4322 · Sirach

Context · Reflection

Sirach 24:1-16: in context

1Wisdom will praise her own soul, and will proclaim her glory in the midst of her people. 2She will open her mouth in the congregation of the Most High, and proclaim her glory in the presence of his power. 3“I came out of the mouth of the Most High, and covered the earth as a mist. 4I lived in high places, and my throne is in the pillar of the cloud. 5Alone I surrounded the circuit of heaven, and walked in the depth of the abyss. 6In the waves of the sea, and in all the earth, and in every people and nation, I obtained a possession. 7With all these I sought rest. In whose inheritance shall I lodge? 8Then the Creator of all things gave me a command. He who created me made my tent to rest, and said, ‘Let your dwelling be in Jacob, and your inheritance in Israel.’ 9He created me from the beginning, before the ages. For all ages, I will not cease to exist. 10In the holy tabernacle, I ministered before him. So I was established in Zion. 11In the beloved city, likewise he gave me rest. In Jerusalem was my domain. 12I took root in a people that was honored, even in the portion of the Lord’s own inheritance. 13I was exalted like a cedar in Lebanon, And like a cypress tree on the mountains of Hermon. 14I was exalted like a palm tree on the sea shore, like rose bushes in Jericho, and like a fair olive tree in the plain. I was exalted like a plane tree. 15Like cinnamon and aspalathus, I have given a scent to perfumes. Like choice myrrh, I spread abroad a pleasant fragrance, like galbanum, onycha, stacte, and as the smell of frankincense in the tabernacle. 16Like the terebinth, I stretched out my branches. My branches are glorious and graceful.

In this chapter of Sirach, Wisdom speaks and praises herself. I came from the mouth of the Most High, she says, and covered the earth like a mist. She tells how she ranged over heaven and the depths, over every people and nation, seeking a place to rest. Then the Creator gave her a command: let your dwelling be in Jacob, your inheritance in Israel. So Wisdom took root among God's people, ministering in the holy tabernacle, established in Zion, exalted like a cedar, a palm, an olive, spreading fragrance like precious spices.

The picture Sirach draws is of divine Wisdom, present with God from the beginning and filling the whole creation, coming to make her dwelling among a particular people. Wisdom is not a remote abstraction, floating unreachable above the world; she ranges through all the earth and then, by God's command, settles down, takes root, dwells among God's people, ministers in their midst. The wisdom of God comes near, comes to dwell, comes to be found among those who are his. Christian tradition has long read this passage in the light of a fuller dwelling still. For the same divine Wisdom that Sirach pictures taking root in Zion is seen, in the New Testament, to have come among us in person: the Word who was with God from the beginning, through whom all things were made, made his dwelling among us in Jesus Christ. What Sirach glimpsed, Wisdom coming down to dwell with a people, is fulfilled beyond his imagining when the Wisdom of God takes flesh and pitches his tent among us. There is wonder in this for us to hold. The wisdom of God is not kept far off, to be scaled only by the learned or the strong; it has come near, come to dwell, come to be found among God's people, and above all in Christ, who is the wisdom of God made flesh. We are not left to climb to wisdom on our own; Wisdom has come down to dwell with us. And the invitation implicit in the whole passage is to receive her, to make our home where Wisdom has made hers, among the people of God, and in the Christ who is Wisdom in person.

Do I seek the wisdom of God as though it were far off and beyond my reach, or can I receive the truth Sirach glimpsed and the gospel fulfills, that divine Wisdom has come down to dwell among God's people, and above all in Christ, the Wisdom of God made flesh, come near to be found and received?

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