Scripture Daily

Context No. 1697 of 4322 · Sirach

Context · Reflection

Sirach 7:17-36: in context

17Humble your soul greatly, for the punishment of the ungodly man is fire and the worm. 18Don’t exchange a friend for something, neither a true brother for the gold of Ophir. 19Don’t deprive yourself of a wise and good wife, for her grace is worth more than gold. 20Don’t abuse a servant who works faithfully, or a hireling who gives you his life. 21Let your soul love a wise servant. Don’t defraud him of liberty. 22Do you have cattle? Look after them. If they are profitable to you, let them stay by you. 23Do you have children? Correct them, and make them obedient from their youth. 24Do you have daughters? Take care of their bodies, and don’t be overly indulgent toward them. 25Give your daughter in marriage, and you will have accomplished a great matter. Give her to a man of understanding. 26Do you have a wife who pleases you? Don’t cast her out. But don’t trust yourself to one who is hateful. 27Honor your father with your whole heart, and don’t forget the birth pangs of your mother. 28Remember that you were born of them. What will you repay them for the things that they have done for you? 29Fear the Lord with all your soul; and revere his priests. 30With all your strength love him who made you. Don’t forsake his ministers. 31Fear the Lord and honor the priest. Give him his portion, even as it is commanded you: the first fruits, the trespass offering, the gift of the shoulders, the sacrifice of sanctification, and the first fruits of holy things. 32Also stretch out your hand to the poor man, that your blessing may be complete. 33A gift has grace in the sight of every living man. Don’t withhold grace for a dead man. 34Don’t avoid those who weep, and mourn with those who mourn. 35Don’t be slow to visit a sick man, for by such things you will gain love. 36In all your words, remember eternity, and you will never sin.

This stretch of Sirach is a string of practical counsels for a whole life: be humble; do not trade away a true friend or a good spouse; treat servants and workers fairly; raise your children well; honor your father and mother, remembering all they suffered for you; fear the Lord and support his ministers; give to the poor; do not avoid those who weep, but mourn with mourners and visit the sick. And it closes with a line that gathers them all: in all you do, remember the end, and you will never sin.

The closing counsel is the key that fits the whole chapter: in all you do, remember the end, remember eternity, and you will not sin. Sirach has just walked through the ordinary business of a life, friendships, marriage, work, children, parents, the poor, the grieving, the sick; and now he names the single perspective that orders them all rightly, keeping the end in view. To remember the end is to live each choice in the light of where life is going, to weigh what we do now against the eternity toward which we move. It is a discipline that quietly reorders everything. Much sin is possible only because we forget the end, because we act as though this moment were all there is, as though there were no reckoning, no eternity, no long view against which our choices are measured. We cut corners, wrong others, chase what will not last, precisely because we have lost sight of where it all leads. But the person who keeps the end in view, who remembers that life is going somewhere and that we will give an account, finds many temptations losing their grip. Would I do this if I truly remembered the end? Is this worth it, measured against eternity? The question, honestly asked, dissolves much that would otherwise tempt us. Sirach's counsel is not morbid; it is clarifying. To remember the end is not to be gloomy but to see clearly, to let the long view sort the weighty from the trivial and the right from the wrong. In all you do, remember the end: it is a lamp that shows the path, and a guard against the sins that thrive only in forgetfulness of where we are going.

Do I make my choices as though this moment were all there is, forgetting where life is going, or can I take up Sirach's counsel to remember the end in all I do, letting the light of eternity clarify the weighty from the trivial and guard me from the sins that thrive only when I forget where I am headed?

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