Scripture Daily

Context No. 1766 of 4322 · Sirach

Context · Reflection

Sirach 50:17-29: in context

17Then all the people together hurried, and fell down to the ground on their faces to worship their Lord, the Almighty, God Most High. 18The singers also praised him with their voices. There was a sweet melody in the whole house. 19And the people implored the Lord Most High, in prayer before him who is merciful, until the worship of the Lord was finished, and so they accomplished his service. 20Then he went down, and lifted up his hands over the whole congregation of the children of Israel, to give blessing to the Lord with his lips, and to glory in his name. 21He bowed himself down in worship the second time, to declare the blessing from the Most High. 22Now bless the God of all, who everywhere does great things, who exalts our days from the womb, and deals with us according to his mercy. 23May he grant us joyfulness of heart, and that peace may be in our days in Israel for the days of eternity, 24to entrust his mercy with us, and let him deliver us in his time! 25With two nations my soul is vexed, and the third is no nation: 26Those who sit on the mountain of Samaria, the Philistines, and the foolish people who live in Shechem. 27I have written in this book the instruction of understanding and knowledge, I Jesus, the son of Sirach Eleazar, of Jerusalem, who out of his heart poured forth wisdom. 28Blessed is he who will exercise these things. He who lays them up in his heart will become wise. 29For if he does them, he will be strong in all things, for the light of the Lord is his guide.

Sirach describes the people falling on their faces in worship as the high priest blesses them, the singers praising, the whole house filled with prayer. Then he closes his book with a blessing and a colophon: I, Jesus son of Sirach, have written in this book the instruction of understanding and knowledge, pouring forth wisdom from my heart. And he ends with a promise: blessed is the one who occupies himself with these things; whoever lays them up in his heart will become wise, and if he does them, he will be strong in all things, for the light of the Lord is his guide.

The closing words turn the whole book toward action: blessed is the one who does these things. Sirach does not say, blessed is the one who reads this wisdom, or admires it, or can quote it; he says, blessed is the one who lays it up in his heart and does it. Wisdom that is only read and admired changes nothing; it is wisdom done, practiced, laid up in the heart and lived out, that makes a person wise and strong. There is a gap here that we know well: the gap between knowing what is good and actually doing it. We can read wisdom, agree with it, even be moved by it, and yet leave our lives unchanged, having admired the truth without living it. Sirach's final blessing is reserved not for the reader but for the doer. This is the same distinction the Lord himself draws: the one who hears his words and does them builds on rock, while the one who hears and does not do them builds on sand. It is not enough to know the good; the good must be done, laid up in the heart, and lived. And there is a promise attached: the one who does these things will be strong in all things, guided by the light of the Lord. Wisdom lived, not merely known, is what steadies and strengthens a life. So the question a book of wisdom finally puts to us is not whether we have read and admired it, but whether we will do it, laying it up in our hearts and living it out, that we may be not merely informed but wise.

Do I read wisdom and admire it, agreeing with the good without living it, or will I be the one Sirach calls blessed, who lays wisdom up in the heart and does it, knowing that it is wisdom lived, not merely known, that makes a life wise and strong?

Sources