Scripture Daily

Context No. 1915 of 4322 · Sirach

Context · Reflection

Sirach 49:1-16: in context

1The memory of Josiah is like the composition of incense prepared by the work of the perfumer. It will be sweet as honey in every mouth, and like music at a banquet of wine. 2He did what was right in the reforming of the people, and took away the abominations of iniquity. 3He set his heart right toward the Lord. In lawless days, he made godliness prevail. 4Except David, Hezekiah, and Josiah, all were wicked, because they abandoned the law of the Most High. The kings of Judah came to an end. 5They gave their power to others, and their glory to a foreign nation. 6They set the chosen city of the sanctuary on fire and made her streets desolate, as it was written by the hand of Jeremiah. 7For they mistreated him; yet he was sanctified in the womb to be a prophet, to root out, to afflict, to destroy and likewise to build and to plant. 8Ezekiel saw the vision of glory, which God showed him on the chariot of the cherubim. 9For truly he remembered the enemies in rainstorm, and to do good to those who directed their ways aright. 10Also of the twelve prophets, may their bones flourish again out of their place. He comforted the people of Jacob, and delivered them by confident hope. 11How shall we magnify Zerubbabel? He was like a signet ring on the right hand. 12So was Jesus the son of Josedek, who in their days built the house, and exalted a people holy to the Lord, prepared for everlasting glory. 13Also of Nehemiah the memory is great. He raised up for us fallen walls, set up the gates and bars, and rebuilt our houses. 14No man was created upon the earth like Enoch, for he was taken up from the earth. 15Nor was there a man born like Joseph, a leader of his kindred, a supporter of the people. Even his bones were cared for. 16Shem and Seth were honored among men, but above every living thing in the creation was Adam.

Sirach praises the memory of the good king Josiah: it is like sweet incense prepared by the perfumer, sweet as honey in every mouth. Josiah did what was right, removed the abominations of idolatry, and made godliness prevail in lawless days. And Sirach goes on to remember others whose lives left a good name: David, Hezekiah, the faithful prophets, Zerubbabel, Nehemiah, Joseph, and more, each remembered for the good they did and the faithfulness they showed.

The image Sirach uses for Josiah's memory is worth dwelling on: like sweet incense, sweet as honey in every mouth. A good life leaves behind a fragrance, a sweetness in the memory of those who knew it, a name that is a blessing to recall. Josiah, generations after his death, is remembered with sweetness, his memory like incense, because of how he lived, faithfully, righteously, making godliness prevail. His life left a good name, a fragrant memory that outlasted him. This points to a truth worth pondering: that how we live determines how we will be remembered, and that a righteous life leaves a fragrance that endures beyond it. The memory of the righteous, the proverb says, is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot. We will all be remembered somehow, by those who knew us, by those who come after; and the memory we leave is shaped by the life we lived. A life of faithfulness, goodness, and love leaves a sweet memory, a name that blesses those who recall it, a fragrance like incense; a life of selfishness and evil leaves a memory that rots. This is not the reason to live well, we live well to please God, not to secure a good reputation, but it is a real fruit of a good life, and worth considering. The lives we live are leaving, even now, the memory that will remain when we are gone; and the sweetness or bitterness of that memory is being determined by how we live. It is worth asking what memory our lives are leaving, whether the fragrance of faithfulness and love, or something less. Josiah's memory was sweet as honey because his life was good; and the memory we leave, likewise, will be the fragrance, sweet or otherwise, of the life we are living now. A good life leaves a good name; and the righteous, Scripture says, will be remembered.

What memory is my life leaving, the sweet fragrance of faithfulness and love that will bless those who recall it, or something less, and though I live to please God and not to secure a reputation, can I consider that how I live now is determining the memory that will remain, and let that move me toward a life whose memory is sweet?

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