Context No. 2927 of 4322 · Sirach
Context · Reflection
Sirach 14:17-27: in context
17All flesh grows old like a garment, for the covenant from the beginning is, “You must die!” 18Like the leaves flourishing on a thick tree, some it sheds, and some grow, so also are the generations of flesh and blood: one comes to an end and another is born. 19Every work rots and falls away, and its builder will depart with it. 20Blessed is the man who meditates on wisdom, and who reasons by his understanding. 21He who considers her ways in his heart will also have knowledge of her secrets. 22Go after her like a hunter, and lie in wait in her paths. 23He who peers in at her windows will also listen at her doors. 24He who lodges close to her house will also fasten a nail in her walls. 25He will pitch his tent near at hand to her, and will lodge in a lodging where good things are. 26He will set his children under her shelter, and will rest under her branches. 27By her he will be covered from heat, and will lodge in her glory.
Ben Sira looks squarely at mortality. All flesh grows old like a garment, he says; generations fall like the leaves of a tree, one coming to an end as another is born, every work eventually rotting away and its builder departing with it. Then the turn: blessed is the one who meditates on wisdom, who pursues her like a hunter, camps near her house, pitches his tent beside her, and rests under her branches.
The passage sets our fading against wisdom's shelter. Everything else passes, our bodies, our works, our generations, like leaves that drop. But the person who devotes himself to wisdom, who chases her and then builds his life next to her, finds a shade that outlasts all the fading. The images move from dogged pursuit to restful dwelling: hunt wisdom hard, and you come to live in her shelter, covered from the heat. In a world where everything passes, wisdom is the one home worth building beside.
In a world where my body and my works will fade like leaves, am I building my life next to the wisdom that lasts?
Sources
- Sirach 14:20: "Blessed is the man who meditates on wisdom, and who reasons by his understanding."
- Proverbs 8:34: "Blessed is the man who hears me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my door posts."
- Matthew 7:24: "Everyone... who hears these words of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on a rock."