Context No. 3257 of 4322 · Sirach

Sirach 40:17-30: in context

17Kindness is like a garden of blessings. Almsgiving endures forever. 18The life of one who labors and is content will be made sweet. He who finds a treasure is better than both. 19Children and the building of a city establish a name. A blameless wife is better than both. 20Wine and music rejoice the heart. The love of wisdom is better than both. 21The pipe and the lute make pleasant melody. A pleasant tongue is better than both. 22Your eye desires grace and beauty, but the green shoots of grain more than both. 23A friend and a companion is always welcome, and a wife with her husband is better than both. 24Relatives and helpers are for a time of affliction, but almsgiving rescues better than both. 25Gold and silver will make the foot stand sure, and counsel is esteemed better than both. 26Riches and strength will lift up the heart. The fear of the Lord is better than both. There is nothing lacking in the fear of the Lord. In it, there is no need to seek help. 27The fear of the Lord is like a garden of blessing and covers a man more than any glory. 28My son, don’t lead a beggar’s life. It is better to die than to beg. 29A man who looks to the table of another, his life is not to be considered a life. He will pollute his soul with another person’s food, but a wise and well-instructed person will beware of that. 30Begging will be sweet in the mouth of the shameless, but it kindles a fire in his belly.

Sirach runs through a long list of good things, kindness and a settled home, wine and music, wealth and strength, and after each he names something better. The refrain climbs step by step until it reaches its summit: the fear of the Lord is better than them all; there is nothing lacking in the fear of the Lord; it covers a person more than any glory.

Good gifts abound in life, and Sirach does not despise them; wine gladdens the heart, a good home builds a name, counsel and strength have their place. But each is surpassed by reverence for God, which alone lacks nothing. The poem trains the heart to rank rightly: to enjoy the many genuine goods of life, and yet to hold the fear of the Lord above them all as the one thing that leaves nothing wanting. Everything else is a real good; the fear of the Lord is the good that completes and covers them.

Do I rank the fear of the Lord above every other good in my life, holding reverence for God as the one thing that lacks nothing?

Sources

Sirach 40:26: "The fear of the Lord is better than both. There is nothing lacking in the fear of the Lord."
Sirach 40:27: "The fear of the Lord is like a garden of blessing, and covers a man more than any glory."
Proverbs 9:10: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom."