Context No. 3273 of 4322 · Sirach

Sirach 25:1-16: in context

1I enjoy three things, and they are beautiful before the Lord and men: the agreement of kindred, the friendship of neighbors, and a woman and her husband who walk together in agreement. 2But my soul hates three sorts of people, and I am greatly offended at their life: a poor man who is arrogant, a rich man who is a liar, and an old fool who is an adulterer. 3If you gathered nothing in your youth, how could you find anything in your old age? 4How beautiful a thing is judgment in the gray-haired, and for elders to know good counsel! 5How beautiful is the wisdom of old men, and understanding and counsel to men who are in honor! 6Much experience is the crown of the aged. Their glory is the fear of the Lord. 7There are nine things that I have thought of, and in my heart counted happy, and the tenth I will utter with my tongue: a man who has joy with his children, and a man who lives and sees the fall of his enemies. 8Happy is he who dwells with a wife of understanding, he who has not slipped with his tongue, and he who has not served a man who is unworthy of him. 9Happy is he who has found prudence, and he who speaks in the ears of those who listen. 10How great is he who has found wisdom! Yet there is none greater than one who fears the Lord. 11The fear of the Lord surpasses all things. To whom shall he who holds it be likened? 13Any wound but a wound of the heart! Any wickedness but the wickedness of a woman! 14Any calamity but a calamity from those who hate me! Any vengeance but the vengeance of enemies! 15There is no venom worse than a snake’s venom. There is no wrath worse than an enemy’s wrath. 16I would rather dwell with a lion and a dragon than keep house with a wicked woman.

Sirach opens with a picture of what is beautiful before God and people: kinfolk who live in harmony, neighbors who are friends, a husband and wife who walk together in agreement. These bonds of peace are a delight. And he honors the wisdom of age: much experience is the crown of the aged, and their glory is the fear of the Lord.

The chapter also voices some hard and bitter lines, shaped by its own time and culture, which we do not read as God's own endorsement. The enduring wisdom lies elsewhere, in what the passage lifts up: the beauty of harmony among people, the value of seasoned counsel, and above all reverence for God. For Sirach says plainly, the fear of the Lord surpasses all things. Even the crown of gray-haired wisdom finds its glory not in years alone but in the fear of the Lord. Long life gathers experience, but experience becomes true wisdom only when it is joined to reverence for God.

Do I treasure the bonds of harmony and the wisdom of experience, and do I let the fear of the Lord, which surpasses all things, be the crown of whatever wisdom I gain?

Sources

Sirach 25:1: "The agreement of kindred, the friendship of neighbors, and a woman and her husband who walk together in agreement."
Sirach 25:6: "Much experience is the crown of the aged. Their glory is the fear of the Lord."
Sirach 25:11: "The fear of the Lord surpasses all things."