Scripture Daily

Context No. 846 of 4322 · Sirach

Context · Reflection

Sirach 34:1-16: in context

1Vain and false hopes are for a man void of understanding. Dreams give wings to fools. 2As one who grasps at a shadow and follows after the wind, so is he who sets his mind on dreams. 3The vision of dreams is a reflection, the likeness of a face near a face. 4From an unclean thing what can be cleansed? From that which is false what can be true? 5Divinations, and soothsayings, and dreams, are vain. The heart has fantasies like a woman in labor. 6If they are not sent in a visitation from the Most High, don’t give your heart to them. 7For dreams have led many astray. They have failed by putting their hope in them. 8Without lying the law will be fulfilled. Wisdom is complete in a faithful mouth. 9A well-instructed man knows many things. He who has much experience will declare understanding. 10He who has no experience knows few things. But he who has traveled increases cleverness. 11I have seen many things in my travels. My understanding is more than my words. 12I was often in danger even to death. I was preserved because of these experiences. 13The spirit of those who fear the Lord will live, for their hope is in him who saves them. 14Whoever fears the Lord won’t be afraid, and won’t be a coward, for he is his hope. 15Blessed is the soul of him who fears the Lord. To whom does he give heed? Who is his support? 16The eyes of the Lord are on those who love him, a mighty protection and strong support, a cover from the hot blast, a shade from the noonday sun, a guard from stumbling, and a help from falling.

Sirach has a low opinion of the ways people try to secure their future through hidden signs. Vain and false hopes are for the fool, he writes, and dreams give wings to a fool's imagination. Setting your heart on dreams is like grasping at a shadow or chasing the wind, reaching for something that is not there and cannot be held. Divinations and omens and dreams, he says, are empty, and unless a dream is genuinely sent from God, do not give your heart to it, because dreams have led many people astray, and they failed because they put their hope in them.

Underneath the warning is a diagnosis of a very human hunger: the craving to peer ahead, to get some secret leverage over what is coming, to feel in control of an uncertain future by reading it in signs. Sirach says that hunger keeps people chasing shadows. And then he sets against it the one hope he considers solid. The spirit of those who fear the Lord will live, for their hope is in the One who saves them; whoever fears the Lord will not be afraid, for the Lord is his hope. The eyes of the Lord are on those who love him, he says, a strong protection, a shade from the heat, a guard against stumbling, a help against falling. That is the difference. You can spend your life grasping at shadows for a security they can never give, or you can rest under the eyes of the God who actually keeps you.

Sirach calls the search for security in signs and dreams grasping at a shadow. Where am I chasing some form of hidden knowledge or control for my security, instead of resting under the eyes of the God who saves?

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