Sirach 22:1-17: a reflection

1A slothful man is compared to a stone that is defiled. Everyone will hiss at him in his disgrace. 2A slothful man is compared to the filth of a dunghill. Anyone who picks it up will shake it out of his hand. 3An undisciplined child is a disgrace to his father, and a foolish daughter is born to his loss. 4A prudent daughter will inherit a husband of her own. She who brings shame is the grief of her father. 5She who is arrogant brings shame on father and husband. She will be despised by both of them. 6Ill-timed conversation is like music in mourning, but stripes and correction are wisdom in every season. 7He who teaches a fool is like one who glues potsherds together, even like one who wakes a sleeper out of a deep sleep. 8He who teaches a fool is as one who teaches a man who slumbers. In the end he will say, “What is it?” 11Weep for the dead, for he lacks light. Weep for a fool, for he lacks understanding. Weep more sweetly for the dead, because he has found rest, but the life of the fool is worse than death. 12Mourning for the dead lasts seven days, but for a fool and an ungodly man, it lasts all the days of his life. 13Don’t talk much with a foolish man, and don’t go to one who has no understanding. Beware of him, lest you have trouble and be defiled in his onslaught. Turn away from him, and you will find rest, and you won’t be wearied in his madness. 14What would be heavier than lead? What is its name, but “Fool”? 15Sand, salt, and a mass of iron is easier to bear than a man without understanding. 16Timber girded and bound into a building will not be released with shaking. So a heart established in due season on well advised counsel will not be afraid. 17A heart settled upon a thoughtful understanding is as an ornament of plaster on a polished wall.

This chapter of Sirach spends much of its length warning about the sluggard and the fool, the person who will not work, will not learn, will not receive correction. Teaching a fool, Sirach says wryly, is like gluing broken pottery together or trying to wake someone from a deep sleep. It is a sobering portrait of a life closed to wisdom, a heart that refuses understanding and so brings trouble on itself and others.

But the chapter ends with a beautiful contrast, an image of a very different kind of heart. As timber bound firmly into a building will not be shaken loose, so a heart established in due season on well-advised counsel will not be afraid. A mind settled on thoughtful, wise understanding is like fine plaster on a smooth wall, secure and unshaken. The person whose heart is built on good counsel and genuine understanding stands firm when trouble comes, unafraid.

The contrast is instructive. A life closed to wisdom and correction is unstable and brings grief, but a heart built patiently on wise counsel and real understanding is like well-bound timber, unshakable in the day of trouble. Which are you building? Receive correction, seek wisdom, ground your heart in good and godly counsel while there is time, and you will find that when hard days come, you are not thrown into fear but stand secure. A heart established on wisdom does not tremble.

Lord, a heart established on wise counsel is like timber bound firmly into a building, unshaken when trouble comes. Make mine that kind of heart. Keep me open to correction and hungry for wisdom, grounding myself in good and godly counsel while there is time. Then, when hard days come, let me stand secure rather than trembling in fear, my heart established on the understanding that comes from you. Amen.