CHAPTER 33
There are some nice moments in here, but nothing that great;
nothing that memorable for me.
Most notably, we get an extended section on property and
servants, in which we’re told that if you have just one slave, treat him like
yourself. He never does tell us how to
treat slaves if we have more than one, though.
Mostly, though, this highlights the primary difference in morality
between then and now. Then, slavery was
part of life and taken for granted. It
was on how you acted to and with slaves.
Now? Few things, if anything,
seem more repugnant to us now that having slaves.
“Do not” tally: one.
So that’s #107 overall.
CHAPTER 34
This is a surprising one.
This one actually contradicts other parts of the Bible – and not small
parts, either. This contradicts key
stories in Genesis, so that’s interesting.
What does it say?
Fuck dreams. Essentially, yeah –
that’s what it says. He says, “Like one
grasping at shadows or chasing the wind, so anyone who believes in
dreams.” He thinks it’s just our mind
telling us what we want to think, and then says, “How can the unclean produce
what is clean? How can the false produce
what is true?” Those are nice lines, but
very jolting.
Back in Genesis, Joseph worked his way from the prison to
governorship based on his ability to read dreams. Jacob had his famous dream of a ladder. Dreams matter. It sounds weird to modern ears, too, as we
like to think that a person should follow their dreams (though the word dream
is meant differently from how Ben Sira means it).
But he does give himself a catch, saying, “Unless they are
specially sent by the Most High, do not fix your heart on [dreams].” Unless.
Of course, how can we know which dreams come from there? To me, this reads like a bit of ass covering
by Ben Sira.
But I can figure out another defense for his approach. In olden days, you listened to dreams because
that’s how God communicated with people.
Now? We don’t need dreams,
because the Lord has already given us the laws.
We just have to follow his laws.
Zero “do not” statements here.
CHAPTER 35
This is just all on God and man and how they related. He makes a couple of statements that would
dry a low, cynical laugh from Job: “For he is a God who always repays and will
give back to you sevenfold,” for instance.
But he has one point I found interesting. He encourages us to not only follow God’s
laws and given sacrifices and tithes, but do so with good cheer. Makes sure you not only have the right
action, but the right mindset to go with it.
“Do not” tally: 3 verses begin with, “Do not.” That’s 110 so far.
CHAPTER 36
The first line gets my attention, “Come to our aid, O God of
the universe.” I think that’s the first
time he’s been called God of the entire universe. Well, the first time using the specific word
“universe” anyway. We’ve seen other,
similar statements many times in the Bible, but that word “universe” really
rings out to me. After all, the universe
is truly everything that exists.
Actually, this is a very different chapter for Ben
Sira. It sounds so different from the
others that I kept scribbling in the margins, “Same author?” and “Same guy?”
because his attitude and interests here are very different. Here, he urges God to intervene in daily life
to help his people, the Jews.
Uh, we’ve seen no signs like this from Ben Sira before. He’s more about individual life and conduct,
not some spokesperson for all Jews. He
wants to know and love God’s laws, but here he’s calling for actual miracles to
come down.
I guess it’s the same guy, but it’s nothing like the first
35 chapters.
He does shift focus back to more typically Ben Sira-esque
matters two-thirds of the way through, but I left this verse scratching my head
and wondering where the hell had Chapter 36 come from. What inspired him to go off like this?
CHAPTER 37
We get more advice on friends here. And again, he’s warning against false friends:
“there are friends who are friends in name only,” he reminds us. Yeah, Ben Sira
had a rough go of it with his friends.
Ben Sira also gives us an interesting series of comments
about how not to take advice from on certain subjects, like don’t ask a miser
about generosity or a coward about war.
He also says don’t get advice, “from a merchant about business.” Really?
They are to business what a coward is to war? That’s ….odd.
He also tells us to avoid taking advice from your father-in-law, period. No qualifications – just don’t do it.
“Do not” tally: 2. That gives us 112.
CHAPTER 38
Ben Sira is no Christian Scientist. He tells us, “Make friends with the doctor,
for he is essential to you. God has also
established him in his profession. From
God the doctor has wisdom.” If you fall
ill, sure go pray and stuff – but then go see a doctor.
If things don’t work out, Ben Sira provides some advice on
how to mourn for the dead – and its rather jolting stuff. At first it’s routine. He tells us to grieve for the appointed time,
and don’t overdue or underdue it, lest you become the subject of gossip. But once the mourning period is over, “Do not
turn your thoughts to him again. Cease
to recall him; think rather of the end.
Do not recall him, for there is no hope of his return.”
Hey! Some of us like
recalling the dead. It’s bad to dwell on
the dead, sure, but he’s going to the opposite extreme here.
Ben Sira mind wanders some more, and he decides to sing the
glories of scribes. It’s nice to see him
find a topic he’s positive about, but he promotes the position of scribes but
noting what they are not – manual laborers.
People that work manual labor jobs – potter, smiths, farmer, etc – they
have to spend all their time working with their hands, and never get a chance
to think about God and the Torah. So
hurrah for the scribe, who gets to focus on things above the other guys. Yeah, it’s nice to see Ben Sira happy, but
it’s annoying that he expresses his good thoughts for this job by denigrating
other jobs. He notes these other jobs
have their place, but they are clearly beneath scribe.
Actually, reading this I remember thing of the philosophy of
neo-Confucian scholar Wang Yangming. He
refuted much conventional thinking in China.
There, you had to study the Confucian classics to become a scholar and
official. Wang wasn’t anti-study, but he
thought that missed the point. The point
wasn’t study but the truth, and he thought studying was just the vehicle to the
truth. But there were other vehicles as
well. You could understand the truth –
The Way, as it was called in China – but going about your day-to-day life, and
using your responsibilities to understand the truth. It’s the concept of a calling; a job isn’t
just a job, but a calling.
Wang Yangming thought that you could learn this without
necessarily studying, but clearly Ben Sira disagrees. Then again, the truth for Ben Sira comes from
God, and you have the Torah to learn God’s ways. (Of course that can be flipped around – you
can learn God from within – the Holy Spirit, to use a Christian term – instead
of from the laws).
“Do not” tally: 2. So
it’s 114 and counting.
CHAPTER 39
Now Ben Sira really gets into the scholar. He makes his case directly for why scribes
are so great. Scribes become
judges. They become diplomats. They become the leaders. So hurrah for the literate! They memory of the scholar will not be
blotted out. Wait – just last chapter he
said to forget people once they were dead.
Eh, I guess he meant we should forget our loved ones. The big leaders, movers and shakers will be
remembered. At least that’s how he makes
it sound.
God gets praised plenty.
That’s a natural segue. You go
from praising the people who are able to read God’s laws to God himself. God is powerful and his glory can be seen in
all his creation. “All these were
created to meet a need,” Ben Sira tells us.
That sounds like Alexander Pope right there.
CHAPTER 40
As we approach the end, Ben Sira is looking broader in his
scope. Here, he talks all about the joys
and miseries of life in general. He has
an extended stretch about what makes life sweet. He notes one thing that is great, but then
points out something greater. It’s nice enough I’ll quote verses 18-26 in full:
“Wealth or wages can make life sweet, but better than either
finding a treasure. A child or a city
will preserve one’s name, but better than either, finding wisdom. Cattle and orchards make a person flourish,
but better than either, a devoted wife.
Wine and strong drink delight the soul, but better than either, love of
friends. Flute and harp offer sweet
melody, but better than either, a pure tongue.
Grace and beauty delight the eye, but better than either, the produce of
the field. A friends and a neighbor are
timely guides, but better than either, a sensible wife. Relatives and helpers for times of stress,
but better than either charity that rescues.
Gold and silver make one’s way secure, but better than either, sound
judgment. Wealth and vigor make the
heart exult, but better than either, fear of the Lord.”
I’m tempted to do a flow chart showing his priorities, but
the key point is he ends on fear of the Lord.
Actually, despite saying how important charity is, he ends
the chapter by saying “better to die than to beg.” The life of a beggar isn’t worth living as
far as he’s concerned.
CHAPTER 41
It’s more general advice from Ben Sira. He has some really nice moments – “The good
things of life last a number of days, but a good name, for days without number”
with some horrible ones: “The children of sinners are a deplorable line.”
He then lists many things people should be ashamed of,
ranging from admiring another man’s wife (hey man, that’s a commandment you’re
breaking there) to bad table manners (be ashamed, “of stretching your elbow at
dinner”). Once again, Ben Sira is the
only Bible author to care about table manners.
“Do not” tally: 1.
115 and counting.
CHAPTER 42
Ben Sira flips himself around. Instead of telling us things to be ashamed
of, it’s now time for things not to be ashamed of. Most is pretty much boilerplate Bible stuff –
God’s laws, for instance. Some deal with
Ben Sira’s fixation on wealth – it’s OK it help share business expenses. Some are both – Ben Sira notes that it’s good
to have accurate scales and measures, something repeated more than once in
previous Bible books. Oh, and it’s also
find to beat up your servant.
(cue the sound of the needle scratching off a
phonograph). Wait – what? It’s OK to beat servants? Absolutely: “beating the sides of a wicked
servant” is fine. Oh, so it has to be a
wicked one at least, but boy – that one sure sounds bad in the 21st
century.
Then, after a sustained stretch of general talk on life and
God and all the big stuff, Ben Sira pushes his attention back to the
particular. It’s especially noteworthy
because as near as I can tell, it’s the last time he veers into particular
matters in the entire book. At that last
particular matter he decides to focus on: daughters. He says that daughters are a worry, and you
should do whatever is possible to make sure they don’t bring shame and disgrace
to themselves, you, and the family. “A
frightened daughter [is better] than any disgrace.” So tyrannize them. Boy, I hope he didn’t have many daughters,
but I fear that he did.
Oh, and we get on more “do not” here. In fact, I’m pretty sure it’s the last “Do
not” in Ben Sira. There are 10 more
chapters, but the focus will soon shift and never shift back.
So, for posterity’s sake, in full here is the 116th
verse in the entire book to begin “Do not”: “”Do not let her reveal her beauty
to any male, or spend her time with married women.” So the ancient Jews liked their women to wear
the veil, too – and didn’t think they could trust older women to successfully
look after their daughters.
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