Isaiah: Chapters 1 to 6

Click here for the end of Ben Sira.

CHAPTER 1

Isaiah hits the ground running.  By the fourth verse, the calls the people of Judah, “Ah! Sinful nation, people laden with wickedness, evil offspring, corrupt children!”  No, tell us what you really think.  Also: I really like the “Ah!” at the beginning.  It really helps establish an exasperated tone.

This book isn’t going to waste time setting up characters or the plot. Right into the main point – his prophesies.  It’s like a TV show that doesn’t waste time for establishing shots. 

And Isaiah soon launches into a main theme – a theme that not only is he famous for, but the prophets as a whole are famous for.  He calls for justice and morality to be made the center of the religion, and not just sacrifice and ritual.  It was the sacrifice and ritual that gave the priests their position.  For priests – like the author of Leviticus – these actions were the heart of religion.  But Isaiah counters, speaking for God when he proclaims: “What do I care for the multitudes of sacrifice? Says the Lord.  I have had enough of whole-burnt rams and fat of fatlings.  In the blood of calves, lambs and goats, I find no pleasure.” 

Want to know what you should do?  “Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes.  Cease doing evil, learn to do good.  Make justice your aim: redress the wronged.” 

Now that is a wonderful statement, isn’t it?  “Cease doing evil, learn to do good” has got to be one of the best lines of the entire Bible. 

Oh, there is also a line about “Your hands are full of blood!  Wash yourselves clean!”  When I read it, I wondered if this is where we get the notion of having blood on your hands, but then I remembered – no, that’s the story of Pontius Pilate and the fructification of Christ.  But this line in Isaiah really helps set up that one. I doubt that’s a coincidence.

This is a weird start.  Most of the Bible tells a story.  Even things like the Torah law code are incorporated into the series of books so it becomes part of a larger story.  A large part of the Bible’s appeal is that so much of it is framed as stories so you can relate to and remember.  That goes out the window here.  OK, it went out the window in most of the wisdom books, but those are just statements.  You’d think you could arrange the stories of a prophet in a chronological order – make it like a biography.  But the Bible opts not to do that.

But if you are going to avoid the story method, this is a really good way to begin with Isaiah.  You cut right to the chase and get at his central message.  Nice start.

CHAPTER 2

There are two parts to this chapter – the sunny side and the dark side. 

Isaiah leads with the positive approach.  He foresees a time when all will be right with the world.  God’s house will be on high and all nations will stream to it.  God will sit and judge over nations, and set terms for many people – not just Jews.  It will be a time of great peace, which allows Isaiah to unleash one of the most famous lines in the Bible: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.”  The first part is the famous part, of course. 

It’s a great image; one people have always aspired to – a time of peace and brotherhood.  Isaiah foresees it, and it’ll all be under God’s watch.

But that’s in the future.  The present sucks.  Enter the dark side of the chapter.  Isaiah notes how the people have forsaken their Lord.  The problems are the same things we saw back in the historical section of the Bible – which makes sense, given that Isaiah lived near the end of it (and was even mentioned during it).  The Hebrew are acting poorly. 

Isaiah thunders against the sins and issues of his day, and prophecies that God will have his say.  In fact, it’s some really riveting, eloquent stuff.  Imagine this pouring out of the mouth of, say, Martin Luther King Jr., or some other terrific speaker.  Isaiah says:

“For the Lord of hosts will have his day against all that is proud and arrogant, against all that is high and it will be brought lot. 

“Yes against the cedars of Lebanon and against all the oaks of Bashan.

“Against all the lofty mountains and all the high hills.

“Against every loft tower and every fortified wall.

“Against all the ships of Tarshish and all stately vessels.

“Then human pride shall be abased, the arrogance of mortals brought law, and the Lord alone will be exalted on that day.”

That is some damn fine stuff.  I just had to break it up into paragraphs by verse because I think the pauses help give it impact instead of making it a simple list.  The way Isaiah mentions all of the various places remind me of the “I Have a Dream” speech.  In fact, its passages like this that likely helped King develop his craft.  He was a preacher, after all.  He mentioned Isaiah in some of his speeches. 

Anyhow, while the future might look rosy, the present isn’t.  We’ll get there; but it’ll be a period of harsh judgment by God that gets us there.  Then we’ll reach the Promised Land.  (Hey, that’s another famous King speech).

CHAPTER 3

Isaiah has a nice way of referring to the Lord as “The Lord, the Lord of hosts.”  Yeah, I like that. 

This chapter is a strong denouncing of the sins of the Hebrew, and a promise to make them pay.  God will put boys as their princes, set the people against each other, and have Judah fall.  Really, this sounds more like something I’d expect from Jeremiah, who is known for being a real Debbie Downer. 

He spends a special section denouncing the women.  He says that when God rises up to punish them, this will be in store for the women: “Instead of perfume there will be a stench, instead of a girdle, a rope, and instead of elaborate coiffure, a baldness, instead of a rich gown, a sackcloth.  Then, instead of beauty, shame.”  He really has a problem with the efforts women make on their appearance.  I’ll point out they do it in response to male desires, but they’re the ones who get nailed for it by Isaiah.

CHAPTER 4

A short chapter – just six verses.  It summarizes what’s come before.  In short, life we be wonderful and glorious and puppies and unicorns and rainbows – but first we gotta purify everything.  First it’ll be hellish, but then “for the survivors” it will be “honor and splendor.”  So the destination is great, but the journey a nightmare.

CHAPTER 5

Parable time!  Isaiah tells us of a wonderful vineyard planted.  It was perfectly spaded and cleared and cared for – but all it provided was rotten grapes and garbage.  So what’s the parable – can you guess?

Yup, “The vineyard of thee Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, the people of Judah his cherished plant.  So the Hebrew are rotten grapes.  And the point is simple: if God has done such a great job caring for the vineyard, and you grapes are so lousy, which shouldn’t he plow it under and start a new batch?  He won’t wipe them out, but he’ll teach ‘em but good.  They’ll go into exile, many will go down into Sheol.  In the Promised Land, “young goats shall eat the ruins of the rich.”

Isaiah takes a big picture view and decries the people for their sins.  Again, this guy has a way with words.  Imagine this spoken by someone who knows how to give a sermon.  Martin Luther King Jr. is my default guy: “Ah!  Those who call evil good, and good evil, who change darkness to light, and light into darkness, who change bitter to sweet, and sweet into bitter!  Ah!  Those who are wise in their own eyes, prudent in their own view” – I just love Isaiah’s use of “Ah!” to punctuate his point.  It just lies there on the page, but that’s why you imagine someone saying it. 

Well, what about those guys, “Their root shall rot and their blossom scatter like dust; for they have rejected the instruction of the Lord of hosts.”  So they’re in for it. And the reason their in for it is they’ve acted poorly.  With the prophets, ethical conduct plays a big role in religion.  This is an evolution.  Earlier, it was just obedience to the Lord and following rituals.  Now it’s being a moral individual. 

I think it makes sense that the prophets come after the wisdom books.  The centrality those books place on wisdom serves as a bridge to the evolution theology of the Bible given by the prophets.

CHAPTER 6

This takes us back a bit.  Again, the prophet books aren’t necessarily written in chronological order, and this book gives us the early info on Isaiah.  God called him around the year 742 BC, and he initially couldn’t believe his ears.  Like Moses, he’s at first overwhelmed by the call, shouting, “Woe is me, I am doomed!  For I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts!” Well, an angel purifies him and tells Isaiah to get prophesizing.  

Click here for the next chunk of chapters.

Isaiah main page

Chapters 1 to 6
Chapters 7 to 12
Chapters 13 to 19
Chapters 20 to 27
Chapters 28 to 33
Chapters 34 to 39
Chapters 40 to 47
Chapters 48 to 55
Chapters 56 to 66

Ben Sira: Chapters 43 to 51

Click here for the previous chunk of Ben Sira.  Now for the last bunch of it:

CHAPTER 43

Here, all Ben Sira does is praise God.  He praises God through nature.  God made the moon, the stars, the skies – they are all reflections of the Lord.  They are all ways we can see why and how he is wonderful.  The weather? God, too. 

We should, “praise him the more, since we can not fathom him.”  That’s a nice sense right there.  No, I’m not a believer, but that’s the sort of God that is worth believing in. If there is a God, he surely is beyond all our comprehension.

CHAPTER 44

Now we enter a section that defines almost all the rest of Ben Sira.  After giving him views on life and all that, he decides we need to praise the ancestors.  Here, he praises Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.  There really isn’t much to say here, but this approach will take almost all remaining chapters.

What I’m saying is, it looks like this Bible book will go out with a long, extended and pretty boring whimper.  This is why I reckon the “do not” tally will end at 116.

CHAPTER 45

It’s more of the same.  After spending all last chapter praising the patriarchs, this time he moves on to Moses and Aaron.  Oh, and he gets early priest Phinehas in it, too.  He killed a guy, if I recall correctly from the Torah. Ben Sira doesn’t give much info on them.  He mostly just broadly refers to them and why they were great.

CHAPTER 46

This is the second straight wisdom book to end like this.  The Book of Wisdom also ended with a prolonged section of praise for what happened previously in the Bible, and now so does Ben Sira.  Well, at least Ben Sira was interesting before this part (unlike the Book of Wisdom).

This chapter goes through Joshua, Caleb, the Judges (who don’t get named) and Samuel.  Clearly, Ben Sira is working from the same texts I am, but …. I already read this stuff. 

Oh, there is one notable point.  Ben Sira says of Joshua, “Formed to be, as his name implies, the great savoir of God’s chosen ones.”  Huh.  I guess in ancient Hebrew, Joshua means some sort of savoir.  This is especially notable because the actual name for Jesus Christ it Joshua.  (Jesus is a Greek-ified version of his name).  And if you’re Christian – and Ben Sira is only in the Catholic Bible these days – then it’s all the more appropriate that the guy with Jesus’ name is said to be a savoir to his people because of his name.

CHAPTER 47

Same as it ever was.  We get the prophet Nathan, David, and Solomon this time. 

Ben Sira says of David, “He played with lions as though they were young goats.”  Wait – what? 

This is either awkward phrasing or awkward translation: after a section on how Solomon “abandoned himself to women,” Ben Sira writes, “Solomon finally slept with his ancestors.”  It took me a beat, but I finally realized this meant Solomon died.  I thought he accused Solomon of incestuous necrophilia there for a second.

CHAPTER 48

Now it’s Elijah and Elisha.  Ben Sira says of Elijah, “You are destined, it is written, in time to come to put an end to wrath before the day of the Lord.” Wait – where is this written?  Either I missed it or a forgot it; both of which are possible.  Well, it’s been written now, hasn’t it?  It’s in Ben Sira. 

We also get the fall of Israel and the story of Isaiah.  The prophet gets just a handful of verses, which end: “He foretold what would happen till the end of time, hidden things yet to be fulfilled.”  Again, this is key if you’re a Christian because Isaiah is often portrayed to be foretelling the coming of Christ.  Ben Sira writes before Christ, so this works out.

CHAPTER 49

We get the end of the days of Judah.  Ben Sira says that the only non-wicked kings were David, Hezekiah, and Josiah.  No Solomon?  No, not Solomon. He was wise, but also wicked.  For that reason alone, it’s amazing that books like this one spend as much time promoting wisdom as they do.

For that matter – there are several other kings endorsed in Kings I and Kings II.  True, but there are always some qualifications.  OK, but Chronicles II is in love with Jehoaphat.  Yea, but Ben Sira may not have that book.  Anyhow, who actually pays attention to Chronicles anyway?  It’s a much worse, much lamer version of the Samuels and the Kings. 

CHAPTER 50

This is a little unexpected.  We get an entire chapter praising ….a guy we’ve never heard of before.  Simeon, son of Jochanan.  Huh?  According to the footnotes, he was high priest from 219-196 BC, around the time of Ben Sira.  Ah, so he’s writing what he knows and has seen.  Still, you get this oddity of a very brief summation of all the great Biblical heroes, culminating in a guy we’ve never heard of before – but he gets damn near the entire chapter, something not even Moses could claim.

But not quite the entire chapter, as Ben Sira concludes with a epilogue where he urges people to focus on wisdom.

CHAPTER 51

Though the last chapter ended with an epilogue, we still have one last chapter to go.  The first half of the chapter is all about thanking God for what he’s done.  The second half thanks wisdom. 

Yeah, that sounds about right.  In this entire section of the Bible, wisdom is continually praised alongside God, so they get to share the stage at the end here.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

OK, this was better than I expected.  It’s tons better than the Book of Wisdom. 

I had trouble getting into it at first, but what drew me in was the sense of the person behind it.  First it was his negative approach with all the “Do not”s.  OK, so they might be off-putting, but it got me wondering about the person behind the pen.  Then you saw his fixations on bad friends and financial matters and I got a clearer sense of Ben Sira as a man whose life hadn’t gone the way he’d hoped, but who found his refuge in God’s wisdom.  That also explains why he goes against Job’s philosophy.  Here is a man who was saved by God when he was at his lowest, so naturally he feels that’s how it works. 

Parts of this book are dull (like the last 8-10 chapters or so).  Some advice I didn’t like.  But much of the advice really was nice.  And I like the sense of a person writing this, not just a bunch of dry comments detached from lived humanity.  The Bible is always at its best when it is at its most human, and this was surprisingly human for a book that appears to be a bunch of dry maxims about life.  

Click here to begin Isaiah.

Ben Sira: Chapters 33 to 42

Here is the last bunch of chapters in Ben Sira.  Now for this bunch.

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 21^st 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 116^th 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.

Odds are, the 116^th “do not” verse will be the last.

Click here for the final blast of Ben Sira.