An Atheist Explores the Apocrypha Part 20: Foolish People Don’t Have Wisdom. Well… duh. (Ecclesiasticus 11-15)

Ecclesiasticus 11-15

Foolish People Don’t Have Wisdom. Well… duh.

Welcome to the next instalment of An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts (Apocrypha version).

In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through the Old Testament Apocrypha, commenting on it from the point of view of the text as literature and mythology.

For more detail, see the introductory post http://bit.ly/3aEJ6Q5

For the online KJV I use, see here http://bit.ly/2m0zVUP

Ecclesiasticus 11

“In the day of prosperity there is a forgetfulness of affliction: and in the day of affliction there is no more remembrance of prosperity.”

There’s more of a mixed bag of sayings in this chapter, but there’s still an overall theme –all things come from God and so don’t put too much faith in material possessions or outward appearances since these can just as easily be lost as gained. Likewise therefore don’t judge people based on these either – “Commend not a man for his beauty; neither abhor a man for his outward appearance” and “Many mighty men have been greatly disgraced; and the honourable delivered into other men's hands”.

As part of this, ben Sirach exhorts the reader not to be too quick to judge others – “Blame not before thou hast examined the truth: understand first, and then rebuke” but also not to get involved in disputes that don’t concern you, particularly if they are over foolish things. This also includes watching out for foolish or evil people so that they don’t cheat you or bring you down – “Take heed of a mischievous man, for he worketh wickedness; lest he bring upon thee a perpetual blot”.

Once again, I find that Ecclesiasticus is offering some fairly sound advice to consider.

Ecclesiasticus 12

“Give unto the good, and help not the sinner”

Having said that at the end of the last chapter, I think here the advice is less sound. It seems okay on the surface but I think it needs tempering (with the Wisdom that ben Sirach loves so much).

The reader is told not to help the sinner, “For the most High hateth sinners, and will repay vengeance unto the ungodly, and keepeth them against the mighty day of their punishment”, but this to me opens the door to judgemental behaviour. It’s all very well saying to “Do well unto him that is lowly, but give not to the ungodly”, but I can easily see the “lowly” being defined as “ungodly” according to one’s own prejudices. Clearly your state of poverty or need is a punishment from God for your sins, so as much as I’d like to help, I can’t because I should only help the truly needy and not the ungodly, for example.

Next, the chapter seems to set up a kind of paranoia. From the fairly true statement that “A friend cannot be known in prosperity: and an enemy cannot be hidden in adversity”, it goes on to warn the reader to be wary of false friends who “speaketh sweetly with his lips, but in his heart he imagineth how to throw thee into a pit”. I guess once again “Wisdom” is supposed to help with recognising who will be a false friend, but also again it could be used as an excuse not to trust anyone, especially as this advice seems to be mainly aimed at someone who’s going to be in a position of authority.

Ecclesiasticus 13

“As the wild ass is the lion's prey in the wilderness: so the rich eat up the poor.”

The poor should not consort with the rich, according to this chapter, since the rich will only ever seek to use them for what they can get  - “If thou be for his profit, he will use thee: but if thou have nothing, he will forsake thee”. Further, seeing the disparity in possessions is liable to cause despair. Note that this chapter doesn’t concern itself with the idea of “envy” as such, more that the have-nots will be made to feel bad by what the haves, er, have – “he will shame thee by his meats, until he have drawn thee dry twice or thrice”.

That’s really about it, the latter part of the chapter outlines more inequalities between rich and poor, that the rich man usually has resources and allies to fall back on whereas a poor man has no kind of safety net. Things really haven’t changed, sadly.

Ecclesiasticus 14

“Blessed is the man that hath not slipped with his mouth, and is not pricked with the multitude of sins.”

We begin here with a series of verses that form a kind of moral philosophy of virtue ethics, listing a range of attributes possessed by the virtuous person. The verses again largely take the diptych form common to Biblical wisdom literature. For example, “He that is evil to himself, to whom will he be good? he shall not take pleasure in his goods” or alternatively “Do good unto thy friend before thou die, and according to thy ability stretch out thy hand and give to him”. A lot of these verses address envy and covetousness (after noting that it wasn’t mentioned last chapter!) but also advocate charity, friendship and generosity – “Give, and take, and sanctify thy soul; for there is no seeking of dainties in the grave”.

And this verse illustrates the other theme of this chapter, that life is fleeting and “All flesh waxeth old as a garment: for the covenant from the beginning is, Thou shalt die the death”. And even more poetic expression of this is that “As of the green leaves on a thick tree, some fall, and some grow; so is the generation of flesh and blood, one cometh to an end, and another is born”. It’s the Ciiiiircle of Liiiiife.

This is interesting as it clearly demonstrates that, in this variant of Jewish theology at least, there is no afterlife, no salvation after death. Which, I presume, is the very novelty taught by early Christians. But here, as in Ecclesiastes, the writer urges people to lead the very best life that they can because it’s the only one that have. What does “Defraud not thyself of the good day, and let not the part of a good desire overpass thee” mean if not the same as “Carpe Diem”?

The last few verses concern the seeking of Wisdom again, and are all variants on the same message – “He that considereth her ways in his heart shall also have understanding in her secrets”, using a range of metaphors that seem to get more tortured as the chapter continues – “He that doth lodge near her house shall also fasten a pin in her walls”. Eh?

Ecclesiasticus 15

“He that feareth the Lord will do good, and he that hath the knowledge of the law shall obtain her.”

Pretty short comments on this chapter, which goes back to attaining Wisdom using a set of metaphors like “With the bread of understanding shall she feed him, and give him the water of wisdom to drink” to explain the benefits of finding Wisdom.

The text also claims that “foolish men shall not attain unto her” which seems a bit backwards; men who do not attain her [Wisdom] are by definition foolish, surely. And how, if you have not attained wisdom, can you be anything but foolish in some sense?  I understand that the text is probably meant to read that some people don’t even try to find wisdom, and these are the “foolish men”, but, eh, bad writing I think.

The rest of the chapter is largely about how great and powerful God is, and also how a person should not blame their failings on God, but rather it seems to be placed on the notion of free will and thus wilful disobedience of God – “Say not thou, It is through the Lord that I fell away: for thou oughtest not to do the things that he hateth”.