An Atheist Explores the Apocrypha Part 22: Conan, Shrews, and Deadly Swearing (Ecclesiasticus 21-25)
Ecclesiasticus
21-25
Conan, Shrews, and Deadly Swearing.
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.
Ecclesiasticus
21
“Flee from sin as from the face of a serpent: for if thou
comest too near it, it will bite thee: the teeth thereof are as the teeth of a
lion, slaying the souls of men”
Although it’s got some good poetry in it, most of this
chapter is about how stupid foolish people are, with a collection of colourful
similes (e.g. “He that buildeth his house
with other men's money is like one that gathereth himself stones for the tomb
of his burial”).
Which means, however, that there’s not much to talk
about. I will say that Biblical texts do seem very judgemental against what
they term “fools”. Partly, I guess,
because of the ambiguity of the term. I mean, a person can’t help it if they
have trouble understanding, or perhaps were never taught something in the first
place. Here the message is that it’s not worth teaching them – “The inner parts of a fool are like a broken
vessel, and he will hold no knowledge as long as he liveth”.
It all seems a bit lazy to me. On the other hand, as
with previous chapters, there’s also a certain wisdom to be had from walking
away from people that aren’t interested in an exchange of views or are stuck in
one way of thinking. As I said, it kind of depends what is meant by “fool”.
Ecclesiasticus
22
“A
slothful man is compared to the filth of a dunghill: every man that takes it up
will shake his hand”
After a brief foray into slothful and “evilnurtured” people, we’re back to some
more colourful similes about fools, such as “Whoso teacheth a fool is as one that glueth a potsherd together, and as
he that waketh one from a sound sleep” or “Sand, and salt, and a mass of iron, is easier to bear, than a man
without understanding”.
Mixed in with this are some other bits of advice, such
as the correct behaviour of children – “If
children live honestly, and have wherewithal, they shall cover the baseness of
their parents” and of how to treat your friends and neighbours, such as “Be faithful to thy neighbour in his poverty,
that thou mayest rejoice in his prosperity” or “If thou hast opened thy mouth against thy friend, fear not; for there
may be a reconciliation: except for upbraiding, or pride, or disclosing of
secrets, or a treacherous wound: for for these things every friend will depart”.
As with Proverbs we now seem to have strayed into the
“miscellany” section of the wisdom, which is always a lot harder to comment on.
Ecclesiasticus
23
“O Lord, Father and God of my life, give me
not a proud look, but turn away from thy servants always a haughty mind.”
The text now becomes a prayer from the writer to God
to keep him from committing a variety of sins, and it moves from overly
self-punishing, through a lot about swearing and finally into some hints at
very harsh punishment.
So first, self-denial. “Let not the greediness of the belly nor lust of the flesh take hold of
me; and give not over me thy servant into an impudent mind”. It kind of
depends here what is meant by “take hold
of me”. To try to not to experience those at all and to feel that one has failed if one does, is a concept
doomed to failure. If “take hold of”
means to be felt to such an extent that it takes over one’s life, then yes (and
this agrees with philosophies of moderation like the Nicomachean Ethics).
The stuff about swearing is pretty dull and
repetitive; I assume it’s more about “swearing an oath” and not keeping it, but
it also seems to suggest “sayin’ a cuss word” kind of swearing as well,
especially the teasing “There is a word
that is clothed about with death: God grant that it be not found in the
heritage of Jacob”. What’s the word? A swear word so powerful it can kill
you. Great idea!
Finally the text kind of revisits some of the more
famous commandments – “Remember thy
father and thy mother, when thou sittest among great men. Be not forgetful
before them, and so thou by thy custom become a fool, and wish that thou hadst
not been born, and curse they day of thy nativity”, for example. And then
it moves on to a lot about adultery. If a man commits adultery, God will get
him – “This man shall be punished in the
streets of the city, and where he suspecteth not he shall be taken”. And as
for a woman that conceives children in adultery, the text rather sinisterly
says that “an inquisition will be made of
her children” and that “Her children
shall not take root, and her branches shall bring forth no fruit”. That
sounds an awful lot like killing them to me, for how else could “not taking
root” be explained? Later the text kind of hints, as with the public punishment
of the man, that this will be God bringing this about and not some religious
fanatic pretending to be acting on the will of God; but it also doesn’t say
this explicitly enough for this not to be an interpretation.
Ecclesiasticus
24
“Wisdom shall praise herself, and shall glory in the midst
of her people.”
Wisdom does, indeed, praise herself in this chapter.
Although the first couple of verses describe Wisdom from the outside, it turns
quickly to a first person account from Wisdom, who tells how “I came out of the mouth of the most High,
and covered the earth as a cloud”. This mirrors Exodus, and Wisdom also
brings to mind the book of Job when she states that “I alone compassed the circuit of heaven, and walked in the bottom of
the deep”.
Wisdom is commanded by God to dwell within Jacob’s
people, and the tabernacle, and later the city of Jerusalem. There then follow
a lot of plant-based metaphors, some pretty typical for the Bible such as “I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus, and
as a cypress tree upon the mountains of Hermon”. Cedars and cypresses we’ve
seen come up a lot before, but the text waxes poetic about many different
plants – “I was exalted like a palm tree
in En-gaddi, and as a rose plant in Jericho, as a fair olive tree in a pleasant
field, and grew up as a plane tree by the water”, as well as turpentine
trees, (grape) vines, plus a mixture of precious stones and spices thrown in
for good measure.
It’s a strange theology for this Wisdom, and where she
occupies things. Plainly she’s a creation of God, but also seems to occupy a
position akin to the Holy Spirit – “I am
the mother of fair love, and fear, and knowledge, and holy hope: I therefore,
being eternal, am given to all my children which are named of him”. It’s
like the writer of Ecclesiasticus is trying to sneak a Mother Goddess into
Jewish monotheism. That God is the final arbiter of all, though, is not in
doubt according to this text – “Faint not
to be strong in the Lord; that he may confirm you, cleave unto him: for the
Lord Almighty is God alone, and beside him there is no other Saviour”.
There then follows a lot of water-based metaphors for
God – “He maketh the understanding to
abound like Euphrates, and as Jordan in the time of the harvest”, and
finally the plant and water metaphors come together where possibly the voice
returns to the author – “I said, I will
water my best garden, and will water abundantly my garden bed: and, lo, my
brook became a river, and my river became a sea”. It’s not entirely clear
here if “I” is still Wisdom speaking, but since the final verses also refer to
“her”, it’s probably the authorial voice again.
Ecclesiasticus
25
“In
three things I was beautified, and stood up beautiful both before God and men:
the unity of brethren, the love of neighbours, a man and a wife that agree
together.”
It’s impossible not to think of Conan the Barbarian
while reading this chapter. As well as the three things “beautified” and
another three things “my soul hateth”
(“a poor man that is proud, a rich man
that is a liar, and an old adulterer that doateth” in case you were
wondering), the chapter then goes on to describe “There be nine things which I have judged in mine heart to be happy, and
the tenth I will utter with my tongue: A man that hath joy of his children; and
he that liveth to see the fall of his enemy”.
If that doesn’t bring to mind “To
crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the
lamentations of their women”, well, you need to brush up on your famous cinematic quotes if nothing
else.
The rest of the list is
nothing too exciting – not serving someone less worthy than yourself, having
prudence and wisdom, that kind of thing. The list also includes living with “a wife of understanding”,
and the rest of the chapter goes off on a tear against shrewish women. You kind
of get the sense that the author is speaking quite personally – “I had rather dwell with a lion and a dragon,
than to keep house with a wicked woman”.
“All wickedness
is but little to the wickedness of a woman: let the portion of a sinner fall
upon her” the author continues to
rant, although admittedly sometimes he turns a nice phrase- “As the climbing up a sandy way is to the
feet of the aged, so is a wife full of words to a quiet man”. Although it’s
all a bit over the top, bringing in Eve to condemn all women (“Of the woman came the beginning of sin, and
through her we all die”), it does, in its own way, speak for marital
harmony and not remaining with an abusive partner – “a woman that will not comfort her husband in distress maketh weak hands
and feeble knees”.
It probably ought to say something about the required
behaviour of husbands as well, though….
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