An Atheist Explores the Apocrypha Part 23: Cherry Pick Your Wisdom: Be Generous, Keep Healthy, Oppress Women, Beat Your Children, Euthenasia Is Good (Ecclesiasticus 26-30)
Ecclesiasticus
26-30
Cherry Pick Your Wisdom: Be Generous, Keep Healthy, Oppress Women,
Beat Your Children, Euthenasia Is Good.
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
26
“A drunken woman and
a gadder abroad causeth great anger, and she will not cover her own shame”
There’s a motif running through this, and the last
chapter, with verses that are structured along the lines of “There are [x
number] of things that cause me [negative emotion], and an [X+1] that causes me
[a greater negative emotion]”. For example, Verses 5-6, “There be three things that mine heart feareth; and for the fourth I was
sore afraid: the slander of a city, the gathering together of an unruly
multitude, and a false accusation: all these are worse than death. But a grief
of heart and sorrow is a woman that is jealous over another woman, and a
scourge of the tongue which communicateth with all”, or Verse 28; “There be two things that grieve my heart;
and the third maketh me angry: a man of war that suffereth poverty; and men of
understanding that are not set by; and one that returneth from righteousness to
sin; the Lord prepareth such an one for the sword”.
It’s a good rhetorical device, and I suspect it may
continue into the next chapter as well.
As for the bulk of this chapter, it concerns itself,
as the top quote indicates, with the behaviour of women. Women should,
according to Ben Sirach, be sober, dutiful wives – “A dishonest woman contemneth shame: but an honest woman will reverence
her husband”, and “A shameless woman
shall be counted as a dog; but she that is shamefaced will fear the Lord”.
It draws an entertaining portrait of a loose, drunken woman of the kind usually
seen in documentaries about young people misbehaving on a Friday night – “She will open her mouth, as a thirsty
traveller when he hath found a fountain, and drink of every water near her: by
every hedge will she sit down, and open her quiver against every arrow”.
Note the euphemism there about quivers and arrows! “The whoredom of a woman may be known in her haughty looks and eyelids”.
I wonder what the author means by eyelids? Are they part of the “haughty
looks”, i.e. kind of half-closed, or is he talking about make-up?
My thoughts on this are that this is a very simplistic
view on concerns about “moral” behaviour. On the one hand, singling out women
like this seems to be sexual double standards. A woman is shameful for letting
lots of “arrows” into her “quiver”, but there’s nothing about young men putting
their “arrows” in lots of “quivers”. It’s a deliberate attempt to diminish female
sexuality and bring it under the control of men; there’s even a call for
fathers to restrict their daughters activities – “If thy daughter be shameless, keep her in straitly, lest she abuse
herself through overmuch liberty”.
Obviously this reflects a time and place, when the
behaviour of the women in a family reflected on the “honour” of the
paterfamilias. At the same time there’s a danger that this advice could be
considered timeless.
But that said, looking at it with modern psychological
consideration, there’s a line between allowing freedom in youthful behaviour,
and possible underlying reasons for potentially self-destructive behaviour. It
cannot be denied that there are
risks associated with excessive drinking and sleeping around, but I think understanding,
education and minimising risks as much as possible is a more positive approach
than locking up your daughters and demonising them for their behaviour.
In one of those seemingly arbitrary Biblical chapter
designations, the last verse is on a completely different topic – “A merchant shall hardly keep himself from
doing wrong; and an huckster shall not be freed from sin”. I’m tempted to
make some comment about Evangelical Christians and their unwavering support of
Donald Trump, but I won’t. Except that I just did.
Ecclesiasticus
27
“As
a nail sticketh fast between the joinings of the stones; so doth sin stick
close between buying and selling.”
Here the text moves into a bit more of a catch-all for
“sinful” behaviour. The quoted text, followed by the verse “Unless a man hold himself diligently in the
fear of the Lord, his house shall soon be overthrown” makes it read as is
there are some actions in which it is very easy to slip into misdeed and bad
behaviour unless one is careful, which, I think, has some truth in it.
Unfortunately the text then heads into some relatively
dull black-and-white truisms; “The talk
of him that sweareth much maketh the hair stand upright; and their brawls make
one stop his ears” for example. That, to me, comes down more to life
experience and your exposure to sweary people. To some raised in such an
environment, it’s nothing. That verse actually feels a bit snobbish and anti
working-class.
There are lot of verses about how terrible it is to
give away your friends’ secrets, and how that makes you not a true friend.
Again, this kind of depends. Yes, one should be a good confidante to a friend,
but what if they tell you something that you know to be illegal, or is going to
hurt another friend of yours, or is going to hurt the friend that tells you? There are never, ever, rules
for life that fit every possible occasion; the best we can ever hope for is to
try to be good enough.
Ecclesiasticus
28
“Forgive
thy neighbour the hurt that he hath done unto thee, so shall thy sins also be
forgiven when thou prayest”
This time around, the wisdom imparted is to do with
not giving in to anger, and to mind what you say.
The chapter warns against losing your temper and thus
causing fights, and it seems pretty sensible advice. It also seems to hint that
it’s all futile in the end, whether because everyone dies anyway, or whether
God is the ultimate judge (or both) is unclear. Certainly “Remember thy end, and let enmity cease; remember corruption
and death, and abide in the commandments” could either refer to an “end” that is oblivion or eternal
reward/punishment.
The two themes in this chapter are linked by the neat
simile that “If thou blow the spark, it
shall burn: if thou spit upon it, it shall be quenched: and both these come out
of thy mouth”. Words can enrage or calm, and it’s better, says this
chapter, to use them to calm because “A
backbiting tongue hath disquieted many, and driven them from nation to nation:
strong cities hath it pulled down, and overthrown the houses of great men”.
Ultimately it is better to be careful with your words, echoing sentiments from
other wisdom books, that you should “weigh
thy words in a balance, and make a door and bar for thy mouth”.
Ecclesiasticus
29
“Lend
to thy neighbour in time of his need, and pay thou thy neighbour again in due
season”
Now we turn to charity and equitable dealing. Always
be willing to lend to those in need, don’t be too worried about getting a
return, and also be ready to return that which you have borrowed. All seems
fairly reasonable advice once again. Probity is addressed in the verse “Keep thy word, and deal faithfully with him,
and thou shalt always find the thing that is necessary for thee”. The
chapter argues not to worry overmuch about a bad credit history – “Many therefore have refused to lend for
other men's ill dealing, fearing to be defrauded” – particularly on behalf
of people other than the person you are lending to, but also to not worry too
much since money lent to help somebody does more good than hoarding it, even if
you never get it back – “Lose thy money
for thy brother and thy friend, and let it not rust under a stone to be lost”.
It’s better, say the chapter, so lay down “savings”
in terms of good deeds rather than solid cash, since “Lay up thy treasure according to the commandments of the most High, and
it shall bring thee more profit than gold”.
All well and good, and the chapter also declares that
“Better is the life of a poor man in a
mean cottage, than delicate fare in another man's house” because “The chief thing for life is water, and
bread, and clothing, and an house to cover shame”. Eh. Maybe. That doesn’t
mean that wanting more than the meanest poverty is wrong somehow though. In a
way the message is to be thankful for what you have, which is more than some
people.
Ecclesiasticus
30
“He
that loveth his son causeth him oft to feel the rod, that he may have joy of
him in the end”
Hooray, child abuse in the name of God. Yes, being
nice to children will only lead to trouble, apparently – “An horse not broken becometh headstrong: and a child left to himself
will be wilful”. No, one shouldn’t laugh with or play with one’s child
(specifically in this section, son. We’ve already seen that daughters need to
be kept shut away). “Play with him, and he
will bring thee to heaviness. Laugh not with him, lest thou have sorrow with
him, and lest thou gnash thy teeth in the end”. A boy’s spirit should be
ruthlessly crushed for his own sake – “Bow
down his neck while he is young, and beat him on the sides while he is a child,
lest he wax stubborn, and be disobedient unto thee”.
“Though his
father die, yet he is as though he were not dead: for he hath left one behind
him that is like himself”, says the chapter. Yes, but considering the kind
of person it’s teaching you to be, is that a good thing? The chapter claims
that beating a child will create a person who is “an avenger against his enemies, and one that shall requite kindness to
his friends”. Probably the first, perhaps not the second since it will be teaching
that violence is the solution to disputes and that might makes right. But what
do I know?
The latter half of this chapter considers that health
and happiness are the most important things (unless you’re a young boy,
obviously. You don’t count expect as an extension of your angry father) – “There is no riches above a sound body, and
no joy above the joy of the heart". It even goes so far as to hint at
euthanasia – “Death is better than a
bitter life or continual sickness”. It also seems to draw parallels between
offerings to idols and keeping alive one in a persistent vegetative state, by
connecting the two thoughts with the verse “Delicates
poured upon a mouth shut up are as messes of meat set upon a grave”.
Finally the chapter declares that “Envy and wrath shorten the life, and
carefulness bringeth age before the time” and that “A cheerful and good heart will have a care of his meat and diet”,
which seems to be drawing the opposite conclusion to the behaviours that it
encourages above.
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