“Honor physicians
For their services!
The Lord created them.
Their gift of healing
Comes from the Most High.
They are rewarded by the king.
The skill of the physicians
Makes them distinguished.
In the presence of the great men,
They are admired.
The Lord created medicines
Out of the earth.
The sensible ones
Will not despise them.
Was not water made sweet
With a tree?
Thus its power might be known.
He gave skill to human beings.
Thus he might be glorified
In his marvelous works.
By them,
The physician heals.
He takes away pain.
The pharmacist makes a mixture
From them.
God’s works
Will never be finished.
From him,
Health spreads over all the earth.”
Were physicians thought of as witch doctors or a kind of false idol worship? Sirach has a strong defense of these physicians. They are actually continuing the creative work of the Most High God with his gift of healing to the people. These distinguished and admired medical doctors are honored by kings because of their skills. The Lord has created healing medicines from the earth. Do not despise their human skills that heal and take away pain. The pharmacists make these mixtures to help the work of God, whose work is never finished. Thus health will spread over all the earth. Sirach has a definite pro-physician and pro-pharmacist attitude, unlike some Christian Scientists who are against medical doctors.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 