“From a woman
Sin had its beginning.
Because of her,
We all die.”
Sirach emphasizes the idea of the woman committing the first sin. In the original Genesis story in chapter 3, the man and woman ate together, although the serpent spoke to the woman, Eve. Women thus get blamed not only for the entrance of sin into this world, but also for the concept of death. Humans would have been immortal had there not been this female disobedience. Cleary Sirach’s anti-feminism runs rampant in this section.
“Turn back to the Lord!
Forsake your sins!
Pray in his presence!
Lessen your offenses!
Return to the Most High!
Turn away from iniquity!
He will lead you out of darkness
To the light.
Hate intensely
What he abhors!
Who will sing praises
To the Most High
In Hades?
In place of the living,
Who gives thanks?
From the dead,
As from one who does not exist,
Thanksgiving has ceased.
Those who are alive and well
Sing the Lord’s praises.
How great is
The mercy of the Lord!
His forgiveness is
For those who return to him!
Not everything is within human capability.
Since human beings are not immortal.
What is brighter than the sun?
Yet it can be eclipsed.
Flesh and blood devise evil.
He marshals the host of the height of heaven.
But all human beings are dust.
All human beings are ashes.”
Much like the later John the Baptist, Sirach here is calling for all to repent. Turn to the Lord! Give up sinning! Pray to the Lord! Turn to the Most High! Turn away from iniquity! No one can sing the praises of the Lord from Hades, the home of the dead. Only the living can give thanksgiving and praise to the Lord. The Lord is merciful. He will forgive those who return to him. Humans have limited capacities, since they are not immortal. Even the bright sun gets eclipsed. Flesh and blood humans devise evil because they are mere dust and ashes. However, the Lord has his hosts in the high heavens.
“Do not invite death
By the error of your life.
Do not bring on destruction
By the works of your hands.
God did not make death.
He does not delight
In the death of the living.
He created all things
So that they might exist.
The generative forces of the world
Are wholesome.
There is no destructive poison in them.
The dominion of Hades is not on earth.
Righteousness is immortal.”
This author states clearly that God did not create death (θάνατον). Man has created death that leads to hell, Sheol, or Hades (Άδης). You invite death by the error of your life. You bring on destruction by your own hands. God does not delight in death. God created living things as a generative wholesome force with no destructive poison in them so that they might exist. The kingdom or dominion of Hades is not on earth. Righteousness, or those who act justly, will make you immortal (δικαιοσύνη γὰρ ἀθάνατός ἐστιν), the opposite of death, not dying. Thus this is a vague immortality, somewhat like the Greek immortality of the soul that comes from a good life.
“Queen Esther prayed to the Lord God of Israel.
‘O my Lord,
You only are our king.
Help me.
I am alone.
I have no helper but you.
My danger is in my hand.
Ever since I was born
I have heard in the tribe of my family
That you, O Lord, took Israel out of all the nations,
You took our ancestors from among all their forebears
For an everlasting inheritance.
You did for them all that you promised.
Now we have sinned before you.
You have handed us over to our enemies,
Because we glorified their gods.
You are righteous, O Lord!
Now they are not satisfied that we are in bitter slavery.
They have covenanted with their idols to abolish
What your mouth has ordained.
They want to destroy your inheritance.
They want to stop the mouths of those who praise you.
They want to quench your altar.
They want to quench your house.
They want to open the mouths of the nations to praise vain idols.
They want to magnify forever a mortal king.’”
In this Greek text, Queen Esther is saying that there only one king, the Lord of Israel. However, she is married to a king, the great king of 127 provinces. She has learned about the God of Israel from her family, which in this case was Mordecai. The Israelites were promised an everlasting inheritance. However, Queen Esther admits that the Israelites have sinned in glorifying foreign gods. Thus they were turned over to their enemies. The reality of the captivity was clear to her. Now, however, they wanted to destroy our mouths, God’s altar and his house. However, they had already been destroyed. In none of this prescription against the Jews was there any mention of a mortal king being magnified. The king has made no pretention of being immortal, only the Romans and Greek kings would do that, not this Persian king.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 