“The land trembles.
The land writhes
In pain.
This is Yahweh’s purposes
Against Babylon,
To make the land
Of Babylon
A desolation,
Without inhabitants.”
This simple and clear plan of Yahweh was to make the Babylonian land tremble and struggle in pain. Yahweh wanted to make Babylon a desolate place without anybody living there.
“When one rests
Upon his bed,
His sleep at night
Confuses his mind.
He gets little or no rest.
He struggles in his sleep,
As he did by day.
He is troubled
By the visions of his mind.
He is like one
Who has escaped
From the battlefield.
At the moment
He reaches safety,
He wakes up.
He is astonished
That his fears
Were groundless.”
Sirach points to the restless sleep that people have because their minds are confused. They actually get very little rest, since they are as if they were awake during the day. They struggle with troubled dreams or visions, while they try to get some restful sleep. They are like shell-shocked. They think that they are on a battlefield that they cannot escape. Yet they wake up astonished that they are safe. We might call these bad dreams or nightmares, where people are always trying to get away from someone or something.
“When a land rebels
It has many rulers.
But with an intelligent ruler
There is lasting order.
A ruler who oppresses the poor
Is like a beating rain that leaves no food.
Those who forsake the law
Praise the wicked.
But those who keep the law
Struggle against them.
The evil people
Do not understand justice.
But those who seek Yahweh
Understand it completely.”
The problem with a revolution is that that there are too many leaders and no one ruler. An intelligent ruler will bring lasting order. If you oppress the poor people, you are like a heavy torrential rain that destroys crops. Anyone who forsakes the law praises the wicked ones. Those who keep the law struggle against them. The evil people do not understand justice, while the Yahweh seekers completely understand the law.
“A certain Razis, one of the elders of Jerusalem, was denounced to Nicanor as a man who loved his compatriots. He was very well thought of. For his good will, he was called father of the Jews. In former times, when there was no mingling with the gentiles, he had been accused of Judaism. He had most zealously risked body and life for Judaism. Nicanor, wishing to exhibit the enmity which he had for the Jews, sent more than five hundred soldiers to arrest him. He thought that by arresting him, he would do them an injury. When the troops were about to capture the tower, they forced the door of the courtyard. They ordered that fire be brought and the doors burned. Being surrounded, Razis fell upon his own sword. He preferred to die nobly rather than to fall into the hands of sinners and suffer outrages unworthy of his noble birth. But in the heat of the struggle he did not hit exactly. The crowd was now rushing in through the doors. He courageously ran up on the wall. He bravely threw himself down into the crowd. But as they quickly drew back, a space opened and he fell in the middle of the empty space. Still alive and aflame with anger, he rose up. Although his blood gushed forth and his wounds were severe, he ran through the crowd. Standing upon a steep rock, with his blood now completely drained from him, he tore out his entrails. He took them with both hands and hurled them at the crowd, calling upon the Lord of life and spirit to give them back to him again. This was the manner of his death.”
Wow, what a gruesome description of the death of Razis! Razis was a well respected Jewish elder, sometimes referred to as the father of the Jews. He was accused of Judaism because he would not mingle with the gentiles. Nicanor wanted to make an example of him so he sent 500 troops to arrest him. So far this does not sound outlandish. Then when they got to his house, they decided to set fire to his door to get in. Then Razis was surrounded and decided to kill himself with a sword, a common Roman practice, rather than die in disgrace. However, in the heat of the excitement with the 500 troops running at him, he somehow missed killing himself but merely cut himself. So Razis ran to the top of the wall. He wanted to hurl himself into the crowd, but they stepped back and he fell into an empty space. Now as he was angry and still alive, he ran through the crowd of troops until he got to a sharp rock. The blood was gushing out all over the place. Somehow he tore out his own intestines and threw them at the crowd. This was some weird scene. Here then is the main point. He cried to the Lord of life to give them back to him. Of course, he died. Somehow this father of Judaism believed that his intestines would be restored in some kind of afterlife, a resurrection. This is one of the few times that we have a Jewish attempted suicide.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 