Chapter Seventeen

The perfection of primordial humanity. The innateness of the moral law. The supplementation of natural law by revealed law. The longsuffering and mercy of God toward repentant sinners.

Sirach 17:1. The Lord created humanity from the earth and again returns it to it. Sirach 17:2. He gave them a determined number of days and time, and gave them dominion over all that is upon it. Sirach 17:3. According to their nature, He clothed them with strength and created them in His image, Sirach 17:4. and put fear in them toward all flesh, so that they might have dominion over the beasts and the birds. Sirach 17:5. He gave them understanding, tongue and eyes, and ears and heart for reflection, Sirach 17:6. He filled them with the penetration of reason and showed them good and evil. Sirach 17:7. He set His eye upon their hearts, to show them the greatness of His deeds, Sirach 17:8. so that they might praise His holy name and proclaim the greatness of His deeds. 1-8. The passage speaks of God’s creation of the first humans, their inner dignity, and dominion over nature; it notes the innateness in every person of the natural moral law, which prompts humanity to strive to fulfill the holy and perfect will of the Creator. (The Lord set His eye upon their hearts, that is, of humans, to show them the greatness of His deeds); the passage indicates the direction of humans’ holy, God-pleasing life (so that they might praise His holy name and proclaim the greatness of His deeds).

Sirach 17:9. He added knowledge to them and gave them the law of life as an inheritance; Sirach 17:10. an eternal covenant He established with them and showed them His judgments. Sirach 17:11. The greatness of His glory their eyes saw, and the glory of His voice their ears heard. Sirach 17:12. And He said to them, “Beware of all unrighteousness”; and He commanded each of them regarding their duty to the neighbor. 9-12. The passage speaks of the conferment upon humanity, supplementing the weakened natural moral law after the fall, of revealed law, written out in clear, definite letters, precisely indicating to humans the immutable path of true knowledge of God and God-pleasing life. The recipient of the revealed law of God was His chosen people, to whom the Lord offered to enter with Him into an eternal covenant (v. 10; see Exod 19:3-6), on the condition of the Hebrews fulfilling those commandments and laws which they received from God (and showed them His judgments), during the awesome and glorious Sinai legislation (the greatness of His glory their eyes saw, and the glory of His voice their ears heard).

Sirach 17:13. Their paths are always before Him, they will not be hidden from His eyes. Sirach 17:14. To each people He appointed a leader, Sirach 17:15. and Israel is the portion of the Lord. Sirach 17:16. All their deeds are like the sun before Him, and His eyes are always upon their paths. Sirach 17:17. Their unrighteousness is not hidden from Him, and all their sins are before the Lord. Sirach 17:18. The almsgiving of a person is like a seal with Him, and He will preserve the kindness of a person as the apple of His eye. Sirach 17:19. Then He will rise up and repay them, and their reward will be returned upon their head. Sirach 17:20. But to those who repent He gave the opportunity to return, and He encouraged those who were losing patience. Sirach 17:21. Turn to the Lord and abandon your sins; Sirach 17:22. pray before Him and diminish your stumbling blocks. Sirach 17:23. Return to the Most High and turn away from unrighteousness, and strongly hate abomination. Sirach 17:24. Who will praise the Most High in Hades, instead of those living and praising Him? Sirach 17:25. From the dead, as from one not existing, there is no praise: Sirach 17:26. the living and the well will praise the Lord. Sirach 17:27. How great is the mercy of the Lord and His reconciliation with those who turn to Him! Sirach 17:28. Not everything is possible for a person, Sirach 17:29. for a human being is not immortal. Sirach 17:30. What is brighter than the sun? yet it is darkened. And evil will be pondered by flesh and blood. Sirach 17:31. Behind the powers of the high heavens He Himself keeps watch, and all humans are earth and ashes. 24-31. A human being is not immortal... and all humans are (in the flesh) earth and ashes. While a person lives, they should use the life granted to them to praise their Creator (see vv. 7-8). With bodily death for a person the time of earthly labors and the praise given in them to their Creator ceases: from the dead, as from one not existing on earth, there is no praise to the Creator. The soul of the deceased descends to Sheol, but there it is no longer a place for God-pleasing labors, but rather a place of recompense for life on earth. Indeed, during earthly life, in union with the body, the soul of a person experiences many obstacles from the body to the praise of God (evil will be pondered by flesh and blood), but it has here much time and opportunity to offer to God sincere repentance of their sins, which is well-pleasing and acceptable in the eyes of the Lord. (How great is the mercy of the Lord and His reconciliation with those who turn to Him!).