Month: March 2018

The Apocrypha in Lent – 19 March

If this is your first visit, please see my introduction to these Lenten readings.

19 March. Ecclesiasticus chapters 39-41

The second half of chapter 38 was about farmers and tradesmen – people who work hard for a living (and with no suggestion there is anything wrong with that in itself) but have no time to become wise or educated.  They do not become councillors, judges or writers, or what we might now call celebrities, but “they give solidity to the created worlds, while their prayer is concerned with what pertains to their trade”.  These are contrasted in the next chapter with ‘scholars’ – well travelled men who study secular writings and religious texts, and meditate on God.  Such people, says this writer, will become well known and praised in their own day and remembered after their death. But they are few.

Through human history (and until quite recently with our modern obsession with record-keeping and fame) only a small minority of people became well known outside their own town, and fewer still were remembered beyond the next generation of those who had known them.  To die, be buried in an unmarked grave and mourned by few people – that was the fate of most humans, unless they were important enough to appear in official records that were retained for a long time.  The ordinary person – farmer, merchant, miner, baker or housewife – lived their life in a small circle with no expectation of lasting fame.  And countless millions have never made it to adulthood –  rates of death in childhood were historically far higher than they are now, along with miscarriages and still-births.  To live long enough to make a living for yourself was an achievement in itself.

That is the background of the verses in chapter 41: 1-4, where death is described as unwelcome for the rich and healthy, but welcome to the poor, very elderly or distressed. But the word to both of them is “do not dread death’s sentence; remember those who came before and those who will come after”, with a rider that “whether your life lasts ten, a hundred or a thousand years its length will not be held against you in Sheol”.  In other words, while a short life many be thought a tragedy on earth, it will make no difference in the life to come.

Maybe such wisdom needs to be heard by the parents who mourn for years for a dead child, sometimes keeping their bedroom exactly how it was on their last day; or erect a large and florid monument to their “Little angel”; or who spend their last penny and every ounce of energy trying to get “justice” when what happened to their relative was an accident with no one person obviously to blame.  Their grief is understandable, the unexpected loss of a close relative at a young age seems unnatural, but it is a credit to our economy, infrastructure and  health systems that such a loss is now rare.

But it takes a spiritual kind of wisdom to understand that there is a life beyond this one, in which the time we spent on earth is irrelevant.  Happy memories are more helpful than bitterness and anger, and an understanding that the deceased has “gone on ahead of us” may be more helpful than a sense of them having been “left behind”.  One of Jesus’ most comforting sayings is “In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” (John 14:2).

 

The Apocrypha in Lent – 18 March

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18 March. Ecclesiasticus chapters 35-38

Today I am taking the short passage in Ecclesiasticus 38:1-15 headed “medicine and illness”.

These days there are many discussions about the place of various approaches to health.  There is “conventional medicine” by which we mean medicines prescribed by a doctor or sold by a pharmacist.  Many of these now are produced industrially although some still use natural plant extracts – arnica for bruises, for example. Then there are “traditional”, “herbal” or “natural” medicines which shun the fruits of scientific research and rely only on an older body of knowledge of the effects of various plants.

Then there are “alternative” approaches to treatment such as homeopathy, which is widely trusted by many people but equally widely regarded with scepticism by doctors who cannot see how a substance diluted until barely a few molecules of active ingredient may be present can be of any benefit.  With that, then, we are getting closer to “faith healing”, which for Christians means praying in the name of Jesus for someone’s wholeness, including relief from pain or cure for a disease.   No-one except a few charlatans suggests that everyone who asks for prayer will be healed, but enough do claim to have benefited from such healing prayer for others to seek it too.

So what is the approach of the writer of Ecclesiasticus to health matters? “The doctor, too, has been created by the Lord; healing itself comes from the Most High, like a gift from a king” (v.2). “the Lord has brought medicines into existence from the earth; the sensible man will not despise them” (v.4).   So the natural healing properties of plants are seen as gifts of God, certainly not to be rejected.  There was no pharmaceutical industry as we know it in those days, but “the chemist makes up a mixture from them” shows that there was a tradition of making medicines of some kind.

The writer then moves on to mental and spiritual health. “When you are ill, do not be depressed, but pray to the Lord and he will heal you. Renounce your faults, keep your hands unsoiled, and cleanse your heart from all sin”.  That reference to renouncing sin may be uncomfortable to today’s humanists, but it is now generally agreed that physical health and well-being are closely linked to mental health, good diet, exercise and spiritual well-being (whether that is defined in terms of religious faith or a secular understanding of spirituality as mindfulness and self-awareness).

The benefits of traditional or modern medicines, then, are not to be rejected (whether we see them as “natural” or “God-given”), but experience suggests that their effects will be greater if these other aspects of our overall well-being are attended to as well.  The Bible has a name for it – Shalom. This word is usually translated as “peace” but meaning far more than the absence of stress and conflict and really means a wholeness of mind, body and spirit.  No wonder that “shalom” or “salaam” is a common greeting among Eastern people even today.

The Apocrypha in Lent – 17 March

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17 March. Ecclesiasticus chapters 31-34

One of the themes that recurs throughout the “wisdom literature” of the Bible is the dangers of wealth, and they are reiterated in chapter 31 – but the emphasis here is not on the sin of the love of money as a form of idolatry, rather the practical problems it brings.  Worry about wealth causes sleeplessness (v. 1-2), and loss of popularity (5).

The writer also recognises that wealthy people tend to over-eat, and that in itself causes health problems “sleeplessness, biliousness and gripe are what the glutton has to endure” (20). Instead, he argues, even if you are rich enough to afford luxury food, “a moderate diet ensures sound sleep and a man gets up early in the best of spirits”.

Likewise, the dangers of drinking too much wine – arguments, violence and falling out with friends – are rehearsed in the last part of chapter 31.  But “wine is life for man if drunk in moderation” (27).  The following chapter is about how to behave as a guest at a rich man’s banquet – not eating more than others, not interrupting the entertainment, joining in the conversation but not pretending to know more than you do about the subject.

 

The Apocrypha in Lent – 16 March

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16 March. Ecclesiasticus chapters 27-30

I have picked two short passages from among these chapters, which belong together in the approach to life that they commend: the passages which in the Jerusalem Bible are headed “resentment” (27:30-28:9) and “happiness” (30:21-25).

The first of these classes resentment, along with anger, as a sin, and exhorts the reader to “forgive your neighbour the hurt he does you, and when you pray, your sins will be forgiven” (28:2).  That reads so much like the Lord’s Prayer, that I expect Jesus knew this passage and perhaps was quoting it when he replied to the disciples who asked him how they should pray.  The next verse explains how this works – “if a man nurses anger against another, can he then demand compassion from the Lord?”  For an attitude of unforgiveness, even if we think “justice” deserves that some hurt done to us be avenged, cuts us off not only from our own soul but from God.  If you are still in any doubt, verse 6 brings us up short – “remember the last things, and stop hating”.  In other words, we all die, and if we end this life in an attitude of hatred towards other people, how can we expect God to show love towards us in the life to come?

The second passage warns of the dangers of “sorrow and brooding” (30:21).   Why? “Jealousy and anger shorten your days, and worry brings premature old age”.  This ancient wisdom is only now being rediscovered by those who in our own time warn of the dangers of stress, which does indeed increase the risk not only of a heart attack or stroke, but of other diseases that shorten life expectancy.  The contrast is with “gladness of heart and joy” which “give length of days”.  There is also a reference to the effect of stress that reduces appetite: “a genial heart makes a good trencherman, one who benefits from his food” (30:25).

So taken together we have several good reasons to stop being resentful, angry or sorrowful about the things that other people do to us, and do our best to remain cheerful and to forgive them when we can.  It’s not easy, but then living well never is. It takes an effort.   But putting your efforts into reconciliation, forgiveness and relaxation is better than putting the same amount of effort into trying to get even with someone.

 

The Apocrypha in Lent – 15 March

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15 March. Ecclesiasticus chapters 23-26

Yesterday’s chapters focussed on the dangers of inappropriate speech, and the first part of chapter 23 continues that theme with warnings against swearing – both in the older sense of “taking God’s name in vain” and in the more contemporary sense of “foul language”.  The writer warns that “a man in the habit of using improper words will never break himself of it however long he lives”.  That reflects experience, it is indeed a hard habit to break.

However I beg to differ with the writer over verse 14: “Remember your father and mother when you are sitting among princes, in case you forget yourself in their presence and behave like a fool”. The implication is that our parents would have been shocked by hearing us use foul language.  But actually, experience suggests that the habit of swearing is usually learnt from parents, or from childhood friends.  For such people, ‘foul’ language is just ‘normal’ language.

The next section (chapters 24-26) is largely about sexual relationships and marriage.  The boundaries of what is acceptable do of course change across times and cultures, and much of what was considered sinful in Biblical times is usually not considered wrong in liberal 21st century Britain (such as loving same-sex relationships, or sex before marriage).  But on the other hand, we would now consider it wrong to marry off adolescent girls, as was normal in those days – not that that is specifically mentioned here, though there is a warning about the risk of “headstrong daughters” (girls who turn out to be promiscuous) in 26:10-12.

Some relationships, though, such as adulterous ones (23:22-27), are still considered immoral by most people, though not illegal, and incest (23:17) is both.  Let it never be said that the Bible is dull or out of touch with reality!

What modern readers will find most shocking about these chapters, though, is not the sexual references, but the attitude to women generally in chapters 25-26.    While it is true that there are unhappy marriages as a result of a wife’s jealousy or nagging (25:17-20) or alcoholism (26:8), the text is silent about the much more common problem (almost certainly prevalent then as now) of violent and controlling husbands.  In fact, these passages display a contempt for women that is quite alien to modern thought, although perhaps still seen in the Sharia law of traditional Muslim communities. They still consider it bad for a wife to support her husband (25:22), good for a woman to remain silent (26:14) and allow a man to divorce his wife because she will not obey him (25:26)

At the end of chapter 26 there is, at least, praise for a good wife – though even here, silence, modesty and chastity are the prized virtues, and “a beautiful face on a well-proportioned body [with] shapely legs on firm-set heels” being regarded as a virtue betrays a thoroughly male-dominated culture.

All  this “wisdom” about relationships between men and women is a reminder that cultural attitudes of 2200 years ago  are still alive and well among us.

 

 

The Apocrypha in Lent – 14 March

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14 March. Ecclesiasticus chapters 19-22

A lot of the proverbs in today’s passages concern speech – when to speak and when not, what sort of words to use, the use of different language in different situations.  To quote just a few of them (there are many more) –

“By hating gossip a man avoids evil. Never repeat what you are told, and you will come to no harm” (19:6-7)

“There is a rebuke that is untimely, and there is a man who keeps quiet, and he is the shrewd one” (20:1)

“A wise man will keep quiet till the right moment, but a garrulous fool will always misjudge it” (20:7)

“When a godless man curses his enemy, he is cursing himself; the scandal-monger sullies himself and earns the hatred of the neighbourhood” (21:27-28)

“Insult, arrogance, betrayal of secrets, and the stab in the back: in these cases any friend will run away” (22:22).

From these and many other sayings we can realise that what we say, and equally important the thoughts that we keep to ourselves, are what define our character, both among other people and in the eyes of God.  To think carefully before you speak, to say only words that build up other people and our relationships with them, and nothing negative except where it is really in their best interests: that is and always has been received wisdom.  But it is one of the hardest things to put into practice.  The New Testament realises this too:

“For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle. If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire.” (James 3:2-6).

But the strongest condemnation in this passage from Ecclesiasticus is reserved for liars: “Lying is an ugly blot on a man, and ever on the lips of the ignorant. A thief is preferable to an inveterate liar, but both are heading for ruin” (20:24-25).  Why? Because while we may disagree with someone’s opinion, think them mistaken in their facts, be insulted by their words, or consider them uncultured in their use of language, as long as we think they are telling true facts and expressing honest opinions we can still do business with them.  But as soon as someone is known as a liar, especially an “inveterate liar”, then we do not know what to make of what they say.

People have mixed motives for lying. Often it is for personal gain, or thinking to impress others. That is often seen in politics. Sometimes it is for a quick way out of a difficult situation, but that is often a case of digging oneself further into a hole – small lies have to be backed up by bigger ones. I think of someone I used to know,  who lost his job the third time he told his employer he could not work that day because his grandmother had died (think about it).

But sometimes motives are difficult to fathom – I think of someone else I knew, whose “true stories” often stretched credibility. But when she assured me that a certain mutual acquaintance was having an affair – an upright professional man recently married to his beautiful and devoted girlfriend – I stopped even trying to believe.  What was her motive in that?  Was she trying to break up my friendship with this other couple?  She only succeeded in persuading me to drop my friendship with her.

So try always to be truthful, honest, positive, and to refrain from gossip and unfounded criticism.  Avoid lies like the plague.  You will fail – I fail -we all do, sometimes.  But the closer we get to that ideal, the better our lives, and our friendships, will be.

 

 

The Apocrypha in Lent – 13 March

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13 March, Ecclesiasticus chapters 15-18

Yesterday I wrote about the instruction to “be good to yourself”, not to let modesty lead to being unnecessarily harsh on oneself.   Today I am picking up on the passage 17:1-14, which follows from an account of the creation of the universe, earth and animals.  In these subsequent verses, the focus  narrows down on humanity in particular.

Verses 1-2 are honest about our limitations: we are made from earth, will go back to it when we die, and have a finite life span.    But this is followed by an appreciation of just how special we area – made in God’s image, master of other animals (though there is much debate these days over how that mastery should properly be employed), able to taste and smell, see and hear, to think and to judge.  Our purpose is to praise God and “tell of his magnificent works”, even to see and hear God himself (13).

Much of this repeats elements of the creation stories in Genesis.  But there is something different here. Verse 7, “he filled them with knowledge and understanding, and revealed to them good and evil”, seems to make this discernment between good and evil part of God’s plan, rather than the root of all sin as the Genesis account puts it. Like the exhortation we looked at yesterday to be good to your own self, it is a much more positive worldview than that of “traditional religion”.  Here is a God whose aim is to “clothe [people] with strength like his own” (3), to “show them the magnificence of his works” (8).  Humanity is something splendid, even when we are aware of right and wrong.  Here there is no banishment from Eden for seeking knowledge that should not be ours, only a desire that we should understand as much of God’s creation as we can.  That fits in with the whole idea of “seeking Wisdom” which is the theme of the book.

That’s not to say mankind is shown as perfect.  Later in the same chapter there is encouragement to repent of sin and leave it behind, turning to God’s mercy (25-29).  But fellowship with God is the default state, and he is never far away.

 

The Apocrypha in Lent – 12 March

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12 March. Ecclesiasticus chapters 12-14

The section I am choosing to look at from today’s chapters is 14:5-19, which begins “If a man is mean to himself, to whom will he be good? He does not even enjoy what is his own.”  And in verse 11, “My son, treat yourself as well as you can afford, and bring worthy offerings to the Lord”.    The basis of this philosophy, like much in the Wisdom literature, is the reality of death, for “will you not have to leave your fortune to another, and the fruit of your labour to be divided by lot?” (v.15).   This, of course, is the wisdom of Scrooge’s Christmas ghosts – what’s the point in being a miser, making life uncomfortable for yourself, just to amass money in the bank?  The person with children and grandchildren has a reason to pass on a large inheritance, but for those of us who don’t (myself included) there is no such incentive.

It might be thought, by people who know a little about Christianity and the Bible, that they both encourage, or even expect, believers to live in poverty, for there is much teaching about the blessings that God gives to the poor and humble.  But any idea that we should deliberately make life uncomfortable for ourselves derives from the ascetic tradition seen in the “desert fathers” and in medieval monasticism (at least in its pure form – by the time of the Reformation the monks were living very well on their profits!).  Ascetics have their place, but they have never represented mainstream Christianity, or for that matter Judaism.  When Jesus said “I have come that people may have life, and have it to the full”  (John 10:10) he was not saying something opposed to traditional Jewish religion, but rather rescuing it from the religious “authorities” whose rules and regulations were restricting the proper practice of religion, which is to live lovingly, joyfully and generously with other people.  And that starts with ourselves. To repeat the opening phrase of this passage, “If a man is mean to himself, to whom will he be good?”

In the days of Nehemiah, when the Jewish people were rebuilding their towns after years of exile, life was difficult.   And when people heard all the religious laws read out to them, they wept, for it must have seemed that to keep these laws would be the end of any enjoyment. But Ezra the wise priest told them, “Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” (Neh. 8:10-11).  Joy is found, not in denying ourselves, but in being generous both to ourselves and to others.

The Apocrypha in Lent – 11 March

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11 March. Ecclesiasticus chapters 8-11

The “wisdom” of these chapters is nothing that humanists could disagree with.  Let’s look at just a couple of examples. Of course, you might say, it is foolish to try and seek justice against a rich or powerful man (8:1-3) because in every society there is corruption.   And given the attitudes and actions of certain “world leaders” at the present day, some of the verses about good government ring very true: “A leader of the people must be shrewd of speech; a phrase-maker is a terror to his town. … An uneducated king will be the ruin of his people; a city owes its prosperity to the intelligence of its leading men.” (9:17, 10:3)

But this book is written very much from the perspective of faith, and there is an underlying assumption that there are moral standards to be upheld.  Religious people are sometimes criticised for making too much of morality; and indeed it is true that Christianity has no “rules” other than those of loving God and loving your neighbour as yourself, from which all other ethical principles can be derived (Mark 12:29-30). Yet there is general agreement between civilised people of all faiths and none that there are essential basic standards in areas such as justice, honesty and fidelity.  For example, given agreement that adultery and promiscuity are generally a “bad thing” and that there should be an “age of consent”, then  we can all agree with the advice here that men’s desire for women makes it risky to go drinking with a married woman, make friends with a sex worker or “stare at a virgin” (9:5-9).

The difference that faith makes, as we read in chapter 11, is that rather than being frustrated and angered at the way some people get away with crime, sin or just being generally nasty – an attitude that tempts us to retaliation – the person who trusts in the God of eternity can take the longer view.  That has two implications. Firstly we can look death in the face and acknowledge our own mortality, something that humans tend to avoid if they have no hope beyond death.  “A man grows rich … and says ‘I have found rest, now I can enjoy my goods’. But he does not know how long this will last; he will have to leave his goods for others and die” – a couplet that may have inspired Jesus’ parable of the wealthy farmer (Luke 12:16-21).

The second is that we can trust in a God whose justice is made complete beyond the grave – “call no man fortunate before his death; it is by his end that a man will be known” (11:28).  So the purpose of all these proverbs is to encourage us to live lives without greed or envy, so that at the last day we, and not the arrogant rich, will find favour with God.  But if you don’t believe in God or the last judgement, then just read them as sensible advice for a stress-free life.

 

 

The Apocrypha in Lent – 10 March

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10 March. Ecclesiasticus chapters 5-7

Among these chapters of proverbs, I wish to pick out the short passage (6:5-17) that deals with friendship.

Our local Member of Parliament, Rachel Reeves, is currently promoting a campaign to recognise the dangers of loneliness, which she describes as “toxic to health and devastating to communities”. She recommends that we connect more with the people around us – chat to fellow travellers on public transport, colleagues at work, shop workers and so on.  That is the basis of a secure society where people feel included – “a kindly turn of speech multiplies a man’s friends” (Ecclus. 6:5).

But the author of Ecclesiasticus realises that not every acquaintance deserves the name of friend. He warns against three sorts of so-called friend: those who “are friends only when it suits them”, those who “fall out with you and make your quarrel public”, and those who “share your table but do not stand by you in the day of trouble”. A faithful friend, on the other hand, is described as “a sure shelter … beyond price … the elixir of life”.

The best friendships – often those made early  in our adult life, or sometimes even sooner, and which last for decades – are founded on mutual respect (which includes respecting each other’s differences as well as shared interests), empathy and a willingness to get involved when our friend is in trouble.  The Biblical writer describes these as “one in a thousand” which sounds about right  – we probably get to know a thousand people reasonably well in the course of a lifetime, but may only have a couple of really good friends. Treasure them.