A Sermon on Sirach 1:1–9
By Valerius Herberger
Here is Valerius Herberger’s (1562–1627) sermon on Sirach 1:1–9.
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If you missed the first sermon on the prologue to Sirach, you can find it here.
If you’re wondering why this book is important to Lutherans, check out this excerpt from the first sermon.
The First Sermon on the First Chapter of the Book of Jesus Sirach
Under the care of God, the Most High, the Creator of all things, the mighty King who sits upon His throne, the God who reigns, from whom is all wisdom, for His Word is a wellspring of wisdom. May He be highly praised and heartily loved in eternity. Amen!
All devout hearts make much of true wisdom. They treasure it more highly than gold and silver, pearls, and precious stones; for one cannot give gold for it, nor weigh out silver to purchase it. Neither the gold of Ophir nor onyx, nor sapphire are her equal. Gold and diamond may not compare to her, nor can golden gems be exchanged for her. Coral and crystal are given no regard; wisdom must be regarded more highly than pearls. Topaz from Ethiopia is not valued equally, and the purest gold does not compare to her (Job 28:15 ff). Thus, they also know where they are to search for it and are certain to find it: namely, with the great God and in His divine Word alone, which is the wellspring of all wisdom. They learn what true wisdom is from the same: "Behold, the fear of the Lord, this is wisdom, and to turn from evil, this is understanding" (Job 28:28); "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; this is good insight. He who acts accordingly, his praise shall endure forever" (Psa 111:10). If we, too, are eager to learn such wisdom, and to thereby edify ourselves in our Christendom, then we have undertaken, in the name of God, to go through and explain the Book of Jesus Sirach, as we have already begun to do eight days ago with the preface thereof. For it shows us right away in the first line of the first chapter from whom all wisdom proceeds and recommends the same to us in the best way.
That our intention may be well-advised, so help me heartily pray: O God, my Father, and the Lord of all goodness, grant me the wisdom which is always before Your throne. Send her down from Your holy heaven and from the throne of Your glory. Send her that she may be with me and work with me, that I may know what is well-pleasing to You, for she knows and understands all things. Thus shall my work be pleasing to You, and I shall rightly teach Your people (Wisdom of Solomon 9:1, 4, 10–12).
Hear with diligence and proper devotion of heart the first part of the first chapter of the Book of Jesus Sirach, from verse 1 to verse 9, which reads:
"All wisdom is from God the Lord, and it is with Him eternally. Who has ever reckoned the sand of the sea, the drops of rain, and how many days of the world there shall be? Who has ever measured the height of the heavens, the breadth of the earth, or the depth of the sea? Who has taught God what He should make? For His wisdom is before all things. The Word of God the Most High is the wellspring of wisdom, and the eternal command is her source. Who else could know how one should obtain wisdom and prudence? There is One, the Most High, who is the Creator of all things, omnipotent, a mighty King, and very fearsome, who sits upon His throne, the reigning God, who proclaimed it through His Holy Spirit, who has reckoned, known, and measured all things beforehand. He has poured forth wisdom upon all His works, and over all flesh, according to His grace, and He gives her to those who love Him."
O pious ones, those whose hearts are given to the will of God, recently you have learned two things from the prologue of the Book of Jesus Sirach. First, who the author of the book and the father of the child are: the elder Jesus began it, the younger Sirach expanded, revised, and translated it. Second, for what reason and purpose it was written, namely, that we might learn wisdom and good morals. Now, in the name of the most highly praised and holy Trinity, we wish to make a beginning in the book itself and break into the first chapter, in which Sirach handles five things. First, he points to the true fountain and source of all wisdom, from which all wisdom must proceed. Second, he makes known the means through which God, as through streams and brooks, supplies His wisdom to humanity and gives it to be understood. Third, he teaches how one must conduct himself so that he may obtain true wisdom. Fourth, he enumerates the chief parts in which the wisdom of the children of God consist. Fifth and finally, he indicates what kind of glorious reward those who diligently seek wisdom should expect, and what kind of heavy punishment comes upon those who wantonly despise wisdom and cast her to the wind.
For now, we shall remain only with the words that have been read at the beginning of this chapter, and we wish to learn from it in four parts:
1. what the wellspring of all wisdom is;
2. how God makes her known to us;
3. how one obtains her;
4. what the greatest and foremost aspect of the wisdom of all pious, believing Christians and elect is.
Hear, all you peoples, give heed, all you who live in this time, both common men and lords, both rich and poor together. My mouth shall speak of wisdom, and my heart shall tell of understanding. We desire to hear a good saying (Psalm 49:1ff). O Lord, help us! O Lord, grant us success (Psa 118:25)!
On the First Part
Because Sirach wishes to write a book of wisdom and good morals, he begins in precisely the right place and teaches where one should seek and find the wellspring, fountain, root, source, and beginning of all proper, perfect wisdom. He does this with three aphorisms:
1. All wisdom is from God.
2. She is with Him eternally.
3. She is before all things.
Thus, you hear: "God is the fount of wisdom, for His wisdom is without limit; it is inscrutable how He reigns" (Psa 147:5); "O the depth of the riches of both the wisdom and knowledge of God" (Rom 11:33).
Therefore, St. Paul is not wrong to call Him the only wise One (1 Tim 1:17). Thales, one of the Seven Sages, also recognized this, albeit in his heathen way, for when the Oracle at Delphi said that the discovered golden tripod should be given and sent to the wisest, Thales did not want to accept it, and did not consider himself worthy of this honor. Rather, he sent it to Solon, then further to Chilon, and so on, until finally the tripod came again to Thales, who ordered that the golden tripod should not be given to a man, but to the God Apollo, for God alone is truly the wisest.
Hear, O dear heart, learn this at once:
1. Because God Himself is the source of true, perfect wisdom, wisdom should be esteemed all the more highly, and sought after all the more diligently, for she is a ray of divine glory. Do not be concerned with trivial matters, like that fool in Greece, who said, "A drop of good fortune is more precious to me than a great bucket full of wisdom." Nazianzus responds to him: "Turn it around and we can make something useful from it. For a Christian heart should say, 'A little drop of blessed wisdom is more pleasant to me than a hundred tons of blind luck.'" This is also true, for to the wise man, the whole world is his own, and if it all collapses, he remains unshaken. Only that which we obtain through wisdom do we keep forever. What fortune brings in the world remains in the world.
2. If all wisdom is from God the Lord, then one should ask for it from God alone. "The Lord gives wisdom," says Solomon (Prov 2:6). Thus, "if anyone among you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to everyone sincerely, without despising anyone for it, and it will be given to him" (James 1:5). Thus did Solomon, and it pleased God so greatly that He said to him: "Because you have asked for this, and not for a long life, or riches, or the lives of your enemies, but rather for understanding in hearing judgment, behold, I have done according to your words. Behold, I have given you a wise and an understanding heart, such that no one like you has been before, and no one like you shall come after you" (1 Kings 3:10 ff).
Let no one seek wisdom from the devil, from fortune-tellers, from those who gaze into mirrors, or from those who pour wax, for the foolish world declares these are clever women and men. Those who hold the devil in glass or in rings commit a grave sin. An example of such wise people of the devil can be read in Acts 16:16 ff. There was a girl who had a divinatory spirit and brought her owner much benefit by fortune-telling. This work, however, Paul quickly put an end to.
3. That which rebels against God is pure folly. It often so happens in the world that wisdom must be justified by her children (Luke 7:35). However, one should not presume to master God or feign sophistication with respect to His words; rather he should follow Him without contradiction, giving Him the honor of being wise enough for us and understanding perfectly well what is useful and good. "For the wisdom of this world is folly to God. For it is written: 'He snares the wise in their cleverness.' And again: 'The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are vain.'" (1 Cor 3:19 ff).
How, then, do you know that God is the wisest of all? Answer: Because He needed no counselor when He made heaven and earth, and He made everything so skillfully and masterfully that one must marvel at it. "God has ordered everything with measure, number, and weight" (Wisdom of Solomon 11:22). He considered, knew, and measured everything beforehand, says our Sirach in the text. The ancient fathers took great pleasure in setting their minds on the marvelous construction of the world which God built and were most amazed by the same. Therefore, many were particular lovers of astronomy. Indeed, it is also written of the fathers who lived yet before the Flood, that upon hearing that the world was going to be destroyed either through water or fire, they made two pillars, one of clay, and one of bronze. Thereupon they engraved the science and secrets of astronomy to this end: if the word is destroyed by fire, then the pillar of earth or clay should remain undamaged; for the fire would only make the clay pillar all the more firm and hard. Now if the world was to pass away by water, then the pillar of bronze would remain undamaged. And thus it indeed happened, for the clay pillar perished through the Flood, while the bronze one remained standing. Josephus recounts that such had still been present at his time, and he himself saw it with his own eyes.
There have been, to be sure, many clever minds among the heathen philosophers, who, through their diligent musing probed and grasped many things. Yet they have had to admit that they could not understand everything. What was Archimedes if not an excellent mathematician? King Hiero had a great, enormous ship built, but when he wanted to bring it to sea, it could not be moved from its place by any amount of force. Archimedes brought his mathematical instruments and made it so that the king alone, without any help, pushed the ship from the land, which several thousand men were previously unable to achieve. Yea, he even asked the king, that if he would only give him a place outside the earth upon which he could stand, he would then move the entire ground away from its place. How much has astronomy written concerning the course of the stars and their number? How much has geometry endeavored to calculate how long, wide, deep, etc., the earth is? All of them must say: "Our knowledge is only piecemeal. The greatest of that which is known is but the smallest of that which we do not know."
From this we should again note three things:
1. The world is not by chance; it is also not from eternity. Rather, God is the craftsman; the Most High is the Creator of all things, which therefore cannot be denied. When Helius Eobanus Hessus saw the excellent mathematician Johann Schöner of Nuremberg carrying around a celestial sphere, he said, extempore:
He who denies there is a God, let him behold the sky;
He who only sees the stars, can no longer God deny.
And since God, the Creator of all things, made the world, we are therefore His handiwork. "Know that the Lord is God, He has made us, and not we ourselves, as His people" (Psa 100:3). Each must say with Job: "Your hands, O God, have shaped me, and made everything which I am around and is around me" (Job 10:8). "I shall praise you, for I am wonderfully made. Wonderful are Your works, and this my soul knows well. My bones were not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the midst of the earth" (Psa 139:14 ff).
2. Let us hear that God is not only wise but also omnipotent. Therefore, "blessed are all those who put their trust in Him" (Psa 2:12). "Whoever believes in Him shall not be put to shame" (Rom 9:33). "Commit Your ways to the Lord and trust in Him, and He shall act" (Psa 37:5).
3. Let this question be answered here: What did God do before He created the world? Augustine answered someone concerning this question thus: God was in Himself, in His eternal divine essence. But when he was not satisfied with this answer, but ardently insisted that he should tell him what God was doing before he created the world, then Augustine said: He made hell for such inquisitive people who wish to know everything. Luther said to this question: "Listen, fellow: God sat behind a birch and fixed a sharp rod for driving away these useless and curious inquisitors." However, Sirach tells us quite clearly what God was doing, namely, He measured how many drops of rain and how many days of the world there should be. He measured how high the heavens, how broad the earth, and how deep the sea should be. He considered, knew, and measured all things beforehand. In this we also ought to follow God before we do something. We should be like Prometheus, not Epimetheus. Christ Himself says, "Who among you wants to build a tower and does not first sit and estimate the cost, and whether he can finish it, and so on? Lest he lay the foundation and be unable to complete it and everyone who sees it begins to mock him and say: 'This man commenced building and is unable to complete it!'" (Luke 14:28 ff). Forethought safeguards against afterthought; for what is premature and undeliberate has brought many into great sorrow.
On the Second Part
Whereby does God reveal His wisdom to men? Answer: In the first creation, He imparted and implanted in our souls a ray of His wisdom, this was His image. For God created man in His image; in the image of God He created him (Gen 1:27). God made man in His image (Gen 9:6). Now this image chiefly consisted in three parts: 1. in wisdom: man knew what He should know; 2. in righteousness: man did what was just and proper; 3. in freedom: man served God willingly without compulsion. But since this beautiful little light has become greatly darkened through the miserable fall into sin, God helps our weakness up again and reveals Himself again in both Scripture and in His creation. Sirach speaks of both clearly.
Concerning the first he says: "The Word of God the Most High is the wellspring of wisdom," and this he immediately explains when he adds, "and the eternal command is her source." Indeed, Lord Philip says, "The Law is God's eternal wisdom." And again, Sirach states, "He proclaimed it through His Holy Spirit," that is, God revealed His wisdom to men through holy people from the beginning of the world, who, through the Holy Spirit's impulse, taught and wrote, as through Moses and the prophets. For this reason Chrysostom says, "God has preached His Word and still allows it to be preached to those who are present. Moreover, He allowed it to be written for the sake of those who are absent and those who are yet to come, so that all may know it." Therefore, he who desires to learn true, proper wisdom must read the Bible diligently and note what is said in the Law and in the Gospel. Lactantius writes, "Where the heavenly teaching (God's Word) is not in possession, there everything shall be full of shameful errors."
Learn here, O dear heart:
1. One ought not speak mockingly or scornfully concerning God's Word, for it is the means by which we attain the knowledge of true, perfect wisdom. Sirach calls it a well or spring which God Himself dug. Isaiah directs us to the "law and testimony. Those who do not speak according to it shall have no dawn" (Isa 8:20). St. Paul does the same with Moses, citing Deut 30:11, "The Word is near to you, namely in your mouth and in your heart" (Rom 10:8). David regards God's Word more highly than thousands of pieces of gold and silver (Psa 119:72). He does nothing without God's Word: "Your testimonies are my delight; they are my advisors" (Psa 119:24). Irenaeus says, "No one can come to know God unless God Himself teaches him."
2. One should diligently learn God's Word. "Search the Scriptures, because You think You have eternal life therein, and these are they which bear witness to Me" (John 5:39). Aesop, Plato, Aristotle, and others who are wise in worldly matters do not give us the core.
3. One should esteem God's Word as the greatest wisdom. "This shall be your wisdom and understanding before all the peoples, when they shall hear all these commandments, so that they must say, 'Oh what a wise and discerning people this is, and a marvelous nation!' For what other nation is so marvelous, that has such righteous judgments and commandments, as those which I set before you today?" (Deut 4:6, 8). Therefore, whoever despises God's Word shall never be wise. How terribly human wisdom errs without God's Word one sees especially in the otherwise wise man Protagoras, who, clinging to his reason, began to doubt whether there is a God. For this reason, the Athenians expelled him from the land and threw his books into the fire and burned them as godless writings. In fact, the heathen certainly invented an innumerable amount of gods for themselves because they followed their reason without God's Word. The Romans, since they were the most clever, built their Pantheon, the temple of all their gods, and when they were about to die, would say, "O that I had never been wise!" as Cicero did.
Second, we discern the wisdom of God from nature and creation. Sirach demonstrates this when he says: "He has poured forth wisdom upon all His works." God has inscribed everywhere with His own hands, "The wise and artful God has done this." If one looks to the ground, which is so beautifully adorned with grass, flowers, and herbs, bushes and trees, then he must say, "This is of the pure wisdom, which God has poured forth upon all His works." Every single herb shows what God's wisdom has done. If one looks to the heavens, the work of His fingers, the moon and the stars, which He prepared (Psa 8:4), how God has stretched out the heavens like a curtain (Psa 104:2), then he must marvel at the wisdom of God. "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims His handiwork (Psa 19:1). Cicero says, "No one is so senseless, who, when looking to the heavens, concludes there is no God."
Basil directs beautiful language to this point: "This whole world is just like a written book, which publicly extols and praises the great, hidden glory and invisible splendor of God. Even though it has no mouth, it certainly speaks wisdom to those with understanding." These works of God are loud, voiceless preachers, through whom even the heathen have recognized God's omnipotence and wisdom. That there is a God is revealed to them, for God has revealed it to them, so that God's invisible essence, that is, His eternal power and divinity may be seen, which are perceived in His works, namely in the creation of the world (Rom 1:19 ff). This is the great book of St. Anthony. When he was asked where he gained his knowledge, he answered that he had no more than two books. First is an old and well-used Bible; thereafter the great world-book of nature, which has two pages. On the first page stand the heavens with its letters. The sun is the big "A," the moon is the little "a," the stars are the "c," "d," "e," and so on. The second page is the earth's realm with its letters, the trees and herbs. From the Bible, one hears how to serve God and be saved. From nature, he sees with his eyes that God is a lover of the human race, for He has made everything for his benefit. He sees from it that God is an almighty and all-wise Lord, and that he should rightly trust in Him.
Therefore, also make for yourself fine, blessed thoughts when you consider heaven and earth. If you look to heaven, say thus: "My dear God, what a wise Lord You are! Why should I be sad in my misery? You well know a thousand ways and means to lift me therefrom. Dear God, how beautiful are the dear heavens from without! How beautiful they must be from within! If you have incomparably and beautifully adorned the stars which have no understanding, so that they gleam and shine so magnificently, yea, how much more shall you adorn us Christians in heaven. Ah, yes, I shall also one day shine like the heavens' splendor and like the stars, forever and ever (Dan 12:3). The righteous shall shine like the sun in their Father's kingdom" (Matt 13:43).
When you look to the ground, say thus: "Dear God, how many hundreds of thousands of witnesses to Your wisdom and goodness do we tread underfoot. For the benefit of us men You have made all this. The heavens, yea, the heavens are the Lord's, but the earth He has given to the children of men (Psa 115:16). Now, O my God, surely You shall nourish me. As You let the grass grow from the earth and so beautifully clothe the flowers in the field, how much more shall You care for me and sustain me. For not the grass, nor the flowers, nor the herbs, but rather I am created according to Your image. Nothing from all that grows on earth belongs in heaven, even if it be so beautiful, but I, Your child, belong in heaven. I must, to be sure, also wither, like the grass and all flowers, for 'all flesh is grass, and all its goodness like the flower of the field. The grass dries up; the flower fades, for the breath of the Lord blows upon it' (Isa 40:6–7). But I shall one day grow again from the earth, and like a beautiful little flower, I shall see it, and my heart will rejoice, and my bones shall shoot forth like the grass" (Isa 66:14).
On the Third Part
How then can one obtain this wisdom? Sirach gives the answer: "God has poured forth wisdom upon all His works, and over all flesh, according to His grace," that is, He offers it to all men, for there is no respect of persons with Him. He allows all men to be preached to, and allows the works of His wisdom to be seen in heaven and on earth, as though upon the panel of the artful painter Apelles. This is a great comfort.
Not all men, however, obtain it. Sirach says, "He gives her to those who love Him," that is, "I love those who love Me, and those who seek me diligently find me," as the eternal heavenly Wisdom lets it be known in Prov 8:17. The common proverb goes: A roasted dove does not fly into the mouth. Therefore, have a heart like the young Solomon, who desired nothing other than wisdom from God (1 King 3:11 ff), and like Ubaldus Feretrius, the duke of Urbino, who said: "If wisdom were sold at the market, I would become a poor man and be reduced to the beggar's staff."
Therefore, if you wish to become prudent and wise, then you must:
1. Act at the right time and strive after the same early in youth, as it is accustomed for old people to say: Whoever wants to grow old, must start at the right time, that is, in youth one must adopt the habits of an old, honorable man. Therefore, do not neglect the best time. "O dear child, let wisdom rear you from your youth, and it will make a wise man out of you" (Sir 6:18). Thus, children are reminded by the little heart that hangs over their breast that they should become wise-hearted people, as Macrobius relates. Wisdom calls out to each and every child: "Give me, my son (my daughter), your heart" (Prov 23:26). Whereas, whoever desires to put it off until a later age is lost. "Cursed is the one who dedicates the bloom of his youth to the devil and the dregs of his old age to God," says Augustine.
2. Become an enemy to the devil and all his works, all sins and vices, yea, even to your own thoughts from the heart. Avoid φιλαυτίαν or self-love, for nothing prudent comes from the fellow in schools who is very conceited. "Wisdom shall not enter a wicked soul and does not dwell in a body which is subjected to sin" (Wis 1:4).
3. Be a lover of God and His Word; desire the Law of the Lord and speak of His Law day and night (Psa 1:2). "How shall a young man go on his way blamelessly? By acting according to Your Words. Your Words make one wise. Therefore, I hate all false ways. When Your Word is revealed, it gladdens and makes wise the simple" (Psa 119:9, 104, 130). To this end:
4. Go to church and listen earnestly and piously. "Whoever is of God hears God's Word" (John 8:47). "Keep your foot when You go to the house of God; draw near that You may hear" (Eccl 5:1). "Be eager and desirous to learn," says Isocrates, "and you shall learn much."
5. Believe also that which is preached to you. Aristotle certainly desired of his students that they would not at all doubt his teaching: "It is necessary for those learning," he says," to believe that which is said to them." How much more must one believe what God Himself says in His Holy Word, for "the Word of God is trustworthy" (Psa 33:4). "It is impossible that God should lie" (Heb 6:18). Therefore, when Thomas Aquinas, in death's final distress, found no comfort in all his astute disputations or anywhere else, he took the Bible, pressed it against his breast, kissed it, and said: "I believe everything which is written in this book."
6. Pray also fervently. Let heartfelt sighs go to God in heaven so that the Holy Spirit may enlighten You, for He is a "Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel of strength, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord" (Isa 11:2). "Therefore I prayed, and prudence was given to me, and the Spirit of wisdom came to me" (Wis 7:7).
On the Fourth Part
What then is the foremost, greatest, and most noble part of the wisdom of God's children? Answer: The true knowledge of God and of themselves. The highest wisdom is to rightly know God. "For this is eternal life: that they know You, who alone are true God, and the one whom You sent, Jesus Christ" (John 17:3). "Thus says the Lord: Let the wise one not boast in his wisdom, nor the mighty one in his strength, nor the rich one in his riches, but let the one who boasts boast in this, that he knows and recognizes me, that I am the Lord," etc. (Jer 9:23–24).
But how should one come to know God? Answer: As He has revealed Himself in His Word. We should know how to speak of the essence and will of God, for these two things distinguish us from all other blind pagans. But let us hear what our Sirach says concerning this.
First, it stands in the text, God the Lord: "All wisdom is from God the Lord," for there is one God and one Lord, "The Lord—He alone is God; there is no other" (Deut 4:45). "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is the only God" (Deut 6:4). For although there are those who are called gods—whether in heaven or on earth (since there are many gods and lords)—we have only one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we are in Him, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through Him (1 Cor 8:5). Three words follow this: God, wisdom, and the Holy Spirit (Sir 1:3, 4, 8). This is the mystery of the Holy Trinity, where we recognize: first, God the Father; second, God the Son, as the eternal wisdom of the heavenly Father (Prov 8:22 ff. 1 Cor 1:24), indeed He is also our wisdom (1 Cor 1:30); and third, God the Holy Spirit. And the three are one (1 John 5:7–8).
Second, Sirach says that God alone is wise and the wellspring of all wisdom and learning. To whomever God does not reveal in His Word, he has nothing. "What do you have, O man, which you did not receive? But if you have received it, why do you boast like on who did not receive it?" (1 Cor 7:4).
Third, he says He is the creator of heaven and earth and the upholder of all things. David agrees with this: "Through the Word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all their host through the Spirit of His mouth" (Psa 33:6). Similarly, Jeremiah: "He made the earth through His power, and He established the world through His Wisdom and spread out the heavens through His understanding" (Jer 10:12). In summary: "From Him, and through Him, and in Him are all things" (Rom 11:35).
Fourth, he says that God is kind and gracious toward the human race, for He gives Himself to be known to the same both in His clear Words as well as through His Son, whom He sent into the world: "No one has ever seen God. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has proclaimed Him to us" (John 1:18). For this reason, St. Paul says, "Long ago God spoke in many and various ways to the fathers through the prophets. In these last days, He has spoken to us through His Son" (Heb 1:1).
Fifth, he says that God is not a respecter of persons but rather has "poured forth wisdom upon all His works and over all flesh, according to His grace." St. Paul extols precisely this in his sermon when he says: "In truth I now know that God is not a respecter of persons, rather, among every people, whoever fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him" (Acts 10:34–35).
Sixth, he says that He has a good heart to all those who love Him, for "He gives wisdom to those who love Him." Indeed, whoever loves Him, him shall His Father love, and They will come to him and make Their dwelling with him (John 14:23).
Finally, the beautiful titles which Sirach gives to the great God in our text can be gathered, namely, that He is the Lord, Yahweh, who is "from everlasting to everlasting" (Psa 90:2), who gives all creatures their being, "for in Him we live, move, and have our being" (Acts 17:28). He is God and the greatest and highest good, "No one is good, except the one God" (Matt 17:28). He is the Most High, "Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated so high, who looks so far down to see what is in heaven and earth?" (Psa 113:5–6). He is the creator of all things, even of our weak, needy bodies. Therefore, He is our overseer, breadwinner, and caretaker. "Your heavenly Father knows that You have need of all of these things" (Matt 6:32). He is almighty, "all that the Lord pleases, He does, in heaven and on earth and in the sea and in all the deep places" (Psa 135:6). "With Him nothing is impossible" (Luke 1:37). "For that which is impossible with man is possible with God" (Luke 18:27). He is a mighty king, who commands us, who "prepares His chamber in heaven, and establishes His huts on the earth" (Amos 9:6). He is fearsome, for He does not let the godless mock Him. Pharaoh and Sennacherib found this out. He sits upon His throne in majesty and splendor, for heaven is His throne, and the earth is His footstool (Isa 66:1), so that He may oversee and observe all things. He is the reigning God, the king of kings and the lord of lords (1 Tim 6:15). He is the giver of all that is good, especially of the Holy Spirit, who has a gentle hand toward us, who gladly gives us what we need for the well-being of our soul and body.
Thereafter, the highest wisdom also consists in this: that one recognize himself. Sirach calls men "flesh." "He has poured wisdom over all flesh." Recognize, thereby, your sinful frailty. "For that which is born from flesh is flesh," sinful and worthy of damnation (John 3:6). Therefore, each must lament with Paul: "I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, nothing good dwells. For I have good desire, but I am not able to carry out what is good" (Rom 7:18). Recognize your nothingness: "All flesh is grass" (Isa 40:6). "All flesh wears out like a garment, for it is the old covenant: 'You must die!'" (Sir 14:18). "You are dust, and to dust you shall return" (Gen 3:19). For this reason, think constantly of the maxim which stood written in great golden letters in the temple of Apollo at Delphi: ΓΝΩΘΙ ΣΕΑΥΤΟΝ ("Know yourself"). The poet Juvenal says, "the maxim, 'Know yourself,' came down from heaven, and should therefore be pressed into the memory and practiced well." Wherefore, the soul's Bridegroom, Christ, Himself cheers you when He says, "If you do not know, O most beautiful among women, then go forth after the tracks of the flock" (Song 1:8).
Thus, you have heard today four noteworthy parts concerning the proper, true wisdom: 1. Concerning the font which is the wellspring of all wisdom; 2 concerning the rivulet of divine wisdom, whereby God directs His wisdom to us and gives it for us to know; 3. concerning how we must conduct ourselves if we wish to obtain it; 4. concerning the chief and highest acquisition of the wisdom of the sons of God, which is the greatest and foremost part, wherein the true wisdom of the children of God consists, namely, that they come to know God and themselves.
Pray daily, therefore, with Augustine in his Soliloquies: "O dear God, You always remain as You are; grant that I may know both You and myself well!"
Let us in Your love,
And knowledge increase,
That we remain in faith,
And serve in Spirit,
So that we here may taste,
Your sweetness in our hearts,
And thirst always for You.
O Creator of all things,
O fatherly power,
You reign from end to end,
Strength from Your own might,
Turn our heart to You,
And cleanse our mind,
That it never from You part. Amen!
Farewell-Blessing
May God the Most-high, the Source of all wisdom, who has not only revealed His wisdom to us in nature, but above all in His holy Word, grant us grace that we may heartily love Him and His Word, where we seek and find our greatest wisdom. May He also pour forth His wisdom upon all, as over all flesh, according to His grace, that we may rightly know Him and ourselves, and, at last, be eternally saved. Amen!
Valerius Herberger, Erklärung des Haus- und Zucht-Buchs Jesus Sirach ([1598] 1739 Edition)
Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, Jesus Ben Sira, woodcut (1860)