#Ben Sirach

[apenitentialprayer]

Fray Bartolomé de las Casas, by Felix Parra, 1875.

The saints are the true interpreters of Holy Scripture. The meaning of a given passage of the Bible becomes most intelligible in those human beings who have been totally transfixed by it and have lived it out. Interpretation of Scripture can never be a purely academic affair, and it cannot be relegated to the purely historical. Scripture is full of potential for the future, a potential that can only be opened up when someone "lives through" and "suffers through" the sacred text.

Pope Benedict XVI (Jesus of Nazareth: From the Baptism in the Jordan to the Transfiguration, page 78). Bolded emphases added.

Bartolomé de las Casas was born in Seville, Spain, in 1484. At age eighteen, he came to the newly "discovered" lands, and five years later he was ordained as a priest in Rome. As an encomendero, he owned indigenous people who worked for him in the gold mines. Although he claims he treated them kindly and fed them, he acknowledged that he neglected teaching them the Christian faith. He was also a horrified eyewitness to a massacre of Cuban natives by invading Spaniards. [… But t]he text that was at the center of Bartolomé de las Casas' "conversion" is Sirach 34. In April 1514 he read this text in preparation to preach to the Spaniards who came to the new world to establish new villages. The passage immediately challenged his current privileges as an encomendero. By his own admission, he read these verses in light of the situation of the indigenous people working for him in the Indies and realized that he was living in darkness; he was blind to the fact that he had become a tyrant who treated people unfairly. Thus, Bartolomé de las Casas embraced the mission of "preaching against injustice in order to bring light to those dominated by the darkness of ignorance" [History of the Indies]. His audience comprised people unable to realize the injustice behind their actions against the indigenous people, "such was and still is their blindness." He then proceeded to preach sermons against the oppression of indigenous people and to highlight their deplorable condition. His words were later followed by his decision to give up his "right" to possess slaves. His fellow Spaniards were in shock: "Everyone was surprised, even astonished, to hear this, and some walked away remorseful while others thought they had been dreaming — the idea of sinning because one used Indians was as incredible as saying man could not use domestic animals." [… In 1543] he was named bishop of Chiapas. The authority attached to this position allowed him to engage in official debates with those defending the use of violence in the evangelization of indigenous people, such as Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda (1551). After a fruitful life defending indigenous people in Spain and in the new world with his pen and his preaching, de las Casas died in Madrid at age eighty-two.

Carlos Raúl Sosa Siliezar ("Scripture's Impact on Bartolomé de las Casas' Theology: Lessons for the Interpretation of Key Johannine Themes"). Bolded emphases added.

Ill-gotten goods offered in sacrifice are tainted. Presents from the lawless do not win God's favor. The Most High is not pleased with the gifts of the godless, nor for their many sacrifices does He forgive their sins. [As] One who slays a son in his father's presence — [so is] whoever offers sacrifice from the holdings of the poor. The bread of charity is life itself to the needy; whoever withholds it is a murderer. To take away a neighbor's living is to commit murder; to deny a laborer wages is to shed blood.

the Book of Sirach (34:21-27)

[storytour-blog]

What Does a Bribe Look Like

Once, two men were to appear before an older judge over a matter concerning a lot of money. One of the men came the day before his appearance and asked the judge to help him. As he spoke, he laid five hundred silver coins on the table. The judge took the money and told the man to come back the next day. That evening the old judge asked that a big dinner be served, and he called together his sons,…

[friarmusings]

Wisdom of Sirach

The first reading for today comes from the Book of Sirach (also known as the Wisdom of Ben Sira and as Ecclesiasticus, or more literally, “Church Book.”) The author, a sage who lived in Jerusalem, was thoroughly imbued with love for the wisdom tradition, and also for the law, priesthood, Temple, and divine worship. As a wise and experienced observer of life he addressed himself to his…

[jesus-had-relatives]

#21 Book of Sirach

Sirach is also known as Ecclesiasticus Sirach is the wisdom of Yeshua ben Sira.  He was a Hellenistic Jewish scribe living in Alexandria in Egypt under the Ptolemaic kingdom in 180-175 BC.  The book was translated into Greek by Yeshua’s grandson who went to Egypt in 132 BC.  Sira in Greek is Sirach so this is where the book got its name. The name ‘Ecclesiasticus’ means ‘church book’ in Latin…

[freespiritlilith]

i see people are talking about this again so, from a queer trans jew:

LILITH IS OPEN! IF YOU WANT, YOU CAN WORSHIP HER! BE YOU JEWISH OR GENTILE 💖

Four points:

lilith is open, but making jewish pregnancy protection bowls and saying its idk a modern michigander witch invention, THAT is appropriation. Just saying a prayer to Lilith as a gentile is, can’t believe i have to say this, not appropriation.

lilith is jewish, as known from oral tradition, ancient and medieval apotropaic artifacts, Zohar, and of course the Alphabet of (falsly attributed) Ben Sirach ~ she’s jewish but, just like judaism, she’s is an amalgam of common experiences witnessed by peoples in antiquity

lilith is actively worshipped, observably, in reality, by jewish and gentile women and queers for decades. My friends aren’t antisemitic just for me inviting them in, that’s batshit talk.

don’t tell anyone who to worship. this includes unsolicited suggestions to “swap” Lilith with anyone else. Imposing your religious beliefs on others is very, very culturally christian, so stop that. please.

[creature-wizard]

if lilith is closed, then how come she is lamashtu/lilitu/babalon

So, the specific lore that Lilith worshipers are all about (the whole first wife of Adam thing) is relatively new - it came about around the 10th century, in The Alphabet of Ben Sirach.

The lilitu and lamashtu did not have this lore attached to them, and the people claiming that they are functionally the same as the Lilith of the tenth century are misguided at best, and dishonest at worst. In either case, Lilith is not the same as these entities. The Lilith figure you're most probably thinking of is a much, much later development.

Babalon comes from Thelema, a 20th century religion. It's the same problem, but in reverse; anybody insisting that the Lilith of the 10th century is the same as Aleister Crowley's Babalon is either misguided or dishonest.

Actual lilitu or lamashtu aren't closed; if anybody wanted to work with these blood-drinking spirits of the night, then they're welcome to them. The point of contention is the much later, very specifically Jewish lore about Lilith being Adam's first wife and all that.

[sabakos]

yeshua is probably the correct name for jesus but I think this (unintentionally) implies something that isn't true; that there are any close-to-contemporary accounts of Jesus in Hebrew.

The oldest sources attesting to the historical existence of Jesus are all in Greek - the oldest gospel is Mark and it dates to around the time of the Roman-Jewish war (70 CE), written by someone with such an abysmal understanding of the local geography that they almost certainly weren't ever in the Levant. And there's also the "Mara Bar-Serapion" letter, written some time after, by a guy who makes some offhand comment about, like "maybe if the Jews hadn't killed that wise king of theirs their temple wouldn't have been destroyed" which, like, isn't even necessarily about Jesus. It's not exactly great documentary evidence beyond "this Jesus guy probably existed."

The "Jews killed Jesus" is a recurring theme in the Gospels though. The narrative even names the guy who betrayed him "Judas." And they have this whole narrative of the roman governor being like "hey I'm going to pardon someone, should I pardon this Jesus guy? Or this horrible criminal" and then the people pick the criminal.

I wonder if the whole "the Jews killed Jesus" thing is an artifact of the center of Christianity being the Roman empire (which actually killed Jesus. Assuming that someone named Jesus was crucified) for a while.

[antebellumite]

We cannot forget the loss imbedded in this half of the story as well. Long ago, the preacher Joshua ben Sirach said, " Some there be, who have no memorial, who perished as if they had never been, and are become as if they had never been born, and their children after them." So it was on slavery's frontier. The earth took many of them back, alone, almost unmourned. Some never conceived children. Or the children died in the womb. Their lines ended. We do not even know where. Those who ruled their world, who terrorized them, did not care about their survival, for enslavers and investors could help hedge the financial bets against enslaved migrants deaths. Yet some dared to live under the threat of the overseer's sidearm. Some succeeded in surviving the driver's lash that dangled over them, just as the cotton sack balanced against the steelyard's weight. And what they did with their survival changed the world. Survivors refused to accept the stories they were told, stories meant to justify the thefts perpetrated on them every day of their lives.

Again and again enslaved people created their own accounts of the history of plunder in which they were trapped, and they told them to each other. They built new relationships to each other in the wake of death and despair and disruption. In these relationships and with these stories they found new ways to communicate, new ways to worship, new identities. They created and impressive political and cultural ethic of solidarity that transcended origins and geograph and has lasted to this day. So they dared to love each other and themselves.

-- Edward E. Baptist, The Half Has Never Been Told

[barbaramoorersm]

February 12, 2023

February 12, 2023

6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Book of Sirach 15: 15-20

The author Ben Sira, refers to our free will and our responsibilities.

Psalm 119

The Psalmist speaks of the need for God’s help as one lives out God’s degrees.

1 Corinthians 2: 6-10

Paul tells his listeners that God’s wisdom, is “mysterious and hidden”.

Matthew 5: 17-37

Jesus confirms that he was not going to abolish Jewish law but fulfill it.

 In these days, when antisemitism is rather prevalent in our country and around the world, it is wise for us to remember and share the fact that Jesus was a practicing, faithful Jew throughout his life and even in his death.  In fact, the early church was composed of both Jews and Gentiles.  In a new book by Justo and Catherine Gonzalez, entitled “Worship in the Early Church”, they share that it was approximately in the year 100 that the Judeo-Christian community declined, and the growing Christian church was composed mostly of Gentiles. But they write, “…all Christianity -even in its anti-Semitic strains- has Jewish roots.” (35) This factor seems to be lost on those who take actions against the Jews like the denial of the Holocaust in WWII and even today, the murder of Jews, and attempts to damage their synagogues.

Some religious leaders in Jesus’ day feared he was threatening the laws of their Jewish community. But Jesus calls for observance of the law when he said, “I have not come to abolish (the law) but to fulfill (it).”  This statement is part of the larger Sermon on the Mount.  What are we to understand by this statement? What might he have meant by the fulfillment of the law?

Perhaps Jesus meant that the law over time was losing its original intent.  Or maybe he worried that the law was becoming too rigid.  It is a fact that many poor folks and those who lived a great distance from Jerusalem did their best observe the whole law but at times it was impossible because of their circumstances.

As one author states, “ Jesus declares  that they (his listeners) are held to a higher standard than even those who  know the Torah intimately and claim to be strict adherents to it”.  That is a remarkable statement. Remember he once said to the religious leaders that “they placed heavy burdens on the people but never lifted a finger to help them.” Or, as he grew in his faith, did he come to see the enormous needs of the people, and did he understand that the some demands and interpretations of the law were too burdensome and had moved away from God’s heart? Think of the cures he performed on the sabbath not only for Jews but Gentiles as well.  Cures for those considered impure or possessed.   As I was growing, up scrupulosity was evident among some and great worries existed that they kept violating the law.  My guess is that it still exists among many people.  At times the law in my life, took precedence over God’s great love.

What he was saying about “fulfillment of the law”?   Listen to how he was trying to teach fulfillment of the law. “You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, ‘You shall not kill’ and whoever kills will be liable to judgement,’ but I say that ‘whoever is angry with their brother or sister will be liable to judgment’”.  In other words, he is asking us to broaden our views and come to understand that bitter anger has the capacity to kill as much as a weapon.

He is inviting his listeners who understand that if a “brother or sister has anything against them to reconcile” before they offer their gifts at the altar. Jesus expands the concepts of loving one’s neighbor as oneself.  He speaks of adultery forbidden by the law, but also includes behavior that may lead to the practice.  Divorce was very easy for a male to obtain in his day, and women were considered property, but Jesus expands the understanding of that relationship.

And when he speaks of parts of our human body that cause us to sin, and that we should eliminate those parts physically, of course, he was using a dramatic metaphor.  The topics that are mentioned by Jesus in this Gospel were being debated in his time and Jesus was, by his words today adding to the discussion.

He was so aware of the struggles and suffering of the men and women who were listening to him. The law, the commandments are very important, but by his life and actions Jesus makes it clear that the greatest of all the commandments is to “love God and one’s neighbor as one’s self.”

Yes, this is the greatest commandment and the fulfillment of the law.  But experience tells us that often, it is the most difficult of all the laws.

[apenitentialprayer]

The bread of charity is life itself to the needy; whoever withholds it is a murderer.

the Book of Sirach (34:25)

[storytour-blog]

A Tale of Two Sisters

Once, there were two sisters who married and lived in towns distant from each other. As often happens with siblings, one sister found herself quite wealthy, while the other was very poor. Because of the great distance that separated them, they could see each other only once every several years. When that happened, each one would tell the other everything that had happened since the previous…

[thefernmanner]

"An Anthill of Words." Introduction to the Book of Sirach, "The Manner of the Fern."

The Book of Sirach, also known as Ecclesiasticus or the Wisdom of Sirach, was written between 200 and 175 BCE.

The book was written by Ben Sira, a Jewish scribe from Jerusalem. Ben Sira's full name was Yeshua ben Eleazar ben Sira, and he was also known as Jesus son of Sirach. 

A sirach is a type of fern. The etymology explains the Kabbalah behind the word. Kabbalah is a Jewish method for looking under the surface of a scripture. Scripture is not meant to be taken literally. The mind does not respond to literal instruction. Do this, don't do that, the ego will react to this with fear and conniving. Illustrations of moral, noble character traits are the only way to disarm the ego and train it how to be rational and humane in its reactions to the world and the churning and burning inside the mind and the anus penis marketplaces that sit below it:

"The difficult noun φρην (phren) originally, or most literally, described the lung(s) but in the overwhelming majority of its usages came to refer to a faculty of the mind, and specifically the imagined partition between the fluidic world of one's emotions and the dry land of one's words and rational thoughts — and rational thoughts are thoughts in words: deliberate, logical and constructive thoughts.

Since one's emotions were considered seated in the belly (κοιλια, koilia), and the ratio in the chest or heart (καρδια, kardia), our noun φρην (phren) mostly corresponds to the function of the midriff. In the Greek classics this word occurs only once in singular and elsewhere (including the New Testament) always in plural, which indicates that it not so much emphasizes the mere existence of the midriff but rather its perpetual reciprocating motion.

The act of contracting the midriff pushes the bowels down and expands the chest cavity, and we breathe in. The opposite is achieved by relaxing the midriff, which allows the bowels and abdominal muscles to push it back up again. And this is a big deal because the Greek word for inhaling gave us the word for soul, namely ψυχη (psuche), while the word for exhaling gave us the word for spirit, namely πνευμα (pneuma). And that means that our noun φρην (phren) is a very important word indeed.

Emotions are grouped together with the senses, and we share all these with the animals, who, like humans, have emotional cores and mouths to absorb raw food and the senses to absorb raw data; all to feed the emotional self. Despite popular contentions to the contrary, all animals have awareness and a sense of symbolism or else a male fruit fly wouldn't mate with a female fruit fly. All animals are vocal and all have vocal symbols (proto-words) between them, but only humans are truly verbal and create their very world, their human beehive, their human anthill from words."

A man who cannot use the words of a scripture properly to develop a proper spiritual core shall not look, feel, act, or accumulate success.

The Prologue

1 Many great teachings have been given to us through the Law and the Prophets 2 and the others[a] that followed them, 3 and for these we should praise Israel for instruction and wisdom. 4 Now those who read them must not only themselves understand them 5 but must also as lovers of learning be able through 6 both speaking and writing to help the outsiders. 7 So my grandfather Jesus, who had devoted himself especially 8 to the reading of the Law 9 and the Prophets 10 and the other books of our ancestors 11 and had acquired considerable proficiency in them, 12 was himself also led to write something pertaining to instruction and wisdom, 13 so that by becoming familiar also with his book[b] those who love learning 14 might make even greater progress in living according to the law.

15 You are invited, therefore, 17 to read it 16 with goodwill and attention 18 and to be indulgent 19 in cases where we may seem 20 to have rendered some phrases imperfectly, despite our diligent labor in translating. 21–22 For what was originally expressed in Hebrew does not have exactly the same effect when translated into another language. 23 Not only this book, 24 but even the Law itself, the Prophets,[c] 25 and the rest of the books 26 differ not a little when read in the original.

Thus begins the Book.

[witchcraft-system]

Just a small little reminder

Lilith isn't a single deity. Or even a deity at all. Lilith is a species of demon that helped explain SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome)

The idea that "Lilith" was a singular being (and even the idea of "Lilith" secretly being the "actual first woman") comes from a satirical "autobiography" of Ben Sira called Alphabet Of Sirach created somewhere between 700 - 1000 AD, almost 2000 years after Judaism was founded in 1800 BC

And the "singular being Lilith" was created by and for Jewish people (Ben Sira was Jewish and Alphabet of Sirach was a Jewish satirical book)

And the feminist Lilith was created by and for Jewish women

[apilgrimpassingby]

Lilith is not part of the Biblical canon in any Judeo-Christian religion...

Sort of. The word is used in Isaiah 34:14.

וּפָֽגְשׁ֚וּ צִיִּים֙ אֶת־אִיִּ֔ים וְשָׂעִ֖יר עַל־רֵעֵ֣הוּ יִקְרָ֑א אַךְ־שָׁם֙ הִרְגִּ֣יעָה לִּילִ֔ית וּמָֽצְאָ֥ה לָ֖הּ מָנֽוֹחַ (Ufageshu tziyyim et-iyyim vesa'ir 'al-re'ehu yikra ach-sham hirgi'ah lilit umatze'ah lah manoach).

And wild animals shall meet with hyenas; the wild goat shall cry to his fellow; indeed, there lilit settles and finds for herself a resting place. (ESV rendering) .

Whether this is referring to a Lilith as a demon or wild animal is ambiguous. One the one hand, the immediate context suggests a wild animal, but on the other hand almost every culture has a belief in evil spirits dwelling in ruins (including our own - think of haunted house stories), which is reflected in the Bible (Revelation 18:2). There's also the possibility it could be both, since Lilith in Mesopotamian culture had a strong association with owls. Short version, no-one's sure what lilit here means, as reflected in the huge range of translations of it.

But I agree with your main point. The popular Lilith story of being Adam's first wife is absent from the Bible, first appearing in The Alphabet of Ben Sirach, a text written in 700 AD at the earliest that doesn't enjoy canonical authority in any Jewish or Christian sect as far as I'm aware. Without it, Lilith would almost certainly have received as much attention from modern culture as Resheph or Damim or Ra'av or any of the other demons of the Hebrew Bible - almost none.

Lilith is not part of the Biblical canon in any Judeo-Christian religion, and people's obsession with her cheap mythos is frankly a testament to the cheapness of our age. The popular view of Lilith is like if a 22-year-old BookTokker with a minor in Women's Studies wrote a reimagining of Genesis.

[marianeaparecidareis]

O QUE É RAZÃO?

O NOSSO AMADO SENHOR JESUS DIZ:

«Já consigo ouvir os comentários dos“ DOUTORES ”com acusações capciosas:“ Como pode uma menina de menos de três anos falar assim? É um exagero”. E eles não consideram que me fazem um monstro atribuindo as ações dos adultos à Minha própria infância.

A inteligência não é dada a todos da mesma maneira e ao mesmo tempo. A Igreja fixou a idade da razão em seis anos de idade, porque essa é a idade em que até uma criança atrasada pode distinguir o bem do mal, pelo menos em questões basicamente importantes. Mas há crianças que muito antes dessa idade são capazes de discernir, compreender e querer com discrição suficientemente desenvolvida. A pequena Imelde Lambertini, a Rosa de Viterbo, Nellie Organ, e Nennolina podem dar-vos a confirmação, ó difíceis médicos, de acreditar que Minha mãe conseguia pensar e falar assim. Citei quatro nomes ao acaso entre os milhares de crianças sagradas que povoam o Meu Paraíso, depois de raciocinar na terra como adultos por possivelmente mais ou menos anos.

O que é razão? Um presente de Deus. Deus pode, portanto, dá-lo como Ele deseja, a quem Ele deseja e quando Ele deseja. A razão, na verdade, é uma das coisas que o torna mais parecido com Deus, o Espírito Inteligente e Raciocinador. Razão e inteligência foram graças dadas por Deus ao Homem no Paraíso Terrestre. Quão cheios de vida eles eram, quando Graça estava viva, ainda intacta e ativa no espírito dos primeiros dois Pais!

O Livro de Jesus Ben Sirach afirma “Toda sabedoria vem do Senhor e é sua para sempre”. Que sabedoria, portanto, os homens teriam se tivessem permanecido filhos de Deus?

As lacunas em sua inteligência são os frutos naturais de sua queda da Graça e da honestidade. Ao perder a Graça, você baniu a Sabedoria por séculos. Como um meteoro, que se esconde atrás de massas de nuvens, a Sabedoria não mais vos alcança com seus clarões brilhantes, mas através da névoa que suas prevaricações têm tornado cada vez mais espessas.

Então Cristo veio e restaurou a Graça, o dom supremo do amor de Deus. Mas você sabe como manter esta joia clara e pura? Não, você não. Quando você não o esmaga com sua vontade individual ao pecar, você o suja com suas contínuas falhas menores, suas fraquezas, seu apego ao vício. Tais tentativas, mesmo que não sejam um casamento adequado com o vício septiforme, são um enfraquecimento da luz da Graça e de sua atividade. E então, para enfraquecer a magnífica luz da inteligência que Deus deu aos primeiros pais, você tem séculos e séculos de corrupção, que exercem uma influência prejudicial sobre o corpo e a mente.

Mas Maria não era apenas a Pura, a nova Eva criada para a alegria de Deus: Ela era a super Eva, a Obra Prima do Altíssimo, Ela era Cheia de Graça, a Mãe do Verbo na mente de Deus.

Jesus Ben Sirach diz:

“Fonte de Sabedoria é a Palavra”. O Filho, portanto, não colocou Sua sabedoria nos lábios de Sua Mãe?

Se a boca de um Profeta foi purificada com brasas, porque ele teve que repetir aos homens as palavras que a Palavra, a Sabedoria, a Ele confiada, o Amor não terá purificado e exaltado a fala de sua Esposa infantil que deveria levar a Palavra, para que Ela não falasse mais como uma menina e depois como uma mulher, mas apenas e sempre como uma criatura celestial fundida na grande luz e sabedoria de Deus?

O milagre não está na inteligência superior demonstrada por Maria na sua infância, como depois foi por Mim [O CRISTO]. O milagre está em conter a Inteligência Infinita, que ali morava, dentro de limites adequados, para que as multidões não se espantassem e a atenção satânica não fosse despertada.

Voltarei a falar sobre este assunto que faz parte da “lembrança” que os santos têm de Deus.»

O Evangelho Segundo Me Foi Revelado - Maria Valtorta.

[chattering-magpie-uk]

A Biblical Collection VIII

https://www.tumblr.com/chattering-magpie-uk/715496021774483456/god-loves-you The vision of the four chariots from Zechariah chapter 6 verses 1 – 8 (New English Bible – 1961). Revelation 18:23 King James Bible (1611) Lamentations chapter 4 verse 9 (King James Bible). Ecclesiasticus ch27 v17 – v21 from the Apocrypha of the King James Bible (1611). Wisdom of Ben Sirach or Ecclesiasticus chapter…