Sirach 4:1-10

Deliver the oppressed from the hands of the oppressor and you will be like a child of the Most High who will love you more than your own mother does.

Ecclesiasticus, or the Wisdom of Jesus the Son of Sirach, was originally written in Hebrew in the early part of the second century BCE. About 132 BCE, the prologue tells us, it was translated into Greek. The Greek text was included in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, and thus was among the writings that Paul and the early Greek-speaking churches read as "scripture" and was included in the Greek and Latin Bibles of the church. Sirach was not, however, included in the Hebrew Bible after the end of the first century CE, when the rabbis closed the Hebrew canon. Therefore, the Protestant reformers did not include it in the Old Testament they translated into their own languages, because they used the canonized Hebrew Bible as the basis for their translations. This is why Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) does not appear in Protestant Bibles today, but is included in Roman Catholic Bibles.

Sirach stresses our moral obligations. The image used in this passage compares the love of God to that of a mother for her child, but we are also told the love of God is conditional. This "if-then" pattern is fundamental to Jewish scripture. If we would know the love of God, we must help the poor and oppressed obtain justice.

Grace and peace...Bob