Commentary on Sirach 47:2-11

Today we have our final reading about David. It comes from the poetic and apocryphal Book of Sirach (also known as Ecclesiasticus), which contains a lengthy section (chaps 44-50) praising the great figures of Israel’s history. Here we have Sirach’s eulogy of David which in poetic language recalls the highlights of his life.

David was a person set apart, in the way that in a sacrifice the fat is set apart from the rest of the flesh offering. From his youth, he stood out:

He played with lions as though they were young goats
and with bears as though they were lambs of the flock.

He was still a boy when he took on the Philistine giant, Goliath, and brought him down with one shot from his sling, thus relieving his people of their shame. Because of this he won the enthusiastic support of the people:

So they glorified him for the tens of thousands.

This is in contrast to Saul who, they said, only killed his thousands.

He was regularly victorious against their enemy, the Philistines and “crushed their power” (or “horn” in some translations).

At the same time, he constantly gave glory and praise to his Lord. David is famous in the Old Testament as a maker and performer of music. The Psalms have been attributed to him although, of course, he could not have written them all as their composition extends over a long period of time.

He created liturgies so that feasts could be celebrated with fitting splendour:

…while [the people] praised God’s holy name
and the sanctuary resounded from early morning.

The deeply sinful parts of his life are summed up in one short sentence:

The Lord took away his sins
and exalted his power forever;
he [the Lord] gave him a covenant of kingship
and a glorious throne in Israel.

It is right to concentrate on a person’s virtues and achievements and especially their relationship with God and their fellow-men. That is what Sirach does here.

Unfortunately, the words of Mark Antony about Caesar in Shakespeare’s play are often too true:

“The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.”

But a Latin saying is more to be followed:

De mortuis nil nisi bonum.

This translates as:

“Say nothing but good about those who have died.”

Yet, what makes many of the saints, saints, is precisely how sin was turned to good in their lives. We can think of Paul, Augustine and Ignatius Loyola, among the many others.