Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)
READINGS FOR THANKSGIVING DAY
From: Sirach 50:22-24
Exhortaion
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[22] And now bless the God of all, who in every way does great things; who exalts our days from birth, and deals with us according to his mercy. [23] May he give us gladness of heart, and grant that peace may be in our days in Israel, as in the days of old. [24] May he entrust to us his mercy! And let him deliver us in our days!
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Commentary:
50:22-29. The eulogy of Simon is followed by three short additional statements—an admonition to readers (vv. 22-24); a reproach to Israel’s two neighbors, the Philiistines and the Samaritans (vv. 25-26), and whose tone is out of keeping with the context; and then the conclusion to the whole book (vv27-29). This conclusion is, in a way, a resume of the entire treatise (there have been similar passages elsewhere: cf. 1:1 and 18). It is a sort of signature, something not found elsewhere in the Old Testament; but we do find a similar note near the end of the Apocalypse of St John (Rev 22: 6-7). Given that vv. 27-29 are found both in the Greek and Latin manuscripts and in the Hebrew, although with minor variations, these verses are thought to be written by Ben Sirach himself and not by the Greek translator. But, because they are couched in the third person, they could be an annotation made by a Hebrew scribe before the book was translated into Greek. Anyway, they certainly manage to describe nicely what Ben Sirach has done in this book (v. 27; cf. 24:34) and what his purpose was in writing it—to help his reader become wise (vv. 28-29).