The Praise of Wisdom, a Reflection on Sirach 24:1-12 and Wisdom 10:15-21

One of the alternative Old Testament (well, actually, Apocrypha) passages paired with the reading from the Gospel of John this week is from the book known as "Ecclesiasticus (church book)," or as the Wisdom of Jesus Son of Sirach." Ben Sira (another way of saying the author's name) was a teacher who wrote this book around 180 BCE. The prologue was added a few decades later.

He was writing to observant Jews that were living in a world that had been pretty much Hellenized, exhorting them to stick to the wisdom found in their traditions. In the passage in this week's lectionary, Wisdom speaks for herself, "I came from the mouth of the Most High."

Like the Word in John's Gospel, Wisdom has her origin in God and is an agent of God.

[with help from the commentary in The New Interpreter's Study Bible.

The lectionary response to the reading from Sirach is Wisdom of Solomon 10:15-21; here's a portion:

A holy people and blameless race
wisdom delivered from a nation of oppressors.
She entered the soul of a servant of the Lord,
and withstood dread kings with wonders and signs.
She gave to holy people the reward of their labors;
she guided them along a marvelous way,
and became a shelter to them by day,
and a starry flame through the night(16-17).