Sirach: The Praise of Wisdom and the Doctor's Sacred Art

Joshua ben Sira — the Sage whose grandson translated his Hebrew work into Greek for the Jewish community in Alexandria — writes from Jerusalem in the early 2nd century BCE, and he writes with a name. He is one of the only biblical authors we can identify. This alone makes his book remarkable.

His meditation on Wisdom (Sophia) is the most sustained in ancient Jewish literature before the Wisdom of Solomon. Wisdom speaks in her own voice: I came forth from the mouth of the Most High, and covered the earth like a mist. She dwelt in the highest heavens, walked in the depths of the abyss, was present over the waves of the sea and over all the earth and over every people and nation. She sought a resting place and asked: In whose territory should I make my dwelling?

The Creator of all things commanded her: make your dwelling in Jacob, take up your inheritance in Israel. She took root in the honored people, established herself in Jerusalem, in the holy tent, in the city God chose. She grew like a cedar and a palm, like an olive tree and a terebinth, like a vine putting out grace and fruit. Come to me, you who desire me, and eat your fill of my fruits.

Then, in a passage that startled ancient readers and still startles some modern ones, Ben Sira praises the physician. Honor physicians for their services, for the Lord created them. Their skill comes from the Most High, and kings give them gifts. God created medicines from the earth, and the sensible person does not despise them. By them a physician heals and takes away pain. A pharmacist makes remedies. God's creative work does not end at the apothecary's door.

Ben Sira insists: before you get sick, pray to God and live righteously, and in your illness, do not be negligent — but also, give the physician his place, for the Lord created him; do not let him leave you, for you need him. Prayer and medicine together, not against each other.

This is wisdom literature at its most practical: Wisdom dwells in Jerusalem; medicine is divine gift; the created world is the theater of God's care.