Book Of Wisdom And Moral Values

God teaches us many valuable moral lessons in the book of Wisdom, and the book of Sirach. We learn in the teachings many moral values that are still a part of society today, including giving to the poor, and worshipping false idols. These issues were very relevant in the early society as God warned of them in the bible, and in today's world, despite the changing physical nature, essentially the same problems exist. The problems are not the same literally, today the issue is not mainly with worshipping the devil or other false Gods like in the time that the books were written, but people still do idolize material objects, like money and drugs. While physically not the same problem, the theme of placing something else higher than God still exists. In today's world we also see the constant and never ending need to give to the less fortunate. These two lessons relate because often times giving to the poor can help create a sense of balance in life and reduce the temptation to idolize certain material things. We also see that those people who do idolize these material things can fall victim to unfortunate circumstances and be the ones who are in need of the charity from the more fortunate.

In the book of Sirach, God teaches us to give to the poor. He stresses the importance of this virtue in the form of a warning,

"My son, rob not the poor man of his livelihood; force not the eyes of the needy to turn away. A hungry man grieve not, a needy man anger not; Do not exasperate the downtrodden; delay not to give to the needy. A beggar in distress do not reject; avert not your face from the poor. From the needy turn not your eyes, give no man reason to curse you;" (4:1-5).

God stresses the importance of making sure that those who are more fortunate never forget the value of giving to those who are less fortunate. The importance of this warning is that at any particular point in time, fortunes can change. God says to give to the poor so that no man will have reason to curse you. This is significant because if another man who once was poor elevates to a position of wealth in society, and you in turn now are the one who needs the charity, he will hold evil feelings for you. Fortune can change very quickly, and here God is warning how important it is not to take your position in society for granted and to always give to the poor when you have the opportunity.

In the book of Wisdom, God teaches another valuable lesson which is very prominent in society today. That lesson is about the evils of idolatry. God talks about the evil of worshipping false idols and how much devastation it can have on ones life. He says of the evils of idolatry,

"For the source of wantonness is the devising of idols; and their invention was a corruption of life. For in the beginning they were not, nor shall they continue forever, for by the vanity of men they came into the world, and therefore a sudden end is devised for them" ( 14:12-14).

From this description of idolatry it is clear to see just how much God despises these creations. Their invention was a Ð''corruption of life', and there were no positive aspects of these idols. God said that the men who worshipped these idols had a sudden end devised for them, and from that we see that by worshipping these idols, they were not able to appropriately worship God, and because of that their life on earth had a diminished value. These idols were the ruin of good men, and that is a problem that was very prevalent in that society.

These moral issues are prevalent in society today in many situations. There are many examples in life where it is beneficial to give to the poor. Just as God taught us in the bible, this pattern is evident in all aspects of life. Similar to how God taught in the book of Sirach, in today's world people can sometimes become the victim of unfortunate circumstances. When these unfortunate circumstances befall an individual they may have no options in life; no way to support themselves. When people end up in these situations, they often are in need of charity. It is not good for people to refuse to give charity when someone is in need. The lesson there is that anyone can be in need of charity. Just because one is fortunate today does not mean that they will have the same fortunes in the future. It is important to give to the poor because at any given moment, a catastrophe could occur which could leave you without anything.

For example in 2005, in New Orleans, hurricane Katrina hit and completely devastated the entire region. In a situation like that we see that the victims of this tragedy were people from all walks of life; upper class, middle class, and lower class people. The thing about this tragedy is that it reduced everyone involved to one level; they were all people in need. What is significant here is that the people who were not affected by the tragedy now were able to truly understand the reason to give to the poor and to give charity. These people now see that beneath all the turmoil in the Gulf Coast, there is a mass of people with nothing, and they see that it is important to give to these people because they are just like us, human beings. A tragedy like that humbles everyone involved,