Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) — Chapter 40
Chapter 40 describes the universal burden of human life—toil, fears, sleeplessness, anxious dreams—laid upon all the children of Adam from birth to death (vv. 1-11). Then Lapide gives a series of elegant comparisons showing what surpasses what in human goods (vv. 18-28), culminating in the supremacy of the fear of God over all other goods. The chapter closes with the misery of those who depend on others' charity.
Verse 1
Great labour is created for all men, and a heavy yoke is upon the children of Adam, from the day of their coming out of the womb, until the day of their burial into the mother of all. The universal burden of life: toil, suffering, and mortality are the common inheritance of all Adam's children. Lapide connects this explicitly to original sin (Gen. 3:17-19) as the root cause of all human suffering.
Verse 4
From him that weareth purple and a crown, even to him that is covered with rough linen; wrath and jealousy and trouble and unrest, and the fear of death and continual anger and strife. No social rank exempts from the universal burden: kings in purple and beggars in sackcloth share the same anxieties, fears, and troubles. Lapide uses this as a social leveler: death and fear respect no human dignity.
Verse 11
All things that are of the earth shall return to the earth; and all waters shall return to the sea. The law of return: everything created returns to its source. Lapide treats this as a universal principle of creation—natural things return to nature, and the soul (implicitly) should return to God.
Verse 17
Mercy and faith shall make safe unto thee; and charity shall preserve thee. Mercy, faith, and charity are the three divine shields against all the evils described in the chapter. Lapide treats the theological virtues as the proper human response to universal creaturely frailty.
Verse 26
The fear of God is above all things; blessed is the man to whom it is given to have the fear of the Lord. The fear of God is identified as the supreme human good, surpassing all the earthly goods previously ranked. Lapide treats this as the chapter's theological summit: the fear of God is both paradise (v. 27) and crown of all goods.
Verse 29
Better it is to die than to beg; and better to be deprived of all things than to want the use of another man's table. The dignity of honest poverty over shameful dependence. Lapide teaches that begging from others who are contemptuous or unkind is one of the most humiliating conditions possible, incompatible with genuine human dignity.