The Wisdom of Sirach for Healing

The Wisdom of Sirach is a book of the Jewish Apocrypha, written in Hebrew by Jesus ben Sirach around 175 BC, and published later in Greek by his grandson.  It is a book of wisdom similar to Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, and in Roman Catholic Bibles it is commonly known as Ecclesiasticus.  The book is intended to support a life devoted to Scripture, not to be a book of Scripture.  The grandson wrote a prologue in which he says:

Many great teachings have been given to us through the Law and the Prophets and the others that followed them, and for these we should praise Israel for instruction and wisdom. Now, those who read the scriptures must not only themselves understand them, but must also as lovers of learning be able through the spoken and written word to help the outsiders. So my grandfather Jesus, who had devoted himself especially to the reading of the Law and the Prophets and the other books of our ancestors, and had acquired considerable proficiency in them, was himself also led to write something pertaining to instruction and wisdom, so that by becoming familiar also with his book those who love learning might make even greater progress in living according to the law. You are invited therefore to read it with goodwill and attention, and to be indulgent in cases where, despite our diligent labor in translating, we may seem to have rendered some phrases imperfectly. For what was originally expressed in Hebrew does not have exactly the same sense when translated into another language. Not only this book, but even the Law itself, the Prophecies, and the rest of the books differ not a little when read in the original.... I have applied my skill day and night to complete and publish the book for those living abroad [Greek-speaking Jews of the Diaspora, living outside of Israel] who wished to gain learning and are disposed to live according to the law. 

With that introduction, I want to quote a small section of this book, with extreme Pentecostalism in mind -- whether the kind that handles snakes and drinks poisons, or the kind that forbids medicine as an act of "faith" (which is really self-empowerment and self-authentication).  I do so because around the same time the dead snake-bitten pastor was in the news, so were the parents of a young child who died for a lack of simple medical treatment because the parent's church forbids the use of medicine and even the wearing of seatbelts -- and tragically this was the second young child of theirs to die for the same reasons in recent years.

So what does Sirach have to say?

Sirach 38:9-11  9 My child, when you are ill, do not delay, but pray to the Lord, and he will heal you.  10 Give up your faults and direct your hands rightly, and cleanse your heart from all sin.  11 Offer a sweet-smelling sacrifice, and a memorial portion of choice flour, and pour oil on your offering, as much as you can afford.

Certainly, an extreme Pentecostal will have no problem with that. Pray for healing and repent of sins and offer up a sacrifice of praise!  Yet look at the very next verses as Sirach continues his wisdom on the topic:

Sirach 38:12-15   12 Then give the physician his place, for the Lord created him; do not let him leave you, for you need him.  13 There may come a time when recovery lies in the hands of physicians,  14 for they too pray to the Lord that he grant them success in diagnosis and in healing, for the sake of preserving life.  15 He who sins against his Maker, will be defiant toward the physician.

Martyr cross racing is laying down your own life (actual, financial, reputation) to save another, not laying down another's life to save face.  Make your own application.

(Disclaimer: "Make your own application" is a helpful charge borrowed from the Phoenix Preacher blog)