Other kings and prophets
1The memory of Josiah is like blended incense carefully prepared by the perfumer; it is like delicious honey to every mouth, like music during a banquet.
2He followed the right way in converting the people and removing the horror of idolatry. 3He set his heart on the Lord and succeeded in having godliness prevail over wickedness.
4With the exception of David, Hezekiah and Josiah, the kings were very sinful men. They abandoned the Law of the Most High bringing an end to the kings of Judah.
5They surrendered their power and their honor to foreign nations. 6Their enemies set fire to the holy city, making its streets desolate 7as Jeremiah had foretold.
8It was Ezekiel who saw the vision of Glory when the Lord showed it to him above the chariot of the cherubim. 9He also remembered Job, the one who always followed the way of justice.
10As for the twelve prophets, may their bones spring to life from the tomb, for they comforted the people of Jacob and saved them with confident hope.
11Can we ever adequately praise Zerubbabel who was like a ring at the finger of God, and 12likewise Joshua, son of Jozadak? They were men who, in their days, built the Temple to the Lord, a sanctuary destined for everlasting glory. 13Lasting too is the memory of Nehemiah, who rebuilt our ruined walls, provided gates and bars and rebuilt our homes.
14No one on earth was created to equal Enoch for he was taken up from the earth.
15And never was there a man like Joseph, the greatest among his brothers, the leader of his people; his bones were honored.
16 ① Shem and Seth were exalted among men, but Adam’s glory was greater than any other living being.
- Sir 49,16 Suddenly, before praising the high priest Simon, his contemporary, Ben Sira remembers origins. In the beginning, the first man. Surpassing the current ideas of the Jews who, until then, did not look much further than their own history, Ben Sira thinks about the first human, the father of all humanity. Adam represents all sinful humanity, called to salvation. He is the first human also, who bears in himself the destiny of all the rest. In Romans 5:12-20, Paul will speak of Christ as the New Adam. Of him one can say: Adam is above every living being.
