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