August 2014

Friendship has been mentioned and implied throughout the Sacred Scriptures with lessons and stories of both bad and good friends. In the Old Testament Book of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), we find a compilation of materials that include moral and ethical maxims, folk, proverbs, psalms of praise, and lament, theological reflections, homiletic exhortations, and pointed observations about Jewish life and religious mores in the second century BC. For example, “There is nothing so precious as a faithful friend, and no scales can measure his excellence” (Sirach 6:15). And “For there is a friend who is such at his own convenience, but will not stand by you in your day of trouble … A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter: he that has found one has found a treasure” Sirach 6:8, 14). “Whoever fears the Lord directs his friendship aright, for as he is, so is his neighbor” (Sirach 6:17).

To read the whole lesson click here

To watch a recording of the lesson click here.