Water will quench a flaming fire; and alms makes an atonement for sins.
All Commentaries on Wisdom of Sirach 3:30 Go To Wisdom of Sirach 3
Salvian the Presbyter
AD 429
The apostle calls people to contrition; I only to a cure. He affirms that riches are a fire; I desire to extract from them water that helps to extinguish the blaze. This is precisely why it is written, "Water extinguishes a lit fire; alms extinguish sins." The apostle attests that damnation is the punishment for riches improperly packed away; I desire to obtain eternal life through these very riches that he says cause eternal damnation to all. Not that I believe that riches will enable anyone who has always lived among the pleasures of the flesh to obtain eternal life if he persists in such sin even up to death"even if he bequeaths all he has when he is at death"s door"unless, in fact, he has previously bid farewell to his sins and taken off his filthy clothes, filled with the filth of his profligacy, and puts on the new robe of repentance, of holiness, from the hands of the apostle who admonishes him.
