Many therefore have refused to lend for other men's ill dealing, fearing to be defrauded.
All Commentaries on Wisdom of Sirach 29:7 Go To Wisdom of Sirach 29
Rabanus Maurus
AD 856
This statement refers to the attitude of those who do not desire to do evil with ill will but are reprehensible for the fact that they do not want to help others, out of fear of losing perishable things. To this sickness one must apply the remedy of mercy and charity and the recollection of that saying of the Lord that says, "Do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal. Rather, store up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, where thieves do not break in and steal." And elsewhere one reads regarding riches what comes from the same charity, "To one who has will be given more, and he will have in abundance. But to one who has not, even what he has will be taken away."
