Whoso brings an offering of the goods of the poor does as one that kills the son before his father's eyes.
All Commentaries on Wisdom of Sirach 34:20 Go To Wisdom of Sirach 34
Gregory The Dialogist
AD 604
If the fault is not burned at the roots right as it begins to spread, the thorn of avarice, spreading through the branches, will never dry up. The occasion for stealing is removed, therefore, if the limits of the right of possession are clearly established beforehand. Only those who have been admonished in this way should then hear how they should mercifully distribute what they possess. That is, when they have learned to not mix the good of mercy with the wickedness of theft, since they will later seek, with violence, what they had earlier bestowed in mercy. It is one thing to be merciful toward sins and another to sin so as to be merciful"which, besides, can no longer be called mercy, because the tree that has become bitter cannot yield sweet fruit, due to the poison of a diseased root. For this reason the Lord reproves the sacrifices themselves through the prophet, saying, "I the Lord love justice and hate thievery in sacrifices." He also says, "The sacrifices of the impious are an abomination, issuing from crimes." This is because they often take what they offer to God from the poor. But the Lord shows with what blame he rejects them, saying through a wise man, "One sacrifices a son before his own father who offers a sacrifice with the goods of the poor." What could be more unbearable than the death of a son before his father"s eyes? In this way it shows the wrath with which this sacrifice is regarded, which is compared with the sorrow of a father deprived of his son. And yet, they frequently weigh up what they give but fail to consider what they steal. They count what they give as though it were wages due but refuse to attentively weigh their wrongs. Listen, then, to what is written: "The one who gathered wages put them in a sack with a hole in it," since one sees when he puts the money into such a sack, but he does not see when he loses it.
