“Their prayer is concerned with their trade:” attempts to separate church and real life go WAY back

I bumped into this passage from the Apocrypha (Ecclesiasticus 38, to be specific) yesterday. Looks like the tension between head-work and hand-work, and between church-work and everyday-work, goes back a long way.  And looks like somebody could have used some reminding that sustaining the structure of the world is important. 🙂

24 Leisure gives the scribe the chance to acquire wisdom; a man with few commitments can grow wise.

25 How can the ploughman become wise, whose sole ambition is to wield the goad, driving his oxen, engrossed in their work, his conversation limited to bullocks,

26 his thoughts absorbed in the furrows he traces and his long evenings spent in fattening heifers?

27 Similarly with all workmen and craftsmen, toiling day and night; those who engrave seals, for ever trying to think of a new design, concentrating on catching a good likeness and staying up late to get the work done.

28 Similarly with the blacksmith sitting by his anvil; he considers what to do with the pig-iron, the breath of the fire scorches his skin, as he contends with the heat of the furnace; the noise of the hammer deafens him, his eyes are fixed on the pattern; he concentrates on getting the job done well and stays up late to apply the finishing touches.

29 Similarly with the potter, sitting at his work, turning the wheel with his feet; constantly on the alert over his work, each flick of the finger premeditated;

30 he pummels the clay with his arm, and with his feet he kneads it; he concentrates on applying the glaze right and stays up late to clean the kiln.

31 All these people rely on their hands and each is skilled at his own craft.

32 A town could not be inhabited without them, there would be no settling, no traveling.

33 But you will not find them in the parliament, they do not hold high rank in the assembly. They do not sit on the judicial bench, and they do not meditate on the Law.

34 They are not remarkable for their culture or judgement, nor are they found frequenting the philosophers. They sustain the structure of the world, and their prayer is concerned with their trade.

Image: Pixabay.