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Sirach 13:22 "If a rich man slips, his helpers are many; he speaks unseemly words and they justify him. If a humble man slips, they even reproach him; he speaks sensibly, and receives no attention."

 

Sirach is warning against the traps that wealth can make it easy to fall into. A rich man often ends up surrounded by sycophants supporting his every slip, willing to justify his every unseemly word. Because the world values wealth and power, we often become like sycophants of the rich and powerful ourselves. Think of the times we've been lied to by those in power and willingly accepted their lies, or at least did not question them, because they were "our team", even sometimes sacrificing the good of others in favor of justifying the rich and powerful. Wealth and power don't just corrupt those who have them, they can corrupt others, too, especially when they become idolized by the culture. Meanwhile, the humble man who is speaking the truth without the backing of wealth or power is ignored. When he slips, he is reproached, or even pushed further down (Sirach 12:23).

There are many ways to be rich. Sirach is speaking of monetary wealth here. We can also be rich with power (which usually goes hand in hand with wealth), beauty, or any of the things the world holds valuable. We can also be rich in in things that the world might pay lip service to honoring, but really does not value all that much, things like virtue and holiness. If we are rich in these things, we usually end up being like the humble man Sirach describes; ignored, at best. But Sirach's words about the rich man can be applied, in a way, to the an rich in virtue and holiness. People rich in virtue are walking in God's path, and He gives them spiritual friends and helpers. They also tend to have earthly friends who are trying to be virtuous. Thus, the man rich in virtue has friends, not sycophants, to help him when he slips, when he errs. Holy friends support each other. When one of them slips, the others are there to help get him back on track. If this man rich in virtue happens to err by speaking unseemly words, his virtuous friends will correct him, stress the wrongness of his words, and then get him back on the path of justification. They won't justify him to others, but they will point out his sin to him so he can repent and be justified. Thus, a man rich in virtue has many blessings, even though he most likely will be treated as Sirach's humble man by the world.

 

Sirach's rich man is meant as a warning not to pursue nor idolize monetary wealth. But if we pursue wealth of goodness and virtue, richness in those things will bring us great blessings. We will not have the adulation of the world, in fact we will most likely be ignored or treated poorly, but we will gain spiritual help and virtuous friends who will support and correct us when we slip.