Perhaps the key verse among all the proverbs of the Book of Ecclesiasticus is 7:36: “Whatsoever you take in hand, remember the end, and you shalt never do amiss.” The entire book is about what to remember, and how to do well, and avoid doing whatever is “amiss.”
The Greek makes clear that “the end” here is the last and final destination of man, the word used is eskhata from which our word “eschatology” comes. There could hardly be a more profound injunction. If we could remember that we will die and that we have to answer for all we have done, then we would do everything differently. The whole point is in that small word “if.”
If I not only know but also have a feeling for my aim in life, then there is a better chance that I might remember, or at least not forget so often. The aim is the destination which gives focus and meaning to the journey. If I am going to the North Pole I have to go north, there is no point heading south. I have to take the appropriate equipment, quite different from what I would if I were heading to Lebanon, for example; and I have to find different means to travel there. So the aim is a massive organising and limiting factor: it shows me what I should do and what I should not.
The wisdom of the proverbs has to be applied. Sometimes the proverbs have multiple topics, for example, in 9:11 we read: “Envy not the glory of a sinner: for you know not what shall be his end.” This speaks to the sin of envy, the futility of earthly glory, and also to the questions of death, judgment, and life after death. The first half of the proverb has a bearing on the second half, because it implicitly contrasts the ephemeral pomp and circumstance of this world with the eternity to come. But the point is simple: the destination frames and orders the journey.
Also making reference to the last things, verse 11:26 teaches that: “… it is an easy thing unto the Lord in the day of death to reward a man according to his ways.” This supports the earlier proverb, and adds an explicit statement that we all shall be judged by the just monarch. So, as a matter of biblical methodology, it is not enough to just look at a sentence or part of a sentence, and read that as if the rest of the book were not there. The immediate context of each verse is its surrounding, and then the broader context is given in concentric circles: the Book of Ecclesiasticus as a whole, then the Old Testament, the Bible as a whole, Old and New Testaments, and finally the teaching of the Church as a whole. This also applies to lectio divina.
So to understand what is said about life after death, we have to take verses 9:11 and 11:26 with 14:12: “Remember that death will not be long in coming, and that the covenant of the grave is not shewed unto thee.” Taking these three verses together, we are obtaining a fuller picture: life after death is a mystery, hence God’s design and the role of our own actions in what happens to us are critical, but a comprehensive understanding of what will happen to us (that is, the “covenant” of the grave) is not revealed to us. Some brief observations, despite attempts to obscure the teaching, the Greek words here are διαθήκη ᾅδου, literally, “the covenant of Hades.”
Then, in 17:27 and 28, we have: “Who shall praise the most High in the grave, instead of them which live and give thanks? Thanksgiving perishes from the dead, as from one that is not: the living and sound in heart shall praise the Lord.” The question is, does this refer to all those who die, or only to those who do not receive eternal life from God? It is apparent that there will be an adverse judgment for the wicked, hence 18:24 “Think upon the wrath that shall be at the end, and the time of vengeance, when he shall turn away his face.”
The Book of Ecclesiasticus seems to say that the evil perish forever at death, but the just sleep in hope of being reawakened by God: hence in verse 22:11, it says: “Weep for the dead, for he has lost the light: and weep for the fool, for he wants understanding: make little weeping for the dead, for he is at rest: but the life of the fool is worse than death.” This is teaching that the fate of people after death is various, and depends upon their actions in life. As further support for this view is verse 7:33 “A gift has grace in the sight of every man living; and for the dead detain it not.” That is, do what is right by the dead: give them a proper burial and remember them in our prayers.
Another critical theme in Ecclesiasticus is repentance, not only that we need to repent, but also that the fact we know we have done wrong and must make amends may make us more generous in our thoughts and treatments of others: in 8:5 “Reproach not a man that turns from sin, but remember that we are all worthy of punishment.” God sees all because He is outside of and above human time, and is watching: “18:26From the morning until the evening the time is changed, and all things are soon done before the Lord.” Likewise, in chapter 17:
He gave them few days, and a short time, and power also over the things therein. He endued them with strength by themselves, and made them according to his image, and put the fear of man upon all flesh, and gave him dominion over beasts and fowls. They received the use of the five operations of the Lord, and in the sixth place he imparted them understanding, and in the seventh speech, an interpreter of the cogitations thereof. Counsel, and a tongue, and eyes, ears, and a heart, gave he them to understand. Withal he filled them with the knowledge of understanding, and shewed them good and evil. He made an everlasting covenant with them, and shewed them his judgments.