Just as every other people with a written literature, so too Israel had its wisdom literature. Since Israel was God's chosen people, they were blessed with the idea that "all wisdom comes from the Lord."

After stating this general principle, Sirach asks a series of questions to reflect on the wonder of the created universe. All things on earth, like the sand on the seashore or the drops of rain, are infinite in number. With his questions, Sirach invites us to reflect that no human being can understand this immensity. Yet his questions themselves imply that such an infinity is intelligible: it is capable of being understood. There is someone who created all of this, someone who, from all eternity and before creation possessed the necessary wisdom and prudent understanding: That one is "but one, wise and truly awe-inspiring."

In his own way and in a different context Paul sums up Sirach's doctrine: "ever since the creation of the world, the invisible existence of God and his everlasting power have been clearly seen by the mind's understanding of created things?" (Rom. 1:20). Those who do not follow this understanding to its logical conclusion end up with pantheism, the feeling that there is some kind of divine presence in nature, while a true understanding encounters the living and eternal God in and beyond all created things.