Calling and vocation

Meaning

Calling in the verse headed Ecclesiasticus, chapter 11, is the work or station to which a person diligently attends. It stands beside steadfast fear of God and practice in his Word, before the striking claim about making wealth from lowly materials. The order makes faithful conduct, rather than a speculative search for spectacular gain, the ethical centre of the verse. The English “calling” preserves this sense without specifying a particular occupation or ecclesiastical office. The verse supplies no biography of its exemplary worker and no practical method for turning the named materials into gold.