Introduction to 2 Baruch
The writer of 2 Baruch proposes to be the same Baruch who was the scribe to Jeremiah, albeit in this writing Baruch supercedes Jeremiah in dominance of character and centrality of significance. At a macro-glance, the book contains 87 chapter divisions, though 35 chapters contain five verses or less. This book is uneven and complex in its division, but scholars have identified seven major sections.1 There is an interwoven mix of narrative and dialogue throughout, with an epistle added at the end (chapters 77-87), which, purportedly, is the same letter Baruch sent to his kinsmen exiled in Assyria.2 This book also has many resemblances to 4 Ezra--some of which is observed in this study.
One of the main similarities with 4 Ezra is the issue of theodicy. Both authors want to know how God is able to allow his chosen people to undergo such suffering and humiliation, especially at the hands of pagans. Early in the work Baruch poses his dilemma to God.
3:2-6 No, my Lord. If I have found grace in your eyes, take away my spirit first that I may go to my fathers and I may not see the destruction of my mother [i.e. Jerusalem]. For from two sides I am hard pressed: I cannot resist you, but my soul also cannot behold the evil of my mother. For if you destroy your city and deliver up your country to those who hate us, how will the name of Israel be remembered again? Or how shall we speak again about your glorious deeds? [cp. 4 Ezra 4:22?25]
Only a few paragraphs later, he presses the issue again, after the Lord explains that the judgment which is coming is only a chastening for a time and then instructs him to go away and prepare for his next commission. With eloquence he states his objection:
5:1 And I answered and said: So then I shall be guilty in Zion, that your haters will come to this place and pollute your sanctuary, and carry off your heritage into captivity, and rule over them whom you love. And then they will go away again to the land of their idols, and boast before them. And what have you done to your great name? [cp. 4 Ezra 3:28-36]
So theodicy is very much an issue with Baruch just as with Ezra in 4 Ezra. But, as Helyer rightly observes, Baruch "does not struggle as much as 4 Ezra; the answers are more forthcoming, and there is less doubt and ambiguity."3 Nevertheless, as one works his way through 2 Baruch there is a progression of moving from the problem (as posed by Baruch) to solution.4 Baruch becomes satisfied that God has not forsaken his covenant people and therefore the Law should remain intact and the people should persevere through the times of pain and distress in order to ultimately enjoy the covenant promises.
Though not as easy to outline as 4 Ezra, the following is an attempt to visually depict the contents and layout of the book.
Notes
1James D. Newsome, Greeks, Romans, Jews: Currents of Culture and Belief in the New Testament World (Philadelphia: Trinity Press International, 1992): 336.
2Richard Bauckham, "Apocalypses," in Justification and Variegated Nomism: Volume 1-The Complexities of Second Temple Judaism, eds. D. A. Carson, Peter T. O'Brien, and Mark A. Seifrid (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001): 175. Nickelsburg is an exception, however. He sees eight divisions. Cf. W. E. Nickelsburg, Jewish Literature Between the Bible and the Mishnah: A Historical and Literary Introduction (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1981): 286.
3Larry R. Helyer, Exploring Jewish Literature of the Second Temple Period (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002): 426.
4Bauckham, 175.
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