Purpose and Motifs of 2 Baruch



Like 4 Ezra, the book of 2 Baruch is very much concerned about the justice of God when Baruch witnesses the righteous suffering and the wicked prospering. The difference between the two books, however, is that 2 Baruch is much milder in tone and less demanding paranetically. It also tends to be more encouraging to the reader with a much more practical application.1 The chart below illustrates these comparisons.



Let it be observed that both Baruch and Ezra are asking questions that are of the same nature. They are both concerned with issues of theodicy. But Baruch's questions do not have the same edge on them that Ezra's has. Ezra's argument is basically that even though Israel has sinned, they are not as bad as the evil nation that has overrun them. Baruch reaches the same point in his argument, but then consoles himself in the inscrutability of God's majesty and wisdom.

The above chart (on Baruch) segues into the overall purpose of the book of 2 Baruch. Baruch has some serious questions about theodicy. He does not quite know how to work it all out, but he ultimately falls back on the character and attributes of God. One of those attributes is God's faithfulness to His covenant. Since God is faithful to His covenant with Israel, then by the same turn, Israel needs to be faithful to the covenant Law which will bring blessing once again to the nation.2 In other words, just because things are bad does not mean Israel should abandon God. This is the time, Baruch is saying, that Israel must reaffirm the Law and become obedient to it. In due time, God will demonstrate His faithfulness to Israel with abundant blessings.

It has been generally recognized among scholars that apocalyptic literature (especially Jewish apocalyptic) developed as a literary convention for the alienated and disenfranchised to have a voice among the larger society. But it goes beyond just having a voice. It is having a voice that articulates--though often in highly symbolic and sometimes cryptic terms--religious and political ideologies. It became a literary means of threading hope back into the fabric of their theology which had begun to become tattered from the political upheavals of the day. 2 Baruch offers a good example of this phenomenon. To illustrate this point, another comparison with 4 Ezra will be helpful. The similarities between the two works are quite evident. As a result, scholars argue for a dependence of the one upon the other. But which was first and which was dependent is often debated. Though the following point would be valid regardless of which way the dependence runs, this article will adopt Bauckham's position that 4 Ezra had first been published and that 2 Baruch was very familiar with it. Given that point, Bauckham's words illustrate how an author would use apocalyptic as an ideological vehicle for his fellow countrymen in despair over their plight. He writes:

This is the function of apocalyptic literature and 2 Baruch is a classic example of it.

One of the dominant motifs in 2 Baruch is its messianism. The messiah in 2 Baruch is called "my Anointed One." Below is a compilation of 2 Baruch's teaching on the Anointed One.

This list reflects a fairly well-developed messianic eschatology for the author of 2 Baruch. Helyer makes this observation on this point: "We seem to have a clear instance in 2 Baruch of an intermediate kingdom that precedes the eternal state."4

There are other motifs in 2 Baruch that parallel 4 Ezra (e.g. Adam's sin, the question of God's mercy, Paradise), but special mention should be made of a particular pattern found in Baruch's dialogues. Baruch speaks often of Israel's sin and God's judgment upon her. But he does this via an established pattern. This pattern is consistently employed, in part or in whole, in Baruch's addresses to the people. It is a fivefold pattern as outlined by Bauckham:5

A quick glance at this list and one is immediately struck by the similar pattern found in the book of Judges. Israel became complacent and forgot about God; God allowed foreign oppressors to buffet her; Israel cried out to God under the oppression; God raised up a deliverer-judge; and Israel had rest in the land, which resulted in her becoming complacent once again. The point the author of 2 Baruch wants his countrymen to understand is that, yes, their sin has brought this judgment upon them, and yes, they stand in need of repentance, but the judgment God has allowed it not for the purpose of eliminating Israel as a nation, but precisely to bring them to repentance. So the twin themes of judgment and repentance play a large role in this book.




Notes

1Richard Bauckham, "Apocalypses," in Justification and Variegated Nomism: Vol. 1, The Complexities of Second Temple Judaism, eds. D. A. Carson, Peter T. O'Brien, and Mark A. Seifrid (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001): 177.

2Ibid., p. 176.

3Ibid., p. 176-77.

4Larry R. Helyer, Exploring Jewish Literature of the Second Temple Period (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002): 425.

5Bauckham, p. 178.

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