2 Baruch

Historical printed page 491

II BARUCH 14. 12—16, 1 depart from this habitation, because they have with Thee a store of works preserved in treasuries. 13 On this account also these without fear leave this world, and trusting with joy they hope to 14 receive the world which Thou hast promised them. But as for us—woe to us, who also are 15 now shamefully entreated, and at that time look forward (only) to evils. But Thou knowest accurately what Thou hast done by means of Thy servants; for we are not able to understand τό that which is good as Thou art, our Creator. But again I will speak in Thy presence, O Lorn, 17 my Lord. When of old there was no world with its inhabitants, Thou didst devise and speak 18 with a word, and forthwith the works of creation stood before Thee. And Thou didst say that Thou wouldst make for Thy world man as the administrator of Thy works, that it might be known that he was by no means made on account of the world, but the world on account of him. 1g And now I see that as for the world which was made on account of us, lo! it abides, but we, on account of whom it was made, depart.’ 5x And the Lord answered and said unto me: ‘Thou art rightly astonied regarding the departure of 2 man, but thou hast not judged well regarding the evils which befall those who sin. And as regards 3 what thou hast said, that the righteous are carried off and the impious are prospered, And as 4 regards what thou hast said: “Man knows not Thy judgement ”—On this account hear, and I will 5 speak to thee, and hearken, and I will cause thee to hear My words. Man would not rightly have understood My judgement, unless he had accepted the law, and 1 had instructed him in understand- 6ing. But now, because he transgressed wittingly, yea, just on this ground that he wot (thereof), he shall be tormented. 7 And as regards what thou didst say touching the righteous, that on account of them has this. 8 world come, so also again shall that, which is to come, come on their account. For this world is to them a strife and a labour with much trouble; and that accordingly which is to come, a crown with great glory.’ 6: And I answered and said: ‘O Lorb, my Lord, lo! the years of this time are few and evil, and who is able in his little time to acquire that which is measureless ?’ a store of works, or lit. a‘ supply’. Cf. 4 Ezra vii. 77 (‘a treasure of works’); Matt. vi. 19,20; Pss. Sol. ix. 9. 13. the world which Thou hast promised. Clearly the spiritual world, ‘which does not die’ (li. 3); cf. xliv. 13, 15,xv. 7, 8. B® promises no earthly felicity, but only spiritual blessedness. 14. evils. What these are is given in xliv. 15; Ixxxv. 13. 15. what Thou hast done by means of Thy servants, or the Syriac may = ‘ What Thou hast made out of Thy servants ’, or, without the diacritic point, ‘What Thou hast wrought out of Thy works.’ With the rendering in the text, verse 16 comes better before 15, which then runs on naturally to 17 and 18. 17. with a word. Cf. Ps. xxxiii.6; Heb. xi. 3; 4 Ezra vi. 38. 18. wouldst make for Thy world man, ἄς. Cf. Ps. viii. 6; 4 Ezra vi. 54. the world on account of him. This view of man’s dignity seems to occur first in the first century of the Christian era. Why was the world created? (1) Here and in 4 Ezra viii. 1, 44 we are told ‘ for man’; (2) 4 Ezra vi, 55, 59, vii. 11; Ass. Mosis i. 12 say ‘for Israel’; (3) here in xiv. 19, xv. 7, xxi. 24 ‘for the righteous in Israel’. 5 real Jewish view from the Christian era onwards is (2) or (3). ‘On Israel stands the world’, Shemoth rabba, xxviii. 19. The ‘us’ and the ‘ we’ are the righteous in Israel, as xv. 7, xxi. 24. In Pesikta 200% God is said to have created the world on account of Abraham’s merit. XV. 2. See xiv. 6. 3. See xiv. 8, 9. 5. thelaw. The law and the Messianic expectation were the two centres round which Jewish thought and life revolved. The law predominated at all times, and in B! where there is no Messiah, but Jerusalem’s restoration is expected, it is supremely exalted (e. g. Ixxvii. 15, 16). In Β΄, which does not look forward to restoration or Messiah, the law is further glorified (e.g. xlviii. 24, 27, li. 3, 7), as also in B® (e.g. Ixxxv. 3, 14). On the other hand, in the Messiah Apocalypses A! and S we find no mention of the law at all, and only once in A? (xxxviii. 2), though in A® it rises again into prominence (esp. Ixvii. 6, righteousness by the law). Thus the Messianic expectation tends to eclipse the supremacy of the law, and after the Messiah’s advent there is no allusion to it (Ixx-Ixxiv). For fuller treatment and comparison with 4 Ezra see my Commentary. 6. transgressed wittingly. Cf. xix. 3, xlviii. 40 (see note 22: /oc.), lv. 2; 4 Ezra vii. 72; cf. Luke xii. 48. 7. as regards . .. has this world come. See note on xiv. 18. On the parallel in the short hexaemeron in 4 Ezra vi. 55, see xxix. 4, note. shall ... come. Emended according to Ryssel by reading JL instead of "). 8. this world is to them . . . trouble, ἄς, Cf. xlviii. 50; li. 14; 4 Ezra vii. 3-14; Ps. xc. 10 ‘ yet is their pride labour and sorrow’; Rom. viii. 18 ; 2 Cor. iv. 17. B? regards this world as a place of trial, discipline, and sorrow, unlike B’, There is a still more ascetic tone about 4 Ezra, and above all in 1 Enoch cviii. 7, ‘ the spirits of the humble and of those who have afflicted their bodies.’ crown with great glory. Cf. 1 Pet. v. 4. In Hebrew we have here a paronomasia, as in Isa. Ikxii. 3, ΠΣ AMK|NI ΠΟ. XVI. 1. years .. . fewandevil. Gen. xlvii. 9. inhis...time. For bo (=‘this’) read o45/ = ‘his time’. Cf. xix. 2. There is no need to add ‘time’, and render ‘this his little time,’ with Ryssel. Text = ‘in this little’. 491