2 Baruch

Historical printed page 494

158. 22, II BARUCH 21. 10-23 11 finding out, and knowest the number of mankind. And if in time many have sinned, yet others not a few have been righteous. XXI. 12-18. Baruch’s Depreciation of this Life. 12 Thou knowest where Thou preservest the end of those who have sinned, or the consummation of 13 those who have been righteous. For if there were this life only, which belongs to all men, nothing could be more bitter than this. 14 For of what profit is strength that turns to sickness, Or fullness of food that turns to famine, Or beauty that turns to ugliness. 16 For the nature of man is always changeable. For what we were formerly now we no longer are, 17 and what we now are we shall not afterwards remain. For if a consummation had not been prepared 18 for all, in vain would have been their beginning. But regarding everything that comes from Thee, do Thou inform me, and regarding everything about which I ask Thee, do Thou enlighten me. XXI. 19-25. Baruch prays to God to hasten the Fudgement and fulfil His Promise. 19 How long will that which is corruptible remain, and how long will the time of mortals be prospered, and until what time will those who transgress in the world be polluted with much 20 wickedness? Command therefore in mercy and accomplish all that Thou saidst Thou wouldst 21 bring, that Thy might may be made known to those who think that Thy long-suffering is weakness. And show to those who know not, that everything that has befallen us and our city until now has been according to the long-suffering of Thy power, because on account of Thy name Thou hast called 23 usa beloved people. Bring to an end therefore henceforth mortality. And reprove accordingly the angel of death, and let Thy glory appear, and let the might of Thy beauty be known, and let Sheol be sealed so that from this time forward it may not receive the dead, and let the treasuries of το. knowest the number of mankind. Gen. xiiii. 4, 5. 11. not a few have been righteous. This optimism contrasts strongly with 4 Ezra’s pessimism, 6. g. viii. 3 ‘multi quidem creati sunt, pauci autem salvabuntur’. Cf. too viii. 2. 12-13. The balance of this life needs re-adjustment in another life. 13. Quoted from 1 Cor. xv. 19, or else both come from a common source. Life ever changes for the worse (verses 14, 15) and is mortal (16, 17, 22). 14. We have here a stanza of three lines, in each of which there is either a paronomasia or a rhyme. In the second line the text reads ‘ food of fullness’. On two grounds I have changed this into ‘ fullness of food’. First we have ond nyaw in Ezek. xvi. 49, and next the rhyme requires it. The stanza runs thus: %nb yam Sn Say an yond ἼΒΠΣ pm yay ww ἜΘ. ἼΒΠΣ "ΒΝ Instead of ond in the second line we might read pod with Ginzberg. As I have shown in my edition of this book, the third line of this stanza recurs in xlviii. 35. See Ixxxiii. 11, 12. 19. How long will that which is corruptible remain? The final editors answer this question in xl. 3; B? answers it in xxiii. 7-xxiv. 1. The writers of this book (esp. the writer of B?) are impressed with the corruptibility of this present world, the o/am hazzeh. It all belongs to the sphere of corruption. So too does the Messianic kingdom if it falls within the o/am hazzeh, as in A}, A*, and A’, In A? it ends corruption, in A® it ends corruption and begins incorruption (xxiv. 2). See my Commentary, 271 Joc. transgress, or ‘ pass away’, as in verse 9. 20. A prayer for the hastening of the final judgement. 21. The fall of Jerusalem was brought about in God’s mercy to hasten the judgement. that... has been. So I have emended ολωο (=‘and they have seen ’) into Joo. If the text is correct then it represents a Hebraism, the perfect with strong waw as a continuation of the imperative, and so =‘ and let them see’. 22, Bring to an end. Text reads ‘everything’ = 55 which I take to be a corruption of nba, Schulthess and Ryssel, on the other hand, emend the Syriac Yas into wo =‘ restrain ’, but the next verse supports the emendation in the text. 23. To hasten the final judgement the writer prays to God to end death, to let his glory appear, and the dead rise. the angel of death. Cf. Rev. vi. 8. Prominent in later Jewish writings. See Testament of Abraham (ed. James). be sealed. Cf. Isa.v. 14. treasuries of souls. To these chambers only the righteous were admitted. After his death a righteous man’s soul was permitted for seven days to behold the seven ways of the righteous, and a wicked man’s the seven ways of the wicked. Then his soul entered these chambers, in Sheol (4 Ezra iv. 35, 41; vii. 101), ‘They were guarded by angels, and were full of rest (1 En.c.5; 4 Ezra vii. 95). At the judgement they were to restore the souls (2 Bar. xxi. 2, 3, xxx. 2; 4 Ezra vii. 32). There were also treasuries of righteous works (see xxiv. 1). Note that the souls of the wicked are not mentioned here. 494