"Life" Redefined: Wisdom and Law

in Fourth Ezra and Second Baruch

SHANNON BURKES
The Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL 32306

IN THE Sayings of the Fathers (6:7) there appears the following reflection on
the Torah that reads in part:

Great is Torah, which gives life to those who practice it in this world and in the world
to come, for it is said, For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all
their flesh (Prov v 22); and it saith, It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to
thy bones (Prov. in. 8); and it saith, She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon
her and happy is every one that retaineth her (Prov. in. 18). . . -1

The passage continues to draw on verses from Proverbs, verses that originally
described wisdom, and to apply them to the Torah, so that the two become one
and the same. This is an example of the well-known dovetailing of wisdom and
Law that begins in post-exilic Jewish expression, a combination which frequently
highlighted a third element, the notion of "life." In this passage, Torah-wisdom
gives life both now and in the world to come; it is health to the body in the present
and is a tree of life in the future age.
However, the nuances lent to the idea of "life" in the identification of wis-
dom with the Law could vary considerably. Originally, life in the setting of biblical
wisdom had implied extended lifespan, divine blessing, children, and respected
memory,2 while life in the legal corpus suggested the national survival of the people

1
Charles Taylor, Sayings of the Jewish Fathers (Amsterdam Philo Press, 1970) 102
2
Prov 3 2, 16, 18, 22,4 4, 10, 13, 22, 6 23, 7 1, 8 35-36, 9 7, 11, 23, 10 11, 17, 27, 11 30,
13 12, 14, 22, 14 27, 15 4, 24, 16 22, 17 6, 19 16, 20 7, and 22 4

55
 56 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY | 63, 2001

of Israel.3 Postbiblical wisdom compositions such as Ben Sira and the wisdom
poem in Bar 3:9-4:4 first put the identification of wisdom and Law on the map,4
and demonstrated the ways in which such an identification could lead to different
emphases in the newly combined understandings of life 5 One thing these two com
positions did not do, however, for all the expanded scope in defining life allowed
by merging wisdom with the Law, was to extend its definition from the present,
earthly sphere, to an eternal, supernatural one. Yet the passage from the Sayings
of the Fathers shows that eventually, the life made possible by wisdom-Law was
understood quite naturally to include life in the world to come Apparently, an
intermediate step has taken place in the development of the triangulation of wis
dom, Law, and life
The purpose of the following discussion is to investigate this intermediate
step, which takes place not primarily in the wisdom tradition but in the apocalyptic
texts. In this fertile ground the ongoing development of what exactly life (and
death) signifies in the context of wisdom's identification with the Law continued,
but with a new twist

I. Fourth Ezra
In Fourth Ezra, wisdom, Law, and life are interconnected, as they already had
been in Ben Sira and Baruch, in the attempt to understand and confront difficulties

3
Deut 30 15-20, 32 46-47, and Lev 18 5
4
For discussions of Ben Sira, see Patrick W Skehan and Alexander Di Leila, The Wisdom of
Ben Sira A New Translation with Notes (AB 39, New York Doubleday, 1987) 336, G W E Nickels-
burg and Michael E Stone, Faith and Piety in Early Judaism Texts and Documents (Philadelphia
Trinity, 1991) 216, George W E Nickelsburg, Jewish Literature Between the Bible and the Mishnah
A Historical and Literary Introduction (London SCM, Philadelphia Fortress Press, 1981) 59, Moshe
Weinfeld, Deuteronomy 1-11 A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (AB 5-5A, New
York Doubleday, 1991) 202, Martin Hengel, Judaism and Hellenism Studies in their Encounter in
Palestine during the Early Hellenistic Period (2 vols , London SCM, Philadelphia Fortress, 1974)
1 157-62 For Baruch, see David G Burke, The Poetry of Baruch A Reconstruction and Analysis of
the Original Hebrew Text of Baruch 3 9-5 9 (Septuagint and Cognate Studies 10, Chico, CA Scholars
Press, 1982) 34-35, George W E Nickelsburg, "The Bible Rewritten and Expanded," in Jewish
Writings of the Second Temple Period (ed Michael E Stone, CRINT, sect 2 Literature of the Jewish
People m the Period of the Second Temple and the Talmud 2, Assen Van Gorcum, Philadelphia For
tress, 1984) 140-46, Gerald Sheppard, Wisdom as a Hermeneutical Construct A Study in the Sapi
entializing of the Old Testament (BZAW 151, Berlin de Gruyter, 1980) 97-98, Eckhard J Schnabel,
Law and Wisdom from Ben Sira to Paul A Tradition Historical Enquiry into the Relation of Law,
Wisdom, and Ethics (WUNT 2/2, Tubingen Mohr/Siebeck, 1985) 98-99, Walter Harrelson, "Wisdom
Hidden and Revealed According to Baruch (Baruch 3 9-4 4)," in Priests, Prophets, and Scribes
Essays on the Formation and Heritage of Second Temple Judaism in Honour of Joseph Blenkinsopp
(ed Eugene Ulrich et al, JSOTSup 149, Sheffield Sheffield Academic Press, 1992) 158-59, Carey
A Moore, Daniel, Esther, and Jeremiah The Additions (AB 44, Garden City, NY Doubleday, 1977)
303
5
See author's previous article, "Wisdom and Law Choosing Life in Ben Sira and Baruch,"
757 30(1999) 253 76
 "LIFE" REDEFINED 57

within the Jewish community However, the historical context of the book is dif
ferent than in the case of the earlier sapiential texts, and the way the three themes
are related differs as well By widespread agreement Fourth Ezra was written after
the failure of the Jewish revolt against the Romans and the destruction of the
6
Second Temple in 70 e E , probably around the end of the first century This
means that the author is responding to a catastrophe on the order of the destruction
of the nation by the Babylonians in 587 e E AS IS well known, the book is set,
in fact, not in the first century e E but among the exilic community in Babylon
thirty years after this first experience of destruction, written under the pseudepi-
graphic name of the scribe Ezra The book is concerned with the problems of evil,
suffering, and God's justice, which are presented in a set of dialogues between the
anguished Ezra and an angel followed by a series of visions
For the author the problems of the present are based not simply on Jewish
neglect of the Torah, but go all the way back to Adam, whose failure to keep the
one commandment he was given led to the introduction of death for him and his
descendants (3 7) 7 Even though God went on to make an "everlasting cove
nant" 8 with Abraham (3 15) and gave the Law to Israel (3 19), he did not remove
the evil heart from his human creation, and so it is that the Law has been unable
to overcome human perversion (3 20-22) The result is that such a heart has led
the race "into corruption9 and the ways of death and removed us far from life"
(7 48) The immediate problem for Ezra, which is the most recent fruit of the evil
human heart, is that the Jews have come in for particular oppression at the hands
of foreign nations that cannot claim to have kept God's ways any better than the
Jews 1 0 Therefore, he struggles to understand why the Law and the covenants
have been destroyed while the people have been left to pass from the world and
lead a life "like a mist" (4 23-24)

6
Michael E Stone, Fourth Ezra (Hermeneia Minneapolis Fortress Press, 1990)9 10 Jacob
Myers, / and II Esdras Introduction Translation, and Commentary (AB 42, Garden City, NY
Doubleday, 1974) 129, Nickelsburg, Jewish Literature, 287, 292, John J Collins, The Apocalyptic
Imagination An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature (Grand Rapids Eerdmans, 1998) 196
M Metzger, "The Fourth Book of Ezra," in OTP 1 520, Schnabel, Law and Wisdom 140
7
Stone (Fourth Ezra 65-66) discusses the meanings of "death" in Fourth Ezra, dividing them
into two main categories, physical death and death as damnation, with damnation being what Stone
describes as "eternal death "
8
Biblical translations come from the NRSV (The New Oxford Annotated Bible New Revised
Standard Version [ed Bruce M Metzger and Roland E Murphy, New York Oxford University Press,
1991])
9
Stone (Fourth Ezra, 85-86) writes that the words "corruptible" and "incorruptible" appear
repeatedly in the book This world is corruptible, a word that connotes death, but in the end-time
corruption will pass away
10
Collins (The Apocalyptic Imagination, 203) comments that Ezra is confronting "the basic
dilemma of the covenanted tradition "
 58 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY | 63, 2001

In the course of the three dialogues with the angelic messenger, Ezra is told
repeatedly that the human mind is incapable of understanding such matters, and
only God knows the divine plan and purpose of events The poignancy of these
interchanges is that Ezra is attempting to understand God's intentions, though as
the angel bluntly tells him, "You cannot" (5 35) n Ezra feels that it would be
better not to exist at all than to live in the present world and suffer without
understanding why (4 12) He more precisely expresses this sentiment later, how-
ever, when he says that the real problem is not lack of knowledge, because in fact
human sentience includes an all too acute awareness of mortality, which is a
torment (7 63-66) 12 The author is almost overwhelmed by the consciousness of
death at this stage13 because, in this half of the book, he considers it beyond hope
that anyone might be able to overcome human nature well enough to achieve real
obedience to the Law and thus earn divine mercy Nevertheless, the angel insists
that God has made the Law clear to all and has let the world's inhabitants know
"what they should do to live" (7 21) Therefore, each person makes a choice and
bears the responsibility for his actions
Throughout the development of this discussion the relationship between life
and the Law is clear Failure to embrace the latter leads to loss of the former The
defeat of the people by the Babylonians (= Romans) means they are practically
nonexistent, like a mist or, in other words, dying, and more generally, ever since
Adam the human race has strayed from life into the ways of death The cause of
both situations is that Adam, like the Jewish community, failed to follow the com-
mandments he had received The answer to the troubles of the present age, which
is characterized by the inclination towards death, is "life", but life does not mean
only physical existence, and it comes about in a different way than simply through
a community's choosing to follow the Law Life in the sense of Moses' exhor-
tation in Deut 30 15-20with the Jewish people accepting the Law in order to
achieve a long-lasting, blessed community on earthis no longer possible The

11
Collins (The Apocalyptic Imagination 201) points to the similarity of the angel s responses
to Ezra, which partly consist of asking a series of unanswerable questions with God s response to Job
from the whirlwind
12
Stone (Fourth Ezra 122 23) provides a discussion of the mind, or consciousness, and the
writer's laments over it
13
The dominating experience of death appears also m the first vision, that of the woman
mourning for her dead son She is clearly representative of Ezra's own state of grief, and she twice
declares her intention to remain immersed in her sorrow "until I die" (10 4 also 10 18) Although
she is still technically alive, she has turned her back on her world and is yielding to death For the
first time Ezra is put in the position of confronting another person's grief rather than his own, and he
brusquely exhorts her to bear up under the present trials and be consoled that someday she will get
her son back (10 15 17) The woman is then transformed into a great city, and the angel explains that
she is Jerusalem Henceforth, Ezra abandons his questions of theodicy and allows himself to take
comfort, as he had advised the woman to do The message is that the proper response to the present
disaster is not to give up in despair and choose death
 "LIFE" REDEFINED 59

human tendency towards evil is so powerful that only a few individuals succeed
in living righteously, while the rest, though they "had understanding" and "ob
14
tained the Law" (7:72), will yield to sin. Because the very few righteous who
exist will never be able to experience "life" in the sense of an enduring commu
nity within an ordered world, their experience of life will come m another form,
15
that of personal immortality. The details are spelled out in chap 7, where the
teaching concerning death unfolds (7:78-99) The wicked are judged and punished
while those who managed to overcome their internal evil so that they were not
led astray "from life into death" are given immortality (7 96). The angel explains,
in a dramatic reinterpretation of Deut 30:19, that this is what Moses meant when
he exhorted the people: "Choose life for yourself, so that you may live" (7:129).16
The deuteronomic command had been directed to a national audience and prom
ised national survival; now it urges the rare individual to acquire immortality.
At this point Ezra begins to beg God to give the people understanding so that
humankind "may be able to live" (8:6), and the wisdom terminology begins to
emerge as a second way of promising "life " 1 7 The angel counters Ezra's gloomy
expectations for his own fate by assuring him that his is the "tree of life" 1 8 and
for him wisdom has been perfected (8-52) The proverbial tree of life now means
something it did not in its original usage because death is hidden from him and
Hades has fled (8.53) The sapiential language of life here signifies a literal
conquest of death. As for almost everyone else, they rejected God's Law and

14
A correlation of wisdom and Law begins to appear with this last statement Wisdom has
appeared m an earlier passage (5 9-10) where, among other signs of the end-time, the angel says that
reason will hide and wisdom will withdraw, not to be found by those seeking it
15
Michel Desjardms ("Law in 2 Baruch and 4 Ezra," Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses
14 [1985] 25-37, here 34) notes that the reward for following the Law is oriented towards the future
rather than the present See also Philip F Esler, "The Social Function of 4 Ezra," JSNT 53 (1994)
99-123, here 118, who says the relation of the Law to eschatology is an especially striking feature of
the book, which repeatedly insists that "salvation in the next world is dependent upon compliance with
the Law in this one " Likewise Schnabel (Law and Wisdom, 143), who remarks that the Law for Fourth
Ezra "has primarily an eschatological-salvational significance "
16
Stone (Fourth Ezra, 260) notes that this quotation of a proof text is rare, and its function in
the present setting is to defend the theme of free will Its meaning has been radically changed from
its original appearance in Deuteronomy
17
Michael Knowles ("Moses, the Law, and the Unity of 4 Ezra," NovT 31 [1989] 257-74,
here 270) comments that Ezra counts wisdom and understanding as "particular characteristics of the
Law"
18
See also 7 13 for the "fruit of immortality " The image of the tree of life, as well as the
fountain of life, is a long-standing one in the wisdom tradition See Prov 3 18, 10 11, 11 30, 13 12,
14, 15 4, 16 22, 18 4, Ben Sira 1 20, 21 13, 24 13-22, 24 23 Benedikt Otzen writes ("The Paradise
Trees in Jewish Apocalyptic," m Apocryphon Sevenni Presented to Soren Giversen [ed Bilde,
Nielsen, and J Sorensen, Aarhus Aarhus University Press, 1993] 146-52, here 152) that in later
apocalyptic traditions, the tree of life becomes "an indispensable element in Jewish eschatology " In
the course of the discussion Otzen provides an analysis of individual examples, including Fourth Ezra
 60 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY | 63, 2001

brought their own doom (8:56).19 This passage implies an interrelationship be-
tween wisdom and Law, since having wisdom is the opposite of rejecting the Law.
The right choice, whether expressed in terms of wisdom or the Law, brings life,
here signified by using the old metaphor of the tree of life from Proverbs.20 Once
again, however, life in this context has the new meaning of life after death. In a
sense, death is not even a reality for the wise and law-abiding since death is
"hidden" and Hades "fled," as if these things are not a part of their experience
in a meaningful way.
The correlation between wisdom and the Torah, and their life-giving quali-
ties, is even more explicit at the end of the book. The angel explains that Ezra has
been chosen to receive his visions because he has sought the Law, devoted himself
to wisdom, and called understanding his mother (13:55). Ezra is troubled, how-
ever, that the Law has been burned and that future generations are left without
guidance, so he requests that he be inspired to write a new copy in order that those
"who want to live" in the final days might have the chance (14.19-22) 21 In the
farewell address to the exiles that follows, he describes Israel's covenant as "the
law of life"22 (14.30), the Law that he earlier said does not perish (9 37).23 He
then drinks a fiery liquid, and the process of dictating the scriptures is described
as the pouring forth of understanding and wisdom ( 14:40).24 Interestingly, he

19
In fact, the Synac version has the messiah destroying the nations "by means of the Law,"
which explicitly spells out the flip side of the coin those who follow the Law gam life, those who
reject the Law are destroyed by it
20
The author also uses the imagery of roots, fruit, and planting throughout his discussion of
how difficult it is for the Law to function in the tainted human heart God did not remove the evil heart
so that the Law could produce "fruit" (3 20), the Law therefore remained with the evil "root", later
Ezra prays that God might "give us a seed for our heart and cultivation of our understanding so that
fruit may be produced, by which every mortal may be able to live" (8 6), God tells the Israelites
"I sow my law in you" (9 31), and because they did not keep it, they perished, even if its fruit did
not (9 32-33) Such language has overtones of the kind of plant imagery common to wisdom, and may
be a more subtle link between the discussions of Law and wisdom
21
Knowles ("Moses, the Law, and the Unity of 4 Ezra," 273) remarks that Ezra shows a
development in his view of the Law with this request, and that "this new evaluation of the Law is
itself intended as testimony to the Law's efficacyearlier demurrals notwithstandingin accom-
plishing that which it demands " Alden L Thompson, however (Responsibility for Evil in the Theodicy
of IV Ezra A Study Illustrating the Significance of Form and Structure for the Meaning of the Book
[SBLDS 29, Missoula, MT Scholars Press, 19^7] 339), feels that Ezra never really offers a counter-
weight to the perverted human heart
22
Stone (Fourth Ezra, 435) points out that "life" in this case clearly means "eternal life " Ben
Sira also uses this phrase in Sir 17 11-12 "He bestowed knowledge upon them, and allotted to them
the law of life He established with them an eternal covenant, and revealed to them his decrees " The
same expression appears in Ben Sira 45 5, but for him it always refers to life in the present world
23
This is an interesting remark inasmuch as it turns out that the Law has been burned in the
fall of Jerusalem, but in the end Ezra is proven correct when God inspires him to reproduce the lost
texts
24
Here Ezra is identified with Moses by functioning as a conduit through which the Law may
be delivered The analogy is made exphct at the beginning of chapter 14 when God addresses Ezra
 LIFE" REDEFINED 61

produces 94 books, only 24 of which are to be public while the remaining seventy
are for the wise among his people alone, "for in them is the spring of under-
standing, the fountain of wisdom, and the river of knowledge" (14:47).25
Fourth Ezra continues to utilize the language and motifs ftom the wisdom
and Torah traditions that Ben Sira and Baruch had used in order to demonstrate
to his readers that they can attain life, but his worldview is quite different Those
two books had emphasized either the proverbial idea of life as a quality of exis-
tence and continuity through children and reputation, or the deuteronomic theme
of national survival, respectively Fourth Ezra, however, is an apocalypse, and the
present world no longer holds out the possibility for life in a meaningful sense of
the word, whether individually or nationally, because the creation itself is already
becoming old and dying (4 26-27, 5 55). In the framework presented in the two
earlier texts, the troubles one experiences are historical and the result of bad human
choices; they can be solved within history so long as one makes the right choices
The cosmos itself is not tainted in any fashion, and the biblical understanding of
life and death still holds in that personal existence ceases with biological death
Life is the goal held out as the reward of wise observance of the Law, but life in
all of its facets is this-worldly In Fourth Ezra, much of the same language and
arguments are recognizable, but the conclusion is different. Law and wisdom are
correlated;26 the author cites Deut 30:19 when he counsels the reader to "choose

through a bush and then refers to Moses (14 3) in his commissioning speech to Ezra Knowles
("Moses, the Law, and the Unity of 4 Ezra," 257) also notes that the time frames in the book fall into
forty-day segments
25
Collins (The Apocalyptic Imagination, 210) says that this wisdom is apocalyptic wisdom in
that it is not found in the Mosaic Law but m further revelation Perhaps one could say that it is not
found completely in the Law since earlier the author has implied that people already know what they
need to know through the Law Certainly in this passage, however, the author envisions an advanced
level of esoteric wisdom for a select few Stone (Fourth Ezra, 442) says that the verse's claim for the
higher value of esoteric knowledge is stoking and not commonly found in Jewish materials Esler
("The Social Function of 4 Ezra," 119) argues that the book's message is actually a corporate one,
as suggested by Ezra's retransmission of the Law to the people as a whole Edith McEwan Humphrey
(The Ladies and the Cities Transformation and Apocalyptic Identity in Joseph and Aseneth, 4 Ezra,
the Apocalypse and the Shepherd of Hermas [JSPS up 17, Sheffield Sheffield Academic Press, 1995]
81) agrees that "the practice of the Law and the (implied) pursuits of the wise take place m context,
not m individualistic isolation " A different position is taken by Bruce W Longenecker ("Locating
IV Ezra A Consideration of its Social Setting and Functions," JSJ 28 [1997] 271-93, here 284-85),
who points to the continual distinctions in the book between the few and the many, and suggests that
the author may be addressing those responsible for teaching and leading the Jews in the aftermath of
the temple's destruction The concept of the secret seventy books would support the notion that Fourth
Ezra is not entirely corporate in intention
26
Schnabel (Law and Wisdom from Ben Sira to Paul, 147-49) lists several features of the book
that relate it to wisdom traditions These include the dialogue format of question and answer, the
importance of cosmology and predestined events in some of the passages, the "wise men" who appear
in the final chapters, and the recurring motifs of understanding and wisdom He also comments that
 62 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY | 63, 2001

life"; the proverbial "tree of life" awaits the wise person, and salvation comes
through the "law of life," all familiar techniques and claims from the growing
tradition of identifying wisdom with Torah. Life, however, now means something
quite different. It means eternity for the righteous individual Anything else is of
no consequence in the dying present age, which is soon to be swept away and
replaced.27 The language of persuasion has remained recognizable, but the stakes
have changed completely.
There is an additional difference. The conception of wisdom expressed in
Fourth Ezra includes an esoteric element that emerges at the end of the book when
we learn that only "the wise" are to be given the full exposure to divine revelation.
In Ben Sira, wisdom is attainable with diligence and the Law is not too difficult,
while in Baruch wisdom is accessible only to God, but God makes a gift of it to
Israel through the Law. The esotencism of Fourth Ezra is lacking m the earlier
compositions and implies restricted access to wisdom in apocalyptic perspective
Finally, the author of Fourth Ezra is much less optimistic about the numbers
who will attain life. Ben Sira believes anyone can do it because the Law, which

the idea of wisdom is not systematically developed, although it has "left its marks" (p 149) on the
book Schnabel further discusses passages (pp 149-51) that explicitly or implicitly identify wisdom
and Law Joan E Cook ("Creation m IV Ezra The Biblical Theme in Support of Theodicy," in
Creation in the Biblical Traditions [ed Richard J Clifford and John J Collins, CBQMS 24, Wash-
ington The Catholic Biblical Association of America, 1992] 129-39, here 139) comments on the
sapiential character of Fourth Ezra as a whole when she writes that the book "follows Wisdom's way
of asking difficult questions about the existence of evil, and points out problematic, complex dimen-
sions of the question as well as suggesting answers " Stone (Fourth Ezra, 267) remarks that the
parallelism between Law and wisdom is common by this period For his discussion of specific points
of contact with wisdom in Fourth Ezra, see Michael E Stone, "The Way of the Most High and the
Injustice of God in 4 Ezra," in Knowledge of God in the Graeco-Roman World (ed R van den Broek,
tudes prliminaires aux religions orientales dans l'Empire romain, Leiden Brill, 1988) 132-42, here
134 E Elizabeth Johnson (The Function of Apocalyptic and Wisdom Traditions in Romans 9-11
[SBLDS 109, Atlanta Scholars Press, 1989] 93) briefly discusses the interrelationship between wis-
dom and Torah m the book See also Michael A Knibb, "Apocalyptic and Wisdom in IV Ezra," JSJ
13 (1982) 56-74, who points to a number of similanties with Job as well as the mantic wisdom
represented by the dream interpretations of Daniel Pieter G R de Vilhers ("Understanding the Way
of God Form, Function and Message of the Historical Review m 4 Ezra 3 4-27," SBLSP1981, 357-78,
here 365-66) writes that one element "illustrative of common ground between wisdom and 4 Ezra,
is the way to salvation" which lies in proper understanding For more general comments see G W
E Nickelsburg, "Wisdom and Apocalypticism in Early Judaism Some Points for Discussion," in
SBLSP 1994, 715-32
27
Nickelsburg (Jewish Literature, 293) says that the author of Fourth Ezra "has been badly
scarred by the events of the year 70 " These events would be a plausible reason for his markedly more
pessimistic view of this world compared to Ben Sira and Baruch, although Second Baruch responds
to the same catastrophe without the intensity of despair displayed in Fourth Ezra Collins (The
Apocalyptic Imagination, 200) observes that the author is responding not to the events of 70 e E as
much as "the enduring state of affairs" which resulted afterwards The disaster is certainly central,
but it is true that the author's reflections on it lead him to more general questions
 "LIFE" REDEFINED 63

is wisdom, can be chosen and followed if one so wishes.28 Baruch is rather more
urgent in his argument since he believes that Torah-wisdom cannot be found by
the human seeker but must be bestowed by God. However, he emphasizes that
God has in fact bestowed it, 29 and he awaits his people's hastening vindication
within history. Fourth Ezra's author, on the other hand, expects only a tiny minority
to prevail over the death-dealing handicap of the human heart, and the few who
will succeed in embracing Torah and wisdom to achieve life will acquire it outside
of history.

II. Second Baruch

Second Baruch is similar in a number of ways to Fourth Ezra. It, too, is an
apocalypse, was probably written at the end of the first century C.E., is a response
to the destruction of the temple by the Romans, is set in the earlier period of the
Babylonian invasion under a pseudepigraphical name, and bears enough struc
tural and thematic analogies with Fourth Ezra that many scholars have debated
whether it might be dependent on that text in one way or another.30 Second
Baruch also continues the tradition of identifying wisdom and Law, once again
in an effort to show how one can achieve life. Yet this apocalypse provides its own
personal spin on the matter Second Baruch shares the same general historical
circumstances of Fourth Ezra, but the author's temperament differs from that of
his fellow apocalyptist, and his book attests a development in the merger of
wisdom, Law, and life that came about m the history of the tradition.
The book begins, unlike Fourth Ezra, immediately before the fall of Jerusa
lem and destruction of the temple, with Baruch receiving a message from God
concerning what is about to happen to the city and why. God assuages Baruch's
anguish by assuring him that there is a heavenly temple which will remain un
harmed (4:1-7), and allows him to see that it is really the angels rather than the
human enemy who destroy the city after hiding the temple vessels in the earth

28
Cf Sir 15 15-17 "If you choose, you can keep the commandments, and to act faithfully is
a matter of your own choice He has placed before you fire and water, stretch out your hand for which
ever you choose Before each person are life and death, and whichever one chooses will be given "
29
Baruch asks who has gone into heaven to find wisdom (Bar 3 29, this question is itself based
on Deut 30 11-14, but the author changes the meaning of the original verse by making the subject
wisdom instead of the Torah, and then suggesting, contrary to the Deuteronomic verse, that no one
can find it), and he eventually reassures the reader m 3 36-4 1 as follows "He [God] found the whole
way to knowledge, and gave her to his servant Jacob and to Israel, whom he loved She is the book
of the commandments of God, the law that endures forever All who hold her fast will live, and those
who forsake her will die "
30
Gwendolyn Sayler, Have the Promises Failed9 A Literary Analysis of 2 Baruch (SBLDS
72, Chico, CA Scholars Press, 1984) 103-18, A Khjn, "2 (Synac Apocalypse of) Baruch," OTP 1
616-17, Nickelsburg, Jewish Literature, 287, Collins, The Apocalyptic Imagination, 213, 222-24,
Schnabel, Law and Wisdom, 153
 64 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY | 63, 2001

(6-7). Baruch continues to lament the disaster, however, and says that there is no
one who can understand God's way (14 8-10). He wants to know why it is, if the
world was created for man, that the world remains while those for whom it was
made depart (1419) God answers that Baruch would have a point about no one
being able to comprehend God's wishes only if the people had not "received the
Law and . . . were not instructed with understanding" (15.5).31 The correlation of
Law and wisdom which this statement implies is the beginning of a thorough-
going identification of the two in the rest of the book Soon after this, the text
explains that Moses presented the people with the covenant and announced
"Behold, I appoint for you life and death" (19.1) Once again, Deut 30 19 is cited
to defend the life-giving properties of the Torah. A familiar argument is emerging
As one would expect in an apocalyptic work, the author's view of the world
is rather grim. The present-day cosmos is not capable of delivering the divine
promises of the covenant. In fact, in an argument much the same as Paul's (1 Cor
15.19), he says, "if only this life exists which everyone possesses here, nothing
could be more bitter than this" (21:13). The entire era from the destruction of the
temple forward "is in a state of dying" (21:22), and Baruch begs God to reprove
the angel of death, let his glory appear, and seal the realm of death (21:23).32 He
frequently refers to this world as a world of corruption (21:19; 40.3; 43.2; 74.2).33
However, the people still have an antidote to death, because after he begins his
visions Baruch declares to God: "Your Law is life, and your wisdom is the right
way", and he goes on to ask that the meaning of his vision be revealed since "you
know that my soul has always been associated with your Law, and that I did not
depart from your wisdom from my earliest days" (38:2). Law and wisdom are
equivalent,34 and both bring life. In the end of the age everyone will be divided
into categories, when "corruption will take away those who belong to it, and life
those who belong to it" (42:7).35 The dust will be ordered to give back that which
is not of the dust (42:8). To say, then, that the Law is wisdom, or that either is life,

31
All translations of Second Baruch come from Khjn, "2 (Synac Apocalypse of) Baruch," in
OTP 1
32
Like Fourth Ezra, he says "For the youth of this world has passed away, and the power of
creation is already exhausted" (85 10)
33
The author also shares the view of Fourth Ezra that Adam's sin doomed all who are born
to death (23 4, 56 6) However, he believes more strongly than Ezra does that there is an effective
remedy to death in the Law John R Levison (Portraits of Adam in Early Judaism From Sirach to
2 Baruch [JSPSup 1, Sheffield JSOT Press, 1988] 134) remarks that "Adam and Moses are contrasted
historically as bringers of death and the Law respectively " The contrast suggests some degree of
balance between the two
34
Desjardins ("Law m 2 Baruch and 4 Ezra," 30) comments that wisdom and understanding
are the strongest metaphors for the Law m Second Baruch
35
Frederick James Murphy (The Structure and Meaning of Second Baruch [SBLDS 78,
Atlanta Scholars Press, 1985] 54) notes that the verse personifies "life" and "corruption "
 "LIFE" REDEFINED 65

is to speak of immortality for the righteous. Baruch therefore admonishes the

survivors of the invasion not to abandon the Law (44 3) because all corruptible
and dying things will pass away (44.9), to be replaced by a new and incorruptible
world (44:12). Those who will inherit this world are the ones who have prepared
"treasures of wisdom" and "stores of insight" for themselves, and have preserved
the Law (44:14).36 Baruch's job is to teach the people about these matters, be-
cause when he instructs them, he "will make them alive" (45.2).37
The people themselves respond at this point with distress because they learn
that Baruch will be taken away from them in the near future They do not resist
his message but fear being abandoned. The question they pose is who will study
the Law for them and "who will distinguish between life and death for us 9 "
(46 3) This question suggests that they have indeed listened carefully to his
instructions and understand that their only hope for choosing life instead of death
lies through the Law and wisdom, but they also believe that Baruch is the only
one among them who can provide the guidance they need. Baruch's answer is
important "Israel will not be in want of a wise man, nor the tribe of Jacob, a son
of the Law But only prepare your heart so that you obey the Law, and be subject
to those who are wise and understanding with fear" (46.4-5) 38 Again, wisdom
and the Law are functionally equivalent; but what is even more significant is that
the people's access to these channels of life will not cease with the death of any

36
Other passages as well correlate Law and wisdom In a prayer to the deity, Baruch affirms
that all the faithful know that as long as they have the Law they will not stumble (2 Apoc Bar 48 22),
that the Law, which is "that excellent wisdom," will be their support (48 24) 2 Apoc Bar 51 3
guarantees the undying world to those who keep the Law, possess intelligence, and plant the root of
wisdom in their hearts, 51 4 chastises those who despised the Law and rejected wisdom and intel-
ligence, and 84 1 calls the commandments knowledge In a similarity with Fourth Ezra (5 9-10),
Second Baruch affirms the belief that in the end-time wisdom and intelligence will hide, while those
who remain and have understanding will keep silent (48 33, 36) In / Enoch 42, the idea of wisdom's
absence is carried to its farthest limit when wisdom personified tries but fails to find a home among
humanity and finally withdraws back into the heavens Since this concern over wisdom's distance
and/or withdrawal also appears in Second Baruch and Fourth Ezra, it appears that this was a point of
interest shared among different apocalypses The difficulty of gaming access to wisdom asserted by
some voices of the sapiential tradition (for example, Job and Baruch) evolves into a near impossibility
m some of the apocalypses
37
A like expression occurs m 76 5, where God tells Baruch to instruct the people "so that they
may learn lest they die in the last times, but may learn so that they live m the last times " Murphy
(The Structure and Meaning of Second Baruch, 129-30) writes that Baruch's instruction of the people
in this way is similar to that of Moses, who mediated the covenant the first time, and he goes on to
list other parallels with Moses He also notes that the difference in Second Baruch is that the author
shifts the focus from the gift of the land to eschatological redemption
38
The promise is reaffirmed at the end of the book "Shepherds and lamps and fountains came
from the Law and when we go away, the Law will abide If you, therefore, look upon the Law and
are intent upon wisdom, then the lamp will not be wanting and the shepherd will not give way and
the fountain will not dry up" (2 Apoc Bar 11 15-16)
 66 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY | 63, 2001

one person There will always be people on hand to teach the Law and wisdom,
even after the disaster that has just been experienced with the loss of the temple
and of political independence. The way to life exists apart from these circum-
stances In fact, the way to life seems to be affected not one bit by the disaster,
which makes sense when Baruch describes the Torah as "the eternal Law which
exists forever" (59 2) The moral of the book could be summarized as follows

Also we have left our land, and Zion has been taken away from us, and we have
nothing now apart from the Mighty One and his Law Therefore, if we direct and
dispose our hearts, we shall receive everything which we lost again by many times
For that which we lost was subjected to corruption, and that which we receive will
not be corruptible (85 3-5)39
The Law, which is wisdom, is the remaining lifeline out of the corruptible world
to eternal life.40
The author of Second Baruch has developed the argument which combines
wisdom and Law in a manner similar to that of Fourth Ezra, in that the two are
treated as equivalent and are the path to life, where life means specifically personal
immortality based on a judgment of one's deeds after death. However, he uses
wisdom vocabulary more consistently and more explicitly than Fourth Ezra
does, so that the identification comes through with greater clarity,41 and he also
provides a more optimistic view of the present age He agrees that the world now
is in a state of dying and will be replaced by a new world without death, and he
even traces the root of death back to Adam's transgression.42 Unlike Fourth Ezra,
though, when he asks the same question concerning what Adam has done to the
human race (48.42-43), he answers that Adam, though first to die, is the cause

39
Sayler (Have the Promises Failed9 98 101) argues that the epistle (2 Apoc Bar 78 1-87 1)
is not original to the first 77 chapters of the book, though she notes that the author of the epistle was
familiar with the earlier material and was adapting it Even if this quotation comes from a later hand,
it well fits the overall theme of Second Baruch
40
Schnabel (Law and Wisdom, 159) writes regarding the correlation of wisdom and Law in
Second Baruch that "Law and wisdom have one and the same goal true life " Murphy (The
Structure and Meaning of Second Baruch, 125-26) argues that Second Baruch has, in particular, taken
the old deuteronomic theme of future blessings for obedience, meaning blessing in the land, and
reinterpreted it to indicate eschatological reward
41
Collins (The Apocalyptic Imagination, 221) notes that the book's central message is the im-
portance of observing the Law, and, as in Fourth Ezra, the Law rather than wisdom provides the starting
point of the arguments On the other hand, the sapiential language enriches the author's understanding
of the Law to a greater degree than is the case with Fourth Ezra (see Schnabel, Law and Wisdom,
154-62) Johnson (The Function of Apocalyptic and Wisdom Traditions in Romans 9-11, 103) also
regards the identification of Law and wisdom as stronger m Second Baruch than in Fourth Ezra
42
Nickelsburg (Jewish Literature, 285) comments that the problem of mortality is one of the
central issues for Second Baruch The author's world is "burdened down with trouble, grief, and
deathan understandable position in the wake of the Jewish War" (p 287)
 "LIFE" REDEFINED 67

only of his own death, and that "each of us has become his own Adam" (54*15-
19). Second Baruch lacks the devastating certainty that everyone is deeply cor-
rupted by Adam's mistake and that the successes in keeping the Law are almost
miraculous.
He also lacks Fourth Ezra's esoteric tendencies, and while he is keenly aware
of the trauma of Jerusalem's defeat by the Babylonians-Romans and the serious
questions this has raised regarding the survival of the people and their relationship
with God, his response is less focused on human failure and more concerned to
show his audience how the present community can persevere 43 In Fourth Ezra
there appears to be little hope for community survival, since the righteous are so
few and far between, but the author of Second Baruch thinks in terms of the whole,
and believes there is a good chance of success. He assures his people that wise
men, that is, law teachers, will exist throughout the generations to help them in
their task, which assumes that the present age will continue for some time. Life
in Fourth Ezra is almost exclusively focused on individual immortality for the few,
and to call existence in the current world "life" would be a parody of the word
Immortality is also important in Second Baruch The latter, however, allows some
room for "life" as a possible state of being for the community in the present as
well, and both forms of life are acquired by wisdom-Law44 This may be due to
a stronger sense in the book that, despite the fact that the present age is passing,
creation is still in some sense imbued with the forces of wisdom For instance, in
one of his prayers Baruch says to God "You instruct the creation with your
understanding, and you give wisdom to the spheres so that they minister according
to their positions" (48.9) This suggests that creation is not yet utterly corrupt.45

43
Nickelsburg (Jewish Literature, 287) characterizes the author's interest as different from that
displayed in Fourth Ezra in being less focused on theodicy than on "the practical task of reconstruc-
tion Collins (The Apocalyptic Imagination, 223) says that Second Baruch is generally more opti-
mistic and emphasizes free will Johnson (The Function of Apocalyptic and Wisdom Traditions in
Romans 9-11 105) comments "In contrast to 4 Ezra's extremely pessimistic anthropology, 2 Baruch
envisions a real possibility of torah faithfulness " Gwen Sayler ("2 Baruch A Story of Grief and
Consolation " SBLSP 1982, 485-500, here 493) agrees that "Baruch is confident that the Torah
guarantees [the faithful people's] survival in this present time "
44
Collins (The Apocalyptic Imagination, 221) puts it well when he says "Salvation lies not
only in the future of the covenant people but also m the destiny of the individual " Fourth Ezra does
not allow for the salvation of the people, while Second Baruch includes both Johnson (The Function
of Apoc alyptic and Wisdom Traditions in Romans 9-11, 105) says that the book, unlike Fourth Ezra,
contains "a sense of life's purpose and meaning this side of judgment " Sayler (Have the Promises
Failed9 39) confirms this thought when she remarks that Second Baruch points to the Torah as the
key to existence in this world and in the future world She also writes that the author has a positive
view of the present reality and assures his community "that they will survive in this world and will
gain entrance into the future world" (p 117)
45
See also 2 Apoc Bar 54 13, "For with your counsel, you reign over all creation which your
right hand has created, and you have established the whole fountain of light with yourself "A
 68 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY | 63, 2001

All in all, the book shows an affinity to the rabbinic tradition, particularly in its
intention to orient Jewish religiosity towards the Torah with the aim of providing
a means for the community's perseverance.46

Conclusion

The correlation of wisdom and Law that began with Ben Sira became a
popular theme among subsequent Jewish thinkers of the Second Temple Period,
as is already well known,47 and was a combination that frequently included the
third element of "life." The triad seems not to have been attached to a particular
attitude toward the world or to a specific literary genre. Ben Sira had presented
a largely positive picture of his historical reality, although an underlying anxiety
about the human condition peeps through48 which he handles in part by inaugu
rating the first-attested identification of wisdom with the Torah; both bestow life-
giving properties on the individual, and they combine to present the reader with
an accessible "law of life." Ben Sira's sense of the problem49 has not reached a
level where "life" cannot still be had fully and sufficiently in the present world.
Baruch's wisdom poem in 3:9-4:4 uses a similar technique, though for this author
wisdom is rather less available to the world since only one being in creation,
namely God, found it. This Job-like attitude finds a loophole when Baruch explains
that, fortunately, God gave wisdom to Israel through the Law. Ben Sira had said
this very thing, but Baruch emphasizes the difficulty of obtaining wisdom, and so
enlarges the Law's importance as the one and only channel to it, and ultimately
to life. This text confronts a more somber view of the world than Ben Sira since
it, like Fourth Ezra and Second Baruch, is set in the exile, but it offers the same
kind of solution as Ben Sira does. Life has been put in a more precarious position,

discussion of Second Baruch's view of creation can be found in Frederick J Murphy, "Sapiential
Elements m the Synac Apocalypse of Baruch," JQR 76 (1986) 311-27, here 315-18
46
Collins, The Apocalyptic Imagination, 222 Sayler (Have the Promises Failed9 149) agrees
that Second Baruch's intention is "reconstitution of the faithful community for continued life in this
world and time," which is also the basic intention of the rabbinical tradition (see 157 for further
comment)
47
Additional examples which cannot be discussed in the present study include the following
Hellenistic Synagogal Prayers 10 1-8 (OTP 2 688), which prescribes a prayer that God might bestow
understanding and knowledge of his ordinances so that his people would follow his law, adding the
promise that these things will bring the "washing of regeneration, the garment of incorruption, (and)
real life " , Pss Sol 14 1-10, which declares that God is faithful to those who follow the Law, which
he commanded "for our life," because the devout will "live by it forever" and have "the trees of life "
48
As m Sir 40 1-5, where we learn that all people bear a heavy yoke and are troubled by fear
of death
49
See author's previous article, "Wisdom and Law Choosing Life in Ben Sira and Baruch"
( 5 above) 260-68
 "LIFE" REDEFINED 69

but it still signifies the community's survival in the here and now and is still
restorable within historical time in the present world
These same themes continue to appear in Fourth Ezra and Second Baruch,
but within the apocalyptic genre they take on a new character In the state of
Jewish existence after 70 e E , the authors present a markedly different attitude
towards the human condition and the present age The consciousness of death on
both the individual and the community levels has become a dominant theme of
Fourth Ezra The author's people are obliterated as a nation, and it is all but
impossible for an individual to overcome the tainted human heart inherited from
Adam and the state of death that comes with it Ezra still regards the Law as the
means of escaping death, and correlates it with wisdom, but Law has become the
focus of interest, with wisdom a somewhat secondary, though present, descriptor
The truly wise, in fact, are limited in number and the additional texts Ezra is
inspired to produce are to be shown only to these few peoplewhich, for all
practical purposes, redefines wisdom as an esoteric talent which most cannot
attain Moreover, life is also redefined because meaningful life is no longer pos-
sible in a world as corrupt as this one Unlike Ben Sira, this author cannot say with
any confidence that "the days of a person's life are numbered, but the days of
Israel are without number"(Sir 37 25) When this author speaks of the "law of
life," it means something different Life is now to be sought on an individual basis
and means personal immortality
Second Baruch shows, however, that even within the apocalyptic genre the
combination of wisdom, Law, and life can show some flexibility As one expects
in an apocalypse, this author also regards the present world as dying and uses the
same death terminology as Fourth Ezra to describe it, and he definitely takes life,
in one of its meanings, to signify immortality However, he pulls back from the
intense pessimism of Fourth Ezra, and although he seems to be writing in the
same period, he believes that life is still possible for the community in the here
and now Life in both senses is gained through the Law, which is identified with
wisdom more frequently than m Fourth Ezra In addition, the Law in Second
Baruch appears to refer to the biblical corpus, while m Fourth Ezra it extends to
the esoteric seventy books which he is to reveal only to "the wise " 5 0 The greater
accessibility of the complete Law in Second Baruch implies that more people may
put it to use effectively The author of Second Baruch also puts much more
emphasis on consolation and exhortation of the people, rather than leaving the
focus primarily on the seer 51 The range of world views in which this particular
rhetorical strategy can appear is represented on one end of the scale by Ben Sira

50
See Desjardins Law in 2 Baruch and 4 Ezra 29
51
Murphy The Structure and Meaning of Second Baruch 141
 70 THE CATHOLIC BIBLICAL QUARTERLY | 63, 2001

and Baruch, on the other end by Fourth Ezra, with Second Baruch moving away
somewhat from the extreme boundary held by the latter and ending up with a
message that combines the possible options represented by both camps. While
this age is dying, it still has a way to go, and in the meantime current life goes
on. In this sense Second Baruch moves closer to rabbinic thinking 52
The discussion has come back to the beginning, with the quotation from the
Sayings of the Fathers that opened the paper. Second Baruch provides an answer
which will become well established in subsequent Jewish tradition, as was evident
in the passage from the Sayings.53 The Torah is put on center stage, but the
wisdom language remains as well, and these provide life both now and in the
world to come. The people are not going to die but will survive the blows of
history. The development of wisdom's identification with the Law suggests that
Second Temple Jewish intellectuals had a particular goal in mind that involved
an ingenious effort to confront the difficulties of Jewish existence in a precarious
period. By drawing on possibilities offered by earlier traditions m which wisdom
and Torah separately held out the promise of life, they argued that, in spite of the
loss of temple, community structure, and any channels of political power, the
Jews did not have to succumb to oblivion. As another writer put it (Testament of
Levi 13:1,7-8):

And now, my children, I command you

Fear the Lord your God with your whole heart,
and walk according to his Law in integrity
Acquire wisdom in fear of the Lord
because if a captivity occurs,
if cities and territories are laid waste,
if silver and gold and every possession are lost,
nothing can take away the wisdom of the wise man
except the blindness of impiety and the obtuseness of sin
For if anyone preserves himself from these evil deeds,
his wisdom shall be glorious, even among his opponents,

52
Murphy (The Structure and Meaning of Second Baruch, 140) raises the possibility that
Second Baruch may have been written as an argument against those in the period between the two
revolts who wanted to intensify militant fervor, as perhaps exemplified in the Apocalypse of Abraham
If so, he may have chosen the very genre that was being used by those he opposed, the apocalypse,
to use for other ends Says Murphy, "One might say that he uses the apocalypse m an anti-apocalyptic
way," particularly since he seems to be dampening hopes that the eschaton was around the corner
53
See Henry A Fischel, "The Transformation of Wisdom in the World of Midrash," in Aspects
of Wisdom in Judaism and Early Christianity (ed Robert L Wilken, Studies in Judaism and Chris-
tianity in Antiquity 1, Notre Dame University of Notre Dame Press, 1975) 67-101, here 70-71, where
he cites a number of rabbinic sources which display "the well-known teaching that wisdom is identical
with Torah," and which by this identification express the belief "that wisdom-Torah is a vital instru-
ment of survival for the individual as well as the collective "
 "LIFE" REDEFINED 71

it will be found to be a homeland in a foreign territory,

and a friend in the midst of his enemies
Considering their situation, what these thinkers offered was an astonishing and
profound assurance: in the face of death, the people could still, through their
Torah-wisdom, live.
 ^ s
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