Baruch stood on Mount Zion. The ruins smoked beneath him. And then a voice fell from the height of heaven like a stone.
"Stand on your feet, Baruch, and hear the word of the mighty God."
God told him he would be preserved — kept alive through the worst of it — so that he could serve as a witness. When the prosperous cities of the nations would one day cry out, "Why has the Mighty One brought this punishment upon us?" Baruch would be the one to answer them. His reply would be devastating in its simplicity: <i>"You who have drunk the strained wine — now drink the dregs. The judgment of the Most High has no respect of persons. He did not spare His own children when they sinned. Why should He spare you?"</i>
God had punished Israel as if they were His enemies — precisely because they were His beloved. They were chastened so they might be made holy. But the nations who trampled the earth and used creation unrighteously, who were ungrateful for every kindness — their turn was coming.
Baruch struggled with this. He knew that sinners were many, and that they had lived in prosperity before departing from the world unpunished. He pressed God with the hardest question a faithful person can ask: "What advantage is there in righteousness? Those who had knowledge of You, who feared You, who never left Your ways — they were carried off. And on their account You showed no mercy to Zion."
His voice cracked with the weight of it: <i>"Who will comprehend Your judgment? Who will search out the depths of Your way? Who among those ever born has found the beginning or end of Your wisdom? We have all been made like a breath — ascending involuntarily, dying without our will, never knowing what befalls us in the end."</i>
But even in despair, Baruch saw a distinction. The righteous depart this world without fear, he realized, because they have a treasury of good works stored up with God. They leave trusting, hoping, joyful. "But as for us who remain — woe to us, who are shamefully treated now and look forward only to worse."
God's reply cut through the anguish with blade-sharp logic. He posed a question about Adam, who lived nine hundred and thirty years yet transgressed what he was commanded. What did all that time profit him? It brought death — not just on himself, but on every generation after. Then consider Moses, who lived only a hundred and twenty years but brought the law to the children of Jacob and lit a lamp for the entire nation of Israel. Whose life was better spent?
"It is not the length of a life that matters," God declared. "It is what is done with it."
And yet the people had chosen darkness over Moses' lamp. God had set before them life and death, calling heaven and earth as witnesses (Deuteronomy 30:19). They chose death anyway — knowingly, willfully, with the law right in front of them.
Then came the most startling revelation of all. God told Baruch that He had taken away Zion on purpose — not to destroy, but to accelerate. <i>"I have taken away Zion that I may more speedily visit the world in its season. The times shall hasten. The seasons shall speed. The years shall pass more quickly than the present years."</i>
The fall of Jerusalem was not the end of God's plan. It was the trigger for everything that came next. Baruch was commanded to fast seven days, eat no bread, drink no water, speak to no one — and then return. God would reveal His unsearchable ways and the method of the times, which were coming and would not delay.
And it came to pass after these things, that I, Baruch, was standing upon Mount Zion,
and lo! a voice came from the height and said unto me:
1a
And it came to pass after these things that I, Baruch, was standing upon Mount Zion,
and lo a voice came forth from the height and said unto me: 'Stand upon your feet, Baruch, and hear the word of the mighty God.'
2a
'Stand upon your feet, Baruch, and hear the word of the mighty God.' Because you have been astonished at what has befallen Zion, you shall therefore
be assuredly preserved to the consummation of the times, that you may be for a
testimony. So that, if ever those prosperous cities say: 'Why hath the mighty God brought upon us this retribution?' Say you to them, you and those
like you who shall have seen this evil: '(This is the evil) and retribution
which is coming upon you and upon your people in its (destined) time that the
nations may be thoroughly smitten. And then they shall be in anguish. And if they say at that time: For how long? you will say to them:
"Ye who have drunk the strained wine,
Drink you also of its dregs,
The judgment of the Lofty One
Who has no respect of persons." On this account he had aforetime no mercy on His own sons,
But afflicted them as His enemies, because they sinned, Then therefore were they chastened
That they might be sanctified.
OXYRHYNCHUS GREEK FRAGMENT
Recto But now, you peoples and nations, you are guilty
Because you have always trodden down the earth,
And used the creation unrighteously. For I have always benefited you.
And you have always been ungrateful for the beneficence. And I answered and said: 'Lo! you have shown me the method of the times, and that which
shall be after these things, and you have said unto me, that the retribution, which has
been spoken of by you, shall come upon the nations.
1a
And I answered and said: 'Behold, you have shown me the methods of the times, and that
which shall be.
And now I know that those who have sinned are many, and they have lived in prosperity,'
and departed from the world, but the few nations will be left in those times, to whom
those words shall he said which you did say.
2a
And now I know that those who have sinned are many, and they have lived . . . ,
and departed from the world, but that few nations will be left in those times to whom . . .
the words (which) you did say. For what advantage is there in this, or what (evil), worse than what' we have seen befall
us, are we to expect to see?
3a
And what advantage (is there) in this or what worse than (these?) But again I will speak in Your presence: What have they profited who had knowledge before you and have not walked in vanity as the
rest of the nations, and have not said to the dead: "Give us life," but always
feared you, and have not left Your ways? And lo! they have been carried off, nor on their account have you had mercy on Zion. And if others did evil, it was due to Zion that on account of the works of those who
wrought good works she should be forgiven, and should not be overwhelmed on account of the
works of those who wrought unrighteousness. But who, O LORD, my Lord, will comprehend Your judgment,
Or who will search out the profoundness of Your way?
Or who will think out the weight of Your path? Or who will be able to think out Your incomprehensible counsel?
Or who of those that are born has ever found
The beginning or end of Your wisdom? For we have all been made like a breath. For as the breath ascends involuntarily, and again dies, so it is with the
nature of men, who depart not according to their own will, and know not what
will befall them in the end. For the righteous justly hope for the end, and without fear depart from this habitation,
because they have with you a store of works preserved in treasuries. On this account also these without fear leave this world, and trusting with joy they hope
to receive the world which you have promised them. But as for us-woe to us, who also are now shamefully entreated, and at that time look
forward (only) to evils. But you know accurately what you have done by means of Your servants; for we are not able
to understand that which is good as you art, our Creator. But again I will speak in Your presence, O LORD, my Lord. When of old there was no world with its inhabitants, you did devise and speak with a word,
and forthwith the works of creation stood before you. And you did say that you wouldst make for Your world man as the administrator of Your
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. 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.'
Chapter 15
And the Lord answered and said unto me: 'You are rightly astonished regarding the
departure of man, but you have not judged well regarding the evils which befall those who
sin. And as regards what you have said, that the righteous are carried off and the impious are
prospered, And as regards what you have said: "Man knows not Your judgment " -On this account hear, and I will speak to you, and hearken, and I will cause you to hear
My words. Man would not rightly have understood My judgment, unless he had accepted the law, and I
had instructed him in understanding. But now, because he transgressed wittingly, yea, just on this ground that he knows (about
it), he shall be tormented. And as regards what you did say touching the righteous, that on account of them has this
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 labor with much trouble; and that accordingly
which is to come, a crown with great glory.'
Chapter 16
And I answered and said: 'O LORD, 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?'
Chapter 17
And the Lord answered and said unto me: 'With the Most High account is not taken of time
nor of a few years. For what did it profit Adam that he lived nine hundred and thirty years and transgressed
that which he was commanded? Therefore the multitude of time that he lived did not profit
him, but brought death and cut off the years of those who were born from him. wherein did
Moses suffer loss in that he lived only one hundred and twenty years, and, inasmuch he was
subject to Him who formed him, brought the law to the seed of Jacob, and lighted a lamp
for the nation of Israel?'
Chapter 18
And I answered and said: 'He that lighted has taken from the light, and there are but few
that have imitated him. But those many whom he has lighted have taken from the darkness of
Adam and have not rejoiced in the light of the lamp.'
Chapter 19
And He answered and said unto me: 'Wherefore at that time he appointed for them a covenant
and said:
"Behold I have placed before you life and death,"
And he called heaven and earth to witness against them. For he knew that his time was but short,
But that heaven and earth endure always. But after his death they sinned and transgressed,
Though they knew that they had the law reproving (them),
And the light in which nothing could err,
Also the spheres which testify, and Me. Now regarding everything that is, it is I that judge, but do not you take counsel in your
soul regarding these things, nor afflict thyself because of those which have been. For now it is the consummation of time that should be considered, whether of business, or
of prosperity, or of shame and not the beginning thereof. Because if a man be prospered in his beginnings and shamefully entreated in his old age,
he forgets all the prosperity that he had. And again, if a man is shamefully entreated in his beginnings, and at his end is
prospered, he remembers not again his evil entreatment. And again hearken: though each one were prospered all that time-all the time from the day
on which death was decreed against those who transgress-and in his end was destroyed, in
vain would have been everything.
20. Zion has been taken away to hasten the Advent of the Judgment
Chapter 20
'Therefore, behold! the days come,
And the times shall hasten more than the former,
And the seasons shall speed on more than those that are past,
And the years shall pass more quickly than the present (years). Therefore have I now taken away Zion,
That I may the more speedily visit the world in its season. Now therefore hold fast in your heart everything that I command you,
And seal it in the recesses of your mind. And then I will show you the judgment of My might,
And My ways which are unsearchable. Go therefore and sanctify thyself seven days, and eat no bread, nor drink water, nor
speak to anyone. And afterwards come to that place and I will reveal Myself to you, and speak true things
with you, and I will give you commandment regarding the method of the times; for they are
coming and tarry not.'
21:1-11. Fast of seven Days: Baruch's Prayer: God's Answer
The Prayer of Baruch the Son of Neriah.
Chapter 21
