Seven days without bread. Seven days without water. Seven days without speaking a single word to another human being. Baruch sat in a cave in the Valley of Kidron, sanctifying his soul in silence and starvation — and he felt neither hunger nor thirst. Something was sustaining him that had nothing to do with food.
When the fast ended, he returned to the place where God had spoken. Sunset came. And in the dying light, Baruch opened his mouth and poured out one of the most extraordinary prayers in all of ancient Jewish literature.
He began by acknowledging God's absolute sovereignty over creation — the One who fixed the firmament by a word, who commands the air with a nod, who numbers each drop of rain. "Armies innumerable stand before You and minister in their orders quietly at Your nod." But then the prayer turned. From praise to plea. From awe to anguish.
<i>"For in a little time are we born, and in a little time do we return. But with You, hours are as a time, and days as generations. Be not wroth with man — for he is nothing. We did not say to our parents, 'Beget us.' Nor did we send word to Sheol saying, 'Receive us.' What is our strength, that we should bear Your wrath?"</i>
The prayer was simple and devastating. God heard it. And He responded — but not with the comfort Baruch wanted.
"You have prayed simply, O Baruch, and all your words have been heard. But My judgment exacts its own, and My law exacts its rights." God announced that the time of affliction was coming — swift, vehement, turbulent. In those days, all inhabitants of the earth would turn against one another. The wise would be few. Even those who understood would remain silent. Honor would become shame. Strength would become contempt. Beauty would become ugliness. Armies would rise to shed blood, and in the end, they would perish together.
Baruch cried out to Adam: "What have you done to all those born from you? What will be said to Eve, who hearkened to the serpent? For all this multitude is going to corruption."
Then came the question that burned through everything — the question Baruch needed answered before he could go on. He asked God directly: "In what shape will those who live in Your day exist? What will happen to their bodies?"
God's answer unveiled the mechanics of resurrection itself. The earth, He said, would restore the dead exactly as it received them — no change in form — so that the living could recognize those who had returned. Recognition first. Then judgment.
After that appointed day, everything would transform. The wicked would become worse than they already were — their very appearance would twist into something horrifying as torment took hold. But the righteous? Their splendor would be glorified. The form of their faces would turn into pure light. They would be made like angels. Equal to the stars. They would be changed into every form they desired — <i>"from beauty into loveliness, and from light into the splendor of glory."</i>
The extents of Paradise would be spread before them. They would see the majesty of the living creatures beneath God's throne, and the armies of angels held fast by His word, waiting for their moment. And the righteous would surpass even the angels in excellency.
Time would no longer age them. The heights of that world would be their dwelling. And the burden of anguish they had carried through this life would be laid down forever.
Baruch, hearing all this, found his voice changed from lament to resolution: <i>"Rejoice in the suffering you now endure. Make ready your soul for what is reserved for you. Prepare for the reward that is laid up."</i>
And I went there and sat in the valley of Kidron in a cave of the earth, and I sanctified
my soul there, and I ate no bread, yet I was not hungry, and I drank no water, yet I
thirsted not, and I was there till the seventh day, as He had commanded me. And afterwards I came to that place where He had spoken with me. And it came to pass at sunset that my soul took much thought, and I began to speak in the
presence of the Mighty One, and said: 'O you that have made the earth, hear me, that have fixed the firmament by the word, and
have made firm the height of the heaven by the spirit, that have called from the beginning
of the world that which did not yet exist, and they obey you. You that have commanded the air by Your nod, and have seen those things which are to be as
those things which you are doing. You that rule with great thought the hosts that stand before you: also the countless holy
beings, which you did make from the beginning, of flame and fire, which stand around Your
throne you rule with indignation. To you only does this belong that you should do forthwith whatsoever you do wish. Who causes the drops of rain to rain by number upon the earth, and alone knows the
consummation of the times before they come; have respect unto my prayer. For you alone are able to sustain all who are, and those who have passed away, and those
who are to be, those who sin, and those who are to righteous [as living (and) being past
finding out]. For you alone do live immortal and past finding out, and know the number of
mankind. And if in time many have sinned, yet others not a few have been righteous.
21:12-18. Baruch's Depreciation of this Life. You know where you preserve the end of those who have sinned, or the consummation of those
who have been righteous. For if there were this life only, which belongs to all men, nothing could be more bitter
than this. For of what profit is strength that turns to sickness,
Or fullness of food that turns to famine,
Or beauty that turns to ugliness. For the nature of man is always changeable. For what we were formerly now we no longer are and what we now are we shall not afterwards
remain. For if a consummation had not been prepared for all, in vain would have been their
beginning. But regarding everything that comes from you do you inform me, and regarding everything
about which I ask you, do you enlighten me.
21:19-25. Baruch prays to God to hasten the Judgment and fulfill His Promise 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 wickedness? Command therefore in mercy and accomplish all that you saidst you wouldst bring, that Your
might may be made known to those who think that Your 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 Your power, because on account of Your
name you have called us a beloved people. Bring to an end therefore henceforth mortality. And reprove accordingly the angel of death, and let Your glory appear, and let the might
of Your 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 souls restore those which are enclosed in
them. For there have been many years like those that are desolate from the days of Abraham and
Isaac and Jacob, and of all those who are like them, who sleep in the earth, on whose
account you did say that you had created the world. And now quickly show Your glory, and do not defer what has been promised by you.' And (when) I had completed the words of this prayer I was greatly weakened.
22-23. God's Reply to Baruch's Prayer. He will fulfill His Promise:
Time needed for its Accomplishment:
Things must be judged in the Light of their Consummation (22).
Till all Souls are born the End cannot come (23).
Chapter 22
And it came to pass after these things that lo! the heavens were opened, and I saw, and
power was given to me, and a voice was beard from on high, and it said unto me: Baruch, Baruch, why are you troubled? He who travels by a road but does not complete it, or who departs by sea but does not
arrive at the port, can he be comforted? Or he who promises to give a present to another, but does not fulfill it, is it not
robbery? Or he who sows the earth, but does not reap its fruit in its season, does he not lose
everything? Or he who plants a plant unless it grows till the time suitable to it, does he who planted
it expect to receive fruit from it? Or a woman who has conceived, if she bring forth untimely, does she not assuredly slay her
infant? Or he who builds a house, if he does not roof it and complete it, can it be called a
house? Tell Me that first.'
Chapter 23
And I answered and said: 'Not so, O LORD, my Lord.' And He answered and said unto me: 'Why therefore are you troubled about that which you
know not, and why are you ill at ease about things in which you are ignorant? For as you have not forgotten the people who now are and those who have passed away, so I
remember those who are appointed to come. Because when Adam sinned and death was decreed against those who should be born, then the
multitude of those who should be born was numbered, and for that number a place
was prepared where the living might dwell and the dead might be guarded. Before therefore the number aforesaid is fulfilled, the creature will not live again [for
My spirit is the creator of life], and Sheol will receive the dead. And again it is given to you to hear what things are to come after these times. For truly My redemption has drawn nigh, and is not far distant as aforetime.
24. The coming Judgment.
Chapter 24
'For behold! the days come and the books shall be opened in which are written the sins of
all those who have sinned, and again also the treasuries in which the righteousness of all
those who have been righteous in creation is gathered. For it shall come to pass at that time that you shall see-and the many that are with
you-the long-suffering of the Most High, which has been throughout all generations, who
has been long-suffering towards all who are born, (alike) those who sin and (those who)
are righteous.' And I answered and said: 'But, behold! O Lord, no one knowsthe number of those things
which have passed nor yet of those things which are to come. For I know indeed that which has befallen us, but what will happen to our enemies I know
not, and when you will visit Your works.'
25-26. Sign of the coming Judgment
Chapter 25
And He answered and said unto me: 'You too shall be preserved till that time till that
sign which the Most High will work for the inhabitants of the earth in the end of days. This therefore shall be the sign. When a stupor shall seize the inhabitants of the earth, and they shall fall into many
tribulations, and again when they shall fall into great torments. And it will come to pass when they say in their thoughts by reason of their much
tribulation: "The Mighty 'One doth no longer remember the earth"-yes, it will
come to pass when they abandon hope, that the time will then awake.'
Chapter 26
And I answered and said: 'Will that tribulation which is to be continue a long time, and
will that necessity embrace many years?'
26-30. The Twelve Woes that are to Come upon the Earth: The Messiah and the
temporary Messianic Kingdom
Chapter 27
