Texts in Conversation
Baruch teaches that wisdom is the path to life based on the “Two Ways” tradition from Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy gives the people a choice between life and death and Baruch interprets that to mean life is found in seeking wisdom through the Torah.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Deuteronomy 30:15
Hebrew Bible
13 And it is not across the sea, as though one must say, ‘Who will cross over to the other side of the sea and get it for us and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?’ 14 For the thing is very near you—it is in your mouth and in your mind so that you can do it. 15 “Look! I have set before you today life and prosperity on the one hand, and death and disaster on the other. 16 What I am commanding you today is to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways, and to obey his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances. Then you will live and become numerous and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are about to possess. 17 However, if you turn aside and do not obey, but are lured away to worship and serve other gods,
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Baruch 3:9
Deuterocanon
7 For this cause, you have put your fear in our hearts, to the intent that we should call upon your name. We will praise you in our captivity, for we have called to mind all the iniquity of our fathers who sinned before you. 8 Behold, we are yet this day in our captivity where you have scattered us, for a reproach and a curse, and to be subject to penalty according to all the iniquities of our fathers who departed from the Lord our God. 9 Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life! Give ear to understand wisdom! 10 How is it, O Israel, that you are in your enemies’ land, that you have become old in a strange country, that you are defiled with the dead, 11 that you are counted with those who are in Hades?
Date: 200–50 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The similarity in phraseology and ideology between the book of Deuteronomy and wisdom literature, particularly the book of Proverbs, has been extensively documented. The author of the book of Baruch is aware of this similarity and in the frame of the wisdom poem (Baruch 3:9–15; 4:1–4), has adroitly exploited the commonalities in thought and expression between the two types of literature to fuse wisdom teaching with the teachings of Torah. (the association of “wisdom/law” and “life” in Deuteronomy 4:40; 30:15; Proverbs 6:23; Baruch 4:1) In this way he encompasses wisdom within the bounds of the teaching of Torah expressed in the book of Deuteronomy. This fusion of wisdom with the Deuteronomic Torah has been extended by the author of Baruch 3:9–4:4. The wisdom poem (Baruch 3:15–38) which, as shown above, is modeled on Job 28:12–28, has been viewed from the perspective of Deuteronomy 4 and 30. These two chapters, which form the beginning and conclusion of the long farewell address of Moses in the book of Deuteronomy, contain many correspondences and may be regarded as a type of inclusio for the main contents of the book. They are regarded as coming from a relatively later exilic layer and appear to sum up much of the book’s teaching ..."
Ruth Henderson, “The Inter-textual Dialogue between Deuteronomy 4, 30 and Job 28:12–20 in Baruch 3:9–4:4,” in Studies on Baruch: Composition, Literary Relations, and Reception (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2016), 43–59.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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