Texts in Conversation
Baruch echoes the language of Deuteronomy by describing God's presence with imagery of rising light and splendor, drawing on the same solar and cosmological language, based on melammu, used to describe God’s approach from the south.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Deuteronomy 33:2
Hebrew Bible
1 This is the blessing Moses the man of God pronounced upon the Israelites before his death. 2 He said: “The Lord came from Sinai and revealed himself to Israel from Seir. He appeared in splendor from Mount Paran, and came forth with ten thousand holy ones. With his right hand he gave a fiery law to them. 3 Surely he loves the people; all your holy ones are in your hand8. And they sit at your feet, each receiving your words. 4 Moses delivered to us a law, an inheritance for the assembly of Jacob.
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Baruch 4:24
Deuterocanon
22 For I have trusted in the Everlasting, that he will save you; and joy has come to me from the Holy One, because of the mercy that will soon come to you from your Everlasting Savior. 23 For I sent you out with mourning and weeping, but God will give you to me again with joy and gladness forever. 24 For as now those who dwell near Zion have seen your captivity, so they will shortly see your salvation from our God which will come upon you with great glory and brightness of the Everlasting. 25 My children, suffer patiently the wrath that has come upon you from God, for your enemy has persecuted you; but shortly you will see his destruction and will tread upon their necks. 26 My delicate ones have traveled rough roads. They were taken away like a flock carried off by enemies.
Date: 200–50 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The eastern orientation of the Jerusalem temple has led to speculative theories regarding the solarized character of Yahweh. Psalms of vigil, such as Psalms 17, 27, and 63, and Ezekiel 8:16 similarly suggest that the sun evoked at least the luminescent dimension of the divine presence, perhaps in keeping with a solar interpretation of Yahweh (compare Zephaniah 1:3; Sirach 49:7; Baruch 4:24). It might be argued that the simile for the appearance of the high priest in Ben Sira 50:7, “like the sun shining on the temple of the King”, derived from solar theophanic language in the context of the temple. Other passages, such as Joshua 10:12-13, suggest the sun (and the moon) as deities ultimately subservient to Yahweh. There are other instances of solar metaphor for Yahweh. These include describing Yahweh with the verbal root “rise,” in Deuteronomy 33:2, Isaiah 60:1, Hosea 6:3, and once in the Kuntillet ‘Ajrûd inscriptions. This word is the normal verb for the rising of the sun ..."
Mark S. Smith, The Early History of God: Yahweh and the Other Deities in Ancient Israel, 2nd ed., The Biblical Resource Series (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), 149.
* 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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