“Nevertheless,
Wisdom
Is vindicated
By all her children.”
καὶ ἐδικαιώθη ἡ σοφία ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν τέκνων αὐτῆς.
Luke indicated that Jesus said that wisdom (ἡ σοφία) would be vindicated (καὶ ἐδικαιώθη) by all her children (ἀπὸ πάντων τῶν τέκνων αὐτῆς). This is similar to Matthew, chapter 11:19. This personification of wisdom would have the justified end result that righteousness would show up in its deeds or its children. Do your children show that you are wise?
“All the birds
Of the air
Settle
On its fallen trunk.
All the wild animals
Lodge
Among its boughs.
All this is
In order
That no trees
By the waters
May grow
To a lofty height
Or set their tops
Among the clouds.
No trees
That drink water
May reach up
To them
In height.
All of them
Are handed over
To death,
To the world below.
They will be
With all mortals,
Who go down
To the pit.”
The birds of the air will settle on the fallen trunk of this great cedar tree. Wild animals will be among its loose branches. This would be a warning that no other trees that were near water should grow to lofty heights. No other trees should have their tree tops in the clouds or reach up to those heights. All of them would be handed over to death, to go to the world below, the great pit, where all the other mortals go. This personification of the cedar tree was complete, since it would share the afterlife with other mortals in the underworld pit.
“I sent you out
With sorrow,
With weeping.
But God will give you
Back to me
With joy,
With gladness forever.
As the neighbors of Zion
Have now seen
Your capture,
So they soon will see
Your salvation
By God.
This will come
To you
With great glory,
With the splendor
Of the Everlasting One.
My children,
Endure with patience
The wrath
That has come upon you
From God.
Your enemy
Has overtaken you.
But you will soon see
Their destruction.
You will tread
Upon their necks.
My pampered children
Have traveled rough roads.
They were taken away
Like a flock
Carried off
By the enemy.”
The personification of Jerusalem continued as this city advised her exiles to have patience. She had sent them out of town with sorrow and weeping. However, God was going to bring them back to Jerusalem with eternal joy and gladness. Zion’s neighbors had seen them captured. They would soon see these Israelites safely coming back with the glorious splendor of the Everlasting One, not Yahweh. Jerusalem wanted her pampered children to endure patiently the wrath of God that had come via their enemies. They would soon tread on the necks of their enemies since they would be destroyed. Even though they had traveled rough roads and were taken away like a flock of sheep, they needed patience.
“Take courage!
My children!
Cry to God!
He will deliver you
From the power
Of the enemy!
He will deliver you
From the hand
Of the enemy!
I have put my hope
In the Everlasting One
To save you!
Joy has come
To me
From the Holy One!
Because mercy
Will soon come
To you
From your everlasting Savior.”
Continuing with the personification of Jerusalem, this city wanted her children to have courage. They should cry to God who would deliver them from the power and hand of their enemy. Jerusalem had put her hope in the Everlasting One, not Yahweh, to save them from their enemy. Joy has come to Jerusalem because the mercy of the Holy One would soon come to them to be their everlasting savior.
“But I!
How can I help you?
He who brought
These calamities
Upon you
Will deliver you
From the hand
Of your enemies.
Go!
My children!
Go!
I have been left desolate.
I have taken off
The robe of peace.
I put on
Sackcloth
For my supplication.
I will cry
To the Everlasting One
All my days.”
The personification of Jerusalem continued with the first person singular, I. Jerusalem wanted to know how she could help. God, who brought their calamities, was also going to deliver them from the hand of their enemies. Jerusalem told her children to go and leave her. She would be left desolate. She was going to take off her robe of peace and prosperity to put on sackcloth for crying to the Everlasting One, not Yahweh, all her remaining days.
“Take courage!
My people!
You perpetuate
Israel’s name!
It was not
For destruction
That you were sold
To the nations.
But you were handed over
To your enemies
Because you angered
God.
You provoked the one
Who made you!
You sacrificed to demons,
Not to God!
You forgot
The everlasting God,
Who brought you up!
You grieved Jerusalem,
Who reared you.”
This reminder for Israel was for the people to have courage, since they were going to perpetuate the name of Israel. These Israelites had been sold to various nations, not to destroy them, but to punish them. They had been handed over to their enemies, because they had angered God. They had provoked their creator by sacrificing to demons, and not God. They had forgotten their everlasting God who brought them up. There was no mention of the name of Yahweh here. They had grieved Jerusalem, the city that had reared them. Once again there is a personification of Jerusalem that can feel pain.
“But the one who knows
All things
Knows her.
He found her
By his understanding.
The one who prepared
The earth
For all time
Filled it
With four-footed creatures.
The one who sends forth
The light,
Then it goes.
He called it.
It obeyed him
Trembling.
The stars shone
In their watches.
They were glad.
He called them.
They said.
‘Here we are!’
They shone
With gladness
For him
Who made them.”
Baruch connected wisdom with creation, a great theme of late wisdom literature. Once again, this puts into doubt the Baruch authorship. God, who knows everything, knew about wisdom. Somehow wisdom was separate from God. God was able to find this wisdom, because of his understanding. God prepared the earth for all time in this static view of the earth. He filled it with four-footed creatures, while other creatures were not mentioned. God sent the light and it happened. He merely had to call it, and it happened. This is much like the first creation story in Genesis, chapter 1. The stars in the sky gladly followed his commands. They were like the prophets with this personification of stars saying that they were ready to shine with gladness in obedience to the creative God who made them.
Taw
“You invited
My enemies
From all around
As if for a festival day.
On the day
Of the anger
Of Yahweh,
No one escaped.
No one survived.
Those whom I bore,
Those whom I reared,
My enemy destroyed.”
Jerusalem blamed Yahweh for inviting its enemies from all over to come and have a great feast. On the day of Yahweh’s anger, no one escaped or survived from Jerusalem. Now the enemies of Jerusalem have destroyed all the people who were born and raised in Jerusalem. Thus Yahweh’s anger was to blame for all the havoc and death that happened in Jerusalem. This final verse starts with the Hebrew consonant letter Taw. This acrostic poem ends with the personification of Jerusalem speaking about Yahweh’s day of anger.
Mem
“From on high.
He sent fire.
It went deep
Into my bones.
He spread
A net
For my feet.
He turned me back.
He has left me
Stunned.
I am faint
All day long.”
Yahweh sent a fire into the bones of the people of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is no longer a simple city, but a personification of the devastation. Yahweh spread a net for their feet. He turned them back so that they were stunned and faint all day long. This was a very personal lament from the city itself. This verse starts with the Hebrew consonant letter Mem. Each verse after this will use the next letter of the Hebrew alphabet in this acrostic poem.
“‘Like cassia,
Like camel’s thorn,
I gave forth perfume.
I spread my fragrance,
Like choice myrrh,
Like galbanum,
Like onycha,
Like stacte,
Like the odor of incense in the tabernacle.
Like a terebinth,
I spread out my branches.
My branches are glorious.
My branches are graceful.
Like the vine
I bud forth delights.
My blossoms become glorious fruit.
My blossoms become abundant fruit.”
Sirach continued with his personification of wisdom. Here wisdom compares herself to various fragrances and fruit trees. First, she uses the fragrances of cassia, a kind of cinnamon bark, and camel’s thorn, a sweet coffee smell. Then there are fragrances that came from the gum resins of trees that became the incense used in the Temple, myrrh, galbanum, onycha, and stacte. Thus wisdom smelt like the incense used in the Jerusalem Temple tabernacle. Just as the terebinth tree spread its branches, so too, wisdom seemed to have wide branches. She was also like vines and blossoms on a fruit tree. Wisdom was then beautiful to look at and wonderful to smell.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 