Abstract

2 Baruch relies on the familiarity of its audience with biblical Ezra and his efforts to restore Israel after the Jews returned from their exile. In text and in characterization, 2 Baruch finds much to imitate in Ezra. In the popular imagination of the late Second Temple period, Ezra directed his coreligionists toward the systematic teaching of the law; just so 2 Baruch imagines its hero “Baruch” doing for his contemporaries. 2 Baruch therefore seeks to revitalize Israel in terms of law, community identity, Scripture, and even national expansion in an age of Jewish disenfranchisement.

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