The Evil Within Hope and Human Agency in the Post-70 C.E. Jewish Apocalypses

Abstract

Rome’s triumph in the Great Jewish Revolt (66–70/74 CE) and the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple inspired the renewed flourishing of literary apocalypses in ancient Judaism. Fourth Ezra (2 Esdras) and 2 Baruch interpret the crisis and offer hope to the Jewish community in ways familiar to earlier apocalyptic traditions. Yet they also advance the apocalyptic genre as a medium of intellectual debate through extended dialogues that explore questions of theodicy. The purposes of the complex literary dialogues remain an ongoing scholarly problem. Comparative analysis reveals within both dialogues an intense focus on the human will, the power of sin, and the possibilities of moral agency. While their approaches to these anthropological questions meaningfully differ, their respective dialogues, nevertheless, construct a near-term, interim ethic in which the righteous may find hope to persevere even amid their own deeply threatened moral agency. This is especially apparent in the dialogues’ anxieties over human nature, their intercessory prayers, and the models of practical leadership embodied by their respective protagonists.

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