Baruch 3:20-37: a reflection

20Younger men have seen the light and lived upon the earth, but they haven’t known the way of knowledge, 21nor understood its paths. Their children haven’t embraced it. They are far off from their way. 22It has not been heard of in Canaan, neither has it been seen in Teman. 23The sons also of Agar who seek understanding, which are in the land, the merchants of Merran and Teman, and the authors of fables, and the searchers out of understanding—none of these have known the way of wisdom or remembered her paths. 24O Israel, how great is the house of God! How large is the place of his possession! 25It is great and has no end. It is high and unmeasurable. 26Giants were born that were famous of old, great of stature, and expert in war. 27God didn’t choose these, nor did he give the way of knowledge to them, 28so they perished, because they had no wisdom. They perished through their own foolishness. 29Who has gone up into heaven, taken her, and brought her down from the clouds? 30Who has gone over the sea, found her, and will bring her for choice gold? 31There is no one who knows her way, nor any who comprehend her path. 32But he that knows all things knows her, he found her out with his understanding. He who prepared the earth for all time has filled it with four-footed beasts. 33It is he who sends forth the light, and it goes. He called it, and it obeyed him with fear. 34The stars shone in their watches, and were glad. When he called them, they said, “Here we are.” They shone with gladness to him who made them. 35This is our God. No other can be compared to him. 36He has found out all the way of knowledge, and has given it to Jacob his servant and to Israel who is loved by him. 37Afterward she appeared upon earth, and lived with men.

This passage searches the whole world for wisdom and finds it nowhere among human beings, not among the clever nations, not the merchants, not the seekers of understanding, not the giants of old famed for their strength. No one has gone up to heaven to seize wisdom and bring her down; no human search can find her. Only God knows the way to wisdom, the passage says; he found her out and gave her to his people. And then it ends with a startling line: Afterward she appeared on earth and lived among men.

Notice two movements here. First, that true wisdom is beyond human reach; all our searching, cleverness, and strength cannot attain it, for it belongs to God alone, who knows her way. And second, that God gave this wisdom, and, in the end, wisdom appeared on earth and lived among men. Christians have long heard in that final line a foreshadowing of the incarnation, when the Wisdom of God himself, Christ, took flesh and dwelt among us. The wisdom no human search could find, God gave, and finally came to us in person.

That is a profound truth about where wisdom is found. We cannot attain the deepest wisdom by our own searching, however clever or strong we are; it belongs to God. But God has not kept it from us; he has given it, and above all, he has come to us in Christ, in whom, Scripture says, are hidden all the treasures of wisdom. Do not exhaust yourself trying to seize wisdom by your own effort. Seek it where it is truly found: in God, who gives it, and above all in Christ, the Wisdom of God who came to dwell among us. The wisdom you cannot reach has come down to you; receive it in him.

Lord, this passage searched the whole world for wisdom and found it nowhere among human strength or cleverness, for wisdom belongs to you alone, who know her way. Thank you that you did not keep wisdom from us but gave it, and that, as this passage foreshadows, Wisdom appeared on earth and lived among us in Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Keep me from exhausting myself trying to seize wisdom by my own effort. Help me seek it where it is truly found: in you, who give it, and above all in Christ, the Wisdom of God come to dwell among us. The wisdom I could never reach has come down to me; help me receive it in him.