Pseudepigrapha

The Greek Apocalypse of Baruch (3 Baruch)

3 (Greek Apocalypse of) Baruch3 Baruch was originally a Greek work but is also known in Slavonic translation. It is possible the book is mentioned in Origen’s De principiis 2.3.6. If this is so, then the book can be dated before A.D. 231. This citation is, however, far from certain, since it does not conform to the present text of 3 Baruch and may relate to some other unknown pseudepigraphical work under Baruch’s name. That the book is dependent on 2 Baruch is possible, but many of these motifs from 2 Baruch are also found in 4 Ezra and 2 Enoch (heavenly journey, the fate of the giants, the Phoenix, etc.) The book may have had some influence on the Apocalypse of Paul a third century Egyptian work describing Paul’s tour of heaven and hell. Himmelfarb points out several parallels between the two words, such as the defilement of the sun by human sin (91).

Although Gaylord concludes it is impossible to be certain of the date and provenance of the book (OTP 1:656), Himmelfarb considers the “fall of Jerusalem” motif as evidence a date soon after A.D. 70. 3 Baruch may be a Christian work which has reworked a Jewish source or a Jewish work which re-worked a Christian source. Either way, there is a blending of theological sources in the book which make use of the book for New Testament context and the development of theology difficult. OTP prints the Greek version alongside of the Slavonic for comparison.

Similar to 2 Baruch, the book begins with Baruch weeping by the Kidron after the destruction of Jerusalem. The book reads more like an Enoch text than 2 Baruch since there is a heavenly journey with an accompanying angel to answer questions. The Angel is angry with Baruch, more like the later Enochian visions than the earlier ones.

While Baruch weeps, he cries out to the Lord, asking why Nebuchadnezzar was allowed to destroy the vine of the Lord. Israel as a vine is drawn from Isaiah 5 and is an important feature of the teaching of Jesus (the Parable of the Vineyard in Mark 12:1-12 cf. Luke 20:9-19, for example). The metaphor describes the nation of Israel as a vineyard which did not recognize its owner at the appropriate time. George Nickelsburg suggested the vine was transformed into the tree of life in the original Jewish version of the book (300).

An angel responds and tells Baruch to stop irritating God with his prayers because the angel is about to reveal great mysteries to Baruch. The revelation takes the form of a heavenly journey to the first heaven, “across a river no one can pass about thirty days’ journey.” He sees strange men with the faces of cattle and deer who are the people who “built the tower of war against God” (an allusion to the Tower of Babel). The angel takes Baruch into the second heaven, a further sixty days’ journey. He sees more strange animal-men who are the people who plotted to build the tower.

In the next chapter, the angel takes him 185 days’ journey and shows Baruch Hades and the great serpent which eats the bodies in the place. He sees the vine planted by Samael in the garden which Adam was not supposed to touch. This removes God from the responsibility of placing the “forbidden fruit” in the garden. God cannot be blamed for the fall since he did not put the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil there in the first place. The vine was removed at the time of the flood, which also killed 409,000 giants from before the flood (the Slavonic texts reduces this number to 104,000).

dune, sandworm, spiceBaruch continues his heavenly tour in chapters 6-9. The angel then takes Baruch to where the sun goes forth and there he sees the Phoenix. This legendary bird has a wingspan of 24,000 feet which eats only manna. Baruch asks what this fantastic bird excretes, “He excretes a worm, and from the excretion, this worm, cinnamon comes into existence, which kings and princes use” (8:12, shades of Frank Herbert’s Dune?)

Baruch asks where the sun goes after the cock’s crow so the angel takes him to the place of the setting sun where it is renewed after having to spend the whole day looking upon the sins of the earth. The angel then visits the place of the moon and the stars. The moon grows large and small because, after Adam’s first sin, the moon tried to give Adam light to wear. God was angry with her and judged her by making her wax and wane.

Baruch’s journey then proceeds to the third heaven. He sees a large plain with a lake in the center with many birds. These are the souls of the righteous. Baruch is taken into the fifth heaven but he cannot enter the gate until Michael comes with the keys. Michael appears with a very deep bowl filled with the virtues of the righteous which he holds before the Lord.

Chapters 12-16 describe the fate of the righteous and the evil. Given the context of the recent destruction of Jerusalem, the writer of this apocalypse is interested in the fate of the righteous who survive and the punishment of the wicked. Angels come carrying baskets filled with flowers, the virtues of the righteous. Some angels come lamenting because they are blackened. They have been handed over to evil men who never enter a church or go to their spiritual fathers (and a sin list follows). Michael opens the gate and delivers the virtues so that men may be rewarded. Those angels who have nothing are told not to weep, but they appear to be sent to torment the ones who did not have any virtues. The Slavonic version makes this clearer by adding a question from Baruch about these people. Finally Michael closes the door and there is a great noise like thunder, which is the noise of the virtues being brought to God.

Describing the theology of 3 Baruch is difficult because the book is incomplete and may have a number of Christian insertions. In addition, the book has not been as extensively studied as other apocalypses (Kulik calls the book an “underdog”). Nevertheless, the book is interested in two things, punishment/reward and the incredible glory of God. Kulik considers the message of the book as consolation for those who endured the fate of Jerusalem (34). Like 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch, the author of 3 Baruch argues God is in control of the universe and will (eventually) render justice.

 

Bibliography:

Gaylord, H. E. “3 (Greek Apocalypse of) Baruch” in OTP 1:653-679.

Harlow, Daniel. The Greek Apocalypse of Baruch (3 Baruch) in Hellenistic Judaism and early Christianity.  Leiden:  E. J. Brill, 1996.

Himmelfarb, Martha Ascent to Heaven in Jewish and Christian Apocalypses (Oxford: OUP, 1993).

Kulik, Alexander. 3 Baruch: Greek-Slavonic Apocalypse of Baruch (Commentaries on Early Jewish Literature; Berlin: De Gruyter, 2010).

Nickelsburg, George. Jewish Literature (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1981).

 

Summer Series: (More) Old Testament Pseudepigrapha

In the summer of 2016 I began a long series on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. I made about 75 points from May 18 through September 6 (when my fall teaching responsibilities required most of my attention). As it turned out, I only managed to post on the Enoch literature, the Sibylline Oracles, Fourth Ezra and 2 Baruch, and short posts on Treatise of Shem, The Apocryphon of Ezekiel, and Apocalypse of Zephaniah.

My original motivation for the series was preparation for teaching an intertestamental literature class in Spring 2017. I enjoyed teaching the class and I think most of the students liked the class and learned a great deal about the literature of the Second Temple Period. Evangelicals tend to shy away from this material, but I think it is essential to have a firm grasp on what was in the air in the Second Temple period in order to understand the New Testament, especially as more scholars recognized the apocalyptic nature of both Jesus and Paul.

Another benefit of an open publication like this blog is the feedback I get from readers. There were a number of comments which interacted with what I had posted and often gave me new insights or links to other material to supplement my posts. Most of the posts in the original series still generate hits every day, so I hope people are finding some value in this series.

I plan to pick up this series again, beginning with 3 (Greek Apocalypse of) Baruch. I will finish off the apocalypses as they appear in Charlesworth and then move on the Testament literature. If you missed the series last summer, here is an index for the previous posts on the Old Testament Pseudepigrapha.

Introduction

1 Enoch

 

2 Enoch

 

3 Enoch

 

Sibylline Oracles

 

The Treatise of Shem

The Apocryphon of Ezekiel, Fragment 1

The Apocryphon of Ezekiel, Fragments 2-5

What is the Apocalypse of Zephaniah?

 

Fourth Ezra

 

2 (Syriac Apocalypse of) Baruch

 

 

Eternal Peace – 2 Baruch 73-76

bright-watersAfter the dark days, Baruch saw a last “bright waters” which indicate there will be “eternal peace on the throne of the kingdom” (Chapters 73-76). This is the messianic age when health will descend like dew and joy will encompass the earth. Wild animals will serve men and “asps and dragons” will subject themselves to a child. Those who work the fields will never tire because the produce will shoot out speedily.

Baruch responds to the vision and interpretation in prayer and worship (chapter 75) and he is instructed to wait forty days and he will depart from the earth (chapter 76). He assembles the people and explains to the (briefly) his vision and encourages them to hold to the law, since the reason Zion fell is the people forgot the law (chapter 77). The people understand this and request Baruch write a letter to the “brothers in Babylon” that they too may know this revelation from God. There is a little hint here of a difference between Jews in Jerusalem and Jews in the Diaspora. The Jerusalem Jews are concerned their brothers living far away keep the law and see their responsibility in ensuring the Jews in Babylon keep the Law correctly. Is this a hint at the problems between Palestine and Diaspora Jews in the pre-70 era discussed earlier?

Baruch writes a letter to the nine and a half tribes which are living in Babylon (chapters 78-87) explaining to them the Lord justly chastised the nation because they were unrighteous.  He reports what happened when Nebuchadnezzar invaded the city (79) and his vision of the angels around the city who allowed Nebuchadnezzar to take Zion itself (80). He gives them some word of consolation as well, that the Mighty One is a God of Grace and has shown him the “mysteries of the times and the coming periods” (81).

He describes the coming time of justice for God’s people when everything will be put right and the nation will be avenged (82-83). God is fair in all of his judgments, for “if he judges us not according to the multitude of his grace, woe to all us who are born” (84:11).  The youth of the world has passed away and the coming of the “times” is nearly here: the pitcher is full, the ship is near the harbor, etc. (85). When those days come he will purge the world of sin and destroy those who are polluted by sin (85:15).

A Vision of Many Waters – 2 Baruch 52-73

watersBaruch asks a further question about those who face woe and suffering in that time (chapter 52). He falls asleep and has a vision of a cloud coming up from a great sea (chapter 53). The cloud flashes lightning and great water begins to pour out of it. The water alternates between black and bright, finally pouring out a great amount of black water. The lightning grows in intensity and finally occupies the whole world. When he awakes, he asks the Mighty One for an explanation of this dream (chapter 54).

Baruch knows the dream concerns those who are in sin and about to be judged. Verses 19-20 are curious because they teach that Adam is responsible for his own sin and each of us, when we sin, become our own Adam. This is a semi-Pelagian if not Pelagian view of the imputation of sin and quite different than the view of Paul in Romans 5 and 1 Cor. 15:24, in Adam we all sin.

The dream is interpreted by the Lord as encompassing all of the history of Israel in the alternating waters (Chapters 55-74). The great cloud was the length of the days of his world.

  • The first black waters – Adam and the first sin (56:5-16).
  • The second bright waters – Abraham and his generation, but also the hope of the “world which will be renewed” (57).
  • The third black waters – the sins the nation committed in Egypt (58).
  • The fourth bright waters – the coming of Moses, Aaron, Miriam, Joshua, and Caleb (59). Moses is said to have been shown all sorts of the “mysteries” of God such as the weight of the winds, the number of the raindrops, the height of the air and the greatness of Paradise along with the worlds to come. This makes Moses into a prototype of the apocalyptic prophet.
  • The fifth black waters – the works of the Amorites, which polluted even Israel in those days (60).
  • The sixth bright waters – David and Solomon and the building of Zion (61).
  • The seventh black waters – The perversion of ideas in the rule of Jereboam (62).
  • The eighth bright waters – The righteousness and integrity of Hezekiah (63).
  • The ninth black waters – The sins of Manasseh (64-65).
  • The tenth bright waters – The purity of the generation of Josiah (66). On account of Josiah “precious glories have been created and prepared.”
  • The eleventh black waters – The disaster of the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. (67).
  • The twelfth bright waters – The world which is to come when Zion is rebuilt again and the nations will honor Zion, after the fall of many nations (68).

After the twelve waters, Baruch saw some “last black waters” which were blacker than all the others he had seen. These waters are a description of the days which are coming when the “world has ripened and the harvest of seed of the evil ones and the good ones has come . . .” (Chapters 69-72). It is a time when the poor will outnumber the rich, when the wise are silent that the fools speak, the impious will be exalted over the brave. There will be war; those who save themselves from war will die in an earthquake; those who save themselves from the earthquake will die in the fire; those who save themselves from the fire will die in the famine (70:8-9).

The Messianic Age – 2 Baruch 48-51

Following the common structure of the book, Baruch waits seven days then prays again to the Lord (48:1-24). He acknowledges that God establishes times and commands things that will take place. God is eternal, but humans live short lives; therefore Baruch asks for protection for the people and preservation for the nation (the elect). They will keep the Law of God and they will not mingle with the nations as long as the Law supports the (23-24). The Lord responds to this prayer and answers some of these concerns (44:25-50). Nothing will be destroyed, the Lord says, unless it has acted wickedly.

enochBaruch himself is to be “taken up” and preserved out of the time which is coming (44:30-31). The last days are described as peaceful, people will not realize judgment is coming. This is similar to Jesus in the Olivet Discourse describing “those days” as the days of Noah, simply a peaceful normal time, the judgment comes suddenly (Matt 24:37, Luke 17:26). Another similar aspect to the teaching of Jesus here is that while the judgment as unexpected, it was not without warnings (Matt 24:6, 11, 24, for example). The people who are judged are simply unaware spiritually and cannot discern the “signs of the times.”

Baruch asks the Lord about the splendor of the coming days (chapter 49). The Lord’s response (chapters 50-51) is a description of the messianic age. The earth will give back the dead (50:2-4) who will live again and recognize each other (50:4). What is more, the righteous dead will be “greater than the angels.”

2 Baruch 51:12-14 And the excellence of the righteous will then be greater than that of the angels. For the first will receive the last, those whom they expected; and the last, those of whom they had heard that they had gone away. For they have been saved from this world of affliction and have put down the burden of anguishes.

Those who despised the Law will be judged and go away to be tormented. Miracles will appear for the saved and the “extent of paradise will spread out before them.” This eschatological reversal is typical of Jesus’ parables; wheat is gathered up and stored in the barn but the weeds are gathered and thrown on the fire.