The
Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch is a
pseudepigraphic apocalyptic work ascribed to
Baruch, son of Neriah and the scribe of
Jeremiah. Its overt content concerning the
last days of the First Temple period disguises a
description of the fall of the Second Temple in
70 C.E. Contrary to the general scholarly
view, this book attempts to show that the
internal structure and central ideas of 2 Baruch
must be understood in a Christian context.
This theological identity is reflected mainly in
traditions which describe the destruction of
Jerusalem and the three apocalyptic visions
which depict the coming of the Messiah and the
eschatological redemption.
Apocalyptic:
Baruch |
First Baruch |
Second Baruch
|
Jewish Encyclopedia: Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch |
Abstract by Matthew Ellis |
Harper's Bible Dictionary |
Jewish Encyclopedia: Book of Baruch |
Catholic Encyclopedia: Baruch |
The Legends of the Jews
|
Pseudepigrapha
"But also the heavens at that time were shaken from their place"
"The first
section is devoted to a description of the destruction of
Jerusalem, in which we discuss the main traditions that may shed
light upon the author's position towards the destruction of
Jerusalem and the temple: the Divine promise to Baruch that the
Jerusalem that is to be destroyed is not the city that He had
promised to inscribe upon the palms of His hands; the burying of
the temple vessels in the earth until the end of days; the
abandoning of the temple by its guard upon its destruction; the
call priests of the temple to throw the keys up to heaven; and
the call to the virgins who weave silk, crimson, and gold to
cast their waving into the fire.
The second half
of the book portrays the vision of eschatological redemption, as
reflected in the three apocalyptic visions contained int he
latter part of the work.. The first vision deals with the
portrayal of the End, the havoc that precedes it, the
eschatological meal, the two stages in the appearance of the
Messiah; next, the vision of the forest, the cedar, the vine,
and the well portrays the end of the world and the victory of
Messiah over the final ruler; finally, the vision of the bright
waters and the black waters, signals the end of the apocalyptic
drama with the appearance of the uncorrupted world and the
establishment of paradise upon earth."
MATERIALS FROM THE BOOK
(On the Subject Matter of II Baruch)
"The Ambrosian MS includes the Old Testament, 4 Ezra, Book 6 of Josephus' Jewish War, and the Apocalypse of Baruch, three works related to the conquest of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE. The number of the manuscript is Codex Ambrosianus 13.21 inf
(folio 257a-265b)." (p.1)
(On the Significance of AD70: Redemption)
"I have focused upon those traditions depicting the destruction
of Jerusalem and the three apocalyptic visions portraying the
eschatological redemption. These two foci, around which
the plot of the work is constructed, may also serve as a litmus
test for the identity of the work. this is so because the
place of f Jerusalem and the temple during the Second Temple
period and the question whether to accept the Christian Messiah
and the redemption that he was meant to bring to his believers
lay at the center of the controversy between Judaism and
Christianity. Hence, it was regarding these subjects that
the differences in principle between the two religions were most
likely to find expression. " (p. 5)
"b. Sanh. 98a already raises the possibility of
a suffering messiah based upon the chapter of the servant of the
Lord, esp. Isaiah 53, who sites at the gate of Rome, and of a
messiah who will come like the Son of Man on heavenly clouds, as
in Daniel 7. These are the two central pillars of
Christology, as embodied in the two manifestations of Jesus: his
earthly appearance as the suffering servant, tortured and
crucified, and his second appearance in heavenly clouds, mean to
complete the redemption." (p. 8)
(On
Apocalyptic Hermeneutics)
"The very term "apocalypse" is itself a Christian term; it first
appears in the introduction to the Revelation of John, the
concluding work of the New Testament ("The Apocalypse [or:
Revelation] of Jesus Christ") and the work that provides the
most fully developed model for apocalypse in general (cf. the
synoptic apocalypse of Mark 13:1ff. and parallels).
Apocalypse was born in the bosom of Christianity, which is
entirely apocalyptic on all its levels and components." (p. 11)
(On
The Dead Sea
Scrolls)
"One may also include within this group (pseudepigraphic-apocalyptic
literature) the literature of the Qumran sect, which expresses
conceptual and linguistic relations and ideological and
theological characteristics similar to those of the
pseudepigraphic and apocalyptic literature. Like the
apocalyptic literature, the Qumran sect's theological focus was
on the eschatological anticipation of the approaching end of
days, on the war between the forces of light and the forces of
darkness, and on the appearance of the expected messianic age.
Similar to the apocalyptic literature, the Qumran scrolls
expressed absolute negation of the historical Jerusalem and
temple. The sect anticipates a new Jerusalem and a new
temple in which atonement will be achieved, not by means of the
flesh of burnt-offerings and the fat of the sacrifices, but by
a spiritual sacrifice "of lips of justice like a righteous
fragrance" (1QS ix 4-5). The scrolls of this mysterious
sect also include chapters and fragments of works from the
apocalyptic literature (such as the Book of Enoch, the
Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, the Book of Jubilees,
etc.), which likewise betray an ideological proximity to the
world of Christianity." (p. 13)
"The Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch begins
with a description of the destruction of Jerusalem in which God
appears to Baruch, informing him that, in wake of the people's
sins, He intends to bring disaster upon the city and its
inhabitants, and asking Baruch to inform Jeremiah and his like
to leave the city." (p. 19)
(On
The Heavenly
Temple)
"The Jerusalem that God promised to engrave on the palms of His
hand is not the Jerusalem that is about to be destroyed, the
historic Jerusalem of the Second Temple. Rather, he refers
here to another Jerusalem, one kept by God in the heavens, which
He himself created before time, alongside paradise -- a
transcendent and preexistent Jerusalem." (p. 20)
"The author of this book is not at all
interested in the rebuilding of the temple and of Jerusalem;
indeed, not a word is said in the entire book regarding the hope
and anticipation for its future restoration. According to
his view, the historical Jerusalem and temple, which were built
by man on earth, were from the outset inferior and condemned to
a limited life span, as against the heavenly Jerusalem and
sanctuary, which were formed by God in hoary antiquity and will
enjoy eternal existence." (p. 21)
"It is clear from this scenario that the
description of Jeremiah's return from captivity alludes to the
beginning o the new period of salvation that will come after the
end of the world. The conquest of Jerusalem is described
in the Apocryphon in apocalyptic terms of the end of the
world that opens the age of redemption in the New Testament.
Nebuchadnezzar together with all the heads of the army had
subjugated all of Judah and the cities surrounding Jerusalem.
They wanted to wage war against the Hebrews, since all the other
peoples were at war with them. The people of Israel were
before Nebuchadnezzar like women in their birth pangs: "He who
was on the roof did not come down except with bonds, and he who
was in the sown field did not enter the city except with
fetters, and each one of them was seized in the spot where he
was, and none was left who did not come to King Nebuchadnezzar
who had fixed his throne at the gate of Jerusalem, the ramparts
of which he had ordered to be demolished instantly." At that
very moment, when Cyrus and Amsis, the first general of the
Chaldeans, set forth to wage war and to oppress the Jews, cloud
and thick smoke appeared, the earth shook with a great tremor,
the wind grew stronger, an eclipse of the sun took place in the
middle of the day, and darkness covered the earth. Those
dwelling on the face of the land were mixed up with one another,
horsemen with the masses, and the feet of the horses sank deep
into the ground like pegs. This description is based upon
the signs of the end of the world and the coming of Jesus in the
New Testament, which is described as a time of wars, famine,
earthquakes, and slander." (p.63)
"This work likewise portrays the departure from
the Babylonian exile like the Exodus from Egypt, which is a
prefiguration of the making of the New Covenant." (p. 64)
"Notwithstanding the fact that it had earlier
portrayed the destruction of the temple by the Babylonians, this
work describes Jeremiah's entrance into the temple as if it
still stood. And indeed, the temple did stand: not the
historical temple, but the heavenly temple in the heavenly
Jerusalem, established after Jesus' second coming." (p. 65)
(On 2 Baruch 8:1-5, Fall of the Temple)
"Who is the watchman of the house, and how is his abandonment of
it to be understood? Josephus reports that on the
eve of the destruction of the Second Temple there were visible,
early signs of the approaching calamity. Among these, he
mentions that the Nikanor Gate, the eastern gate of the inner
court of the temple, which usually required twenty people to
close it, suddenly opened of its own accord during the sixth
hour of the night. This was taken as a sign that the
security of the temple had been breached, and that it was about
to be given over to its enemies. On the Festival of
Pentecost, the priests, upon entering the inner part of the
temple, "were conscious, first of a commotion and a din, and
after of a voice as of a host, 'We are departing hence'" (J.W.
6.293-300).
"According to Jewish tradition, as reflected in
Josephus and in talmudic sources, the angelic entourage, a
heavenly voice, or the Shekhinah, symbolizing the divine
presence, abandoned the temple on the eve of its destruction as
a concrete expression of the approaching destruction.
Tacitus cites a similar testimony in connection with the
miracles that heralded the destruction of Jerusalem: "Contending
hosts were seen meeting in the skies, arms flashed, and suddenly
the temple was illuminated with fire from the clouds. Of a
sudden the doors of the shrine opened and a superhuman voice
cried: 'The gods are departing.' At the same moment the
might stir of their going was heard" (Tacitus, History, 5.13)..
"The tradition in Syriac Baruch evidently relies
upon the same report, although giving it a totally different
interpretation. Instead of the entourage of angels, a
divine voice, or gods, it speaks of the "watchman" who abandons
the house. It particularly emphasizes that the voice that
called to the enemies originated in the inner part of the
temple, that is, from the Holy of Holies, ahnd that the
departure of the watchman did not take place prior to its
destruction, but during its course. The author stresses
that the guard only left after the wall fell, leaving the
Babylonians nothing to do but take possession of the temple and
its environs." (pp. 79,80)
(On The Connection to the Rent Veil)
"Careful examination of early Christian tradition suggests a
direct relation between the tradition discussed here and the
exegesis given to the rending of the veil of the temple upon
Jesus' death (Mark 15:38; Matt. 27:50; Luke 23:45). Thus,
for example, T. Benj. 9:3-4 relates that, upon the crucifixion
of the Lord, the veil of the temple shall be rent and the Spirit
of God will pass to (or descend upon) the nations, like fire
poured out.
"According to this tradition, upon Jesus' death
the veil was rent and the spirit of God abandoned the temple in
order to dwell among the nations who had accepted belief in him.
In this context the "spirit of God" represented in some sources
by a divine angel, symbolizes the presence of the Godhead in the
temple, while its abandonment is a sign of its imminent
destruction." (pp. 80,81)
"Likewise, we read in the early Christian work
Didascalia Apostolorum (23.5.7) that God left the Jewish
people and the temple and came to the church of the Gentiles.
When He did so, He also abandoned the temple, leaving it
desolate. He tore the veil, removed the Holy Spirit, and
put it upon the believers among the Gentiles, as is said by Joel
(3.1): "I will pour out my spirit on all flesh." He
thereby removed from the people the Holy Spirit, its power of
the word, and its entire mission, establishing these in His
church." (p 81)
QUOTES FROM II BARUCH
"This city will be delivered up for a time, and
the people will be chastened for a time, and the world will not
be forgotten. Or do you think that this is the city of
which I said: On the palms of my hands I have carved you?
It is not this building that is in your midst now; it is that
which will be revealed with me that was already prepared from
the moment that I decided to create paradise. And I showed
it to Adam before he sinned. But when he transgressed the
commandment, it was taken away from him -- as also Paradise.
After these things I showed it to my servant Abraham in the
night between the portions of the victims. And again I
showed it to Moses on Mount Sinai when I showed him the likeness
of the tabernacle and all its vessels. Behold, now it is
preserved with me -- as also Paradise. Now go away and do
as I command you." (4:1-7)
"The watchman has abandoned the house" (8:1-5)
"But also the heavens at that time were shaken from their place"
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID
"This unusual approach to several major
documents of the Second Temple period makes it impossible to
accept this work as a serious piece of scholarship. The proposal
is an interesting and important one, but it must be considered
under sounder methodological guidelines."
In this article, Gary A. Anderson points out flaws in
apocalyptic research be Russian author Rivka Nir. See below:
"Yet the book's ability to sustain its provocative and
challenging thesis is marred by a couple of very serious
methodological flaws. First, Nir's knowledge of early Christian
reflection on Jerusalem, the land of Israel, and eschatological
redemption is too one-sided. It is simply not the case that
Christians relegated all hope to the heavenly realm and viewed
any historical grounding in the land of Israel as inauthentic.
As Robert Wilken noted in his book, The Land Called Holy (New
Haven, Conn., 1992), Irenaeus's conception of the kingdom of God
has been formed by the Jewish restorationist tradition. He will
not allow the passages about the rebuilding of Jerusalem to be
taken in solely spiritual terms. A real Jerusalem in the land of
Israel will be part of God's plan of redemption. As Wilken's
work goes on to prove, this position, though not shared by all
Christian thinkers, was no blind alley in the formative period
of early Christianity."
Articles like this are important in understanding Apocalyptic
writing. One should not read an article and assume it to be
truth. The Apocalypse is ultimitely a guessing game, yet some
articles such as this one may be way off base and teach the
reader views in which are both wrong and slanted towards a
close-minded way of thinking.
Anderson, Gary. "The Destruction of Jerusalem and the Idea of
Redemption in the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch." Journal of
Religion 85 (2005): 155-157. Religion and Philosophy Collection.
EBSCO. LSU Middleton Library, Baton Rouge. 6 Feb. 2007
.
