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Syriac Apocalypse Of) BARUCH (Early Second Century A.D.

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Syriac Apocalypse Of) BARUCH (Early Second Century A.D. 2 (Syriac Apocalypse of) BARUCH (early Second Century A.D.) A NEW TRANSLATION AND INTRODUCTION B Y A. F. J. KLIJN Although the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. is given by the apocalyptist as the occasion for writing this work, it was in fact written after the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. 2 Baruch is a work with varied contents consisting of lamentations, prayers, questions with answers, apocalypses with explanations, addresses to the people, and a letter to Jews in the Dispersion. The contents can be summarized as follows: 1:1-8:5. Jerusalem is destroyed by the Babylonians after the angels remove the holy vessels from the Temple. 9:1-12:4. After fasting for seven days, Baruch sends up a lamentation to God. 12:5-20:4. Baruch fasts for seven days. Questions follow concerning the usefulness of being righteous and living a long life with the answer that man must not direct himself to corruption. 20:5-30:5. Baruch fasts for seven days, and after praying, declares that God will finish that which he began. Twelve disasters are announced, followed by the coming of the Anointed One, the resurrection of the dead, and the final judgment. 31:1-34:1. Baruch warns the people that disasters will come before the end of time. 35:1-43:3. In the Holy of Holies Baruch receives a vision of a forest and a plain surrounded by mountains. The forest changes into a cedar; then he sees a vine and a spring. The vision is explained and those who will live to see its consummation are named. 44:1-46:7. Baruch speaks to the people about God's judgment. 47:1-48:50. Baruch fasts for seven days. In a prayer he expresses his conviction that everything is determined by God. 49:1-52:7. Baruch asks about the outward appearance of the righteous ones after the resurrection. 53:1-74:4. Baruch sees a vision of a cloud from which bright and dark waters alternately pour. The vision is explained. 75:1-77:26. Baruch thanks God, then speaks to the people a third time about the righteous ones who will be saved. 78:1-87:1. The work concludes with a letter to the nine and a half tribes in which the Jews of the Dispersion are exhorted to obey God's commandments and to trust in God. Text The textual tradition regarding chapters 1-77, the apocalypse proper, must be dealt with separately from that of chapters 78-87, the attached letter. The text of the apocalypse is known from one Syriac manuscript: Bibliotheca Ambrosiana B . 21 Inf. in Milan, fols. 257a-265b, dated from the sixth or seventh century. Three small excerpts are known from Jacobite lectionaries: BM Add. 14.686, dated 1255, fol. 77a, c. 1, 1. 14-77b, c. 2, 1. 9, contains 44:9-15; BM Add. 14.687, dated 1256, fol. 157b, c. 1, 1. 6-158a, c. 2, 1. 3, contains 72:1-73:2, and fol. 175a, c. 2, 1. 12-176a, c. 1,1. 1, also contains 72:1-73:2. A fourth portion is mentioned for the first time in D. Dedering's edition: "Pampakuda [in Kerala, India]. A. Konath Libr., MS 77. The MS is dated A.D. 1423: 44:9-15; 72:1-73:2."* Recently an Arabic version of the apocalypse has been discovered (Sinai No. 589), but the text has not yet been published. Preliminary observations show that this manuscript is a translation of a Syriac document, but probably not the same text as present in Bibliotheca Ambrosiana B. 21 Inf. The translation is rather free and thoroughly adapted to Muslim ideas. The recently discovered manuscript does not significantly improve our understanding of the Syriac text, but it is sometimes useful in evaluating conjectured improvements to the Syriac proposed by former editors of this pseudepigraphon. One fragment, verso and recto, is known in Greek among the Oxyrhynchus Papyri: 12:1-13:2 (verso) and 13:11-14:3 (recto) from the fourth or fifth century.2 There are thirty-six different texts of the letter, in Syriac. The translation below follows the text of Bibliotheca Ambrosiana, fols. 265b-267a, which is the letter as it is attached to the apocalypse. In the following translation, this text is indicated by the siglum c while the other manuscripts are cited according to the sigla presented in the List of Old Testament Pershitta Manuscripts? Only in a few cases are readings of other manuscripts preferred over c. Original language The heading of the Syriac text states that the document has been translated from Greek; the report is certainly true. The existence of a Greek version is proved by the fragment of this work discovered among the Oxyrhynchus Papyri (see also 3:6). The extant Greek is different from the Syriac and seems to be a free rendering. The Greek version, most of which is lost, appears to have been translated from Hebrew. An original Hebrew version should be accepted because of the many parallels between 2 Baruch and other Jewish writings composed in Hebrew or Aramaic. In some cases the Syriac text is intelligible only after translating it into Hebrew. Finally, a translation of I h e Syriac text into Hebrew restores a play on words apparently contained in the original.4 Date Several passages help determine the probable date of the Apocalypse of Baruch. 32:2-4 states that "after a short time the building of Zion will be shaken in order that it will be rebuilt. But that building will not remain because it will again be uprooted"; finally a new Temple will appear that will last forever. In this passage two destructions are presupposed, indicating that the author lived after the destruction of the second Temple in A.D. 70. In 67:1, the author speaks about the disaster that befalls "Zion now." In 68:5, he writes about the restoration of the Temple. If he assumes the view of Baruch, the author speaks about the destruction of the Temple in 587 B.C. and the building of the second Temple without mentioning its destruction. In that case the author used a source that has to be dated before A.D. 70. If, however, he is referring to the restoration of the Temple which probably took place in A.D. 130 during the time of Hadrian, then the "last black waters," mentioned in chapters 69 and 70, might refer to the time of Bar Kokhba.5 In 28:2, it is said: "For the measure and the calculation of that time will be two parts: 1 S. Dedering, Apocalypse of Baruch, p. iii. The present translation is based on Dedering's edition. The existence of an Ar. version of this work was announced by P. S. van Koningsveld, 4'An Arabic Manuscript of the Apocalypse of Baruch," JSS 6 (1975) 205-7. The Ar. MS is being studied for publication by G. J. H. van Gelder, A. F. J. Klijn, and F. Leemhuis. 2 The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, part III, ed. B. P. Grenfell and A. S. Hunt (London, 1903) pp. 4-7 (12:1-13:2 on 4-5; 13:11-14:3 on 5). 3 List of Old Testament Peshiua Manuscripts (Preliminary Issue). (Peshitta Institute, Leiden, 1961) p. 99. 4 See F. Zimmermann, "Textual Observations on the Apocalypse of Baruch," JTS 40 (1939) 151-56; and F. Zimmermann, "Translation and Mistranslation in the Apocalypse of Baruch," Studies and Essays in Honour of Abraham A. Neuman, ed. by M. Ben-Horin, et al. (Leiden, 1962) pp. 580-87. 5 See H. Bientenhard, "Die Freiheitskriege der Juden unter den Kaisern Trajan und Hadrian und der messianische Tempelbau," Judaica 4 (1948) 164-66. weeks of seven weeks." This passage is thoroughly unclear and cannot be used to arrive at a date of origin.6 The passage 61:7 is quoted in Barnabas 11:9, an indication that the author of Barnabas knew this work. It is, however, not quite clear when Barnabas was written. Two proposed dates are A.D. 117 and 132.7 These passages point to a date after A.D. 70, although the author probably made use of earlier sources. In this connection the relation with 4 Ezra is significant. If this work is dependent on 4 Ezra, a date around A.D. 100 is probable. A dependence, however, of both writings on a common source seems the most acceptable hypothesis. 2 Baruch is probably later than 4 Ezra, since it appears to show an advanced stage of theological development. Therefore, the Apocalypse of Baruch seems to come from the first or second decade of the second century. Provenance There are three reasons why this work was probably written in Palestine. The original language, Hebrew, indicates this region. Also, the work shows a close acquaintance with Jewish rabbinical literature. Finally, the author takes his stand with the inhabitants of Palestine, who, especially in the final letter, try to exhort and encourage the Jews in the Dispersion. Historical importance The work shows a composite character. The first part is characterized by certain, sometimes conflicting, traditions about the Temple. In chapter 4 the author used a tradition in which a new, already existing Temple from heaven will appear on earth. This differs from the tradition used in chapter 6 in which angels are sent from heaven to take away the vessels from the Temple in order to preserve them in the earth "until the last times, so that you may restore them when you are ordered" (6:8).8 Here a restoration of the second Temple is supposed.
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