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aruch, greek apocalypse of
all agree that the first section (1:1–3:8) was written in Hebrew,
and most scholars who accept the documentary theory consider
the third section (4:9–5:9) to be originally Greek and
dependent on Wisdom of Solomon II (Charles, Apocrypha, 1
(1913), 572–3). This stance, modified by a vigorous defense of
the coherence of the present form of the book as the work of
a single “author-redactor” has been supported by Wambacq
(Biblica, 47 (1966), 574–6), while A. Cahana in his Hebrew
edition maintained the theory of literary unity and original
Hebrew (Ha-Sefarim ha-Ḥiẓonim, 1 (1936), 350ff.). The book
has been dated variously between the late Hasmonean period
(ante quem non – dependence on Daniel) and the destruction
of the Second Temple (the historical framework of the book).
The existence of further Baruch-Jeremiah apocrypha at Qumran
weakens this latter argument considerably.
Bibliography: Charles, Apocrypha, 1 (1913), 569–95; J.J.
Kneucker, Das Buch Baruch (1879); R. Harwell, The Principal Versions
of Baruch (1915); B.N. Wambacq, in: Sacra Pagina, 1 (1959), 455–60;
idem, in: Biblica, 40 (1959), 463–75; O. Eissfeldt, The Old Testament,
an Introduction (1965), 592–4 (includes bibliography).
[Michael E. Stone]
BARUCH, GREEK APOCALYPSE OF (abbr. III Bar.), an
apocalypse describing the journey of *Baruch through the
heavens. Baruch, Jeremiah’s scribe, weeps over the destruction
of Jerusalem and questions God’s righteousness. He is
granted this heavenly journey in order to subdue his anger
and console him in his grief. In the introduction, the angel of
the Lord offers to show the mourning Baruch the secrets of
God. He takes him to the First Heaven where they see men in
monstrous form who are identified as the people who built the
Tower of Babel. The angel also explains certain measurements
of the First Heaven. In the Second Heaven they meet doglike
human monsters who initiated the building of the tower. In
the Third Heaven, the angel shows Baruch the dragon in Hades;
he also tells him how it came about that God permitted
Noah to plant the cursed vine which had been the cause of
Adam and Eve’s sin (the vine being identified with the forbidden
fruit of the Garden of Eden – cf. Ber. 40a; Gen. R. 19:5).
God promises him to change the curse into a blessing; the
angel, however, warns against overindulgence in wine, for
the most awful sins result from it. In this heaven Baruch also
observes the coming and going of the sun and the moon. The
sun’s chariot is driven by four angels; other angels are busy
purifying the sun’s crown, defiled by men’s daily sins. The
phoenix absorbs with his wings most of the fiery rays of the
sun, so as to prevent life on earth from burning up. Baruch is
frightened by this spectacle and by the accompanying thunder.
Next, the angel and Baruch pass the dwelling place of the
righteous souls. In the Fifth Heaven, Baruch sees the archangel
Michael weighing the good deeds of people, brought by
the angel appointed over each individual, and sending them
their reward. The angels who could not bring any good deeds
from their protégés are ordered to attend upon the sinners
until they repent, and if they do not, to inflict upon them all
the prophesied evils. Baruch then returns to the earth and is
instructed to reveal to the sons of men those of God’s secrets
which he has seen and heard.
In the present form the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch is
the work of a Christian writer: the Christological interpretation
of the vine in chapter 4; the citation from the New Testament
in chapter 15; and the technical terms deriving from
a Christian background, namely ὲκκλήσ´ίά (“church”) and
πνευματικοὶ πατέρες (“spiritual fathers”) in chapter 13 are
organic parts of the present story and cannot possibly be explained
as mere interpolations. It is obvious however that this
is not the original form of the book. The ultimate aim of the
traveler through the heavens is to see the Glory of God, an aim
usually attained in the Seventh Heaven (cf. Slavonic Enoch,
ch. 9ff.; Test. Patr. Levi 3:8; Ḥag. 12b. etc.). Indeed, twice in
the book (III Bar. 7:2; 11:2) the guiding angel assures Baruch,
“Wait and you shall see the Glory of God,” a promise which
is never fulfilled, for Baruch reaches no further than the Fifth
Heaven. This reinforces the probability that the present work
is a later version of an apocalypse of Baruch which in an earlier
version, mentioned by *Origen (De principiis 2:3, 6), included
the Seven Heavens.
The main issues dealt with in the Greek Apocalypse of
Baruch are the heavenly mechanisms of, and causes behind,
cosmological matters, and man’s just reward for his deeds. The
latter brings it into the realm of the testament- and Adam-literature;
it is in the light of this genre and not in that of direct
New Testament influence (as M.R. James avers) that the lists
of sins (III Bar. 4:7; 8:5; 13:4) should be understood. The uranological
traditions of the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch are
closely related to the Enoch books (cf. Ethiopic Enoch chs. 72,
73; Slavonic Enoch chs. 3–9, esp. 6); some stories have parallels
in aggadic literature (see Ginzberg, and Artom’s notes in Kahana);
the theme that the souls of the righteous dwell as birds
around a lake (ch. 10) might well be of Egyptian origin (in the
hieroglyphics the bird designates the heavenly soul).
The Apocalypse is written in a very simple Koine-Greek of
late antiquity; there is no evidence that it was translated from a
Semitic language. Two Slavonic versions (see Picard, pp. 70–71
and Turdeanu) mainly follow the Greek text.
Bibliography: S. Novaković, in: Starine, 18 (1886), 203–9;
M.I. Sokolov, in: Drevnosti, no.4, 201–58; M.R. James, Apocrypha
Anecdota, 2 (1897), li–lxxi, 83–102; V. Ryssel, in: E. Kautzsch (ed.),
Die Apocryphen and Pseudepigraphen, 2 (1900),.446–57; L. Ginzberg,
in: JE, 2 (1902), 549–51; W. Luedtke, in: ZAW, 31 (1911), 219–22;
H.M. Hughes, in: Charles, Apocrypha, 2 (1913), 527–41; E.S. Artom,
Ha-Sefarim ha-Ḥiẓonim, Ḥazon Barukh 2 (1967); idem, in: A. Kahana
(ed.), Ha-Sefarim ha-Ḥiẓonim, 1 (1936), 408–25; E. Turdeanu, in:
RHR, 138 (1950), 177–81; J.-C. Picard (ed.). Apocalypse Baruchi graece
(1967), 61–96.
[Jacques Yakov Guggenheim]
BARUCH, JACOB BEN MOSES ḤAYYIM (late 18th century),
editor and author. Baruch lived in Leghorn. In 1875 he
edited (Leghorn, Castello & Saadun) Shivḥei Yerushalayim
(“The Praises of Jerusalem”; or Shabbeḥi Yerushalayim, from
186 ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3