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BARUCH, SECOND

(SYRIAC APOCALYPSE OF)

A Jewish pseudepigraphon in which Baruch, the scribe of the prophet of Jeremiah, is the recipient of revelation concerning the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 587 b.c.e. The author of the text is actually writing after the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 c.e. and uses the earlier tragedy to bring theological focus to the disaster of his own time.

The main issue addressed by Baruch’s many questions, laments, prayers, and visions, is whether or not the disaster means that the promises of God to Israel have failed. Baruch gradually comes to understand, and subsequently teaches the people, that they have not failed.

The centerpiece of the book consists of three visions and dialogues in which God reveals, with increasing detail, how the promises will be fulfilled (2 Bar. 22-30, 36-43, 53-74). In sum, there will be a universal distress upon the earth, the Messiah will appear, judgment will take place, the dead will be raised, the wicked will go to their torment, and the righteous will inherit a renewed earth. It is curious that the restoration of the temple has no place in these central visions, for earlier in the book the earth was commanded to open and hide the temple vessels until the end time when it would be ordered to restore them (6:6-9).

After each of these visions and dialogues, Baruch offers messages of consolation which grow in their effectiveness as the visions and dialogues grow more elaborate. The people should not be so sad at what has happened, for a greater distress is coming with the shaking of the entire creation. They should persevere in the fear of God, obey the Torah and its teachers, trust in God’s mercy, and hope for good in the future.

A concluding epistle (chs. 78-87), written to the nine and a half tribes of the earlier Assyrian captivity, serves as a reprise of the major themes of the apocalypse, although it fails to mention any end time role for the Messiah and even appears to eliminate the idea that the temple vessels will be restored (80:2). Clearly the role of Torah has more controlling influence over the thought of this author than does the role of Messiah or temple.

The post-70 c.e. date of the text is suggested by textual clues, such as the prophecy of two destructions of the temple in ch. 32. However, pre-70 traditional material is almost certainly employed by the author. The book was probably originally written in Hebrew in Palestine. It is extant in its entirety only in Syriac translation, though a significant fragment does exist in Greek.

Bibliography. A. F. J. Klijn, “2 (Syriac Apocalypse of) Baruch,” OTP 1 (Garden City, 1983): 615-52.

Randal A. Argall

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

BARUCH, SECOND

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)