Baruch, apocalypse of (Hastings' Dictionary)

The discovery of the long lo.st Ai)ocalypse of Baruch is due to Ceriani. This book has survived only in the Syr. version, of which Ceriani had the good fortune to discover a Gth cent. MS in the Milan Library. Of this MS he published a Latin tr. in 1866 (Mon. Sarr. i. ii. 73-98), which Fritzache rejiroduced ■ "" "■ ".r. 71 I' graphical facsimile of the MS in 1883. A fragment of this book has long been known to the world, viz. chs. Ixxviii.-lxxxvii.

, which constitute Baruch's Epistle to the nine and a half tribes that had been carried away captive. This letter is to be found in the London and Paris Polyglots in Svt. with a Latin rendering ; in Syr. alone in Lagarde's Lifiri V.T. Aiiiicryjiln .'<t/rirrce, 1861. The Latin tr. is also founil in I'abricius' Cod. Pseudejiirf. V.T., and the English in Winston's Authentic lierord.i. i. The Svkiac Ver-sion is np.KiVKi) fuom the (iliEKK. — That this is so is to be inferred on various iTTOunds.

First, this statement is actually made on the Syr. MS. In the next place, we find that Gr. words are occasionally transliterated. Finally, some jiassages admit of explanation only on the hypothesis that the wrong alternative meanings of certain Gr. words wore followed by the translator. ii. The Gkkek Vkrsion was dkuivkd fuom THE Hebrew.— For (1) the quotations from Of our.r. I. II. /.>-;io;, wnicii r riizscne reprouuceu with some changes in 1871 {I.ibri Apocnjjihi V.T. pp. 654-609). The Syr.

text appeared in 1871 [Mon. Snrr. V. ii. 113-180), and a photolitho- agree in all cases but one with the Massoretic text against the LXX. (2) Unintelligible expressions in the Syriac can be explained and the text restored by retrans. into Hebrew. (3) Certain anomalies in the Syriac can be accounted for as survivals of Heb. idiom. (4) Manj' paronomasioe discover themselves on retrans. into Hebrew. (This and all other questions att'ecting our Apoc. are fully dealt with in Charles' Apoc.

of Baruch, 1896.) iii. Analysis of the Book.— The author, cr rather authors, of this book write in the name of Baruch, the son of Ni^riah, for literary purposes. The scene is laid in the neighbourhood of Jerusalem, and the time embraces the period immediately pre- ceding and subsequent to the capture of the city by the Clialda'ans. Baruch speaks throughout in the first person. He begins by declaring that in the twenty-lifth year of Jeconiah, king of Judah, the word of the Lord came unto him.

It is noteworthy that the book thus opens with a gross chronoloCTcal error; for Jeconiah reigned in reality only tliree months, and had been already eleven years a captive in Babylon before the fall of Jerusalem. If we in- clude in our consideration the letter to the tribes in the Captivity, the book naturally falls into seven sections, divided in all but the last case by fasts, the fasts being of seven days in all instances save the first.

This artificial division is due to the final editor of the book. The grounds for regarding the work as composite will be given later. The first section (1-5) opens with God's con- demnation of the wickedness of the kingdom ol Judah, and the announcement of the coming de- struction of Jerusalem for a time and the captivity of its people. But Jeremi.

ah and those wlio are like him are bidden to retire, first because ' their works are to the city as a firm pillar, and their prayers as a strong wall' (2). Baruch thereujion asks what will be the future destinies of Israel, mankind, and the world. Will Israel no longer exist, mankind cease to be, and the world return to its primeval silence (3)?

God replies that the city and people will be chastised 011I5' for a time (4'); that the city of which it was said, 'On the jialm of my hanils have I written thee,' is not the earthly but the heavenly Jeru-salem prepared afore- time in heaven, and already manifested in vision to Adam, Abraham, and Mo.ses (4-"'). Baruch replies that the enemy will destroy Zion or i)ollute the sanctuary, an(r boast thereof before their idols.

Not so, God rejoins : the enemy will not overthrow Zion nor burn Jerusalem, and thou thyself wilt witness this. Baruch thereupon fasts till the even- ing (5). In the next section (6-9) the Chaldn-ans encompa.ss Jerusalem on the following day. It is not they, however, but angels who overthrow the walls, having first hidilen the sacred vessels of the temple in the earth till the last times. The Chal- daans then enter and carry the peojilo away captive. Jerusalem is delivered up for a time.

Baruch fasts seven days. In the third section ( 10-12) Jeremiah is bidden to accompany captive .ludah to Babylon, and Baruch to remain in Jerusalem to receive dis- closures on the things that should be hereafter. Baruch now despairs of all things : ' Blessed is he who was not born, or, being born, has died.' Let nature henceforth withhold her increase, and the jov of the bridegroom and the bri<le be no niDro. ' Wherefore should woman bear in pain and bury in grief?'

Let the priests, moreover, return to (Joel the temjile keys, confessing : ' Wo have been found false stewards.' 'Oh that there were ears unto thee, O earth, and a heart unto thee, O dust, anil go and announce in Slieol, ami say to the dead : " Blessed are ye more than are we the living.'" Baruch then fasts seven days. In section four (13-21') Baruch is told that he 'will bo preserved till the consummatioa of the times ' to bear l«sti- 250 BARUCH, APOCALYPSE OF BAKUCH, APOCALYPSE OF mony.

When Baruch complains of the prosperity of the \vicked and the suflerings of the righteous, God declares that it is the future world that is made on account of the righteous, and that blessed- ness standeth, not in length of days, but in their quality and end. Baruch fasts seven days. In the lifth section (21'-47) Baruch deplores the vanity and vexation of this life : ' If there were this life only . .

nothing could be more bitter' ; he sup- jilicates God to bring about the promised consum- mation, ' that his strength might become known to those who esteem his long-suffering weakness.' In answer thereto God reproves him for his trouble over that which he knows not, and his intrusion into things in which he has no part, and declares that until the preordained number of souls is born, the end, though at hand, cannot yet be : neverthe- less, ' My coming redemption ...

is not far distant as aforetime; for, lo! the days come when the books will be opened in which are written the sins of all those who have sinned, and again also the treasuries into which the righteousness of all those who are justified in creation is gathered.'

Furthermore, when Baruch asks regarding the nature and duration of the punishment of the wicked, it is revealed that the coming time will be one of tribulation, diWded into twelve parts, at the close of which the Messiah will be revealed (29. 30). Thereupon Baruch summons a meeting of the elders into the valley of Kidron, and announces the coming glories of Zion.

Soon after follows his vision of the cedar and the vine, by which the destinies of Rome and the triumph of the Messiah are respectively symbolised (3G-40). The Messiah will rule till this world of corruption is at an end. When Baruch asks who shall share in the future blessedness, the answer is: 'Those who have be- lieved.' Thereupon Baruch (44-47) summons his eldest son, his friends, and seven of the elders, and acquaints them with his approaching end.

He exhorts them to keep the law ; to teach the people ; for such teaching will give them life, and 'a wise man shall not be wantmg to Israel, nor a son of the law to the race of Jacob.' After another fast of seven days, Baruch, in the sixth section (48-76), prays on behalf of Israel. Then follows a revelation of the coming woes, and Baruch's l.imcntation over Adam's fall and its sad effects (48). Baruch, in answer to his prayer, is instructed as to the nature of the resurrection bodies (52).

Then follows an account of the cloud vision (53-74). In this vision Baruch sees a cloud ascendinjj from the sea and covering the whole earth. And it was full of black and clear waters, and a mass of lightning appeared on its summit. And it began to dis- charge first black and then bright waters, and again black and then bright waters, and so on for twelve times in succession. And finally it rained l)lack waters, darker than all that had been before.

And after this the lightning flashed forth, and liealed the earth where the last waters had fallen, and twelve streams came up from the sea and became subject to that lightning (53). In the subsequent chapters the interpretation is given. Tlie cloud is the world, and the twelve successive discharges of black and bright waters symbolise twelve evil and good periods in the history of the world.

The eleventh period, symbolised liy the dark waters, referred to the capture of Jerusalem by the Chaldacans, and the twelfth, bright waters, to the renewed prosperity of Israel and the rebuildinj' of Jerusalem (54-ti8). The last black waters pointed to wars, earthquakes, fires, famines ; and such as escaped these were to be slain by the Messiah.

But these last black waters were to be followed by dear, which symbolised the blessedness of the Messianic kingdom which sliould form the inter- vening peiiod between corruption and incorruption (69-74). Baruch then expi-esses his wonder over God's wisdom and mercy, o.^d receives a fresh revelation as to his coming departure from the earth. First, however, he is to summon the people together and instruct them (75. 76).

This Baruch does, and admonishes the people to be faithful ; for though teacher and prophet may pass away, yet the law ever standeth. At the request of the people Baruch writes two epistles— one to their brethren in Babylon, and the other to the tribes beyond the Euphrates. The latter is given in 78-87, but the former is lost. iv. Different Elements in the Book, and THEIR Dates.

— This question cannot be discussed here save in the briefest manner ; but no treatment of the book is adequate without some consideration of it. TUl 1891 this book was taken to be the work of one author. In that year, however, Kabisch, in an article entitled, ' Die Quellen der Apocalypse Baruchs' {Jahrbiicher /. protestantische Theologie, 1891, pp. 66-107), showed on several grounds that the book 18 sprung from at least three or four authors.

Thus he distinguishes 1-23, 3P-35, 41-52, 77-87 as the groundwork written subsequent to A. D. 70, since the destruction of the temple is implied throughout these chapters. Further, these sections are marked by a boundless world-despair which, looking for nothing of peace or happiness in this corruptible world, fixes its regard on the afterworld of incor- ruption.

In the remaining sections of the book, however, there is a faith in Israel's ultimate triumpli here, and an optimism which looks to an earthly Messianic kingdom of sensuous delights. In these sections, moreover, the integrity of Jerusalem is throughout assumed. Kabisch, therefore, rightly takes these constituents of the book to be prior to A.D. 70. These sections, however, are not the work of one WTiter, but of three, two of them being unmutOated productions, i.e.

the Vine and Cedar Vision, 36-40, and the Cloud Vision, 53-74, but the third a fragmentary Apocalypse, 24'-29. From the bulk of this criticism there is no ground for variance. By independent study, and frequently on ditJerent grounds, I have arrived at several of Kabisch's conclusions. Other parts of his theory, however, call for modification. As the result of an exhaustive study of the book, I offer the following analysis, for the grounds of which the reader must refer to my recent book.

The Apocalypse of Baruch. The main part of the book was written after the fall of Jerusalem, i.e. 1-26, 31-35, 41-52, 75-87. All these chapters are derived from one writer, save 1-8, 44'-', 77-87. These must be discri- minated from the rest, as their diction and their out- look as to the future of Jerusalem differ from those adopted in the rest of these chapters. The rest of the l)Ook was written prior to the fall of Jerusalem. It consists of the two visions mentioned above, i.e.

36-40 and 53-74, and a fragmentary Apocalypse, 27- 30. Jewish religious thought busied itself mainly with two subjects, the Messianic Hope and the Law, and, in proportion as the one was emphasized, the other fell into the background.

It is noteworthy that the parts of this book written prior to the fall of Jerusalem are mainly Messianic, and only mention the law incidentally, whereas in the sections written after its fall all the thought and the hopes of the writers centre in the law, and the law alone. More- over, whereas the earlier sections are oiitimistic as regards the destinies of Jerusalem, the later are permeated with the spirit of an infinite despair.

The dillerent elements of the book were combined not earlier than A.D. 100, and not later than A. I). 130. The grounds for this determination cannot be given here. It should be observed that a portion of the short Apocalypse, 27-.30, is quoted by Papias, and attributed by iiim to our Lord. See lieniBua, Adv. B<BT. V. 33. 3. BARUCH. APOCALYPSE OF BARUCH, BOOK OF 25) V. Authorship. — All the ^Titers from whom this book is derived were Pliarisees. Thej' all agree in teaching the doctriue of works.

Jeremiah's works are a strong tower to the city, 2' ; the righteous have no fear by reason of their good works, 14'; they are iustilied thereby, 21» '24'-' 51'; they trusted in their works, and therefore God heard them, 63'-' 8o'; righteousness is by the law, 67'. Again, as regards the law, the teaching is like- wise I'harisaic.

It was given to Israel, 17'' 19' 59^ 77''; the one law was {jiven by One, 48^; it will protect those who receive it, 32', and requite those who transgress it, 48" ; so Ion" as Israel observes the law it cannot fall, 48^" ; God's law is life, 38-. Again, the carnal sensuous nature of the Messiah and His kin^'dom, wliicli are described only in the earlier jiortions, 28-30, 39'-40, 72-74, is essentially Pharisaic.

The future world is created on behalf of Israel, according to one of the later writers, 1.5'; according to the earlier WTiters the present world was ultimately for Israel, and their enemies would suffer destruction, 27, 40, 72. vi. Kelation to 4 Ezra (2 Esdras).— The affini- ties of this book with 4 Ezr are both strikint; and numerous. (1) They have one and the .

same object — to deplore Israel's present calamities and to awake hope either of the coming Messianic king- dom on earth, or of the bliss of the righteous in the world to come. (2) In both, the speaker is a notable figure in the time of the Babylonian Captivity.

(3) In both there is a sevenfold division of the work, and an interval (generally of seven days) between each division ; and as in the one Ezra devotes forty days to the restoration of the Scriptures, in the other Baruch is bidden to spend forty days in teaching Israel before his departure from the earth. (4) They have many doctrinal peculiarities in common: man is saved by his works, 2 Es [G"] 8*' 9', Apoc Bar 2^ 14'^ etc.

; the world was created on behalf of Israel, 2 Es gM 'jii gu^ Apoc Bar 14'" lo' ; man came not into the world of his own will, 2 Es 8», Apoc Bar 14" 48"; a predetermined number of men must be born before the end, 2 Es 4"- '■", Apoc Bar 2.3<- " ; Adam's sin was the cause of physical death, 2 Es 3', Apoc Bar 23' ; the souls of tne good are kept safe in treasuries till the resurrection, 2 Es 4^- ■" 7^ [6"- "], Apoc Bar 30'. But the points of disagreement are just as clearly marked.

In 2 Es the Messianic reign is limited to 400 years, l^-^, whereas in Baruch this period is indeterminate. Again, in 2 Es the Messiah IS to die, 1'^, and His reign to close with the death of all living things ; whereas according to Apoc Bar 30' the Messiah is to return in glory to heaven at the close of His reign, and according to 73. 74 this reign is to be an eternal one. Again, in 2 Es the writer urges that God's people should be puni.

shed by God's own hands and not by the hands of their enemies, 5^- ^ ; for these have over- thrown the altar and destroyu<l the temple, lO"-^-; but in Baruch it is told how angels removed the holy vessels and demolished the walls of Jeru.salem before the enemy drew nigh, G-8. On the question of original sin, likewise, these two books are at variance.

While in 2 Es the entire stream of jijiysical and ethical death is traced to Adam, 3'- •'•'•" 4' 7", and the guilt of his descendants minimised at the cost of their fust parent (yet see K"'), Baruch derives physical death indeed from Adam's transgression, 17' 23' 54", but aa to ethical death declares that ' each man U the Adam of his own soul,' 54" (yet see 48"). LiTER*TrR«.— In ultlitlon U) tho workii alriiuly clt«l In this uticlt!

the rvafier may consult IjinRfn, I)e ajtrtcatmnti Tinntrh anno mjuTxnri pn'iDtim fftita rnwineiiliitto (\t<lS7) ; Kwald, ^^(f^ g'l. Ameiqrn (1807). rP ITOni". ITJO; llinlar]/ of Itrnrl, lill. S7-fll ; llruminonil. The .lru-<»h M -miah (1877), pp. 117-l:iJ ; Kneuckcr. Dot Duch Baruch (1S70), pp. 11K)-I08; Dillniann, 'Pseudepipraphen' in Hcrzog's RE^ lii. pp. 356-3.18; Deane, Pseiuiepigraplta (1801), pp. 130-162 ; De Faye, La Apocalupta Juivea (1B92), pp. 195-204 ; Charles, Apoc. o/ Baruch, 1898.

K. H. Charles. BARUCH, BOOK OF One of the deutero- canoiiical books of OT found in LXX between Jer and La, in the Lat. Vulg. after La, and in the Syr. as the second Letter of Baruch — the first Letter having been recently ascertained to be part of the Apoc. of Baruch (wh. see). The book claims to have been written by Baruch, the friend and secretary of Jeremiah ; but in reality it consists of four portions so distinct that they have probably come from four different authors. ll-l*.

Historical preface, giving ft description of the origin and purpose of the book. 118_3S. A confession of the sins which led to the Captivity, and a prayer (or restoration to divine favour, largely in Deuteronomic phraseolo^^y. 89-4'. A panegyric on Wis'iora, and an identification of Wisdom with Torah. after the manner of the later liokhmia school. 4B-6". Consolation and encourtgement to the exiles, with such rich personification as to recall some of the most poetical passages in Deutero-Isaiah.

We will describe and comment on these parts in the order in which we conceive that they came into existence. i. The second section, l"-3', will thus claim our first consideration, and it may be subdivided into two parts — (1) l"-2'. This we designate An Ancient Form ofConkessionofSinusedbythePal. Rkmnant. It professes to have been sent from Babylon to Jems., to be read in the house of God ' on the d.ay of the feast and on the days of solemn assembly ' (1" RV).

It opens with words found also Dn 9' ' To the Lord our God belongeth righteousness, but to us confusion ... to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jems.' ; and its restricted design for the use of the home remnant is intimated in the nonoccurrence of the words of Dn ' and to all Isr. that are near and that are afar off,' etc. ; as well as by the words Bar 2*- ', ' He hath given Ihem to be in subjection to all the kingdoms that are round about us . .

where the Lord has scattered them: and <Aey have become " beneath and not above," because tae sinned.' The con- fession of sins is national, embracing the whole period from the Exodus, and recognising in the Exile the righteous fullilinent of repeated warnings. (2)2»-3*. The Exiles' Confes.sion, 2^", and Prayer, 2"-3'. The confession of the exiles opens as the above (cf. also Dn 9') with the words, 'To the Lord our God belongeth righteousness?,' etc.

, but the suppliants do not describe themselves as ' men of Judah.' Indeed we would submit — though it .seems to have escaped notice hitherto — that this penitential prayer was not meant for the same Ijcrsons as the foregoing. This is evident from 2" ' We are left a few among the nations where thou hast scattered mj' (contrast this with 2 'The Lord hath scattered thern'), v." 'Give us favour before those who have led us cai)tive.' So also vv.- ".

Further, tho confession, '2""", is little more than a repetition in different order of phrases found in l"-'2° ; only, th.at in the second confession the suppliants do not (as we have seen) identify themselves with Judah ; and the divine threat realised in t/ieir experience is captivity, 2'- " ; whereas, in the first confession, it w.'is that thev hiul eaten the llesh of their children, 2''. At 2'» the confession turns to prayer for ]iardon and bless- ing, pleading the divine election of Isr.

, the divine compassion and tho divine glory. They acknow- ledge tho error of not obeying the warnings of Jer (7'"8»27" 29»*) to be submissive to the king of Babylon, and regard that as the cause of the national ruin. In 2-'' the suppliants admit that to them personally God has manifested ' leniency and 252 BAKUCH, BOOK OF BAEUCH, BOOK OF compassion.' They quote several passages from Dt (collected Kneucker, p.

30) wliich threaten dirine wrath on their sins, out which also promise that if in captivity they repent, God will renew His covenant, and restore them. They virtually express their faithful allegiance, and claim the promises. Ch. 81 « is regarded by Bertholdt and Reuscb as a separate p}<alm ; but, bj* showu by Kneucker (p. 263) and Gifford (in Speaker's Apocr. ii. 267), the links of connexion between tliis portion and the foregoing are beyond dispute.

Here the aliscnce of the sense of pergonal demerit is still more apparent. True they say, ' We have sinned," but the we' denotes the solidarity of Isr.: for in 3- they say Hear the prayer of the smii of tliose who sinned against Thee, for the^ were disobedient, and the evils cleave to ns.' ' We have put away from our hearts every iniauity of our fathers who sinned against Thee.' Lo I we are tOHjay la our captivity,' 3^. Date of Composition.

— The foregoing analysis helps materially in this decision. First, it shows Reusch, Welte, and other Romanists to be mistaken in claiming that l"-3* is the work of the historical Baruch in B.C. 583 : for (a) if so, there would be in the suppliants the sense of personal demerit ; and (6) their description of themselves as ' sons of those who sinned' would be quite out of place.

Again, our analysis serves to render still more untenable the theory of Hitzig, Kneucker, Sehiirer, and some recent English writers, that our section was com- posed after the destruction of Jerus. by Titus. (1) We would ask, Could the Jews of A.D. 80 acquit themselves of personal blame? and could tliey speak of themselves as the unfortunate sons of the real culprits? (2) In 2" we have the same hope- less view of death as appears in Ps 6° and Is 38'*.

As Reuss says, it indicates ' a time when the belief in a resurrection did not yet exist.' (3) There is in the section before us no clear indication that Jeras. and the temple were at the tirne in ruins. The only allusion to the state of Jerus. is in 2'-' 'Thou hast made (ISiiKas) thy house as it is this day,' but this may refer to a low condition or desecration of the temple. Had the city been in ruins, surely the poignant grief of the patriotic Jew could not have failed to express itself.

(4) There is a very close resemblance between Bar l">-2" and Dn 9"' ; in fact there are only three important variations, and these all refer to the condition of Jerusalem. Daniel's prayer is stated to have been uttered in the first year of Darius, at the close of the Captivity, and three times the desolate state of Jerus. IS referred to, Dn 9"- "■ '*; but in Bar all are omitted.

On any theory as to the relative priority of Dn and Bar this is significant ; but on Sehiirer s theory it amounts to this, that a man writing about A.D. 80, while slavishly imitating Dn 9, abruptly and intentionally selects for omission those parts only which refer to the desolate sanctuary. This we consider highly improbable. We are thus drawn to the theory of Ewald, who assigns our section to the times after the conquest of Jems, by Ptolemy I. in B.C.

320 {Die Jungsten Propheten, 269), or of Reuss, who assigns it to the times of the first Ptolemies. Its origin may be even earlier. At all events there does not seem valid reason, with Kritzsehe, to assign our section to the Maccab. period (Hb. z. d. Apocr. i. 173) on the ground of its dependence on Dn 9. The dependence is by no means self-evident.

But if it were so, and if the Book of Dn in its present form be late, this does not preclude the use of pre- existent materials ; and it is surely conceivable that in Dn 9 we have an ancient form of prayer traditionally associated with the name of Daniel, as the confession and prayer before us were associated with the name of Baruch. Bissell (Lange's Apocr. 417) and GiHord (Speaker's Apocr. 250) are also in favour of the early authorship of our section. Original Langxuige.

— It is highly probable that l'-3' was first composed in Heb. ; though the Gr text and VSS that have been tr. from the Gr. are all that survive. The very fact that the two prayers were designed for religious assemblies — the former one for the temple — is strong presump- tive proof of Heb. authorship (so Bissell, 417). In the margin of the Milan MS of the Syr. Hexap. text these words occur on 1" and 2' : ' This is not in the Heb.' (Zbckler blunders twice in stating this.)

But, apart from this, the linguistic evidence alone seems conclusive. 1. There are cases in which an awkward word in the Gr. can be shown to possess one of two mean- ings of a Heb. word, and the other meaning is that required by the context — 1=" ^p-ydfeirflai, to work, for serve. So njji 2 dliarov, wilderness, „ astonishment. „ ■i^P 2^ ifffpuTTos, man, „ each. „ p'x 2^ liudev, outside, „ streets. „ nisin 2 fi6iL§Ti(jii, buzzing, „ crowd. „ |icri 1 5e(r/iu5n)s, prisoner, ,, locksmith.

,, iJt? 2. Cases in which the unsuitable word suggests its own corrective, if we tr. it into Heb. and sub- stitute diflerent vowels or change one consonant. jw fuivva, wrong translit. of nijip. 2"" dTroo-ToX?) = 157 ^O'' "^^ plague. 3^ T(6vi)Kbrruv = 'iiD „ "D? men. 3* 6<p\riaii'— nuPD „ .ide'd astonishment. 3. Cases of slavish imitation of Heb. idiom in violation of the Greek. The word Kal occurs 120 times ; four times in the sense of ' but,' like Heb. i, 234.27.3(1 33_ xhen we have oS . .

iKei^oif iy.v, and o5 . . iir' ai'T(} = yhii iwN. But, to appreciate the full force of the evidence^ one has simply to attempt to retranslate the section. The idioms are Hebraistic everywhere. The Heb. seems, as Fritzsche says, to gleam through so plainly that one cannot doubt that the Gr. is a tr. Kneucker has, on the whole, given an admirable rendering of our section into the original Hebrew. It is a remarkable fact that most of the above awkward renderings occur in the LXX Gr. of Jer.

There can be little doubt that he who translated Jer also translated Bar l'-3*, and probably found it in Heb. attached to Jer. (So Westcott in Smith DB. ) The Greek of the rest of Baruch is almost certainly from another hand. We have here a further evidence of the antiquity of our section. ii. The Historical Introduction, I'-".— This is probably from a later author, because of the discre]iancies between it and l"-3'.

We conceive the matter thus : There were in existence two jienitcntial prayers — one for the remnant, one for the exiles — both associated with the name of Baruch, and the problem was to find a suitable historic origin for them. The solution is : Baruch is in Babylon, and reads a form of confession and iirajer, 2"-3', to king Jeconiah and the exiles. They listen, weep, and fast, and long that their brethren in Judah should also turn to the Lord. B.

writes a confession suited to the Judasans, l"'-2', and the exiles send it to Judah by him. Thus does the would-be historian explain the duality of l"-."". His historic locus now calls for explanation. The book was written in the 5th year on the 7 th of the mouth, at the time of the year when the Chal- daans took Jerus., i.e. on the fifth anniversary of the first fall of Jerus., B.C. 597 — the era from which Jer, Ezk, and Dn reckon. In B.C. 593 Seraiah, brother of Bar.

, was in Babylon with king Zedekiah (Jer 51°"). The natme of their mission is uncertain, but it was such as to rouse expectation; for at the same time prophets in Babylon, Jer 27", and Hananiah in Judah, Jer 28^, foretold that within two years the sacred ve.ssels would be restored, and Jeconiah and the exiles allowed to return ; but Jer BARUCH. BOOK OF BARUCll. BOOK OF 253 sternly contradicts this (Jer 29). These are the circumstances, shortly after which our author says that b.

comjioseii his book. The etiect of the read- ins of it we have described. In penitence the people send to Joakini the priest — probably the ba^an — money with which to purchase sacrifices and in- cense to olier on the altar of J". Thus far tliere is verisimilitude in the story. Jeconiah might well be present, for the first exiles, ' the good tigs,' were treated far more leniently than tlie second. The hoof of ignorance and late authorship shows itself, however, (1) in the statement that Jerus.

was burnt with fire in Jeconiah's reign ; (2) that the exiles asked the Juda;ans to ' pray for Nebuchad. and Ids tun lialtasar.' The monuments show that Hel- shazzar was the son of Nabonidus, who usurped the throne of Babylon ; and thouL'b Belshazzar might claim to be ' son ' of NebucTiad. to add to uis dignity, the title could not be given by one living years before. (3) The restoration of the silver vessels made by Zcdekiah after the deportation of Jeconiah (1^ ") is a hopeless tangle.

The fta.ssage has probably been worked over by a ater hand, who conceived of the locus as five years after the Jinal destruction of the city and temple. iu. A ^okhmist's Message to the Exiles, 3-4. — '0 Isr. whj' art thou in the land of thy foes? and grown old in a foreign land ? ' The reason is, 'Ihou hast forsaken the fountain of Wisdom.' Learn where Wisdom is, and there thou wilt find life and joy and peace. But where does Wisdom dwell ?

Have kings found her in the thickets of the forests hunting the boar ? Have birds stored in rojal aviaries seen her on high ? Have silver- workers mining under the earth seen her ? Young men, with vision unbedimmed by sin, can they give no clue ? Merchants of I'hijenicia and Teman, have they not seen her bj' sea or land ? The heroes of the hoary pa-st, — the giants, — can they help? No. God only knows her abode — the Creator of the beasts, the lightning, and the stars. He has embodied Wi.

sdom in the Law, and given it to Jacob. And in this guise Wisdom .appears on the earth and is accessible to man. The eternal Law is Wisdom incarnate. Walk in her light, O Israel ! and give not thy glory to another, nor thy advantages to a strange nation. DiUe. — Much of this section (3'"") is a close Imitation of Job 28 and 38 ; yet it possesses as much poetic fervour as an imitation can well do. It has nothing in common with 1"3' except the exile.

The part which is truly original is 3^-4, and therefore here we must seek for the date of composition. Israel is ' God's beloved,' ' having (Ro 2*') in the Law the form (libptpuaiv) of know- ledge and of truth ' ; and she is charged not to give her glory to another, nor her advantages {irvfi<pf- pofTo, cf. Ho 3') to a foreign jieople, but to walk in the light of the law, cf. Bar 4», Ho 2'".

Evidently, the privileges referred to are spiritual ones ; and Kneucker can hardly be incorrect in maintaining that Gentile Christians, the O'vp, are the dWiT-piox Idyot, of wliom the rigorous Jew bids his co- religioni.sls beware. There is no reference to recent calamities. Israel has 'grown old in a foreign land.' Therefore I should place this section a few years before, or some years after, the fall of Jerus- alem in A.D. 70. Orii/inal Liingunrje.

— We would submit that 3'-4' was first composed in Aramaic. The evi- dence we oll'ir is based on a comparison of the Greek with the versions — the Peshitta and Syr. Hcxapla. When the various readings are tr. into Aramaic we obtain cither one Aramaic word with the two desiderated meanings, or two words so nearly alike as easily to be mistaken for one another. peo fab K'DOy xbricators, j-NJ-p " disappeared, ivuidn 5' laid hold, ns " remembered, \^y^^t " meditates on, ninno •* watclies, p.

nni303 " appeared, I'jjnK 4 advantage, iini" Pesh. Pesh. Hex. Hex. Pesh. Vulg. Pesh. Pesh. Vulg. world, kdSv who acquire, pip sinned, imnoK cared for, ns trod, i3mK seeks ont, Kysnc places, p.nn3na wasrevealed, t>ynK dignity. r\fv It will be observed that the words are uniformly Pal. Aramaic — in some cases peculiar to that dialect. The author, therefore, was of the school of Sirach and not of Philo. iv. A Hellenist's Encouragement for the Exiles, 4°-5'.

^This section is clearly divisible into four odes, each commencing with some form of the verb ffappcif, and to these is appended a Ps closely related to the 11th of the Ps of Sol. 4'"' is drawn entirely from the Song of Moses in Dt 32. After this, in a passage of some beauty and originalitj- (4"""), Jerus. is personified as a woman, narrating her troubles to the neighbours of Zion ; then (v.'"')

, as if on the eve of captivity, she bids her children shorten their adieux, as she has put on the sack- cloth of prayer. The prayer is not in vain. Joy comes to her from the Holy One (v.^'). The mother (v.''") again addresses her children, but now in terms of hopefulness, begging them to be patient and in- tensely prayerful, since the hour of deliverance is at hand.

At 4 the author assumes the rule of the prophet, and foretells the doom of Israel's foes, and then (4'-5") he announces the future prosperity of Zion in a pas.sage of remarkable beauty, but too closely copied from Ps-Sol IL Date. — We unhesitatingly place the composition of this section after the destruction of Jerus. by Titus. Ryle and James have certainly proved the dependence of Bar on the Psalter {Psalms of Sol. Ixxii.-lxxvii.

) ; and there is little reason to suspect that it ever existed except in Greek. The Gr. moves so easily and is fairly idiomatic. Its Hebraisms are due to quotations from books themselves tr. from Sem. sources. The fall of the city is still within the memory of the writer ; the desolation is com- plete ; its captives have gone forth with wailing ami woe. The increasingly joyful tone can hardly have arisen within ten years of the destruction of the city, as Kneucker liolds.

Hope must again have kiixiled in the Jewish breast, and possibly the events in the reign of Hadrian, A.D. 118, are those to which the writer looks forward ; though all through this interval most of the Jews never doulited that the temple would be rebuilt. The author of 4''-5' was probably the translator of 3'-4*. Canonical Standing. — Tuough there is strong evidence that l'-3'' was composed in Heb.

, and some evidence that it once followed Jer in the Canon, it was dropped before the time of]Jerome ; so that he says {Pia'f. in Jer), ' nee legitur nee habetur apud Hebra;os,'aiid Epiph. {de mens. ) bears the same testimony. In the Gr. of the Apost. Const, v. 20 it is, however, said to be used by the Jews (? of the Dispersion) on the 10th of Gorpiieus, i.e. on the Day of Atonement. The reference is wanting in the Syr. text, and has no confirmation whatever.

Our iJook is not mentioned by any NT writer or apost. Father, but from Athenagoros (ft. 17G) on- wards for centuries it is quoted as canonical by almost every Christian writer of eminence. This remark applies especially to S*"" ' This is our God. . He hath found out the way of knowledge. . Afterward ilid she (i.e. Wisdom) appear on earth and was conversant witli men.' Kneucker and Schiirer regard v." (EV) as a Christian in- terjiolation ; but without sullicieiit reason.

The wnter personifies Wisdom, and idcntifu's her with the Law ; as we see from 4' (which ought never 254 BARZILLAI BASE to have been separated by a chapter-division) • This is tlie book of tne commands of God, even the Law which abides for ever.' Christian writers tena- ciously claimed this as a proof-text for tlie divinity of the Wisdom-Logos, and therefore firmly retained Bar in the Canon.

Jerome was the lirst for two centuries to call its canonicity in question, and hence Bar is wanting in Codex Amiatinus ; but his criticisms produced no apparent result on the beliefs of his age. Reuscb, a Romanist commentator, pves an exhaustive account of tlie citations from liar by early Christian writers, and devotes an appendix to their explanations of SSi^^^.

From these citations I conn>ute that, of the 75 verses from 3^-5^, 43 are found, eited as canonical, in the patjes of Christian writers. It is also interesting to note that in every extant List of Canonical Books, Bar either is named or can be proved to be included under Jer — the only doubtful exception beinj that of Melito. Didymus Alex, t 395 distinctly says that Jer and Bar form one book. List of Canonical Books. Melito . c. 180 Is, Jer, XII. Proph. Origen , .

t 253 Jer, Lara, Ep, but quotes Bar as Jer. Cone. Laod. 363 Jer, Bar, Lam, Ep (of Jeremy). Hilary . t 367 Jer, Lam, Ep, but quotes Bar as Jer. Athanasius . t 373 Jer, Bar, Lam, Ep. Cvril Jer. , i SStJ Jer, Bar, Lam, Ep. Cone. Carth. 3:>7 Jer (but see Buhl, 61-62). Gre^. Naz. f 391 Jer, but quotes Bar S^"" as Scr. Epiphanius . t 403 Jer, Lam. Ep, Bar (Hcer. 8. 6). Kutinus . i 410 Jer, but quotes Bar 3*5 as Scr. Jerome . t 420 Jer, first to reject Bar. Auffustine .

t 430 Jer, but quotes Bar often. Codex K • . Jer, Lara, Ep, fragraentary. B . , Jer, Bar, Lara, Ep. A . Jer, Bar, Lam, Ep. D . Jer. Casaiodorua . c. 640 Jer. Quotes Bar as Jer. Anast. Sin. c. 650 Jer. Quotes Bar as Jer. John Damage, t 750 Jer. Quotes Bar often. From the last quarter of the 2nd cent, to the time of the Reformation, Jerome's is almost the only discordant note in the harmony of universal acceptance in the Christian Church.

Wyclif in the Sreface to his Bible inserted the statement from erome, that in UT nothing but the Heb. Canon is of divine authority, but published all the Apocr. Luther and the other Reformers removed Bar from the Canon ; but, though Ximenes and Erasmus were both disposed to draw a line of demarcation between canon, and apocr. books, the Council of Trent peremptorily included Bar and the rest of the Apocr. among the sacred books of Scripture.