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them. The angels that accompany the righteous hand baskets of flowers to Michael, who gives them to God but other angels stand downcast and with empty baskets, not daring to draw nigh. These latter are the angels that accompany the evil-doers. They beg Michael to free them from their duties; for they do not wish to gaze any longer upon the sins of man. After Michael has brought the virtues of men to God, he returns and tells the angels what God has communicated to him. He gives the angels of the righteous a reward for the righteous, and bids the other angels inflict punishment of all kinds on the evil-doers. Then the angel that has guided Baruch takes him back to the place whence he started.

The latest date at which the Apocalypse

of

Baruch

could have been written is determined by the fact that Origen (185-254) made a citation

Relation to Other

from it

("

De Principiis, " ii.

3, 6).

The

question as to the earliest date depends Works, upon the relation of this Baruch Apocalypse to the other works ascribed to the same author, and to the apocryphal and pseudepigraphic literature in general. It is certain that the Apocalypse was influenced by the (Slavonic) Book of Enoch, a work of about the middle of the first Christian century. It is, however, a question whether the Greek version employed the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch, since ch. lxxvi. of the latter, in which Baruch receives a promise of cosmic revelations, affords arguments rather against than for such a supposition. The assumption is untenable that the Greek Apocalypse was written to show the actual fulfilment of the promise. The critical point in the Syriac Apocalypse lies in this chapter when Baruch, before leaving earth, obtains a full survey of it in order that he may see what he is leaving and whither he is going. This idea is based upon an opinion held

Joseph (Sifre, Num. 136) and others, that God allowed not only Moses, but other favored pious men to behold before their death the whole world and all the mysteries of nature. Now, if the Greek Apocalypse was complementary to the Syriac, the author of the former would not have failed to join his story of Baruch's passage through heaven to this account of his last act on earth. The alleged connection of the Apocalypse with other pseudepigraphic works is only vaguely indiThe same is true of the cated, and proves nothing. linguistic relation which, it is asserted, exists between the Apocalypse and the New Testament. For instance, vpipa rrjc icpioeuc is not taken from the New Testament, since " Yom ha-Din " (the Day of Judgment) is an expression used before Christian times, and occurs more frequently in rabbinical literature than in the New Testament. Only one passage can with certainty be considered a Christian interpolation and that is the one concerning the vine already

by Akiba

b.



The interpolareferred to as occurring in ch. iv. It interrupts tion here is very unskilfully made. the sequence, and adds entirely foreign elements. There are also other evidences that the Apocalypse has not been preserved in its original form. For example, it is natural to expect descriptions of the sixth and seventh heavens but these are lacking. The following two points show the position of the

Apocalypse in relation to other

literature of a simi-

lar nature:

Baruch, Apocalypse of

(1) It is

perhaps the one Jewish work

which undoubtedly betrays Indian

influence.

The

phenix, referred to in this Apocalypse as the companion of the sun, and the

It Betrays

Indian

wonderful description of

Influence.

abty of

Indian

mythology

origin

relates



much

it,

are prob-

Indian

for

that

is

sim-

concerning the bird Garuda, the companion of the sun-god Vishnu (" Mahabharata Adi Parva," xvi.-xxxiv. compare James, " The Apocalypse of Baruch," Introduction, pp. lxiii.-lxvi., in "Texts and

ilar



Studies," I.e.). (2) Michael's

as described in ch. xi.-xvi., his functions the early church is striking; and the relation between the two is obvious. It is probably not correct, however, to consider Michael in the Apocalypse as the office,

The resemblance between and those ascribed to Jesus by

is significant.

Logos or Jesus

in a Jewish garb. of the similarity between the two

The explanation must be sought in

the fact that, at the time when Christianity arose, the carrying out of a too transcendental conception of monotheism required, in order that the relation of God to man might be explained, the supposition of some mediator and no one was better suited for this part than Michael, the prince of the angels. With the advent of Christianity the duties of Michael were ascribed to Jesus or Logos (compare W. Lueken, "Michael," 1898). In view of these facts, it may be assumed as certain that the author of the Apocalypse was not a Pharisee, since the Pharisees opposed decidedly such doubtful angel-lore. He must have been one of the Gnostics, who revered equally the Haggadah, Greek mythology, and Oriental wisdom. To consider the Apocalypse a Jewish Gnostic work would also be in accordance with the date arrived at for its origin namely, the beginning of the second century, when gnosis was at its height



among both Jews and

Christians.

Bibliography Bonwetsch and James, as above Charles, The Apocalypse of Baruch, introduction,

R. H. pp. 2022 Morflll, in Texts and Studies, v., No. 1, giving English translation of the Slavonic text; Kautzsch, Die Apokryphen und Pseudepigraphen des Alien Testaments, ii. 402-404, 446-457, containing German translation of the Greek version with critical notes and introduction. L. G. t.





BAItUCH, APOCALYPSE OF (Syriac): A pseudepigraphic work in which Baruch narrates his experiences during the periods just before and after the destruction of the Temple, and gives an account of the revelations received by him concerning the With the exception of a small fragment, future. chapters lxxviii.-lxxxvi., the work has become known only recently. It has been preserved in In 1866 Ceriani published a Latin translaSyriac. tion of the Syriac text ("Monumenta Sacra," I. ii. 73-98), the Syriac text itself in ordinary type in 1871, and in facsimile in 1883. Following is an outline of

work

the contents of the

God reveals to Baruch the impending destruction of Jerusalem, and bids him leave the city along with all other pious persons, since their presence there would preserve it from destrucBaruch, at first hopeless over the sad tidings, tion. is comforted by God, who assures him that Israel's woes will not be permanent, but that after the nation's chastisement a glorious heavenly Temple Chapters

i.-v.