THE GREEK APOCALYPSE OF BARUCH

"And the angel of the powers said to me, Come and I will show thee the mysteries of God."

BARUCH.

THE GREEK APOCALYPSE OF BARUCH

(INTRODUCTION)

HERE is a Book of Baruch among those apocrypha

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which our general introduction described as of the first class; that is, books still accepted by the Roman Catholic church and occasionally reprinted even in Protestant Bibles. There are also six or seven other Baruch apocrypha. Baruch's name was naturally borrowed as one under which to announce religious preachings; for he appears in the Old Testament as a lesser prophet or scribe, the staunch supporter of the greater prophet Jeremiah through all the latter's tribulations. Again and again Baruch is represented as reading to the people from his book. Hence many books were afterward assigned to him.

Among these was the Apocalypse here given. It is a Greek work of the second century after Christ; but behind this there must have been a Jewish original, for much of the thought is Hebraic. This Greek version was written by a Christian, whose main purpose seems to have been to warn the unconverted Jews of their wickedness in not accepting Christianity. This then is a typical apocrypha of the "apocalypse" class. That is, it depicts an ancient prophet as foreseeing the end of the world, or in this case the heavens beyond the world, and it describes this vision with an earnest ethical purpose.

The "seven heavens" described in this apocalypse form the most complete and fully organized idea of a heavenly kingdom or social world preserved from Hebraic or early Christian teaching. Indeed it is the theology of this book which lends its chief interest. The intercession of angels for men is taught, and, more important still, Adam is not represented as plunging all his race into sin. Each man is here definitely declared to be his own Adam, causing his own fall. "The men who now drink insatiably the wine transgress worse than Adam."

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A narrative and revelation of Baruch, concerning those ineffable things which he saw by command of God. Bless Thou, O Lord.

A revelation of Baruch, who stood upon the river Gel weeping over the captivity of Jerusalem, when also Abimelech was preserved by the hand of God, at the farm of Agrippa.2 And he was sitting thus at the beautiful gates, where the Holy of holies lay.

Verily I, Baruch, was weeping in my mind and sorrowing on account of the people, and that Nebuchadrezzar the King was permitted by God to destroy His city, saying: Lord, why didst Thou set on fire Thy vineyard, and lay it waste? Why didst Thou do this? And why, Lord, didst Thou not requite us with another chastisement, but didst deliver us to nations such as these, so that they reproach us and say, Where is their God? And behold as I was weeping and saying such things, I saw an angel of the Lord coming and saying to me: Understand, O man, greatly beloved, and trouble not thyself so greatly concerning the salvation of Jerusalem, for thus saith the Lord God the Almighty. For He sent me before thee, to make known and to show to thee all the things of God. For thy prayer was heard before Him, and entered into the ears of the Lord God. And when

1 It is recorded that Abimelech fell asleep in the garden of Agrippa at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, and did not awake for sixtysix years.

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2"The farm of Agrippa." Rendel Harris identifies this with the fertile valley below Solomon's Pools, known as Solomon's Gardens. See Josephus, Antiquities," viii. 7. 3, “There was a certain place about fifty furlongs distant from Jerusalem, which is called Etham, very pleasant it is in fine gardens, and abounding in rivulets of water; thither did he (Solomon) use to go out in the morning."

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he had said these things to me, I was silent. And the angel said to me: Cease to provoke God, and I will show thee other mysteries, greater than these. And I, Baruch, said, As the Lord God liveth, if thou wilt show me, and I hear a word of thine, I will not continue to speak any longer. God shall add to my judgment in the day of judgment, if I speak hereafter. And the angel of the powers said to me, Come and I will show thee the mysteries of God.

And he took me and led me where the firmament has been set fast, and where there was a river which no one can cross, nor any strange breeze of all those which God created. And he took me and led me to the first heaven, and showed me a door of great size. And he said to me, Let us enter through it, and we entered as though borne on wings, a distance of about thirty days' journey. And he showed me within the heaven a plain; and there were men dwelling thereon, with the faces of oxen, and the horns of stags, and the feet of goats, and the haunches of lambs. And I, Baruch, asked the angel, Make known to me, I pray thee, what is the thickness of the heaven in which we journeyed, or what is its extent, or what is the plain, in order that I may also tell the sons of men? And the angel whose name is Phamael said to me: This door which thou seest is the door of heaven, and as great as is the distance from earth to heaven, so great also is its thickness; and again as great as is the distance from North to South, so great is the length of the plain which thou didst see. And again the angel of the powers said to me, Come, and I will show thee greater mysteries. But I said, pray thee show me what are these men. And he said to me, These are they who built the tower of strife against God, and the Lord banished them.

And the angel of the Lord took me and led me to a second heaven. And he showed me there also a door like the first

and said, Let us enter through it.

And we entered, being