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APOCALYPSE

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 455 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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APOCALYPSE of See also:

BARUCH. The See also:discovery of this See also:long lost apocalypse was due to Ceriani. This apocalypse has survived only in the See also:Syriac version of which Ceriani discovered a 6th See also:century MS. in the See also:Milan library. Of this he published a Latin See also:translation in 1866 (Monumenta Sacra, I. ii. 73 98), which Fritzsche reproduced in 1871 (Libri Apocryphi V.T., pp.654-699), and the See also:text in 1871 (Mon. Sacra. V. ii.113-18o), and subsequently l In ii. 25 we have the word &irooroA* with the extraordinary meaning of " See also:plague " as in Jer. xxxix. (xxxii.) 36.in photo-lithographic facsimile in 1883. Chaps. lxxviii.-lxxvvi., indeed, of this See also:book have long been known. These constitute Baruch's See also:epistle to the nine and a See also:half tribes in captivity, and have been published in Syriac and Latin in the See also:London and See also:Paris Polyglots, and in Syriac alone from one MS. in See also:Lagarde's Libri V. T.

Apocryphi Syr. (1861) ; and by See also:

Charles from ten See also:MSS. (Apocalypse of Baruch, 1896; pp. 124 167). The entire book was translated into See also:English by . the last-named writer (op. cit. pp. 1-167), and into See also:German by Ryssel (Kautzsch's Apok.und Pseud., 1900, ii. pp. 41.3-446)• The Syriac is translated from the See also:Greek; for Greek words are occasionally transliterated, and passages. can be explained only on the See also:hypothesis that the wrong alternative meanings of certain Greek words were followed by the translator. The Greek in turn is derived from the See also:Hebrew, for unintelligible expressions in the Syriac can be explained and the text restored by retranslation into Hebrew. Thus in xxi. 9, it, 12, See also:xxiv. 2, ]xii. 7 we have an unintelligible See also:antithesis, " those who See also:sin and those who are justified." The source of the See also:error can be discovered by retranslation.

The Syriac in these passages is a stock rendering of&ucawikrOat, and this in turn of pis. But pis means not only &iccatofia6at but also &eases eivae, and this is the very meaning required by the context in the above passages: " those who sin and those who are righteous." 2 Again xliv. 12 the text reads: " the new See also:

world which does not turn to corruption those who depart on its beginning and has no See also:mercy on those who depart to torment." Here " on its beginning " is set over antithetically against " to torment," whereas the context requires " to its blessedness." The words " on its beginning "—veto, a corruption of raves-" to its blessedness." Again in lvi. 6 it is said that the fall of See also:man brought grief; anguish, See also:pain, trouble and boasting into the world. The See also:term " boasting " in this connexion cannot b'e right. The word= rcabxr a=then(?). corrupt for r6,re, "disease." A further ground for inferring a Hebrew See also:original is to be found in the fact that paronomasiae not infrequently discover themselves in the course of retranslation into Hebrew..', One instance will suffice. In xlviii. 35, See also:Honour will be- turned into shame, strength humiliated into contempt . and beauty will become a scorn " contains three such: 'ad', rem 'es- ns Sa ~~r 1y la5py Ie;r. ii» (see Charles, Apac. See also:Bar. pp. xliv.-liii). The See also:necessity of postulating a Hebrew original was first shown by the See also:present writer, and has since been maintained by See also:Wellhausen (Skizzen is. Vorarbeiten, vi. 234), by Ryssel (Apok. and Pseudepig.

A. T.; 1900, ii. 411), and Ginzberg (Jewish See also:

Encyclopaedia, ii. 555). Different Elements in the Book and their See also:Dates.—As there are undoubtedly conflicting elements in the book, it is possible to assume either a diversity of authorship or a diversity of See also:sources: The latter view is advocated by Ryssel andGinzberg, the former by Kabisch, de Faye, R. H. Charles and See also:Beer (See also:Herzog's Real-enc., See also:art. •" Pseudepigraphen See also:des See also:Alten Testaments," p. 250): A See also:short See also:summary may here be given of the grounds on which the present writer has postulated a diversity of authorship. If the See also:letter to the tribes in captivity (lxxviii lxxxvi.) be disregarded, the book falls into seven sections separated by fasts, See also:save in one. See also:case (after See also:xxxv.) where the text is probably defective. These sections, -which are of unequal length, are—(1) i.-v. 6; (2) v.

7-viii.; (3) ix.-xii. 4; (4)- xii. 5-xx.; (5) xxi.-axxv.; (6) See also:

xxxvi.-xlvi.; (7) xlvii.-lxxvii. These treat of the See also:Messiah and the Messianic See also:kingdom, the woes of See also:Israel in the past and the destruction of See also:Jerusalem in the present, as well as of theological questions See also:relating to original sin, See also:free will, See also:works, the number of the saved, the nature of the resurrection See also:body, &c. The views expressed on several of the above subjects are often conflicting. In one class of passages there is everywhere See also:manifest a vigorous optimism as. to ;Israel's ultimate -well-being on See also:earth, and the blessedness of the chosen See also:people in the Messianic kingdom is sketched in glowing and sensuous See also:colours (See also:xxix., xxxix.-xl., lxiii -lxxiv.). Over against these passages stand others of a hopelessly pessimistic See also:character, wherein, alike as to Israel's 2 Ryssel has adopted Charles's restoration of the text in these passages and practically also in xliv. 12. but without See also:acknowledgment. present and future destiny an earth, there is written nothing save " lamentation, and See also:mourning, and woe." The world is a See also:scene of corruption, its evils are irremediable, its end is nigh, and the See also:advent of the new and spiritual world at See also:hand. The first to draw See also:attention to the composite elements in this book was Kabisch (Jahrbecher f. protest. Theol., 1891, pp. 66-ro7).

This critic regarded xxiv. 3-xxix., xxxvi.–xl. and liii.–lxxiv. as See also:

independent sources written before the fall of Jerusalem, A.D. 70, and his groundwork, which consists of the See also:rest of his book, with the exception of a few verses, as composed after that date. All these elements were put together by a See also:Christian contemporary of See also:Papias. Many of these conclusions were arrived at independently by a See also:French See also:scholar, De Faye (See also:Les Apocalypses juives, 1892, pp. 25-28, 76-103, 192-204). The present writer (Apocalypse of Baruch, 1896, pp. liii.-lxvii.), after submitting the book to a fresh study, has come to the following conclusions:—The book is of Pharisaic authorship and composed of six independent writings—Al, See also:A2, A3, B', B2, B3. The first three were composed when Jerusalem was still See also:standing and the Messiah and the Messianic kingdom were expected: Al, a mutilated apocalypse =See also:xxvii.–xxx. 1; A2, the See also:Cedar and See also:Vine See also:Vision=xxxvi.–xl.; A3, the See also:Cloud Vision=liii.–lxxiv. The last three were written after A.D. 70, and probably before 9o. Thus B3=lxxxv. was written by a See also:Jew in See also:exile, who, despairing of a See also:national restoration, looked only for a spiritual recompense in See also:heaven.

The rest of the book is derived from B' and B2, written in See also:

Palestine after A.D. 70. These writings belong to very different types of thought. In $1 the earthly Jerusalem is to be rebuilt, but not so in B2; in the former the exiles are to be restored, but not in the latter; in the former a Messianic kingdom without a Messiah is expected, but no earthly blessedness of any See also:kind in the latter, &c. B'=i.–ix. 1, xxxii. 2-4, xliii.–xliv. 7, xlv.–xlvi., lxxvii.–lxxxii., lxxxiv., lxxxvi.–lxxxvii. B2=ix.–xxv., See also:xxx. 2–xxxv., xli.–xlii., xliv. 8-15, xlvii.–lii., . lxxv.–lxxvi., lxxxiii. The final editor of the See also:work wrote in the name of Baruch the son of Neriah.

The above See also:

critical analyses -were attacked and rejected by Clemen (See also:Stud. and Krit., 1898, 211 sqq.). He fails, however, in many cases to recognize the difficulties at issue, and those which cannot be ignored he sets down to the conflicting apocalyptic traditions, on which the author was obliged to draw for his subject-See also:matter, Though Ryssel (Kautzsch, Apok. u. Pseud, des A. T. ii. 409) has followed Clemen, neither has given any real explanation of the disorder of the book as it stands at present. Beer (op. cit.) agrees that xxxvi.–xl. and liii.–lxx.-are of different authorship from the rest of the book and belong to the earlier date. Relation to 4 See also:Ezra.—The See also:affinities of this book and 4 Ezra are so numerous (see Charles, op. cit. 17o-171) that See also:Ewald and See also:Ryle assumed identity of authorship. But their points of divergence are so weighty (see op. cit. pp. lxix.-lxxi.) that this view cannot be sustained. Three courses still remain open. If we assume that both works are composite, we shall perforce admit that some of the constituents of 4 Ezra are older than the latest of Baruch, and that other constituents of Baruch are decidedly older than the remaining ones of 4 Ezra. On the other hand, if we assume unity of authorship, it seems impossible to arrive at finality on the See also:chronological relations of these two works.

See also:

Langen, See also:Hilgenfeld, Wieseler, Stahelin, See also:Renan, See also:Hausrath,See also:Drummond, See also:Dillmann, See also:Rosenthal, Gunkel, have maintained on various grounds the priority of 4 Ezra; and See also:Schurer, See also:Bissell, See also:Thomson, See also:Deane, Kabisch, De Faye, Wellhausen, and Ryssel the priority of Baruch on grounds no less convincing. Relation to Rabbinical Literature.—A very See also:close relation subsists between our book and rabbinical literature. Indeed in some instances the See also:parallels are so close that they are almost word for word. The description of the destruction of Jerusalem by angels in vi.–viii. is found also in the Pesikta Rabbati 26 (ed. See also:Friedmann 131a). By means of this passage we are, as Ginzberg has shown, able tc correct the corrupt See also:reading " the See also:holy See also:Ephod" (vi. 7), See also:snipe into " the holy See also:Ark," i.e. crepe pate, What ,.might be taken as poetic fancies in our text are recounted as See also:historical facts in rabbinical literature. Thus the words (x. 18):" And ye priests, take ye the keys of the See also:sanctuary, And See also:cast them into the height of heaven, And give them to the See also:Lord and say : 'Guard Thine own See also:house; for lo we are found unfaithful stewards,'" are given in various accounts of the fall of Jerusalem. (See Ta'anith, 29a; Pesikt. R., loc. cit.; Yalqut Shim'oni on Is. xxi; Aboth of See also:Rabbi Nathan vii.). Even the statement that the bodies of See also:Sennacherib's soldiers were burned while their garments and See also:armour remained unconsumed has its parallel in Sanh.

94a. Integrity of the Book.—In lxxvii. Iq it is said that Baruch wrote two epistles, one to the nine and a half tribes and the other to the two and a half at See also:

Babylon. The former is found in lxxviii.-lxxxvi.; the latter is lost, but is probably preserved either wholly or in See also:part inthe Book of Baruch, iii. 9-iv. 29 (see Charles, op. cit.) ; pp. lxv.–lxvii). On the other hand, it is not necessary to infer from lxxv. that an See also:account of Baruch's See also:assumption was to be looked for in the book.

End of Article: APOCALYPSE

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