4.1-7
Adam plays a supportive role in
this passage, the concern of which is the historical fall of Jerusalem. The
author offers two reasons for not despairing: this chastening is temporary
(4.1); the city which fell was not the true, celestial city (4.2-7). The author
introduces Adam to demonstrate that the celestial city is pre-existent. God
showed it to the first man prior to the present epoch of history now it is
invisible to all but the most exceptional people, Abraham and Moses.
The author includes Adam alongside
Abraham and Moses. Through Abraham and Moses, eschatological hope and obedience
to the Law, respectively, both of which are essential features of the author’s
solution to the catastrophe of 70 CE, came into existence. Because God does not
easily reveal secrets to many (48.3), God’s showing paradise to Adam indicates
the exalted status of Adam prior to his transgression.
The nature of God’s revelation is
evident in the Syriac clause, mn qdm dl’ nḥṭa (4.3). Klijn translates
these words, ‘before he sinned’. They could be translated, ‘beforehand, lest
[in order that he might not] he should sin’ (see 64.2). God revealed
the celestial city to Adam to prevent him from sinning. This suggested
translation is consistent with the author’s Tendenz, according to which
sin is the conscious rejection of God and God’s command (e.g. 13.12; 48.40;
54.18; 82.9). No people are excused; there is no inadvertent sin. 2Bar 4.3 is,
therefore, an example of the superimposition of the author’s own view of sin
upon the otherwise positive portrait of Adam’s receiving a revelation of
paradise. (John R. Levison, Portraits of Adam in Early Judaism: From Sirach
to 2 Baruch [Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplement Series
1; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1988], 130-31, emphasis in bold added)
56.6-10
This passage provides a remarkable
list which includes eleven consequences of Adam’s transgression. In 56.6-10 the
author demonstrates an awareness of Genesis; the sequence proceeds from Adam to
the angels (gen 6) to the flood to Abraham, Nonetheless, while some of the
eleven effects of Ada’s sin emerge from Genesis 3, many are included to reflect
the sorrows of the present, evil age. Because the author is intensely concerned
with these difficulties, his inclusion of many elements of this list is due to
the influence of his Tendenz, combined with Genesis 3, rather than to
independent Adam speculation. The list includes:
1. ‘Untimely death’. With Adam
transgression came death prior to the appropriate time. In 73.3-4 these words
denote violent, early death: ‘And nobody again will die untimely, nor will any
adversity take place suddenly. Judgment, condemnations, contentions, revenges,
blood, passions, zeal, hate, and all such things. . . ‘ Violent, untimely death
may constitute an allusion to Cain’s untimely murder of Abel. (Ibid., 139)