2 Baruch 4:1–7: A Jewish Perspective
The Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch or 2 Baruch, an early second century c.e. book from Israel/Palestine, writes
about the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians and the impending destruction
of Jerusalem and its temple. This historical scenery, however, is used as a
means to cope with the fact of the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 c.e. The crucial questions of the book
are: Why could this destruction happen? What are the roles of the Jews, the
pagans, and God? And very important: what is left for the Jews now that the
temple is not there anymore and the Jews dispersed? I quote a verse from 2 Baruch (85:3) which can be seen as the
summa of the book:
… we have
left our land, and Zion has been taken away from us, and we have nothing now
apart from the Mighty One and his Law.
The
importance of God and the Law is strongly emphasized throughout the book. The
author makes clear that Jews can also live without the Jewish land, Jerusalem,
and the Temple and thereby remain Jewish. The condition is that they adhere to
God and the Law. However, the author also heavily stresses the importance of
the land of Israel, Jerusalem, and the temple. This is an obvious tension which
the author tries to overcome by two concepts. Firstly, at the end of times God
will restore the land of Israel, Jerusalem, and the temple (2 Bar. 85:4). He will save all those, or
better: only those who are in the land at that time (2 Bar. 29:2; 40:2).
This all
applies to the future. What about the presence of the author and his
addressees? Now, secondly, the concept of the heavenly Jerusalem comes at the
fore: 2 Bar. 4:1–7. Narratively we
are still in the time before the destruction of the First Temple. God says to
Baruch that the city will be delivered up for a time (v. 1). Then we can read
that God says (vv. 2–3):
Or do you
think that this is the city of which I said: On the palms of my hands I have carved you? [Isa 49:16] It is not
this building that is in your midst now.
The earthly
city of Jerusalem and its temple—“this building” refers to the temple (see also
v. 5)—are not identical with the city and the temple God had planned. Then the
text continues:
It is that
which will be revealed, with me, that was already prepared from the moment that
I decided to create Paradise.
Together
with God’s revelation—at the end of times—the city and the temple will be
revealed. Thus they are not only in the mind of God they are also ready,
finished. To say more, Jerusalem was prepared before God decided to create
Paradise. This means two things: First, the preexistent Jerusalem is connected with Paradise (see also v. 6)
and with a paradisiac state at the end of times. In Paradise people—and one can
say here Jews—do not transgress the law. They do not sin. By the way, only
those Jews who do not sin will survive the end of times according to 2 Baruch. Thus paradisiac state and
living according to the law are intertwined. The accounts of the visions of
Adam, Abraham, and Moses in 2 Bar.
4:3–5 exemplify this connection:
And I
showed it to Adam before he sinned. But when he transgressed the commandment,
it was taken away from him—as also Paradise. After these things I showed it to
my servant Abraham in the night between the portions of victims. And again I
showed it also to Moses on Mount Sinai when I showed him the likeness of the
tabernacle and all its vessels.
Secondly,
the heavenly Jerusalem is extant before
Paradise. Thus, it becomes even more important than Paradise. This is the
highest distinction Jerusalem and its temple can receive.
For the
addressees of 2 Baruch the concept of
the heavenly Jerusalem has three functions:
1. It
comforts them because Jerusalem was already there before the earthly Jerusalem;
and ever since it has been being much better than the earthly Jerusalem and
even than Paradise. Also in the Diaspora, Jews have this Jerusalem in heaven
which is everywhere above them.
2. This
heavenly Jerusalem will be revealed at the end of times. God himself will
restore the earthly city by this heavenly one; all in the land of Israel, the
land of salvation. Thus via the heavenly Jerusalem the Jews persist to
orientate themselves towards the land of Israel, Jerusalem, and the temple;
both now and for the future.
3. The
combination of the heavenly Jerusalem with Paradise and sinlessness admonishes
the Jews to adhere to the Jewish law wherever they are.
Galatians and 2 Baruch in Comparison
A few
concluding remarks with respect to the function of the heavenly Jerusalem for
the addressees of the respective writings:
1. In
Gal 4 the concept of the heavenly Jerusalem functions as a device to dissociate Paul’s addressees from the
earthly Jerusalem and even to disqualify the importance of the earthly
Jerusalem. In 2 Baruch the same
concept functions as a device to associate
the addressees with the location of the earthly Jerusalem and the land of
Israel.
2. For
Paul, the importance of Jerusalem persists. He uses the metaphor of this very
city and connects the city with Jewish parentage. Thereby he integrates his
probably non-Jewish Christian addressees into the Jewish ethnos; and he relativizes or even disqualifies in Gal 4 the
importance of the Jewish law. In 2 Baruch
Paradise and the heavenly Jerusalem are connected with sinnlesness. This means
that obeying the Jewish law is indispensable for the salvation at the end of
times.
3. For
Paul and his addressees there is no need to go or to return to the land of
Israel. In 2 Baruch the salvation
will only take place in the land of Israel where the heavenly Jerusalem will be
revealed. In other words: Something better than Paradise.
In short,
via the heavenly Jerusalem the Christians and the Jews of the two texts we
dealt with can position themselves in the world as a group and define their
relationship to the earthly Jerusalem and the land of Israel. (J. Cornelis de Vos, “Jerusalem: Why on Earth
Is It in Heaven? A Comparison between Galatians 4:21–31 and 2 Baruch 4:1–7,” in
Exploring the Narrative: Jerusalem and Jordan in the Bronze and Iron Ages,
ed. Eveline van der Steen et al. [Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies
583; London: Bloomsbury, 2014], 330-333)
