Studien zu Form Entwicklung und theologiegeschichtlicher Einordnung von Baruch 4-5
Final Report Abstract
The main chapters of the present research have resulted some implications concerning the formative issues of Baruch 4:5-5:9, and the book as a whole. The oldest part of the researched material of the book seems to be the second prophetic psalm, Baruch 4:30-5:6. First, its strict structure - compared to the less carefully shaped first prophetic psalm - and consistent vocabulary delimitate it from the context. Second, the Biblical background of the opening acclamation in 4:30 is secondarily elaborated in the first prophetic psalm. As for the genre, 4:30-5:6 consists of the Apostrophe to Zion, a poem parallel to Tobit 13:10-18 or 11Q5 xxii 1-15. Instead of this, the genre of the first prophetic psalm is rather a consolation for Israel, where the personified Jerusalem reinforces and strengthens her children, the people. This first prophetic psalm appears as an elaboration on the earlier material of 4:30-5:6. Similarly, the three closing verses of 5:7-9 seem to be a sort of appendix, secondarily inserted into their actual context. It combines the Israel orientation of the first prophetic psalm with the strong Isaianic outlook of the second. The insertion of these verses raises the question of the relationship between Baruch and Psalms of Solomon 11; this problem, however, cannot be reassuringly solved. The style, the structure, and especially the Biblical citations require compositional Greek as the original language. The several Hebraisms might be understood as faults of an author whose language is Hebrew but who writes in Greek. As for the development of the book as a whole: the themes, the Biblical background, the vocabulary, the original language, and the respective theological outlooks equally suggest that the prophetic psalms have emerged independently from the rest of the Book of Baruch. No clear historical allusions can be found for its precise dating. The thought of the prophetic psalms requires a setting of an acute national distress. Conceivable contexts for the psalms are: the Antiochian crisis, the capture of Jerusalem by Pompey, the events of 4 BC, or the demolition of the Temple by the Romans in 70 CE.
Publications
- "Conflicting Ideas about the Temple in 2 Baruch 4 and 6", in Judaism and Crisis: Crisis as a Catalyst in Jewish Cultural History (eds. A. Lange, K.F.D. Römheld, M. Weigold), Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2011, 153-164
Geza G. Xeravits
