Introduction
Preface
1. The Prophet Baruch and the Author of the Book of Baruch.
2. The Contents of the Book of Baruch.
3. The Time, Place, and Purpose of Writing the Book of Baruch.
4. The Original Language of the Book.
5. The Unity of the Book.
6. The Ecclesiastical Dignity of the Book of Baruch.
7. Literature.
Preface
1. The Prophet Baruch and the Author of the Book of Baruch.
Baruch, the friend and helper of Jeremiah, probably came from a noble family, as is evident from the fact that his ancestors are reckoned to the fifth generation (Bar 1:1). His brother Seraiah oversaw the collection of taxes under King Zedekiah (Jer 51:59). He had to endure many persecutions together with Jeremiah, and after the capture of Jerusalem and the murder of Gedaliah, he was forced, like Jeremiah, to move to Egypt. Some say that he died in Babylon, to which he went after Jeremiah’s death, while others claim that he died, upon returning from Babylon, in Egypt.
Whether the Prophet Baruch was truly the author of the book ascribed to him is still an unsettled question. Our theologians almost all affirm the genuine origin of this book from the Prophet Baruch, but they do not pay sufficient attention to the difficulties that arise from accepting this opinion. In fact, the Book of Baruch contains many pieces of information that directly contradict the accounts in the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah and the Fourth Book of Kings (these difficulties will be pointed out when explaining the book itself). No matter how much our interpreters try to reconcile these contradictions of the Book of Baruch with the canonical accounts from other sacred books, they do not succeed, and an impartial reader of the book is left with the impression that it could not have been written by Baruch—a man who was well acquainted with all the circumstances of the life of the Jewish people shortly after the destruction of Jerusalem.
2. The Contents of the Book of Baruch.
The Book of the Prophet Baruch consists of a preface (Bar 1:1-14) and four parts, in the first of which (Bar 1:15-2:8) there is a prayer in which the exiled Jews confess their sins and those of their ancestors as having led to the fall of the Jewish state, and they beseech God for mercy; in the second part (Bar 2:9-4:8) is contained teaching about wisdom; in the third (Bar 4:9-29) the prophet persuades the exiles, speaking on behalf of Jerusalem, to repent of their sins and pray to God for salvation, and in the fourth (Bar 4:30-5:9) consoling promises are given to Jerusalem.
3. The Time, Place, and Purpose of Writing the Book of Baruch.
From the superscription of the book it is clear that it was written in the fifth year after the destruction of Jerusalem, that is, around 538 B.C. It was written in Babylon for the Jewish exiles living there, in order to comfort them with hope of deliverance from captivity. But, of course, these statements of the book itself cannot be verified from other sources and therefore cannot have decisive significance for scholars.
4. The Original Language of the Book.
Bible scholars differ in their views on the question of the original language of the Book of the Prophet Baruch. Some consider the present Greek text of the book to be the original, while others, one might say the majority, assert on the basis of philological analysis of the existing Greek text, that it was originally written in Hebrew, but that its original, like that of the Book of Sirach, was soon lost.
There is almost no external evidence for the existence of a Hebrew original of our book, unless one counts the Syriac Peshitta translation, in which traces of a version made originally, or revised according to a Hebrew original, are preserved. But the Hebraic structure of the language, Hellenized Hebrew words, the free rendering of the original, and much else can serve as sufficient grounds for supposing that the Book of the Prophet Baruch was originally written in Hebrew, and specifically in an ancient biblical dialect. Moreover, one can conjecture with probability that the Greek translator had at hand a manuscript written in square script, in continuous writing, without word divisions and lacking both final letters and vowel marks.
5. The Unity of the Book.
Some critics suppose that the Book of Baruch represents a combination of two different books, the first ending with the eighth verse of Chapter III (Bar 3:8) and the second ending with the ninth verse of Chapter V (Bar 5:9). But the arguments brought forward for such an assumption are quite insufficient. On the contrary, if the second part of the book had been added to the first by another writer, he would certainly have tried to unite it with the first also in outward form, not only by content.
6. The Ecclesiastical Dignity of the Book of Baruch.
In the Hebrew Bible, the Book of the Prophet Baruch is not found, and since the Christian Church accepted the canon of the Old Testament sacred books from the Jews, it is natural that, for us Christians too, this book should be considered non-canonical. If some Russian theologians seem inclined to ascribe canonical significance to it, this is doubtless a reflection of the Catholic view of the Book of Baruch: it is known that the Catholic Church ranks the Book of Baruch among the so-called deuterocanonical books. However, if in our liturgical practice selections from this book are taken as lessons, these lessons are designated as taken from the Book of the Prophecy of Jeremiah, not of Baruch.
7. Literature.
Of patristic commentaries on the Book of the Prophet Baruch, only that belonging to Blessed Theodoret, Bishop of Cyrrhus, is known. But later interpreters of Holy Scripture have repeatedly attempted to explain this book, and in Catholic as well as Protestant literature there are many investigations of the Book of Baruch. All this literature is indicated in the extensive research of Archimandrite Antonin (The Book of the Prophet Baruch. Reproduction. St. Petersburg, 1902). In his work, Archimandrite Antonin not only gives a thorough treatment of all the questions arising in the study of this book, but also a reconstruction of its Hebrew text as it should have been according to his calculations. To this Hebrew text he appends a new translation from this text into Russian.