3 Baruch
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3 Baruch or the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch is a visionary,
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During the vision, Baruch is shown various heavens,[4][page needed] there witnessing the punishment of the builders of the "tower of strife against God" (perhaps the Tower of Babel); a serpent named Hades who drinks from the sea; and other such marvels, until he is finally stopped by a locked gate at the fifth heaven, which only the archangel Michael has the ability to open.
The builders of the "tower of strife" are described in terms that could be regarded as demonic – with the faces of cattle, horns of sheep, and feet of goats; while those who commanded them to build it are punished eternally in a separate heaven where they are reincarnated in the forms of dogs, bears or apes. Baruch also witnesses a phoenix, which the text portrays as a massive singular bird that protects the earth from the rays of the sun.
Origins
Lee asserts that the text was originally written in Greek by someone with a Semitic background.[1] Other scholars find significant that the Old Church Slavonic versions do not contain the Christian overtones of the Greek text and conclude that the extant Greek text represents a rewriting in the Christian age.[citation needed]
See also
Citations
- ^ a b c d e Lee 2001, p. 158.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-87484-696-6.
- ISBN 978-0300140194.
- ISBN 978-3-82047-433-6.
References
- Lee, Pilchan (2001). The New Jerusalem in the Book of Revelation: A Study of Revelation 21-22 in the Light of Its Background in Jewish Tradition. Mohr Siebeck. ISBN 978-3-16-147477-4.