Septuagint: Baruch

By Scriptural Research Institute

The Book of Baruch was likely added to the Septuagint sometime before 165 BC, as it does not appear to have been influenced by the Hasmonean redaction found in the Masoretic Texts and the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was ignored entirely by Simon the Zealot, likely because there was no way to get around the fact that Baruch’s God was the Sun.

While Baruch agrees with Jeremiah, that child sacrifice was wrong, they do not worship the same god. In his letter to the Moabites, Jeremiah refers to the god Baitylos (Βαιθηλ / בֵּ֥ית אֵ֖ל) as the god that the Israelites had put falsely their faith in, as the Moabites had placed their faith in Chomesh. This letter had to have been written after the destruction of Jerusalem, either in Judah, before the survivors took refuge in Egypt, or in Egypt. Based on the words of Jeremiah, in chapter 31 (Masoretic 48), it appears that Baitylos was the supreme god of the Samaritans before the Assyrians conquered them.

However, Baruch, writing five years after the destruction of Jerusalem, praises Baitylos, and describes the Sun, which he then states is their God. This is the old religion that had been banned by Josiah. Baitylos is a variant of the name of the god Bethel, generally used to distinguish him from the town that Jacob named after him. Baitylos was widely worshiped in Canaan during the New Kingdom era, when Egypt ruled the land, and the centuries that followed. Shrines to Baitylos have been found at meteorite impact site across Canaan, Anatolia, and the Aegean, suggesting a widespread cult in the late-Bronze Age. The worship of Baitylos continued throughout the Phoenician territories even after the Romans had conquered them, and was denounced by the Christian theologian Augustine of Hippo in the early-5th century AD.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Scriptural Research Institute
• Release date: Feb 13, 2021
• ISBN: 9781990289019

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