3 Baruch

Scholars have long set aside this Jewish Hellenistic work, which survives in both Greek and Slavonic, because its intricate composition is hard to untangle. Alexander Kulik offers an interpretation meant to unlock it. Read carefully, the text sheds light on how motifs in early Jewish tradition developed over time, and in places it supplies links that were previously missing between successive stages.

The commentary also argues that the work preserves evidence about the origins of Jewish mysticism and about traditions that anticipate Gnosticism and early Christianity. This volume adds to an established commentary series and is aimed at specialists in ancient Judaism and early religious literature.