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JOHN MARKLEY
Introduction
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refers to the way that the setting details provided in the narrative
frameworks o f these two apocalypses regularly separate or seclude
the seer from other people during the time that he receives
revelation.5 The narrative isolation o f the seer, or seer isolation,
is often the result o f the seers movement away from other
characters, and vice versa. Occasionally, seer isolation is the
result o f a flat statement that the seer was alone or by him self when
his revelations commenced. Following a survey o f this feature in
2 Baruch and 4 Ezra, I will argue that its purpose is to highlight
that the seer, like Moses on Sinai, was an exclusive human
recipient o f divine revelation.
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1 So also Stone, who view s the bedroom setting as one o f privacy (Stone,
Fourth Ezra, 28). Cf. 2 Enoch 1:2.
8 This concern over whether the people are being abandoned by their
prophetic light is a prevalent theme in both 4 Ezra (5:16-18; 12:40-45; 14:20-
22) and 2 Baruch (32:8-33:3; 46:1-3; 77:12-17).
9 A ll quotations o f 4 E zra and 2 Baruch are taken respectively from
Metzger, Fourth Ezra and Klijn, Second Baruch.
MARKLEY SEER ISOLATION AND APOCAL.YPTIC REVELATION... 119
come near me for seven days, and then you may come to m e. He
heard what I said and left me (5:19).
With this, Ezra remains isolated from the people for the next
four revelatory episodes (episodes 2-5). Episodes 2 and 3, like
episode 1, involve a seven-day period o f preparatory mourning and
fasting (5:20; 6:35).10Apparently, like episode 1, they also occur
while Ezra is within the city, presumably in his own house.11
Episodes 2 and 3 are also structured similarly to episode 1 Ezras
prayerful complaints lead to an encounter and dialogue with Uriel.
However, both the setting and the mode o f the revelation change in
the five remaining revelatory episodes (episodes 4-8). Uriel
commands Ezra to go into a field o f flowers where no house has
been built (9:24).12 Rather than fasting, Ezra is to eat only the
flowers o f the field during his seven days o f preparation there. In
episode 4, Ezra prays and sees a vision o f woman, which Uriel
explains is the heavenly Jerusalem. Ezra remains in the field for
episode 5, and he receives the eagle vision. In sum, Ezras
isolation, which was constructed by his dialogue with Phaltiel
between episodes 1 and 2, has persisted uninterrupted to this point,
despite his change in location.
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When all the people heard that the seven days were past
and I had not returned to the city, they all gathered
together, from the least to the greatest, and came to me and
spoke to me, saying, How have we offended you, and what
harm have we done you, that you have forsaken us and sit
in this place? (12:40-41).
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13 This is also noted by Liv Ingeborg Lied, The Other Lands o f Israel:
Imaginations o f the L and in 2 Baruch (Supplements to the Journal for the Study o f
Judaism 129; Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2008), 127-29.
MARKLEY SEER ISOLATION AND APOCALYPTIC REVELATION... 125
Conclusion
14Lied (O ther Lands, 124) notes that the text locates all ritualised
preparations in the Kidron valley.
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revealed to him. For example, after showing Ezra what will happen
in the last times, God says, I have not shown this to all men, but
only to you and a few like you (4 Ezra 8:62). This statement
places Ezra on par with figures such as Abraham and Moses,
whom the text also identifies as recipients o f eschatological
mysteries in 3:14 and 14:5, respectively. Again, after Ezras eagle
vision, Uriel explains that the interpretation was not given to
Daniel, and tells him, [Y]ou alone were worthy to learn this secret
o f the Most High (12:36; also 7:44). Once more, at the conclusion
o f episode 6, Uriel declares to Ezra, [Y]ou alone have been
enlightened about this (13:53). Likewise, Baruch is placed on par
with Moses when the angel Ramael tells him that God showed
[Moses] many warnings together with the ways o f the Law and the
end o f times, as also to y o u ... {2 Bar 59:4).15 Seer isolation, it
seems, works in tandem with explicit statements such as these to
assert and support the exclusivity o f Ezra and Baruch as recipients
o f apocalyptic revelation. By carefully constructing settings of
seclusion and isolation, the authors o f these apocalypses have
circumscribed the initial reception o f revelation to the seer alone.16
Notwithstanding such figures as Abraham, Moses, and Daniel,
they alone are privileged to a special disclosure o f eschatological
mysteries. In keeping with the esoteric nature o f apocalyptic
revelation, this explains to the audience why the revelation was
heretofore unknown. It was exclusively disclosed to the seer, and
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mountain. No one shall come up with you, and do not let anyone
be seen throughout all the mountain... (Exod 34:2-3; NRSV). In
a strikingly similar manner to what we have observed in 4 Ezra
and 2 Baruch, the Exodus narrative isolates Moses from all others
during his reception o f revelation on Sinai, showing him to be the
exclusive recipient o f the revealed law. Since the apocalypses both
portray their seers as Mosaic-type figures, it is extremely likely
that portrayal o f Moses in Exodus provided the impetus for their
deployment o f seer isolation.20 Since Ezra and Baruch receive
their apocalyptic revelation in a similar manner as Moses received
the law, they are shown to be credible and authoritative bearers o f
divine revelation, just like Moses.
In conclusion, seer isolation not only contributes to the
portrayals o f Ezra and Baruch as exclusive recipients o f divine
revelation, but it also evokes the portrayal o f Moses in Exodus,
showing their reception o f revelation to be like his. This indicates
that the authors o f these apocalypses hoped that their texts would
be received as divine explanations o f Israels plight, which was
caused by the disastrous events o f CE 70. Their audiences would
find consolation and renewed hope to faithfully face their
circumstances, only through Sinai-like revelation, delivered
exclusively to worthy seers on par with Moses.
20 A side from M oses isolation on Sinai in Exod 2 4:1-2 and 34:2-3, there
are only two other examples o f seer isolation in the Hebrew Bible: Jacobs
encounter with a divine being in Gen 32:34 (= LXX 32:25), and Daniels epiphany
in Dan 10:7-8. Several other apocalypses deploy seer isolation (e.g., I En 12:1-
2; 2 En 1:2 [A]; A pocalypse o f Abraham 12:1; Shepherd o f H erm as 1:3; 5:1;
M artyrdom an d Ascension o f Isaiah 6:10-12, 14, 16-17), yet 2 Baruch and 4 Ezra
alone draw an explicit connection between their seers and Moses. Thus, the others
do not evoke the Exodus narrative with their use o f seer isolation.
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