jan 1, 175 BC - Book of Baruch

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175 BCE is a conjectural date for the composition of the book of Baruch (a.k.a. 1 Baruch). The earliest surviving text of Baruch is in Greek, from which Syriac, Latin, Arabic, Armenian, Bohairic, and Ethiopic translations have been made. Based on the style of the Greek, the relationship to LXX Jeremiah, and the possible meaning the Babylonian exile might have had for a particular later period, a date in the early to mid-2nd cent BCE seems most likely.

The principal theme of the book -- exile and return -- fits any date after 587 BCE. The style of the Greek puts the latest date of composition in 116 BCE. If the fictional date of composition in the time of Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian exile is a cypher for the author's own time, the figure of Nebuchadnezzar might be a stand-in for Antiochus IV and the high priest a stand-in for Alcimus. The book could then possibly be dated to 164 BCE. The purpose of the book would then be to use the figure of Jeremiah's secretary to appeal to its audience to accept the authority of Antiochus V, son of Antiochus IV (i.e., Belshazzar, son of Nebuchadnezzar, cf. 1:11-13) and to return to Torah obedience (Nickelsburg 2005:97) .

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