FERGUSON Christian and Jewish Baptism 219
receive the Holy Spirit in baptism,^53 but it is just possible (in view of the
subsequent verses) that the reference is more specific, to those who speak
the word of the Spirit. If the former is more likely, then the 'praised land'
of Jacob would also be the Christian community.^54 The land appears to be
at once Christ and then again the Christian, even as the tree was both the
wood of the cross and the righteous person. Such was the identification of
the Christian with Christ.
This land, however, is also the eschatological land of paradise. Barnabas
11.10 gives a quotation that condenses Ezek. 47.1-12. The land of 11.9 is afertile ('praised') land, because it has a river and trees, connecting with the
earlier quotation of Ps. 1.3. The description now is of a restored paradise.
Ezekiel promises 'everyone will live' (v. 9); the phrase 'will live forever'
is found in Gen. 3.22. If the latter is indeed referred to, then the intention
of the citation is to describe paradise.^55 The Christian eats the fruit denied
to Adam.^56 The reference to eating may have eucharistic overtones but is
primarily eschatological here.^57 Odes of Solomon 11.12-23 may serve as a
commentary on Barn. 11.10.
The two parts of Barn. 11.11 correspond to 11.10, 'to come up out of
the water and 'whoever eats'.^58 But the verse also summarizes the discus-
sion of baptism. To 'go down into the water' picks up 11.8, and 'fruit'
reaches back to 11.6. Barnabas 11.11 twice repeats the promise, 'whoever
eats from these [the trees of v. 10] will live forever.' To live forever was
an important concept for Barnabas.^59 The eating is explained as hearing
and believing.^60 This offers a significant Johannine parallel.^61 The trees of
- Wengst, Tradition und Theologie, p. 41 n. 80, for the 'vessel of the Spirit' in
11.9 as the community. Clement of Alexandria, Strom. 3.12.86 quotes Barn. 11.9 in
reference to those dedicated to the Lord, whether married or celibate. - Prigent and Kraft, Epitre de Barnabe, p. 165, take the land of Jacob as the
promised land that one inherits in baptism. I agree, if the land is understood as the
community. The shift to the land of paradise comes in 11.10. - Prigent and Kraft, Epitre de Barnabe, p. 165. They refer to Od. Sol. 11.8, a
typographical error for 11.18. - Lundberg, La typologie baptismale, p. 184.
- Prostmeier, Der Barnabasbrief, p. 429.
- Prostmeier, Der Barnabasbrief, pp. 430-32.
- It appears in 6.3 (a quotation from Isa. 28.16 where the modification of the
LXX'S 'shall not be put to shame' to 'shall live forever' is significant) and 8.5 (where
'those who hope on Jesus will live forever'). - Kraft, Barnabas and the Didache, p. 117, refers to Barn. 10.11, 'The Lord cir-
cumcised our ears and hearts in order that we might understand these things'.