Hero #4 Baruch the son of Neriah

Baruch is another man who I really want to meet when I get to heaven.

You may not remember Baruch.  He is very much a secondary, though very important, figure in the life of Jeremiah the Prophet.  Indeed, we might not have Jeremiah’s prophecy without his work as a scribe!

Baruch was a man destined for stardom.  Being a scribe, he had important skills which would get him noticed, and hired, by important people.  He was educated and well connected.  He held an important role in King Zedekiah’s palace.  For him, there was great opportunity, great responsibility, and a chance to become quite wealthy.  A seal was found in Jerusalem a few years ago with his name on it.  It is an amazing find because it is tied to this biblical character.  Its a doubly amazing find because it also preserves a finger print, likely his, which is found on the upper left of the seal.

Then he met Jeremiah.

Baruch was not an ordinary man.  He was not an ordinary skilled man.  He was not an ordinary man of his day.  He was a man of faith and devotion to the one true God.  But he also lived with the common wants and desires that every man has.  He wanted to make money, put some away, make purchases, have the material goods of this world, and experience success.  He looked forward to a life one day in retirement, perhaps even working as a scholar.

In his working and dealing, somehow, he and Jeremiah became linked.  He was the prophets junior by several years.  Perhaps he was fresh from scribe school when they became acquainted.  He was charged with the task of writing down the words of the prophet.  They were not “happy words.”  They were not words which would bring comfort.  Rather, they were words that spoke anything but confirmation of Baruch’s bright hopes for his future.  One could say, Jeremiah told Baruch things that “wrecked his life and dreams.”  This is what Jeremiah said, when he listened to and wrote the words that Jeremiah dictated to him: “Ah, woe is me! For the LORD has added sorrow to my pain; I am weary with my groaning and have found no rest (Jeremiah 45:3).”

How would you respond if a prophet revealed to you that the next 18 years of your life would see the destruction of pretty much all you loved?  How would you react if you were told all the life you had dreamed of would all go up in smoke, and that you would be hated and hunted for standing with the one true God?  Baruch’s reaction, as much as it reflected disappointment, is a reaction born out of faith.  He believed God!  He did not discount God’s words through Jeremiah, as most did.  He did not become angry, threaten or leave God’s spokesman.  He believed.  And God promised the reward to Baruch that he was giving to all those who were faithful:  his life would be preserved wherever he went.

I sympathized with Baruch even as a high school student.  I thought of myself then as a young hot shot.  I had big dreams and big ideas.  Study of scripture convinced me, however, that I will probably see Jesus’ return in my life time.  His return “interfered” with my big plans.  Like Baruch, God was telling me:

 “Behold, what I have built I am about to tear down, and what I have planted I am about to uproot, that is, the whole land.”  5  ‘But you, are you seeking great things for yourself? Do not seek [them]; for behold, I am going to bring disaster on all flesh,’ declares the LORD… (Jeremiah 45:4-5).”

He would read God’s prophecy in public to a people who did not want to hear messages of doom and gloom, and rejected it.  He would be forced to run and hide from a king who refused to believe.

He is regarded as a hero of Judaism to this day.  It was a hard message, but he believed, and embraced the message and the messenger.  He became a support to his friend, the prophet.  According to tradition, he later went to Babylon from Egypt, where he delivered the book of Jeremiah to others.  His work would be read by Daniel to cause him to pray for his people (Daniel 9) resulting in one of the most important visions in all of the Old Testament.