THE BOOK OF BARUCH
LESSON 1
INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF BARUCH
AND PART I: BARUCH AND THE JEWS IN BABYLON (1:1-15)
The word that the prophet Jeremiah
addressed to Baruch son of Neriah when the latter wrote these words down in a
book at Jeremiah's dictation in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah,
king of Judah. "This is what Yahweh God of Israel says about you, Baruch! You
have been thinking: what disaster for me, and Yahweh has added further grief to
my troubles! I am worn out with groaning, and find no relief!' Say to him as
follows, Yahweh says this: Now I am knocking down what I have built, am
uprooting what I have planted, over the whole country! And you ask for special
treatment! Do not ask, for I am now going to bring disaster on all humanity,
Yahweh declares, but you I shall allow to escape with your life, wherever you
may go.'"
Jeremiah 45:1-5, NJB
The Book of Baruch is one of the deuteron-canonical books not found in the Hebrew canon but is in the Greek Septuagint Bible (LXX), translated into Greek by Jewish scholars in c. 250 BC. The Greek Septuagint places it between the Book of Jeremiah and Lamentations, while the Latin Vulgate puts it immediately after Lamentations. The Church Fathers like Tertullian and St. Irenaeus saw it more as an appendix to the Book of Jeremiah than as a separate book. It is not in the Protestant canon but is included in the canon of the Council of Trent (1545-1563).
History assigns the Book of Lamentations and the Book of Bauch to Jeremiah and Baruch, Jeremiah's scribe (amanuensis) and disciple (Jeremiah 21:12, 16). According to its introduction, the book was written by Baruch son of Neriah, after the destruction of Jerusalem and the deportation of the population of Judah to Babylon (587/6 BC). Baruch, whose name means "blessed," is mentioned 23 times in the Book of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 32:12, 13, 16; 36:4 twice, 5, 8, 10, 13, 14 twice, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 26, 27, 32; 43:3, 6; 45:1, 2). He was the sixth generation of an influential family (verse 1). His father Neraiah and grandfather Mahseiah are named in Jeremiah 32:12. His great-great-grandfather, Hilkiah, might be the high priest who discovered a book of the Law in the Temple during the repairs commissioned by King Josiah in 622 BC (2 Kings 22:4ff; 2 Chronicles 34:8ff), linking Baruch to a priestly family. The prophet Jeremiah was also the son of a priestly family, the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests living at Anathoth (Jeremiah 1:1); they could have been related, with Jeremiah's father named after the earlier priest Hilkiah. Baruch's brother, Seraiah, was "quartermaster" (Hebrew = sar menuha) under Judah's last king, Zedekiah (Jeremiah 51:59).
In 605, Jeremiah assigned Baruch the duty of writing down his prophecies delivered up to that date and reading them in the liturgical Temple services in the presence of the covenant people. He read the scroll again in the presence of King Jehoiakim and his officers. The king ordered the scroll of Jeremiah to be burned (Jeremiah 36:1-26), but Baruch wrote down the prophecies again, at Jeremiah's dictation (cf. Jeremiah 36:27-32).
During the siege of Jerusalem, Jeremiah purchased land from his cousin Hanamel (Jeremiah 32:11ff) as proof of his faith in the prophecy that the covenant people would return to the land after exile in Babylon. He committed the deed of sale to Baruch for safekeeping. Jeremiah and Baruch stayed in Jerusalem after the Babylonian conquest and destruction of the city and Temple. But when a resistance group assassinated Gedaliah, the Babylonian-appointed Jewish governor (Jeremiah 40:7-41:18), and Jeremiah spoke an oracle forbidding the survivors from fleeing to Egypt (Jeremiah 42:1-22), Baruch was blamed for inciting Jeremiah to give the oracle and was taken with the prophet to Egypt when the people fled there for fear of Babylonian retaliation (Jeremiah 43:1-7). When Baruch complained about the sorrows in his life and his people's sufferings, Jeremiah rebuked him and uttered an oracle promising that he would survive the catastrophic events (Jeremiah 45:1-5). Nothing more is known about Baruch after Jeremiah's prophecy of comfort for him.
In the Septuagint, Lamentations separates the Letter of Jeremiah (Baruch 6:1-72) from the Book of Baruch. However, the Latin Vulgate adds the Letter with a separate title to the Book of Baruch. The Letter of Jeremiah includes an apologetic argument denouncing idolatry and develops themes found in Isaiah 44:9-20 and Jeremiah 10:1-16. The Book of Baruch can be dated to the period of the Babylonian exile in c. 586 BC.
The Book of Baruch testifies to the continuing respect and love for the prophet Jeremiah among the exiles in Babylon and Egypt. It is not quoted in the New Testament; however, scholars point out that there are New Testament passages that are reminiscent of verses in Baruch:
The early Church Fathers rarely quoted from the Book of Baruch except for Baruch 3:36-38, which they often interpreted in a Messianic sense as an announcement of the Incarnation of Christ. Only from the fourth century forward is Baruch mentioned by name by some Fathers such as St. Athanasius, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Epiphanius, and others. Two apocryphal works claiming to have been written by Baruch have been preserved from the second century AD: one in Greek and the other in Syriac with Greek fragments.
A fragment of a copy of the Greek text of Baruch was discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran and can be dated on paleographical evidence to c. 100 BC. Two clay impressions of Baruch's seal were also discovered. One belongs to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. The second, marked with what appears to be the scribe's fingerprint, is in a private collection in London, England. See "The Fingerprint of Jeremiah's Scribe," Biblical Archaeology Review, March/April 1996.
The book is divided into five parts:
| BIBLICAL PERIOD | The Babylonian Conquest of Judah | ||||
| FOCUS | Baruch's Letter to the Babylonian Exiles | Jeremiah's Letter | |||
| COVENANT | The Sinai Covenant and Davidic Covenant | ||||
| SCRIPTURE | 1:1-----------1:15-------------3:9----------------4:5-------------6:1-----------72 | ||||
| DIVISION | Introduction: Baruch and the Jews in Babylon | Prayer admitting guilt | A Wisdom poem | Personified Jerusalem consoles the exiles | Jeremiah's letter to the exiles |
| TOPIC | Jeremiah's book read to the exiles | Confession of sins | Hope in the mercy of God | Messianic promises | Their fate is in the hands of Israel's true God |
| LOCATION | Citizens of Judah and Jerusalem living in the Babylonian Exile | ||||
| TIME | 582 BC, on the 5th anniversary of the fall of Jerusalem | ||||
Michal E. Hunt Copyright © 2024
The Book of Baruch provides valuable information about the Jewish communities living in exile in Babylonia and how they sustained their religious life:
All Scripture is from the New Jerusalem Bible translation (NJB) unless listed as NABRE (New American Bible Revised Edition), IBHE (Interlinear Bible Hebrew-English), or IBGE (Interlinear Bible Greek-English). Notice that the Divine Name, YHWH (Yahweh with vowels), does not appear in Baruch as in the Hebrew translation of the Old Testament's other books. When the Book of Baruch was added to the canon of Sacred Scripture by the Jewish scholars who translated the Hebrew Bible into Greek (the Greek Septuagint) in the mid-third century BC, they replaced every reference to the Divine Name with the Greek word "Kyrios," meaning "Lord," to protect it from being spoken and abused by pagans. This practice was followed in English translations that replaced the Divine Name in the Biblical text with LORD in capital letters. Later Jewish translations of the Hebrew Bible use the words HaShem ( the name"), Adonai (my Lord), or El Shaddai (God Almighty) to replace the Divine Name. The practice denies Yahweh's commands for the people to "proclaim His name" (Isaiah 12:4; Psalm 105:1), to "sing praises to His Name" (Psalm 68:5) and Yahweh's command to Moses, "You are to tell the Israelites, Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name for all time, and thus I am to be invoked for all generations to come" (Exodus 3:15, NJB), and many other such references to God's Divine Name.
The answers to questions are at the end of the lesson.
PART I: BARUCH AND THE JEWS IN BABYLON (1:1-14)
| 732 BC | Shalmaneser of Assyria conquered Galilee, the northern part of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, because of King Hoshea's treachery and sent the population into exile in Assyrian lands (2 Kings 17:1-4). |
| 722/21 BC | King Shalmaneser of Assyria invaded the Northern Kingdom in 724 and laid siege to its capital. In 722 BC, his successor, Sargon II, captured the capital city of Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria (2 Kings 17:5-23). |
| 612 BC | The Babylonians conquered the Assyrian capital of Ninevah, effectively ending the Neo-Assyrian empire. |
| 605 BC | The Neo-Babylonian/Chaldean empire succeeded the Assyrians and ruled from 605 to 562 BC. Nebuchadnezzar defeated the Egyptians at Carchemish, making him the master of Syria and the entire Lavant, including the Southern Kingdom of Judah. The first deportation of citizens of Judah to Babylon included the future prophet Daniel (Daniel 1:1-6). |
| 597 BC | Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem. Jehoiachin, king of Judah, surrendered to him and was taken prisoner with his mother, his nobles and officials, and all the Temple treasures, all of which were deported to Babylon with many citizens (2 Kings 24:8-16). The king of Babylon established Zedekiah as king of Judah (2 Kings 24:17). |
| 589 BC | King Zedekiah of Judah rebelled against the king of Babylon (2 Kings 24:20). Nebuchadnezzar advanced on Jerusalem with his entire army. |
| 587/6 BC | Zedekiah and his family. Nebuchadnezzar had Zedekiah's sons murdered in front of their father before blinding Zedekiah, loading him with chains, and carrying him off to Babylon along with most of the citizens of Jerusalem. It was the third deportation of the covenant people to Babylon. Then, the Babylonians destroyed the Temple and burned the city (2 Kings 25:1-21; Jeremiah 39:1-10). The Babylonians did not harm Jeremiah or Baruch (Jeremiah 39:11-12; 43:5-7). |
Historical Background:
732 BC King Shalmaneser of Assyria conquered Galilee, the northern part of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, because of King Hoshea's treachery and sent the population into exile in Assyrian lands (2 Kings 17:1-4).
722/21 BC King Shalmaneser of Assyria invaded the Northern Kingdom in 724 and laid siege to its capital. In 722 BC, his successor, Sargon II, captured the capital city of Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria (2 Kings 17:5-23).
612 BC The Babylonians conquered the Assyrian capital of Ninevah, effectively ending the Neo-Assyrian empire.
605 BC The Neo-Babylonian/Chaldean empire succeeded the Assyrians and ruled from 605 to 562 BC. Nebuchadnezzar defeated the Egyptians at Carchemish, making him the master of Syria and the entire Lavant, including the Southern Kingdom of Judah. The first deportation of citizens of Judah to Babylon included the future prophet Daniel (Daniel 1:1-6).
597 BC Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem. Jehoiachin, king of Judah, surrendered to him and was taken prisoner with his mother, his nobles and officials, and all the Temple treasures, all of which were deported to Babylon with many citizens (2 Kings 24:8-16). The king of Babylon established Zedekiah as king of Judah (2 Kings 24:17).
589 BC King Zedekiah of Judah rebelled against the king of Babylon (2 Kings 24:20). Nebuchadnezzar advanced on Jerusalem with his entire army.
587/6 BC The army of the Babylonians entered Jerusalem. They captured King Zedekiah and his family. Nebuchadnezzar had Zedekiah's sons murdered in front of their father before blinding Zedekiah, loading him with chains, and carrying him off to Babylon along with most of the citizens of Jerusalem. It was the third deportation of the covenant people to Babylon. Then, the Babylonians destroyed the Temple and burned the city (2 Kings 25:1-21; Jeremiah 39:1-10). The Babylonians did not harm Jeremiah or Baruch (Jeremiah 39:11-12; 43:5-7).
Holy and Merciful Lord,
Enrich us with Your grace and strengthen our understanding by the power of the Holy
Spirit as we study the words of Your prophet in the Book of Baruch. Bless us so
we may always praise You in our daily lives and the liturgy of worship. We
rejoice in the mystery of Your Divine Plan of redemption and seek to win that
reward as we faithfully study Your Sacred Word in the Scriptures. We pray in
the name of Jesus Christ, Son of God and Redeemer Messiah.
Baruch 1:1-14 ~ The Opening of Baruch's Message to the Exiles
1 This is the text of the book written in Babylon by Baruch son of Neraiah, son
of Mahseiah, son of Zedekiah, son of Hasadiah, son of Hilkiah, 2 in the fifth year, on the seventh day of the month, at
the time when the Chaldeans had captured Jerusalem and burned it down. 3 Baruch
read the text of this book aloud to Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah,
and to all the people who had come to hear the reading, 4 to the nobles and
the sons of the king, and to the elders; to the whole people, that is, to the least
no less than to the greatest, to all who lived in Babylon beside the river Sud.
5 On hearing it they wept, fasted and prayed before the Lord; 6 and they collected
as much money as each could afford 7 and sent it to Jerusalem to the priest
Jehoiakim son of Hilkiah, son of Shallum, and the other priests, and all the
people who were with him in Jerusalem. 8 Also on the tenth day of Sivan he was
given the utensils of the house of the Lord, which had been removed from the
Temple, to take them back to the land of Judah; these were silver utensils
which Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah, had had made 9 after
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had deported Jeconiah from Jerusalem to Babylon,
together with the princes, the metalworkers, the nobles and the common people.
10 Now, they wrote, we are sending you money to pay for burnt offerings,
offerings for sin, and incense. Prepare oblations and offer them on the altar
of the Lord our God; 11 and pray for the long life of Nebuchadnezzar king of
Babylon, and of his son Belshazzar, that they may endure on earth as long as
the heavens endure; 12 and that the Lord may give us strength and enlighten our
eyes, so that we may lead our lives under the protection of Nebuchadnezzar king
of Babylon and of his son Belshazzar, and that we may serve them for a long
time and win their favor. 13 Also pray to the Lord our God for us, because we
have sinned against him, and the anger, the fury of the Lord, has still not
turned away from us. 14 Lastly, you must read the
booklet which we are sending you, publicly in the house of the Lord on the
feastday and appropriate days.
Verses 1:1-14 are an introduction to the entire book. There is a problem with verse 2. 2 Kings 25:8 and Jeremiah 52:12 record that Jerusalem fell on the seventh day of the fifth month in 587 BC. Either the text originally read "the fifth month," or it referred to the observance of an anniversary of the fall of Jerusalem. If that was the case, in 582 BC, Baruch read the text on the anniversary of the fall of Jerusalem that occurred on the 9th of Ab, 587/6 BC, an event commemorated among the exiles and those who remained in Jerusalem (Zechariah 7:3).
These verses introduce Baruch son of Neraiah, as from a distinguished (probably priestly) family (verses 1-2). He evidently visited the exiles in Babylon and read the book aloud (verses 3-4) to:
Nebuchadnezzar was a Chaldean Babylonian. Chaldea was a small province that existed between the late 10th or early 9th century BC until the mid-6th century BC, after which it was conquered and absorbed by the Babylonians. Chaldean chief Nabopolassar revolted against the Babylonians and, with the help of allies, became the founder of the Neo-Babylonian empire. Nebuchadnezzar's father, King Nabopolassar, died in 605 BC, and he succeeded his father as Nebuchadnezzar II, the second king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire. After Nebuchadnezzar deported young King Jehoiachin, sending him into exile in Babylon, he installed Jehoiachin/Jeconiah's uncle, Zedekiah, as king in 597 BC. When Zedekiah rebelled against the Babylonians, Nebuchadnezzar unleashed the full fury of the Babylonian army upon Judah. In 587/6 BC after a three month seize, he destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. Then, blinding King Zedekiah after murdering his sons, the king and most of the population was taken in chains to exile in Babylonian lands (Jeremiah 52).
2 in
the fifth year, on the seventh day of the month, at the time when the Chaldeans
had captured Jerusalem and burned it down. 3 Baruch read the text of this book
aloud to Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and to all the people who
had come to hear the reading ...
Baruch had the important mission of preserving Jeremia's legacy. In Jeremiah 36 he was
given the assignment to record the first Jeremiah scroll at the prophet's
dictation (36:4). Then, on a fast day in the following year, c. 604 BC, Baruch
read the scroll to a large gathering in the Temple and then again to a group of
the king's ministers. It was read a third time to King Jehoiakim, though not by
Baruch, and the king responded in anger by burning the scroll in which Jeremiah
foretold the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem. Jehoiakim ordered that both
Baruch and Jeremiah be seized. They were warned and managed to escape. Jeremiah
then instructed Baruch to write a new scroll to replace the one the king had
destroyed. To this scroll was added more material (Jeremiah 36:32). The scroll
in Barach 1:2-3 was the re-written scroll. The year was probably 582 BC, on the
fifth anniversary of the fall of Jerusalem, which was commemorated among the
survivors and the exiles (Zechariah 7:3).
The river Sud (verse 4) is mentioned only here in the Bible. It may have been one of the many channels of the Euphrates near Babylon.
In verses 5-7, the assembly in Babylon acknowledged their sins and repented (cf. 2 Kings 23:1-3; Nehemiah 9:1-3). The exiles also took a collection to send to Jerusalem (verses 6-13), to the priest Jehoiakim and the people who were not forced into exile (cf. Ezra 8:21-36). The purpose is to offer offerings for atonement and other sacrifices to turn away Yahweh's anger from the exiles. The three verbs in verse 5, wept, fasted, and prayed, sum up the Jewish exiles' attitude of sorrow and repentance. The priest Jehoiakim, mentioned in verse 7, was a priest senior in rank ( 2 Kings 25:18) and not the high priest Jehozadak, who held that post when Jerusalem was conquered in 587 BC and when he was deported to Babylon (cf. 1 Chronicles 5:41; 6:15). Jehoiakim was probably still living at the ruined Temple complex in Jerusalem where public liturgy continued (Jeremiah 41:5). The genealogy of Jehoiachin is that of the high-priestly line (1 Chronicles 5:39). Still, no high priest of this name is listed until about a century later (Nehemiah 12:10, 12, 26).
8 Also on the tenth day of Sivan he was given the utensils of the house of the
Lord, which had been removed from the Temple, to take them back to the land of
Judah; these were silver utensils which Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah,
had had made 9 after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had deported Jeconiah from
Jerusalem to Babylon, together with the princes, the metalworkers, the nobles
and the common people.
The "he" in verse 8 is probably Baruch and less likely Jehoiakim the priest (verse
7). The sacred gold and silver vessels were removed from the Temple and taken
to Babylon. The Book of Ezra mentions the return of the sacred vessels only
after the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus of Persia (Ezra 1:7-11). Verse 8
suggests some silver vessels returned earlier since these appear to be distinct
from the vessels referred to in 2 Kings 25:14 and Ezra 1:7-9. Sivan was the
ninth month of the Hebrew civil year and the third month in the religious
calendar; it is a month of 30 days and usually falls in the May/June period in
the modern calendar.
10 Now, they wrote, we are sending you money to pay for burnt offerings, offerings
for sin, and incense. Prepare oblations and offer them on the altar of the Lord
our God;
Baruch 2:26 suggests that the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed; therefore, the mention
of sacrifices probably indicates that those who remained in Jerusalem continued
to offer ritual sacrifices in the ruins of the Temple (cf. Jeremiah 41:5).
In verse 11, Belshazzar, listed as the son of Nebuchadnezzar, also appears in the Book of Daniel as his son (cf. Daniel 5:1-2, 13, 22). However, historically, he was the son of Nabonidus and the fifth successor of Nebuchadnezzar. In this case, "son" may have more the meaning of "successor." Nebuchadnezzar's reign lasted until 562 BC. The Persians conquered Babylon in 539 BC and executed Belshazzar (cf. Daniel 5:1-6:1). Three kings came between Nebuchadnezzar and Nabonidus.
14 Lastly, you must read the booklet which we are sending you, publicly in the
house of the Lord on the feastday and appropriate days.
The "feastday" in verse 14 is the Feast of Shelters, held from the 15th
to the 21st of the month of Tishri. It was one of the seven God-ordained
sacred feasts, three of which were "pilgrim feasts" when every man of the
covenant people must present himself before God's holy altar with sacrifices.
The three "pilgrim feasts" were the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of
Weeks (Pentecost in Greek), and the Feast of Shelters, also called Tabernacles
(Exodus 23:14-17;
Leviticus 23:5-8, 15-21; 33-44;
Numbers 28:17-31; 29:12-30 and
Deuteronomy 16:16). See the chart on
the God-ordained Seven Sacred Feasts.
The Feast of Shelters, called Sukkot in Hebrew, and also known as the Feast of Ingathering (Chag Haasif in Hebrew) or the Feast of Tabernacles from the Latin word for "dwelling," was the last annual feast of the liturgical calendar established by God at Mt. Sinai. It was the most joyous and one of the longest of the seven God-ordained festivals, lasting eight days. The Feast of Unleavened Bread also lasted eight days and, like Shelters, also had a sacred assembly on the first and last day. The Feast Of Shelters memorialized God's holy dwelling above the Ark of the Covenant in the desert Tabernacle, which was later replaced by the Jerusalem Temple built by King Solomon. The feast also recalled the booths or shelters the people lived in when they received the Law and agreed to God's covenant at Mt. Sinai and during the 40-year wilderness experience. The Feast of Shelters/Tabernacles is also referred to as the "Feast of Yahweh" or simply as "the Festival" (see Leviticus 23:9; 1 Kings 8:2). The Greek name for this feast expressed as "construction of shelters/tabernacles" occurs only in John 7:2 in the New Testament.
Question #1: For how many days was the Feast of Shelters/Tabernacles celebrated? What special events occurred during that time? See Leviticus 23:33-36.
Question #2: What important announcement did Jesus make during the Feast of Shelters at the Jerusalem Temple? On what day did He make this announcement? See John 7:2, 10, 14, 37-44. How does what Jesus announced recall His words to the Samaritan woman in John chapter 4?
Answers to Questions:
Answer to question 1: The festival lasted eight days, with two sacred assemblies on the first and eighth days.
Answer to question 2: On the last day of the Feast of Shelters/Tabernacles, the day of the second sacred assembly, Jesus stood in the Temple and cried out: "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me! Let anyone who believes in me come and drink! As scripture says, From his heart shall flow streams of living water.'" He was speaking of the Spirit, which those who believe in him were to receive, for there was no Spirit as yet because Jesus had not yet been glorified. Jesus's announcement recalls what He told the Samaritan woman in John chapter 4. Speaking of His gift of eternal salvation through the Holy Spirit, He told her that He could offer her "living water" and that the water He gives would become a spring welling up for eternal life (John 4:13-14).
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