Baruch, Faithful Secretary

GOLDEN TEXT: “Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.” —Colossians 3:23

JEREMIAH 36:4-8, 22-26, 32

OUR Golden Text expresses the spirit of humility and faithfulness which we find in Baruch, faithful secretary to the Prophet Jeremiah. Chronologically, the events recorded in this lesson occurred during the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah and successor to good King Josiah. The record states that Jehoiakim did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, and today’s lesson confirms this.

As is so frequently the case, we see in this lesson God’s long-suffering toward his people, even though he knew in advance that they would not respond to his warnings to reform. Instructing Jeremiah to write the prophecy against them, the Lord said, “It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.”—vs. 3

Jeremiah did not himself pen the prophecy against Judah, but called Baruch to do it for him, and “Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord, which he had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a book.” (vs.4) Jeremiah was “shut up in the court of the prison,” and could not personally read the words of the book to the people, so he requested Baruch to do it for him. (Jer. 33:1) This was to be done in the Lord’s house, on a day when the people were fasting—presumably the time when they would be most likely to give an attentive ear and respond with heart obedience.

The record does not state what effect the reading of the scroll had upon the people in general. But a certain one named Michaiah, hearing the words of the book, “went down into the king’s house, into the scribe’s chamber”—the scribes, that is, who served the king—and reported what he had heard, so “all the princes” expressed a desire to have it read to them, and Baruch obliged.—Jer. 36:11-19

These, in turn, reported the matter to the king, who also requested that the scroll be read to him. However, the king did not give Baruch this honor, but asked Jehudi to do it instead. The king was in his winter home at the time, beside the fire, and as the pages of the book were read, he promptly consigned them to the flames, mistakenly supposing, no doubt, that if he could dispose of this forecast of calamity it would not come upon him and the people.

In this we see a very revealing display of the false and faithless human reasoning. This sort of thing was common with the wicked kings of Judah and Israel. They seemed to think that they could employ any sort of methods they chose, and resort to any strategy that seemed necessary, in order to attain their own ends, as though they were not in any way responsible to the Lord. This, more than anything else, displayed their lack of faith in God.

In principle, there is a lesson in this for the Lord’s people in all ages, even now. Yes, perhaps especially now. Those who are truly consecrated to the Lord, and to the doing of his will, are happy to leave their affairs completely in his hands. They may have preferences, but they do not permit these to lead them into doing rash things in order to have their own way.

Others may adopt worldly methods to accomplish their designs, but we cannot. There are many things considered proper by the world—flattery; scheming; “voting blocks”; half-truth propaganda; and diplomacy—but for us these things are wrong, just as wrong as it was for Jehoiakim to burn the book of the Lord in order to accomplish his own ends. Yes, others may do these things, but as Christians we cannot.

Seemingly it never occurred to Jehoiakim that Jeremiah could dictate another message for Baruch to write. But this is just what was done. Not only so, but “there were added besides unto them many like words.” (vs.32) The scroll had prophesied that the king of Babylon would come and “destroy this land, and … cause to cease from thence both man and beast.” (vs. 29) The burning of the scroll did not prevent this. Indeed, because he burned the scroll, Jehoiakim’s personal punishment seems to have been increased. In addition to burning the scroll, Jehoiakim directed that both Jeremiah and Baruch be imprisoned, but the Lord intervened in this, and they continued to serve the Lord.

So we see that Baruch was indeed a faithful secretary. Serving as a scribe in the usual way he would not have incurred the wrath of the king, but because he faithfully served the Lord by writing the scroll for Jeremiah, he had the honor of suffering for righteousness’ sake. May we also be faithful in the small things, and, as our Golden Text states, do all “as to the Lord.”

QUESTIONS

Who was Baruch, and how did he serve the Lord?

How is God’s long-suffering revealed in today’s lesson?

How did the king think to prevent the judgments of the Lord against Judah?

| Home Page | Table of Contents |