TO BARUCH

TO BARUCH

Jeremiah 45:1-5 NET.

¹ The prophet Jeremiah spoke to Baruch son of Neriah while he was writing down in a scroll the words that Jeremiah spoke to him. This happened in the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was ruling over Judah. ² “The LORD God of Israel has a message for you, Baruch. ³ ‘You have said, “I feel so hopeless! For the LORD has added sorrow to my suffering. I am worn out from groaning. I can’t find any rest.”‘” ⁴ The LORD told Jeremiah, “Tell Baruch, ‘The LORD says, “I am about to tear down what I have built and to uproot what I have planted. I will do this throughout the whole earth. ⁵ Are you looking for great things for yourself? Do not look for such things. For I, the LORD, affirm that I am about to bring disaster on all humanity. But I will allow you to escape with your life wherever you go.”‘”

Forty-seven years ago, I packed my bags and headed to Lenox, Massachusetts, to attend college. It was a unique institution. It was a four-year Bible college, but its professors were all top-notch scholars. It was just where I wanted to be because I wanted to be a minister of the gospel and to know everything possible.

One of my professors taught the biblical languages. He was Dr. Fred Ehle. Even before I went to college, I knew I wanted to learn the languages in which the Bible is written. The only resource I had as a teenager was the dictionaries in the back of Strong’s Concordance. That is where I started. But when I signed up for my first Hebrew class with Dr. Ehle, I was ecstatic. After we learned the basics, Dr. Ehle would start each day’s class with a look at a Bible text.

I remember the day Dr. Ehle introduced us to Jeremiah 45. He asked us whether we knew there was a whole chapter in the Bible dedicated to a secretary. Then he opened his Hebrew Bible and slowly read and explained the chapter. He explained that Baruch was depressed because his life seemed to be going nowhere, and he felt insignificant. But God wanted Baruch to know that he was not looking at life from the proper perspective. It was a lesson in humility and in being faithful to God in the small things, because God himself would take care of the big things.

I was really impressed with Dr. Ehle’s lesson that day. I hope I can explain the text to you as well as he did that day. I think the lesson is relevant to every Christian. We sometimes feel trapped in our current situation. We want to be great and have significance beyond the normal life we live. But we get frustrated because success and significance seem to be things others achieve, while we too often find ourselves lower down the ladder. Let’s look at the text.

Baruch’s job (1).

The prophet Jeremiah addressed Baruch, son of Neriah, while Baruch was recording Jeremiah’s words in a scroll. Baruch was not a prophet. He was a secretary to a prophet. He was not top dog. He was an underdog. Even Jeremiah, Baruch’s boss, was the least respected of all the prophets in Judah at that time. The other prophets had predicted that Israel would resist the great Babylonian empire and remain intact despite Nebuchadnezzar’s armies. But Jeremiah said no. That made him public enemy number one in his own nation. That made Baruch a turncoat who helped the enemy.

Baruch had ambition. He did not want to be a second fiddle to a radical prophet. He wanted to be a person of stature and influence. Everything that happened left Baruch disgruntled. He would do his job, but he didn’t like it. He would write what Jeremiah told him to write, but he was restless. He was unsatisfied. He felt he was missing the boat. He grew to regret his life choices.

The event described in today’s text occurred in the fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign over Judah. It was before the fall of Jerusalem and before the reign and capture of Zedekiah. The historical records of Jeremiah end at chapter 44, and everything from this chapter to the end of the book is like footnotes. That’s why the Scriptures date this text. It is not in chronological order. This incident occurred while Jeremiah was being persecuted for prophesying bad news, and the kings of Judah did not want to hear what he had to say. That makes Baruch the one responsible for recording the books the King wanted destroyed.

It would be the same king, Jehoiakim, who would get hold of a scroll that Baruch had produced of Jeremiah’s prophecies and would cut it up and burn it in the fire. We read about that event on Monday. It is recorded in chapter 36. Baruch had to start again and rewrite the scroll. This shows why Baruch was not feeling too optimistic about his life’s plan. He was depressed and felt that even if he did his job well, it would not matter.

Baruch’s fear (3).

Baruch’s words are recorded in verse three: “I feel so hopeless! For the LORD has added sorrow to my suffering. I am worn out from groaning. I can’t find any rest.” These are the words of a gerbil who is running on the wheel, but no matter how fast he runs, he doesn’t get anywhere. The Greeks told a myth about Sisyphus, who was condemned to the punishment of pushing a boulder uphill for eternity, only for it to roll downhill, and then he would have to start it rolling again. So now, when we want to describe something we work hard at but that never accomplishes anything, we call it a Sisyphean task.

This is what Baruch feared. Writing was hard work, and he took his job seriously, but he was haunted by the idea that it would eventually be meaningless and accomplish nothing.

Baruch’s blindness (4).

Now, listen to what God told Baruch through Jeremiah. He said, “I am about to tear down what I have built and to uproot what I have planted. I will do this throughout the whole earth.” Why would God say that to Baruch? Notice that God says he was going to do the very thing that Baruch feared. If a person tears down what he has built, all his effort would be meaningless. Great architects do not get famous by tearing down their work. They get famous because something they did lasts.

Baruch wanted to be part of something that lasted. He did not want to be forgotten. But here God tells him that he would be torn down, along with everything else God had created. God was going to pull up the plants that he had planted. That is not good news to a farmer. If you pull up what you have planted, you will have no harvest.

What’s more, God tells Baruch that he himself will not be spared. He said he will do this throughout the whole earth.

Baruch’s problem was basically blindness. He could not see anything beyond his personal ambitions. He could see no future that did not involve the projects he was personally working on. He did not see the significance of the time he was living in. He was blind to history.

Baruch’s blessing (5).

The LORD asks Baruch, “Are you looking for great things for yourself?” Many are doing the same thing today. In fact, in today’s culture, everyone is encouraged to seek greatness and believe in their own potential for excellence. Even religion today seems to call on everyone to strive for fulfillment and significance. Despite Jesus himself challenging his disciples to serve everyone, our preachers keep telling us to answer the call to become great leaders.

But God told Baruch not to look for greatness. He said that he was about to bring disaster on all humanity. In times of great disaster, people stop worrying about greatness. They are too busy worrying about daily survival. That would be the blessing God was going to give Baruch. The name Baruch means “bless.” God’s blessing for Baruch was that he would allow him to escape with his life.

Baruch’s importance (2).

Verse two has Jeremiah (Baruch’s boss) telling him that God had a special message for him. That is why there is a whole chapter in the Bible written to a secretary. He serves as a perfect example for all of us who struggle to make sense of the life we are living.

When we went through a series of sermons on Hebrews 11, we discovered a few heroes of the faith who accomplished much and left a great testimony. But we also discovered that countless faithful believers believed, remained faithful, never saw any miracles, and died. We don’t know their names. But God does.

The message God is telling us today is the same one he gave to the prophet’s secretary. It is the same one another prophet summarized: what God wants from us is to promote justice, be faithful, and live obediently before him.

He is not impressed by our achievements. He wants us to walk humbly before him.

Communion Meditation:

“He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death — even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:8).

No one knew this lesson better than our Lord Jesus Christ. He was the exalted Son of God. Yet he humbled himself and became like a slave. He did not take up his cross because he deserved it. He took it up for us. He emptied himself of the greatness he deserved because it was necessary for our deliverance. So he chose to be obedient, even though obedience meant a horrible, agonizing, shameful death.

We now live on the other side of that decision. This meal we take is to remind us that it took place. We celebrate the event because it resulted in him who knew no sin becoming a sin offering for us. We benefit from his loss. He died so that we may live. He was broken so that we could be healed.

Think about all the great accomplishments of humanity from the beginning of creation until now. Now, consider what God said to Baruch. All those great buildings are being torn down. All those plants are being plucked up. The only lasting accomplishment that will matter is the work of Christ on the cross.

Judges 15

Judges 15

Judges 15:1 Days later, during the wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat as a gift and visited his wife. “I want to go to my wife in her room,” he said. But her father would not let him enter.

Judges 15:2 “I was sure you hated her,” her father said, “so I gave her to one of the groomsmen who accompanied you. Isn’t her younger sister more beautiful than she is? Why not take her instead?”

Judges 15:3 Samson said to them, “This time I will be blameless when I harm the Philistines.”

Judges 15:4 So he went out and caught three hundred foxes. He took torches, turned the foxes tail-to-tail, and put a torch between each pair of tails.

Judges 15:5 Then he ignited the torches and released the foxes into the standing grain fields of the Philistines. He burned the piles of grain and also the standing grain as well as the vineyards and olive groves.

Judges 15:6 Then the Philistines asked, “Who did this?” They were told, “It was Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law because he took Samson’s wife and gave her to his companion.” So the Philistines went to her and her father and burned them to death.

Judges 15:7 Then Samson told them, “Because you did this, I swear that I won’t rest until I have taken vengeance on you.”

Judges 15:8 He struck them down the leg on the thigh and then went down and stayed in the cave at the rock of Etam.

Judges 15:9 The Philistines went up, camped in Judah, and raided Lehi.

Judges 15:10 The men of Judah said, “Why have you attacked us?” They replied, “We have come to take Samson prisoner and pay him back for what he did to us.”

Judges 15:11 Then three thousand men of Judah went to the cave at the rock of Etam, and they asked Samson, “Don’t you realize that the Philistines govern us? What have you done to us?” “I have done to them what they did to me,” he answered.

Judges 15:12 They said to him, “We’ve come to take you prisoner and hand you over to the Philistines.” Then Samson told them, “Swear to me that you yourselves won’t kill me.”

Judges 15:13 “No,” they said, “we won’t kill you, but we will tie you securely and hand you over to them.” So they tied him up with two new ropes and led him away from the rock.

Judges 15:14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came to meet him shouting. The Breath of Yahveh came powerfully on him, and the ropes that were on his arms and wrists became like burnt flax and fell off.

Judges 15:15 He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand, took it, and struck down a thousand men with it.

Judges 15:16 Then Samson said: With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps on heaps. With the jawbone of a donkey, I have struck down a thousand men.

Judges 15:17 When he finished saying that, he threw away the jawbone and named that place Ramath-lehi.

Judges 15:18 He became very thirsty and called out to Yahveh: “You have accomplished this great victory through your servant. Do I now have to die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”

Judges 15:19 So God split a hollow place in the ground at Lehi, and water came out of it. After Samson drank, his breath returned, and he revived. That is why he named it En-hakkore, which is still in Lehi today.

Judges 15:20 And he judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

Judges 15 quotes:

“The Judahites thus serve as mediators between the Philistines and Samson. As is often the case for those caught within ethnic violence, they just desire some degree of peace. Notice the way in which Samson’s excuse for acting violently echoes that of the Philistines in a quintessential expression of what David Little (1995: 3-9) calls “the pathology of violence”: “to do to them as he did to us.” The Judahites negotiate with the hero (15:12—13), promising merely to restrain him and hand him over. They take an oath not to kill Samson, for although he is a superhero, he is not immortal. The “new ropes” used by them anticipate the scene with Delilah (16:11—12), as does Samson’s capacity to extricate himself (16:9). The ropes melt as if in fire. Again, the image of burning captures the intensity of Samson’s actions and testifies to the divine spirit that operates within him, for Yhwh is a god of fire.”

Niditch Susan. Judges: A Commentary. 1st ed. Westminster John Knox Press 2008. p. 159.

Judges 15 links:

emotions and the Spirit
stable servants
where did all the spirits go?

The JUDGES shelf in Jeff’s library

Judges 14

Judges 14

Judges 14:1 Samson went down to Timnah and saw a young woman there among the daughters of the Philistines.

Judges 14:2 He went back and told his father and his mother: “I have seen a young woman in Timnah among the daughters of the Philistines. Get her for me as a wife.”

Judges 14:3 But his father and mother said to him, “Can’t you find a young woman among your relatives or any of our people? Do you have to go to the uncircumcised Philistines for a wife?” But Samson told his father, “Get her for me. She looks right for me.”

Judges 14:4 Now, his father and mother did not know this was from Yahveh, who wanted the Philistines to provide an opportunity for a confrontation. At that time, the Philistines were governing Israel.

Judges 14:5 Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Notice a young lion came roaring at him,

Judges 14:6 the Breath of Yahveh came powerfully on him, and he tore the lion apart with his bare hands like he might have torn a young goat. But he did not tell his father or mother what he had done.

Judges 14:7 Then he went and spoke to the woman, because she looked right to Samson.

Judges 14:8 After some time, when he returned to marry her, he left the road to see the lion’s carcass and noticed a swarm of bees with honey in the carcass.

Judges 14:9 He scooped some honey into his grasp and ate it as he went along. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had scooped the honey from the lion’s carcass.

Judges 14:10 His father went to visit the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, as young men were accustomed to do.

Judges 14:11 When the Philistines saw him, they brought thirty groomsmen to accompany him.

Judges 14:12 “Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can explain it to me during the seven days of the feast and figure it out, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.

Judges 14:13 But if you can’t explain it to me, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.” “Tell us your riddle,” they replied. “Let’s hear it.”

Judges 14:14 So he said to them: Out of the eater came something to eat, and out of the strong came something sweet. After three days, they were unable to explain the riddle.

Judges 14:15 On the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Persuade your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s family to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?”

Judges 14:16 So Samson’s wife came to him, weeping, and said, “You hate me and don’t love me! You told my people the riddle but haven’t explained it to me.” “Notice,” he said, “I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother, so why should I explain it to you?”

Judges 14:17 She wept the whole seven days of the feast, and at last, on the seventh day, he explained it to her because she had nagged him so much. Then she explained it to her people.

Judges 14:18 On the seventh day, before sunset, the men of the city said to him: What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion? So he said to them: If you hadn’t plowed with my young cow, you wouldn’t have discovered my riddle!

Judges 14:19 The Breath of Yahveh came powerfully on him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty of their men. He stripped them and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. His nose burning angrily, Samson returned to his father’s house,

Judges 14:20 and his wife were given to one of the groomsmen who had accompanied him.

Judges 14 quotes:

“The recurring events of the cycle of tales about Samson emphasize certain messages and trace dramatic developments in the life of the hero, although each of these episodes could have circulated on its own as a well-known piece of the larger tradition. Narrative threads emphasized in the cycle include: the up/down movement of the romance, framing tales of the hero on the drift; the us/them theme in which oppressed Israelites face ruling Philistines; the related contrast between exogamy and endogamy (see Crenshaw 1978: 78-81) that serves to color outsiders as enemies; and the contrasts between social and antisocial and nature and culture (see Gunkel 1913: 39-44, 51; Humbert 1919: 159), which portray Samson as a special kind of superhero, the “social bandit” (see introduction, section 1, and Hobsbawm 1969).”

Niditch Susan. Judges: A Commentary. 1st ed. Westminster John Knox Press 2008. p. 154.

Judges 14 links:

beyond our pay grade
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Monday, July 10, 2023
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Monday, July 8, 2019
our choices and God’s involvement
seeking an opportunity
where did all the spirits go?

The JUDGES shelf in Jeff’s library

Judges 13

Judges 13

Judges 13:1 But the sons of Israel again did what was evil in Yahveh’s eyes, so Yahveh gave them over to the Philistines’ hands forty years.

Judges 13:2 There was one man from Zorah, from the family of Dan, whose name was Manoah; his wife was unable to conceive and had no children.

Judges 13:3 The agent of Yahveh appeared to the woman and said to her, “I noticed that you are unable to conceive and have no children, but you will conceive and give birth to a son.

Judges 13:4 Now be really careful not to drink wine or beer, or to eat anything unclean;

Judges 13:5 because notice, you will conceive and give birth to a son. You must never cut his hair because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from birth, and he will begin to rescue Israel from the power of the Philistines.”

Judges 13:6 Then the woman went and told her husband, “A man of God came to me. He looked like the awe-inspiring agent of God. I didn’t ask him where he came from, and he didn’t tell me his name.

Judges 13:7 He said to me, ‘You will conceive and give birth to a son. Therefore, do not drink wine or beer, and do not eat anything unclean, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from birth until the day of his death.'”

Judges 13:8 Manoah prayed to Yahveh and said, “Excuse me, Lord, let the man of God you sent come again to us and teach us what we should do for the boy who will be born.”

Judges 13:9 God listened to Manoah, and the agent of God came again to the woman. She was sitting in the field, and her husband, Manoah, was not with her.

Judges 13:10 The woman dashed to her husband and told him, “The man who came to me the other day has just come back!”

Judges 13:11 So Manoah got up and followed his wife. When he came to the man, he asked, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?” “I am,” he said.

Judges 13:12 Then Manoah asked, “When your words come true, what will be the boy’s judgment and work?”

Judges 13:13 The agent of Yahveh answered Manoah, “Your wife needs to do everything I told her.

Judges 13:14 She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine or drink wine or beer. And she must not eat anything unclean. Your wife must do everything I have commanded her.”

Judges 13:15 “Please stay here,” Manoah told the agent, “and we will prepare a young goat for you.”

Judges 13:16 The agent of Yahveh said to him, “If I stay, I won’t eat your food. But if you want to prepare a burnt offering, offer it to Yahveh.” (Manoah did not know he was the agent of Yahveh.)

Judges 13:17 Then Manoah said to him, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your words come true?”

Judges 13:18 “Why do you ask my name,” the agent of Yahveh asked him, “since he is miraculous.”

Judges 13:19 Manoah took a young goat and a grain offering and offered them on a rock to Yahveh, who did some miracle while Manoah and his wife were watching.

Judges 13:20 When the flame went up from the altar to the sky, the agent of Yahveh went up in its flame. When Manoah and his wife saw this, they fell face-down on the ground.

Judges 13:21 The agent of Yahveh did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah realized that it was the agent of Yahveh.

Judges 13:22 “We’re absolutely going to die,” he said to his wife, “because we have seen God!”

Judges 13:23 But his wife said to him, “If Yahveh had intended to kill us, he wouldn’t have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from us, and he would not have shown us all these things or spoken to us like this.”

Judges 13:24 So the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The boy grew, and Yahveh empowered him.

Judges 13:25 Then the Breath of Yahveh began to stir him in the Camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Judges 13 quotes:

“The Nazirite status of Samson, which emphasizes a God-sent charisma, aligns him with other judges of the tradition. He is not an unusual judge if one realizes that “to judge” in Judges is not to sit soberly at court. Judges make decisions based upon divine inspiration. They command respect as leaders because of the perception that the spirit of God is within them, and their battle prowess sometimes places them on the outer borders of sanity. Samson takes his place among the book’s other “primitive rebels” and “social bandits” who break the laws of the establishment to help the oppressed.”

Niditch Susan. Judges: A Commentary. 1st ed. Westminster John Knox Press 2008. p. 143.

Judges 13 links:

obedience is enough
they did not know
where did all the spirits go?

The JUDGES shelf in Jeff’s library

Judges 12

Judges 12

Judges 12:1 The men of Ephraim were called together and crossed the Jordan to Zaphon. They said to Jephthah, “Why have you crossed over to fight against the Ammonites but haven’t called us to go with you? We should burn your house with you in it!”

Judges 12:2 Then Jephthah said to them, “My people and I had a bitter dispute with the Ammonites. So I called for you, but you didn’t rescue me from their power.

Judges 12:3 When I saw that you weren’t going to rescue me, I grasped my throat and crossed over to the Ammonites, and Yahveh handed them over to me. Why, then, have you come today to fight against me?”

Judges 12:4 Then Jephthah gathered all of Gilead’s men. They fought and struck down Ephraim because Ephraim had said, “You Gileadites are Ephraimite fugitives in the territories of Ephraim and Manasseh.”

Judges 12:5 The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim. Whenever a fugitive from Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” the Gileadites asked him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he answered, “No,”

Judges 12:6 they told him, “Please say Shibboleth.” If he said “Sibboleth” because he could not pronounce it correctly, they seized him and executed him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time forty-two thousand from Ephraim fell.

Judges 12:7 Jephthah judged Israel for six years and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead when he died.

Judges 12:8 Ibzan, who was from Bethlehem, judged Israel after Jephthah

Judges 12:9 and had thirty sons. He gave his thirty daughters in marriage to men outside the tribe and brought back thirty wives for his sons from outside the tribe. Ibzan judged Israel for seven years,

Judges 12:10 and when he died, he was buried in Bethlehem.

Judges 12:11 Elon, who was from Zebulun, judged Israel after Ibzan. He judged Israel for ten years,

Judges 12:12 and when he died, he was buried in Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.

Judges 12:13 After Elon, Abdon son of Hillel, who was from Pirathon, judged Israel.

Judges 12:14 He had forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on seventy donkeys. Abdon judged Israel for eight years,

Judges 12:15 and when he died, he was buried in Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

Judges 12 quotes:

“Linguistic variation is a critical marker of difference in the story of the tower of Babel (Gen 11:7—9). Similarly, biblical prophets describe the enemy as people “of obscure speech and difficult language” (Ezek 3:5, 6) or of speaking “a language you do not know” (Jer 5:15). One who is regarded as strange and not to be trusted speaks in “an alien tongue” (Isa 28:11). Judges 12:6 is one of the few places in the Hebrew Bible in which the author consciously distinguishes between accents or dialects. Such differences are of great enthnographic significance and further testify to Israelite awareness concerning the “mixed multitude” that constituted the people. Some of the deepest animus is reserved for fellow Israelites in the book of Judges.’

Niditch Susan. Judges : A Commentary. 1st ed. Westminster John Knox Press 2008. p. 138.

Judges 12 links:

ear of corn
ordinary judges
Please say Shibboleth

The JUDGES shelf in Jeff’s library