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Commentary on "Baruch: Building a Legacy in a Crumbling World"

PHIL HARRIS

 

Day 2: Sunday, December 19, 2010 - Baruch's World

 

Overview

In II Kings 23:31-37 we see where Pharaoh Neco came up against Judah and removed King Johoahaz from power and replaced him with Jehoiakim. Then in II Kings Chapter 24, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Judah and made Jehoiakim his servant. When Jehoakim died his son Jehoiachin became king. Nebuchadnezzar returned and laid siege on Jerusalem. Jehoachin quickly surrendered and was replaced by Zedekiah. When Zedekiah rebelled, Nebuchadnezzar returned with his army and again laid siege on Jerusalem.

Jeremiah is now God’s prophet who is warning the king and the people of Judah to repent of their sins and return to their God. Baruch is the scribe who recorded the prophecies given to Jeremiah by God and on several occasions presented these messages directly to the people and the king of Judah.

All of Judah’s kings since the reign of Josiah did evil in the sight of the Lord.

 

Observations

The introduction to the lesson lists many of their peripheral problems along with the anger of God because of idolatry. This gives the impression that the danger of Nebuchadnezzar’s anger was just as or more important than God’s anger. With reference to Jer. 7:1-11 the lesson then asks, what were some of their moral and spiritual problems when there was really only one root cause that they should have been concerned about, the hardness of their hearts towards God and his truth.

In Acts 28:23-28, Paul confronts the same hardness of the heart by the Jewish people that Jeremiah faced and quotes from Isa. 6:9,10 when the gospel message he preaching is rejected by the Roman Jews. Isaiah’s warning was the very same as Jeremiah’s, only many years earlier when the Assyrians was the current military danger coming “out of the north”.

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me." And he said, "Go, and say to this people: "'Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.' Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed." Then I said, "How long, O Lord?" And he said: "Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste, and the LORD removes people far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled." The holy seed is its stump. (Isa. 6:8-13 ESV)

While the context of Romans Chapter Eight is centered on assuring us of our personal eternal salvation, it certainly includes the time of God’s protective providence when a nation that fears God is being invaded by a powerful and evil enemy. Or the reverse when we, as a nation, do evil.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Rom. 8:31, 32 ESV)

 

Summary

  1. The world of Baruch and Jeremiah was identical to the conditions condemned by God in the time of Isaiah many years earlier. The hardness of the heart of the people was the root cause for their idolatry and rebellion against God. For this one and only reason was Judah in such danger of being invaded by Babylon.
  2. As prophesied by Moses even before they entered the Promised Land, the consequences of their rebellion was removal from the land of promise.
  3. From the time of Moses and on through the times of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jesus life on earth and when Paul preached to the Roman Jews, it was because of their hardened hearts that the people would not surrender to the one and only true God.
  4. Another way to view why Judah was under siege by a powerful and evil enemy is that, in the hardness of their hearts, they feared Babylon more than they feared God.
  5. In the time of Baruch, Jeremiah was God’s appointed voice to the people. Instead, the people and the king would rather hear soothing words from false prophets. The lesson for our day is simple. The Bible is our only source for knowing God’s truth. Any voice that contradicts Scripture is a false prophet.
  6. Assuming Baruch was familiar with the prophecies contained the book of Isaiah, especially Chapters 6 and 7 which are directed towards the future fate of Judah, he could take comfort in knowing the “holy seed” which is the Messiah would come from the stump, that is, the remnant of Judah. Note especially in Isa. 6:6 that God declares to Isaiah that his sins have been atoned for.

 

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