Bible Study (6) - Sidekicks - Baruch and Jeremiah - Jeremiah 36:4-8, 16-18; 45:1-5 - August 25, 2024

 

Bible Study (6) – Sidekicks – Baruch and Jeremiah - August 25, 2024

GOD will reward your faithful Service.

Focus scripture is Jeremiah 36:4-8, 16-18; 45:1-5.

In our Bible Study I will include scripture found in the Book of Jeremiah. Also, I have included a mention of the Apocrypha which includes the Book of Baruch and found in the Old Testament of the Catholic Bible.

The Apocrypha - The term "apocrypha" comes from the Greek word meaning "hidden" or "secret". Originally, the term was applied to sacred books whose contents were too exalted to be made available to the general public. Gradually, the term "apocrypha" took on a disparaging connotation, since the orthodoxy of these hidden books was often questionable.

"The Apocrypha" includes 15 books, all but one of which are Jewish in origin and found in the Septuagint (parts of 2 Esdras are possibly Christian and Latin in origin). Influenced by the Jewish canon of the Old Testament, the custom arose of making the Apocrypha a separate section in the Protestant Bible, or sometimes even of omitting them entirely.

I want those who read this study to be aware that there is a book written by Baruch which is published in the Apocrypha, but our focus will be on what is written in the Book of Jerimiah, which gives us insight into the life of Baruch and his calling to serve the One True GOD.

Some background on Jeremiah:

Jeremiah was known as the “weeping Prophet,” because he was broken hearted over the lack of response of the Israelites to his messages from GOD. When a fellow believer knows what GOD has revealed to him or her as truth and others either do not get it or reject it when the message is revealed to them or refuse to listen. It breaks the heart of the person delivering GOD’S Message.

Jeremiah 7:1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ² “Stand in the gate of the house of the Lord and there call out this word: ‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who enter through these gates to worship the Lord.

³ “‘This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Correct your ways and your actions, and I will allow you to live in this place. ⁴ Do not trust deceitful words, chanting, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.” ⁵ Instead, if you really correct your ways and your actions, if you act justly toward one another,^[a] 6 if you no longer oppress the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow and no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods, bringing harm on yourselves, ⁷ I will allow you to live in this place, the land I gave to your ancestors long ago and forever. ⁸ But look, you keep trusting in deceitful words that cannot help.

The temple was the physical place where a person came to have an encounter with GOD. But uttering the words, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord” is of no effect unless a person comes to GOD in true repentance and seeking GOD’S redemption. It is all about a person’s true heart and not uttering empty words.

Since the passion of JESUS, the temple is located in the hearts of all who place their faith in JESUS and HIS Passion. The miracle of Spiritual birth is a miracle of transformation confirmed by Spiritual Gifts. It is at the death of the physical body of a Spirit-born believer that he or she will experience the release of his/her Holy Spirit conceived eternal body.

 

Let’s read Jeremiah 36:4-8:

In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ² “Take a scroll, and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah, and all the nations from the time I first spoke to you during Josiah’s reign until today. ³ Perhaps when the house of Judah hears about all the disaster, I am planning to bring on them, each one of them will turn from his evil way. Then I will forgive their iniquity and their sin.”

Jeremiah had been banned from the temple because of his messages of gloom and doom. Religious and political leaders opposed such messages. Such messages keep people away from where they can hear the truth.

As we approach the second coming of JESUS, JESUS told us in Matthew 24:24: ²⁴ For false Christs and false prophets will appear and they will provide great signs and wonders, so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect (God’s chosen ones).

So, Jeremiah, the prophet, had to deliver his messages from GOD to Baruch because Jeremiah was banned from the temple.

⁴ So Jeremiah summoned Baruch, son of Neriah. At Jeremiah’s dictation,^[a] Baruch wrote on a scroll all the words the Lord had spoken to Jeremiah. ⁵ Then Jeremiah commanded Baruch, “I am restricted; I cannot enter the temple of the Lord, ⁶ so you must go and read from the scroll—which you wrote at my dictation^[b]—the words of the Lord in the hearing of the people at the temple of the Lord on a day of fasting. Read his words in the hearing of all the Judeans who are coming from their cities. ⁷ Perhaps their petition will come before the Lord, and each one will turn from his evil way, for the anger and fury that the Lord has pronounced against this people are intense.” ⁸ So Baruch son of Neriah did everything the prophet Jeremiah had commanded him. At the Lord’s temple he read the Lord’s words from the scroll.

Let’s read Jeremiah 36:16-18:

¹⁶ When they had heard all the words, they turned to each other in fear and said to Baruch, “We must surely tell the king all these things.” ¹⁷ Then they asked Baruch, “Tell us, how did you write all these words? At his dictation?” ^[c]

¹⁸ Baruch said to them, “At his dictation. He recited all these words to me while I was writing on the scroll in ink.”

Jehoiakim Burns the Scroll

¹⁹ The officials said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah must hide and tell no one where you are.” ²⁰ Then, after depositing the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, the officials came to the king at the courtyard and reported everything in the hearing of the king. ²¹ The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it from the chamber of Elishama the scribe. Jehudi then read it in the hearing of the king and all the officials who were standing by the king. ²² Since it was the ninth month, the king was sitting in his winter quarters with a fire burning in front of him. ²³ As soon as Jehudi would read three or four columns, Jehoiakim would cut the scroll^[d] with a scribe’s knife and throw the columns into the fire in the hearth until the entire scroll was consumed by the fire in the hearth. ²⁴ As they heard all these words, the king and all his servants did not become terrified or tear their clothes. ²⁵ Even though Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah had urged the king not to burn the scroll, he did not listen to them. ²⁶ Then the king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, Seraiah son of Azriel, and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to seize the scribe Baruch and the prophet Jeremiah, but the Lord hid them.

Destroying what you do not like to hear or read does not mean it is not truth.

Jeremiah Dictates Another Scroll

²⁷ After the king had burned the scroll and the words Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation,^[e] the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁸ “Take another scroll, and once again write on it the original words that were on the original scroll that King Jehoiakim of Judah burned. ²⁹ You are to proclaim concerning King Jehoiakim of Judah, ‘This is what the Lord says: You have burned the scroll, asking, “Why have you written on it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land and cause it to be without people or animals?” ³⁰ Therefore, this is what the Lord says concerning King Jehoiakim of Judah: He will have no one to sit on David’s throne, and his corpse will be thrown out to be exposed to the heat of day and the frost of night. ³¹ I will punish him, his descendants, and his officers for their iniquity. I will bring on them, on the residents of Jerusalem, and on the people of Judah all the disaster, which I warned them about, but they did not listen.’”

³² Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch son of Neriah, the scribe, and he wrote on it at Jeremiah’s dictation^[f] all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim, Judah’s king, had burned in the fire. And many other words like them were added.

Destroying GOD’S Words does not mean GOD’S message will not take place. GOD’S Word gives those who listen and respond to HIS message a heads up, when change takes place. To be forewarned, is to be forearmed.

Let’s read Jeremiah 45:1-5:

The Lord’s Message to Baruch

45 This is the word that the prophet Jeremiah spoke to Baruch son of Neriah when he wrote these words on a scroll at Jeremiah’s dictation^[a] in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah: ² “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to you, Baruch: ³ ‘You have said, “Woe is me, because the Lord has added misery to my pain! I am worn out with^[b] groaning and have found no rest.”’

⁴ “This is what you are to say to him: ‘This is what the Lord says: “What I have built I am about to demolish, and what I have planted I am about to uproot—the whole land! ⁵ But as for you, do you pursue great things for yourself? Stop pursuing! For I am about to bring disaster on all humanity”—this is the Lord’s declaration— “but I will grant you your life like the spoils of war wherever you go.”’”

GOD was telling Baruch, “You have served well, it is time for you to stop pursuing, relax and enjoy life. Even though disasters are taking place around you, rejoice, because you have done your part and now it is time for ME to reveal MY hand to MY chosen people.”

Blessings!!!