Thousands of years ago the prophet Jeremiah prophesied that the nation of Judah and the city of Jerusalem would be overthrown by Babylon. He told the people of a choice. They could surrender to Babylon, or fight. If they fought, they would die. If they surrendered, they would live in exile. God told them to surrender. The theme repeats in his prophecies over and over that a choice must be made. Obeying the Lord would lead to life. Disobeying would mean certain death.
Naturally, the chief political officers considered Jeremiah to be a traitor, and he was faced with persecution. He was imprisoned and mistreated. His viewpoint was unpopular. It also happened to be right.
His words came to pass. Judah was conquered by Babylon and went into exile. Those who resisted died.
Jeremiah’s prophecies can be read in the biblical book named after him. His words were written down by a scribe named Baruch who is only briefly mentioned in the Bible. I imagine Baruch looking around at the political turmoil that resulted from Jeremiah’s controversial prophecies and thinking that he made a mistake working for this guy, as his employment had only brought him persecution and pain. He may have even thought of abandoning his principles to go along with the popular views of the time. He obviously had marketable skills. He could have sought great things for himself in Jerusalem.
God cared about Baruch, and he gave him a personal prophecy recorded in Jeremiah 45:
The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a book at the dictation of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch: You said, Woe is me! For the LORD has added sorrow to my pain. I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest.’ Thus shall you say to him, Thus says the LORD: Behold, what I have built I am breaking down, and what I have planted I am plucking up—that is, the whole land. And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not, for behold, I am bringing disaster upon all flesh, declares the LORD. But I will give you your life as a prize of war in all places to which you may go.”
Though this prophecy was given to Baruch years earlier it was not recorded in Jeremiah until after what Jeremiah had said was fulfilled. It is as if Baruch looked back on what happened and remembered this personal prophecy. He saw that he made the right decision by sticking with the unpopular choice of obeying the Lord, and as a result, he was alive to write the 45th chapter of Jeremiah, a prophecy written to the ministry worker.
Obedience to the Lord, even when everyone else is against you, is better than going along with the crowd against the will of God. Baruch made the right decision. Will we?
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| An image of Baruch from Gustave Doré's illustrations for La Grande Bible de Tours. |
Special thanks to Tonya Dove who encouraged me to start writing again.
