Baruch Son of Neriah

Scripture: Jeremiah 32:12–16; 36; 43:1–7; 45; 51:59–64

Background, Baruch son of Neriah son of Mahseiah appears first in Jeremiah 32:12 as the witness to Jeremiah's purchase of the field at Anathoth, the most theologically significant property deed in prophetic literature, made at the moment when the Babylonian army was besieging Jerusalem. Jeremiah bought the field because YHWH told him to: "Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land" (32:15). Baruch received the signed and sealed deeds and was told to put them in an earthen vessel so they would last a long time. He was Jeremiah's legal agent in the transaction.

The scribe of the scroll (Jeremiah 36), In the fourth year of Jehoiakim (605 BCE), YHWH told Jeremiah to write on a scroll all the words he had spoken against Israel and Judah and all the nations from the days of Josiah, twenty-three years of prophecy, "It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the disaster that I intend to do to them, so that every one may turn from his evil way, and that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin" (36:3). Jeremiah dictated the words and Baruch wrote them. Because Jeremiah was barred from entering the Temple, he sent Baruch to read the scroll there publicly on a fast day when all the people from Judah's towns came to Jerusalem (36:5–6).

The scroll before the officials (Jeremiah 36:11–19), When Micaiah son of Gemariah heard the scroll read, he went to the king's officials and reported it. The officials sent for Baruch, who read the scroll to them. They were afraid: "We must report all these words to the king" (36:16). They told Baruch: "Go and hide, you and Jeremiah, and let no one know where you are" (36:19). The officials understood the scroll's content, and tried to protect its author and scribe.

Jehoiakim burns the scroll (Jeremiah 36:20–26), The scroll was read column by column to King Jehoiakim as he sat in the winter house with a fire burning before him. As each three or four columns were read, he cut them off with a penknife and threw them into the fire until the whole scroll was burned. Several officials urged the king not to burn it; he did not listen. He commanded that Jeremiah and Baruch be arrested, but YHWH hid them.

The second scroll (Jeremiah 36:27–32), YHWH told Jeremiah to take another scroll and write on it all the former words of the first scroll. Baruch again wrote as Jeremiah dictated, and this time a personal judgment on Jehoiakim was added: none of his descendants would sit on David's throne, and his body would be cast out to heat and frost. Baruch wrote it all.

The oracle of Jeremiah 45, This chapter is brief and dates itself to the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the same year Baruch wrote the scroll. YHWH gave Jeremiah a word for Baruch alone: "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'" (45:3). YHWH's response: "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" (45:4–5). The oracle is a redirection of ambition in the middle of national catastrophe: this is not the moment for great things; the promise is only your life.

Descending into Egypt (Jeremiah 43), After Gedaliah's assassination, when the surviving remnant gathered to flee to Egypt against Jeremiah's word, the leaders accused Baruch of turning Jeremiah against them: "Baruch son of Neriah is inciting you against us to hand us over to the Chaldeans, that they may kill us or take us into exile in Babylon" (43:3). Jeremiah and Baruch went to Egypt with the remnant. The accusation tells us Baruch's proximity to Jeremiah was well known, and resented by those who did not want to hear the prophet's word.

Historical note, A clay seal impression (bulla) reading "Belonging to Berekhyahu son of Neriyahu the scribe", identical to Baruch son of Neriah in Hebrew, was authenticated by archaeologists in the 1970s. It is the most direct extra-biblical confirmation of a named individual from Jeremiah's narrative.

Baruch spent his life writing down words that got him hunted, hidden, and eventually marched into Egypt. He received exactly one oracle addressed to him personally, and it was a word about not seeking great things. His clay seal survived three thousand years. The Sanctum holds Baruch as the study in the person next to the prophet: the scribe who carries the words that the prophet cannot deliver, the one who is faithful in the administrative and legal details of a ministry whose outcome he does not control, and whose personal oracle is essentially: stay alive, seek nothing more than that, in a time when I am breaking down everything I built.