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The Case of Baruch

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 13, 1870

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 36, No. 26.

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The Case of Baruch.

By George Ide Butler

THERE are many interesting circumstances recorded in holy writ, of the life of the prophet Jeremiah. He seems to have passed through many scenes of peculiar trial. At least, there are more recorded of him than of many of the other prophets, a record of whose lives is left us. He was designed of God to fill a prophet's position, even before his birth. Chap. 1, verse 5. Yet when the time came for him to enter upon his work, he shrunk from the great responsibility, and felt his utter insufficiency to do the work God had called him to. He was a man of humility; yet God placed this man over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build and to plant. A great work, surely. God brought him into a position where he must confront all the proud, wicked men who were rulers in Jerusalem, and were leading the people to ruin. It was, perhaps, as dark and discouraging a period in the history of the Jewish nation, as any recorded. The whole current was running rapidly to rebellion and destruction. From the king on his throne to the meanest subject, all seemed bent on idolatry. Even the priests consecrated to the service of the Most High, led on in this wickedness. “My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.” “A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land: the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?” Fearful question. In the nation, “the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.”
In this state of things, which in many respects resembles our own time, Jeremiah, who felt that he was “a child,” was called to act. And through the influence of the Holy Spirit, this naturally-timid, diffident man was made “a defensed city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.” Jeremiah fulfilled his work. God would warn the people of their extreme danger, even in their great wickedness. He always desires to save men from ruin. Jeremiah, as long as he could get access to the people and their rulers, sought the most public places to warn them. By-and-by the princes get tired of his presence, and cause him to be shut up in prison. Now God provides another agency. Faithful Baruch writes out the words of the prophet in the prison, and goes and reads them in the ears of the princes and people. Baruch seems to be a man every way worthy of attending upon the prophet of God. He seems to be possessed of the same fearless spirit, the same faithfulness.
The king takes the roll from which Baruch had read, and burns it up, as if to show his contempt of God's prophet. Again Baruch writes down the same words in another roll, and wicked Zedekiah is threatened with the special judgments of God for burning the former. Yet all the warnings and threatenings seem to have no effect upon the people. Finally Jeremiah is cast into the dungeon, where he sinks in the mire. Josephus, in his account of the transaction, says that he sank to his neck in the filth and slime. Surely these were dark days, when apostasy and wickedness triumphed. But God brought his faithful servant out, and spared his life.
No doubt Baruch rendered to Jeremiah all the service he could through this persecution; for we again read of him in the 43d chapter, as being very intimately connected with the prophet. When the remnant of the Jews who were left from the captivity in Judea, went down to Egypt contrary to the directions of God by the mouth of Jeremiah, even after they had inquired of him, we find them charging the prophet with being influenced against them by Baruch. Evidently he was intimately connected with him in the work of God. This was a serious charge. While Jeremiah professed to be speaking the word of God, they pretended he was speaking what Baruch would have him speak. God punished these wicked men for this great sin, and caused their utter destruction. A similar charge has been made in our day by some who profess to accept the manifestation of the spirit of prophecy in our midst, and yet claim, when things have been brought out contrary to their expectations and wishes, that those intimately connected with it have influenced its decisions. It is hard to see how any more serious charge could be made against that which purports to come directly from God. It is absurd to suppose that God would choose a medium through which to speak directly to any people, when another, and perhaps contrary, influence could step in and palm itself off as the manifestation of the Spirit and work of God. The devil may thus work in copartnership; but God, never. It seems that anciently there were just as much suspicion and unbelief concerning the mission of those whom God has called, as in our own day. Evidently many of the people did not accept Jeremiah as a true prophet.
We have another mention of Baruch in the 45th chapter of Jeremiah; and it is this to which I desire to call especial attention. The first verse informs us that he had written all the words of the prophet in a book; but it seems he felt that he had greater sacrifices to make than he felt able. And no wonder; for if he had shared the adversities of the prophet Jeremiah, he had trials that were heavy, certainly. He says, “I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.” Jeremiah says to him, “And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not. For, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh,” &c.
The prophet seems to bring to view an important principle here. When great judgments are descending upon the heads of the people, when a time of great calamity comes, God's servants who are called to act a part in his work, should not look for an easy time for themselves, or expect great things.
The same principle is brought to view in Elisha's words to Gehazi, after the healing of Naaman, when he went and received gifts at the great man's hands. Elisha told him the leprosy of Naaman should cleave to him and his seed. He says, “Is it a time to receive money, and to receive garments, and olive yards, and vineyards?” &c.
It was a time of great affliction and heavy judgment. How sadly out of place for God's especial servants, sent to warn the people of their dangers and their sins, to be getting rich in such a time of distress, and to be receiving gifts and luxuries. So of Baruch. The prophet would not have him expect to have great things, but show those who were sinners that they were laboring for something else than the good things of this world; in short, that they were willing to wait for them till the everlasting reward should be given.
It really seems to me that here is a practical lesson for those of us who are proclaiming the last message to the world. Either we are the basest of hypocrites, or we believe that this generation will receive God's terrible judgments. Those around us who neglect God's warning, will feel his unmixed wrath; and we are set apart to warn the people of these things. The most solemn warning in the Bible is committed to our hands. If these things are true, not only our words, but every act of our lives, should be in strict accordance with our profession. “Is it a time to receive money and garments?” Is it a time for us to get rich? “And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not.” It seems to me, the moment we take upon us the work of proclaiming the solemn message of warning to the world, we should forever renounce the idea of making money for ourselves, of becoming rich in this world's goods. Men are watching us closely to see whether we believe what we preach; and there is manifest inconsistency in preaching that the world is soon to perish, that the great day of God is just upon us, while laying up treasures here. If we do not believe this, certainly we should not preach it; ifwe do, we should act accordingly. We should show all our brethren with whom we mingle, and who will be influenced by our example, that we are not anxious for their money; and our lives should ever show a hatred of covetousness and everything like it. In short, we should show that the eternal, enduring riches of Heaven are what we are seeking, and not the perishable riches of this world.
GEO. I. BUTLER.