Baruch chapter 4
[This chapter is in Orthodox and Catholic Bibles] They find wisdom in Sacred Scripture. Jerusalem consoles them. Babylon will be conquered. They will be free.
The Book of Baruch is recognized as Deuterocanonical Scripture by the Orthodox and Catholic Churches
THEY FIND WISDOM IN SACRED SCRIPTURE, CONTINUED
VERSE 1. This is the book of the commandments of God, and the law that endures forever: all those who hold it fast are appointed to life; but such as leave it shall die.
the book of the commandments of God. Baruch is talking about the Bible.
VERSE 2. Turn you, O Jacob, and take hold of it: walk toward her shining in the presence of the light thereof.
take hold of it. Baruch calls them to embrace the Bible.
They are to read the Bible!
VERSE 3. Give not your glory to another, nor the things that are profitable to you to a strange nation.
VERSE 4. O Israel, happy are we: for the things that are pleasing to God are made known to us.
NABRE translation:
Blessed are we, O Israel; for what pleases God is known to us!
This verse is fantastic! Would you consider memorizing it? More great verses to memorize from the Book of Baruch and from the entire Bible.
Blessed are we. Baruch is saying this to the exiles.
Jerusalem is destroyed. Their temple is destroyed. Their freedom is gone. They are exiles and slaves. They’ve lost everything on earth except their lives.
The only clarity they have is that the LORD God is justly punishing them for their wayward ways.
Against that backdrop, can you see the faith it took for Baruch to say, “Blessed are we.”
If you feel things are NOT going your way, why not make a list of all the blessings you DO have in life?
what pleases God is known to us! Why are the exiles happy?
Because they know the will of the LORD God for their lives.
They know God’s will because they are reading the Bible!
JERUSALEM CONSOLES THE EXILES
VERSE 5. Be of good cheer, my people, the memorial of Israel.
VERSE 6. You were sold to the nations, but not for destruction: because you moved God to wrath, you were delivered to your adversaries.
VERSE 7. For you provoked him that made you by sacrificing to demons, and not to God.
sacrificing to demons. They had worshipped idols and sacrificed to them.
But what is an idol?
- Is it simply a piece of wood that somebody carved?
- Or does it represent a demonic entity?
Baruch sees idols as representing a demonic entity.
However, this is not a good interpretation. In chapter 6, Jeremiah corrects Baruch:
Baruch 6:16. Whereby they are known not to be gods: therefore fear them not.
In our day, many Christians have a Baruch-type understanding of idols.
In our day, very few Christians have a Jeremiah-type understanding of idols.
VERSE 8. You forgot the everlasting God, that brought you up; you grieved also Jerusalem, that nursed you.
VERSE 9. For she saw the wrath that is come upon you from God, and said, Listen, you women that dwell about Sion: for God has brought upon me great mourning;
VERSE 10. for I have seen the captivity of my sons and daughters, which the Everlasting has brought upon them.
VERSE 11. For with joy did I nourish them; but sent them away with weeping and mourning.
VERSE 12. Let no man rejoice over me, a widow, and forsaken of many: for the sins of my children am I left desolate; because they turned away from the law of God,
me, a widow. This section is written as if Jerusalem is speaking.
Thus it is Jerusalem that is a widow.
VERSE 13. and had no regard to his statutes, neither walked they in the ways of God’s commandments, nor trod in the paths of discipline in his righteousness.
VERSE 14. Let those who dwell about Sion come, and remember you the captivity of my sons and daughters, which the Everlasting has brought upon them.
VERSE 15. For he has brought a nation upon them from far, a shameless nation, and of a strange language, who neither reverenced old man, nor pitied child.
VERSE 16. And they have carried away the dear beloved sons of the widow, and left her that was alone desolate of her daughters.
VERSE 17. But I, what can I help you?
VERSE 18. For he that brought these plagues upon you will deliver you from the hand of your enemies.
VERSE 19. Go your way, O my children, go your way: for I am left desolate.
VERSE 20. I have put off the garment of peace, and put upon me the sackcloth of my petition: I will cry to the Everlasting as long as I live.
I have put off the garment of peace. Peace itself is seen as a garment.
Nation-states can put on peace like putting on a garment. Or they can take off peace.
BABYLON WILL SOON BE CONQUERED AND THEY WILL BE FREE
VERSE 21. Be of good cheer, O my children, cry to God, and he shall deliver you from the power and hand of the enemies.
VERSE 22. For I have trusted in the Everlasting, that he will save you; and joy is come to me from the Holy One, because of the mercy which shall soon come to you from the Everlasting your Savior.
joy is come to me from the Holy One. After they start reading the Bible, their joy returns!
VERSE 23. For I sent you out with mourning and weeping: but God will give you to me again with joy and gladness forever.
VERSE 24. For like as now those who dwell about Sion have seen your captivity: so shall they see shortly your salvation from our God, which shall come upon you with great glory, and brightness of the Everlasting.
VERSE 25. My children, suffer patiently the wrath that is come upon you from God: for your enemy has persecuted you; but shortly you shall see his destruction, and shall tread upon their necks.
shortly you shall see his destruction. The exiles will soon see the destruction of the Babylonian Empire.
VERSE 26. My delicate ones have gone rough ways; they were taken away as a flock carried off by the enemies.
VERSE 27. Be of good cheer, O my children, and cry to God: for you shall be remembered of him that has brought these things upon you.
VERSE 28. For as it was your mind to go astray from God: so, return and seek him ten times more.
seek him ten times more. They were to seek the LORD God more.
By a factor of TEN.
Can you seek the LORD God more than you already are?
VERSE 29. For he that brought these plagues upon you shall bring you everlasting joy again with your salvation.
bring you enduring joy again. The LORD God has given them back their joy!
VERSE 30. Be of good cheer, O Jerusalem: for he that called you by name will comfort you.
he … will comfort you. The LORD God himself is our encouragement.
If we are discouraged, our remedy is to turn back to God.
VERSE 31. Miserable are those who afflicted you, and rejoiced at your fall.
VERSE 32. Miserable are the cities which your children served: miserable is she that received your sons.
VERSE 33. For as she rejoiced at your fall, and was glad of your ruin: so shall she be grieved for her own desolation.
VERSE 34. And I will take away her exultation in her great multitude, and her boasting shall be turned into mourning.
VERSE 35. For fire shall come upon her from the Everlasting, long to endure; and she shall be inhabited of devils for a great time.
VERSE 36. O Jerusalem, look about you toward the east, and behold the joy that comes to you from God.
look about you toward the east. In 539 BC, the Babylonian Empire was conquered by Cyrus the Great, king of Persia.
VERSE 37. Behold, your sons come, whom you sent away, they come gathered together from the east to the west at the word of the Holy One, rejoicing in the glory of God.
BARUCH
CHAPTERS: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06
RESOURCES: Summary, Outline, Memorize
Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotations on this page are from the World English Bible and the World Messianic Edition. These translations have no copyright restrictions. They are in the Public Domain.