Most of the Readable Books that we have been studying are found in our section of the Old Testament where other “wisdom” books are found—Psalms, Proverbs, Solomon, and so on. Like the tales of Daniel, however, the book of Baruch is found amidst the prophets, because it picks up the narrative from the book of Jeremiah, the prophet for whom Baruch was secretary. It is a short but important book, focussed upon confession, the commendation of wisdom to the people in exile, and God’s comfort to them and to those few who had remained in the Holy Land. Like Sirach and Ecclesiasticus (Wisdom of Solomon) there is a strong concern for wisdom in this book, but in terms of warning, confession, and comforting promise, it sounds more like the prophets. We are not sure of its dating. Due to certain details, many scholars date it in the second century BC, but whenever written, it reflects the earlier time of the exile, prior to the return of some to rebuild Jerusalem. Throughout, Baruch is concerned for the relationship of God with His people, and so it has much to say to Christians today. In this episode, we will reflect upon Baruch 1, the introduction and the first part of the confessional passage.
As the curtain opens on Baruch, we find ourselves whisked back to the fifth year after the sacking of Jerusalem, after many, but not all, had been transported to Babylon (581 BC). Some had also gone on their own volition, seeking refuge from an angry Nebuchadnezzar in Egypt. Through Jeremiah 50 (chapter 43 in the Masoretic text), we know that the prophet Jeremiah and his scribe Baruch had been forcibly taken to Egypt by the remnant army of Judea, along with many notable families there. This happened, though the prophet and his friend warned them not to do so, because God’s plan was that the people would be taken into Babylon for exilic punishment and for repentance. While in Egypt, the disobedient but fleeing people whom Jeremiah and Baruch accompanied sought to appease pagan gods by giving them incense and offerings, and so even further displeased the LORD. One tradition tells us that Baruch died shortly after arriving in Egypt, but in Jeremiah God promises the scribe, “I will give you life, as finding a treasure in every place, wherever you go” (51:35/MT 45:5). This promise of God, then, meshes with what we hear in the opening of Baruch, that the scribe is now in Babylon along with the exiles whom the Babylonians took from Judea. It would seem that he has escaped the wrath of Nebuchadnezzar upon the Egyptians and the Judeans dwelling there, and moved to another center of ministry.
On the major river of Babylon, he addresses the exiles, reading to them from a book (parts of the book of Baruch, later recorded here?), and their response is one of repentance and confession. Here we learn that the exiles in Babylon still look to Jerusalem and those remaining there with great affection. Before the Lord they fast and weep; for the remnant of Judea, they take up a collection to be sent, along with the vessels from the Temple (whom Baruch has somehow retrieved from Nebuchadnezzar). Here, the story gets very interesting. We would expect that the exiles would envision those remaining in the Temple to pray for their safety. However, this is the message that is sent with the monetary and sacred gifts:
Behold, we send you silver. With it, buy whole burnt offerings and sin offerings and incense, and prepare bread, and offer them upon the altar of the Lord our God. And pray for the life of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his son Belshazzar, that their days on earth may be like the days of heaven. And the Lord will givd e*us strength and enlighten our eyes and we will live under the shelter of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and under the shelter of Belshazzar his son, and we will serve them for many days and find mercy in their sight.
Only at this point does the prayer go on:
Pray for us to the Lord our God, because we have sinned against the Lord our God. Even to this day the wrath of the Lord and His anger is not turned away from us. And you shall read this book which we are sending to you, in order to make confession in the house of the Lord on the feast days and on the solemn days.
So in this plea, the two separated groups are joined together by petition and prayer, and Jerusalem’s Temple, though partially destroyed, is in focus as the place where atonement takes place. Moreover, both the exiles in Babylon and those remaining in Judea are enjoined to read Baruch’s book, and to consider it a part of their solemn occasions. What is most interesting is that these duties of worship are conjoined with a practical acceptance of the situation of both groups—one in the destroyed city of Jerusalem and its environs, and the other in Babylon, awaiting God’s restoration, and in the meantime praying for (and asking prayers for!) their captors. Here the instructions of Baruch correspond exactly with what Christians are told to do under the pagan kings who oppress them:
Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give to everyone what is due to them: if you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. (Rom.13:1-7)
I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness (1 Tim 2:1-2).
It is important to remember that both in the time of Baruch, and in the time of St. Paul, the ruling authorities were no friends to the people of God. Baruch and the apostle knew full well the power and the monstrous actions of which the pagan leaders were capable and which they had in fact performed. Yet, God has placed us in this situation, and teaches us to pray for those in authority, while responding positively to laws that are not contrary to His will: “Give to everyone what is due to them.” In this time of political and social polarization both in the US and worldwide, we do well to remember that this is not the first time God’s people have had to navigate difficult waters. The difference between Biblical times and ours, of course, is that we have the freedom to vote, and so might be tempted not to “give what is due,” because the current leaders may not have been be our choice, or may be disappointing us by not keeping their promises. Yet our sense of privilege and temptation to dismiss such leaders are both simply wrong. They come from the confused idea that things are, in a democracy, in our control. However, though we have more freedom as citizens in a democracy, we cannot write and carry out the playbook any more than the conquered or the exiles had control over Caesar or Nebuchadnezzar. We may be tempted to cry “Not my president!” on the one hand or to give a leader free rein because we think “He (or she) is God’s specifically chosen one!” Or we may simply shrug our shoulders, and think, “Who cares? The secular world is going to do what it is going to do!” None of these responses are responsible or sober: whatever our feelings, we cannot type our leader as either a demon or a messiah, nor can we assume that God has no interest in the world at large.
Rather, we pray and do our civil and Christian duty, which in a democracy could sometimes include faithful passive resistance, sometimes positive work under the current leadership, and sometimes prayer informed by what is going on around us.
Our prayers put us spiritually in the place of Baruch’s exiles, or Queen Esther, who interceded in a pagan context. Each secular leader is of incalculable value to God, lovingly created after His image; the leader is also a person with very particular responsibilities and considerable powers. We thus pray for such persons not only for their own sakes, but for the sake of others who are under their power, and for the sake of the domains that they govern. This may seem challenging when we are praying for immoral or power-hungry leaders. However, the injunctions and patterns regarding praying for leaders in the Bible come from the pens of those who lived in heartless empires, when brute power was valorized as strength.
The commandment to pray is not simply a practical matter (that we might live a quiet and peaceful life, 1 Tim 2.2), but is also linked with what the Scriptures teach regarding the connection between earthly and spiritual powers. Without giving way to hysteria or superstition, we must acknowledge that the Biblical writers assume a situation in which things are not only what they seem on the surface. The power that we see wielded by earthly leaders appears to be caught up in mysterious ways into a network of powers that/who are unseen—demonic powers that are driven by envy of human beings and of God’s authority (Wisdom 2:24). The letter to the Ephesians reminds us that we do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but “spiritual powers” in dark places. Moreover, the nations, we are told, have their unseen heads: consider the glorious “man” clothed in linen who speaks about the opposition of the “Prince of Persia,” and the aid that he received from Michael, the “chief prince” (Dan 10.13). We can surmise that those who are in positions of authority have some connection with the spiritual powers, in whom they may not even believe. Since they are liable to the influence or even control of demonic and lurking powers, they need our special prayers.
Simple historical knowledge attests to the connection we are drawing here: Nazism, for example, was not simply a political agenda, but demonstrated an interest in dark mysteries. Other ideologies or anti-Christian ideologues may not exhibit this link in the same obvious way as Hitler, but may still be vulnerable to forces that they do not understand, for they have not given themselves to the protection of Christ. The insights of C. S. Lewis in both The Screwtape Letters and That Hideous Strength are helpful here—the enemy does not require human belief in his existence to exert power over us. Sometimes, indeed, secular people’s scorn for mystery may provide the perfect environment for a demonic agenda to take hold. Because of this, our prayers for those in political power should not be perfunctory, but fervent and perpetual. This is for their sake, for the sake of those whom they govern, for the sake of Christian freedom, and for human society in general. When we pray for our leaders, we are embracing the heart of God Himself, who wills that everyone should come to a knowledge of the truth.
The instructions sent to Jerusalem are also being followed by the exiles who are sending the goods, the book, and the letter. The last part of chapter 1 is a poignant cry of repentance prayed in common by the separated people of God, which reminds us of other corporate confessions found in Ezra, Daniel, and other parts of the Bible:
And you shall say: ‘Righteousness belongs to the Lord our God, but shame is on our faces, as it is this day for the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and our kings and our princes and our priests and our prophets and our fathers, because we have sinned before the Lord, and have disobeyed him, and have not heeded the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in the statutes of the Lord which he set before us. From the day when the Lord brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt until today, we have been disobedient to the Lord our God, and we have been negligent, in not heeding his voice. So to this day there have clung to us the calamities and the curse which the Lord declared through Moses His servant at the time when he brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt to give to us a land flowing with milk and honey. We did not heed the voice of the Lord our God in all the words of the prophets whom he sent to us, but we each followed the intent of his own wicked heart by serving other gods and doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord our God.’ (Baruch 1:15-22)
Here, the corporate union of the people of God, spread out in time and place, but united by worship to God, is emphasized. God is righteous, but shame is the condition of His people, wherever they are found, and whatever their status in society. Indeed, this disobedience is no current thing, but traced back to the sojourn in the wilderness many centuries earlier. Then, the people were warned by Moses, who gave them a choice of life and death—and now, say the penitents, we “clung to the curse” of which Moses warned, rather than obeying God. The time of the Judges, when everyone did what seemed right in his own heart, is actually an emblem, they say, of each one through the ages who “followed the intent of his own wicked heart” and served other gods rather than the true God of light and life.
It is on this low note that chapter 1 ends, with abject repentance. But we know, given the beginning invocation in which God is called righteous, and the reference in the prayer to God’s generous provision of milk and honey to even the rebellious, that all is not lost. Those who remember Daniel’s similar prayer of confession, made on behalf of all the people, will also expect that there will be some light at the end of the confession. Daniel also spoke of God’s righteousness and the people’s shame of face, but then said “To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness” (Dan 9:7-9). We expect clemency, then, and will not be disappointed as the confession deepens in chapter 2, eventually moving towards a celebration of God’s goodness. We will stop with the sober note of confession, but will move forward with the insights of this corporate prayer in the next episode.
*Some of the material regarding praying for earthly leaders is an adaptation of a passage found in my book Mediation and the Immediate God.
Edith M. Humphrey 