Jeremiah 45:1-5. I want to apologize for the interruption in these posts. I had to migrate my site to a new server and after three very intense days of work was pretty tapped out. Plus I had other work that I put off and had to make up time for. It is very upsetting to me not to spend this time with God and share it with whoever is out there reading. Thank you for your time and I will try to remain faithful. Today\u2019s reading is very short but very cryptic or mysterious. The phrase \u201cwe don\u2019t know\u201d just spins around this story. Today\u2019s reading is a personal note from God to Baruch.<\/p>\n
We don\u2019t know a ton of stuff about Baruch. We do know he was the son of a guy named Neriah and the grand-son of a guy named Maaseiah (Jeremiah 32:16). We also know he was Jeremiah\u2019s secretary or assistant, he was the guy who wrote all of Jeremiah\u2019s prophecies down on a scroll and read it in the Temple to the people . He also read the scroll to the advisors to then king Jehoaikim (Jeremiah 36). That scroll was read by Jehudi (one of the advisors?) to the king. As the scroll was read the king cut off pieces of it and threw them in the fire, then he ordered that Jeremiah and Baruch be captured, probably with the intent of killing them. We also know that Baruch\u2019s grand-father was an \u201cofficial\u201d (the Hebrew word \u201csar\u201d most oftenly translated as prince, but also chief, leader, governor, or captain) in the city of Jerusalem in the time of Josiah (about 621 BC, 2 Chronicles 34:8). Finally we know that Baruch had a brother and that this brother was a leader (\u201csar\u201d) in the court of Zedekiah (the last king of Judah. Zedekiah followed Jehoiachin who had been king for only a few months after the death of Jehoiakim (the guy who burned the scroll). Zedekiah was appointed by Nebuchadnezzar) (Jeremiah 51:59).<\/p>\n
Today\u2019s reading takes place in 605 BC (the fourth year of Jehoaikim). That was the year that Nebuchadnezzar first came to Jerusalem and took captives back to Babylon (including Daniel, another prophet. See Daniel 1:1 where Daniel may be counting the time a little differently).\u00a0\u00a0 This is before the time of Zedekiah but after the time of Josiah. Remember that Josiah was a pretty good king who tried to restore worship of Yahweh (the one true God) in Judah. Josiah had three sons who all were king after him. Jehoahaz for three months in 609 BC., Jehoiakim from 609 B.C. to 597 B.C. And Mattaniah (Zedekiah) from 597 B.C. to 586 B.C. All three of his sons were untrue to Yahweh however.<\/p>\n
In verse 2 we find out that Baruch is feeling pretty down. Baruch has said, \u201cWoe is me\u2026\u201d That word woe is \u201co-ee\u201d in Hebrew, and seems to be related to a word that is sometimes translated as \u201csigh\u201d. \u201cO-ee!\u201d Probably is the same in English, \u201cO-ee!\u201d. Then we see he said that Yahweh had added sorrow to his pain, he was tired, sighed a lot and found no rest.\u00a0\u00a0 Ok, he was burned out. I suppose copying the first 25 chapters or more of Jeremiah onto a scroll would not only be tiring but pretty depressing, there was a lot of judgment in there relating to the downfall of Judah and Jerusalem. To be fair there was some hope too, but a lot of it related to a good response to the message, the people needed to give in to Nebuchadnezzar, and that wasn\u2019t happening; so we can figure that the \u201cgood\u201d was out and more trouble was coming. The command to write the scroll came with hope that \u201call the people might hear and turn back to God\u201d. So Baruch knew that what he was writing was going to be read tot the people, and he probably assumed they would not listen (which they did not). Pretty tough place to be for a guy who\u2019s grandpa had been a \u201csar\u201d in Jerusalem under a king who led the people to honor God (at least for a little while). And, although this is 7 years before Zedekiah became king Baruch\u2019s brother probably wasn\u2019t sitting out by a lake somewhere fishing, and even if he was at least he wasn\u2019t working for a guy who everybody hated. No wonder Baruch was sighing.<\/p>\n
In verse 4 Jeremiah is told to remind Baruch that this whole kingdom of Judah is about to be destroyed. And Jeremiah was to be sure that Baruch knew that the message was straight from Yahweh, too; \u201cThus says Yahweh (LORD).\u201d In verse 5 we see that all of the \u201cgreatness\u201d surrounding Baruch was having an effect on him, he wanted to be important too. His Grandpa had been a \u201csar\u201d his brother would become one too. And here he was, probably spending several months writing a scroll that no one wanted to hear. In verse 5 we learn that it wouldn\u2019t just be the buildings that would suffer in the invasion to come\u2019 it would be the people too. And what would Baruch get for staying faithful? His life. The last phrase even implies that it wouldn\u2019t be a very peaceful one either; \u201cIn all the places where you may go.\u201d I wonder if Baruch thought, \u201cOh boy I get to live! But not settle down to a peaceful life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reading these verses made me thing of Psalm 23.\u00a0\u00a0 In that Psalm David wrote, \u201ceven though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.\u201d Unfortunately every time I read those words I remember the very next line which is, \u201cyour rod and your staff comfort me.\u201d That line refers back to the first line of Psalm 23, \u201cThe LORD is my shepherd\u201d. The rod and staff were tools that the shepherd used to guide and protect the sheep; keeping them safe and cared for. I\u2019ve always focused on the fact that God is caring for us and that is why we don\u2019t need to fear. In the Psalm David (the author) tells us that he is not afraid of evil or bad when he walks through the \u201cvalley of the shadow of death\u201d. If you\u2019ve ever been in the hills or mountains you know that it gets dark sooner in the valleys, the mountains around you block the sun and put you in a shadow. Now imagine yourself in the valley and you notice the darkness and you look around you and see mountains or hills but they represent death to you. You are surrounded by death and it seems to be closing in on you; pretty scary. The next part is the important part though, why wasn\u2019t David afraid? Because the LORD was with him. How is that comforting? Because Jesus is that LORD (John 10:9-15, compare John 10:11 with Psalm 23:1) and he lays down his life for us so we can be saved (have access to God and Heaven). In 1 Corinthians 15 a guy named Paul told a group of believers in a city called Corinth that Jesus died in our place, was buried and then came back to life (resurrected). Jesus\u2019 resurrection is proof to us that we too will come back to life one day and live with God. Death isn\u2019t a closed off canyon from which there is no exit it is a passage to an existence on the other side. God is on the other side waiting for us personally. Unfortunately many will pass through the valley having decided they don\u2019t want to be with God and they will be banished from God\u2019s forever kingdom. You need Jesus with you to pass through with no fear; he is our guide and our guarantee.<\/p>\n
Baruch was in a valley too, it was not the actual \u201cvalley of death\u201d but probably felt like it to him, or would (after the scroll in the fire incident). He was afraid and the LORD made sure Baruch knew that he cared about his life. That is another good thing to see in these five verses, God knows we exist and how we feel and cares about our hopes and fears. Baruch didn\u2019t necessarily get exactly what he was looking for (he never became a \u201csar\u201d in his world)) but he is certainly a \u201cchief\u201d in God\u2019s kingdom, with his help Jeremiah has been able to show us the holiness and mercy of God.<\/p>\n
Finally it is interesting that Baruch was upset because he wanted to be \u201cgreat\u201d. The Hebrew word translated \u201cgreat things\u201d means something like \u201chave a large influence\u201d, like a prince of king. And God\u2019s answer to him is \u201cI\u2019m bringing trouble on all the people around you.\u201d What good is being king of an empty kingdom? That is why God allows trouble in our world today, trouble that sometimes touches us, he is allowing time for his kingdom to become filled (2 Peter 3:9).\u00a0\u00a0 As we experience trouble in our lives we need to appreciate the life God is allowing us to still live and we need to be sure we are using it to bring people into his forever kingdom. Don\u2019t focus on the pain focus on the promise and share your hope with others today.<\/p>\n
God help me stay focused on the promise. Help me live each day for your kingdom, even if it is uncomfortable. Help me remember my good shepherd, Jesus, who has opened the door to heaven. Let me not be afraid when I am threatened by death, real or not. Help me not look for false greatness. Let me be a servant of you and your forever kingdom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jeremiah 45:1-5. I want to apologize for the interruption in these posts. I had to migrate my site to a new server and after three very intense days of work was pretty tapped out. Plus I had other work that I put off and had to make up time for. It is very upsetting to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1885"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1885\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1886,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1885\/revisions\/1886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/deltaforcedaily.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}