45 The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a book at the dictation of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: 2 “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch: 3 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.’ 4 Thus shall you say to him, 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. 5 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.”
Section Overview
In this briefest of chapters, which is closely tied to chapters 25; 46–51, Jeremiah receives an oracle from Yahweh to speak to his friend Baruch. The ministry of the prophetic word alongside Jeremiah has proven difficult for Baruch during the time of King Jehoiakim (45:1–3). Of greater significance than Baruch’s pain, though, is the way in which the historical fulfillment of these words will bring judgment upon the entire world (v. 4). Baruch needs a bigger perspective than his own future and fate—compared to what Judah and the world will soon suffer, it should be enough that he will escape with his life (v. 5).
Section Outline
IX.F. Yahweh’s Rebuke and Salvation Oracle to Baruch (45:1–5)
1. Superscription to the Oracle (45:1)
2. The Oracle Itself (45:2–5)
a. Baruch’s Complaint about Ministry alongside Jeremiah (45:2–3)
b. Yahweh’s Exposition of Judgment and Suffering to Come on the Entire World (45:4)
c. Yahweh’s Rebuke and Assurance for Baruch (45:5)
Response
This chapter is about frustration in ministry and God’s encouragement to the minister. Interestingly, it is not the famous Jeremiah but his lesser-known helper, Baruch son of Neriah, who is the troubled soul (45:3). In light of God’s response to comfort Baruch, there appears to be two reasons for his frustration. The first is the weariness that comes from the reality that most of God’s people are on the wrong side of his purposes. This results in opposition that God’s servants face even when speaking God’s truth, as when Baruch finds the entire royal court of Jehoiakim arrayed against him and Jeremiah. Ministry may feel futile because people do not listen, but God promises that he will bring judgment upon all who deserve it (v. 4).
The second and related reason is Baruch’s unmet expectation that ministry should not present such a hard path to greatness. He is evidently surprised because of an unconscious desire for his ministry to go more smoothly and to experience more success than he has seen. The fact that Baruch will be saved, however, should be enough for him (v. 5).
Baruch’s response to the realities of ministry anticipates the words of the seventy-two disciples after they return to Jesus from their first stint in ministry (cf. Luke 10:1). Unlike Baruch, these novice ministers are ecstatic because they have been so successful that even demons are subject to them (Luke 10:17). Interestingly, Jesus responds at first that they know only a fraction of their own effectiveness. Their efforts have inflicted a decisive defeat on the biggest demon of all, as Jesus notes: “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you” (Luke 10:18–19).
Similar to Yahweh’s answer to Baruch, however, Jesus then redirects his disciples to rejoice in something better than ministry. In the only NT prohibition on rejoicing, Jesus exhorts his disciples, “Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20). Success or failure in ministry is never as important as is our identity as God’s children. Baruch and the seventy-two disciples both had to learn that what God does in and for his ministers is just as important as the work that God does through them.Jeremiah 45
This lengthy passage is traditionally known as the “Oracles against the Nations” for two reasons. First, Jeremiah 46–51 contains the highest OT concentration of material about the judgment that God will level upon foreign nations for their sins. Second, their heading as “the word of Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations” (46:1) uses a Hebrew preposition ʿal that can be rendered as either “concerning” (e.g., ESV, NIV, NLT) or “against” (e.g., KJV).
Closer examination of this section reveals “Oracles concerning the Nations” to be a better label. Although these oracles undoubtedly contain judgment against the nations, most of them also include Yahweh’s brief promises of salvation (e.g., 46:26; 48:47; 49:6, 39). These promises mirror the promises that Israel and Judah receive (e.g., 46:27–28) as nations who will also receive a just reckoning for their actions. The two Israelite kingdoms differ mainly in being the first to experience the historical pattern of judgment by Babylon’s hand that will eventually fall on all of them. Indeed, Jeremiah 46–51 appears to be an expanded version of the oracles concerning all nations in Jeremiah 25, a chapter addressing Nebuchadnezzar’s dominion and downfall, which Yahweh commands Jeremiah to record in a book (25:13).
On this note, the oracles concerning Babylon in chapters 50–51 are unusual. Not only are they far longer than the rest, but the entity described here also begins to shift from the historical nation of “Babylon” to the timeless symbol of “Babel,” the prototype of all rebellion against God (Gen. 11:1–9). The terms “Babylon” and “Babel” are both bavel in the Hebrew language. This wordplay enables Yahweh’s oracle of judgment against an empire in the sixth century BC to expand in scope into a picture of the final, climactic destruction of evil. It is thus appropriate that Jeremiah 50–51, along with Isaiah 13–14, provides much of the language and ideas in the NT’s primary oracle against “Babylon” (i.e., both historical Rome and timeless “Babel”) contained in Revelation 17–18.Jeremiah 46–51
Jeremiah 46