Résumé
Résumé de The Book of Baruch
À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
For readers of the Bible who want to hear how exiles prayed, and students of Second Temple Judaism and early Christian worship. For anyone drawn to prayers for mercy, wisdom poetry and songs of consolation.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
The Book of Baruch is a short writing set among the Jewish exiles in Babylon after Jerusalem fell in 586 BC. It speaks in the name of Baruch, son of Neriah, the scribe who served the prophet Jeremiah. Scholars do not think one author wrote it at one moment. Most see a collection of pieces gathered over time, probably between the second century BC and the first century AD, though they disagree on the details.
It is not part of the Hebrew Bible and most Protestant Bibles leave it out. It does stand in the Greek Septuagint, in the Latin Vulgate, and in the Catholic and Orthodox Bibles. It comes in about five chapters, and in many Bibles a sixth, the Letter of Jeremiah, follows it. In this summary you will hear a confession of sin, a poem in praise of wisdom, and a set of songs that console a grieving Jerusalem. Let us begin with the scene that opens the book, a reading by the rivers of Babylon.
Dans ce résumé
- 1A scroll is read to the exilesFree
- 2The people confess the justice of God
- 3A prayer begs for mercy
- 4Wisdom is found only through God
- 5Jerusalem speaks as a grieving mother
- 6A composite book with a contested place
Point clé 1 sur 6
A scroll is read to the exiles
The book opens with a date and a place. It says that Baruch wrote these words in Babylon, in the fifth year after the Chaldeans took Jerusalem and burned it. He reads the scroll aloud to King Jehoiachin, son of Jehoiakim, and to all the people who gather to hear it. Among them are nobles, elders and ordinary families, and they weep, fast and pray.
The exiles then collect money, each according to what he can give. They send it to Jerusalem, to the high priest Joakim, son of Hilkiah, and to the priests and people who remain in the city. The money is meant to buy offerings so that sacrifice can go on at the altar of the Lord. This detail shows the exiles still looking to the ruined Temple as the centre of their faith.
The letter also carries a request. The exiles ask those in Jerusalem to pray for Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and for his son Belshazzar, so that their days on earth may be as the days of heaven. This is a striking line. It shows a community that expects to live under foreign rule for a long time and wants to live in peace with it. Jeremiah gives similar advice in his own letter to the exiles.
Finally the exiles ask the people in Jerusalem to read the scroll aloud at the house of the Lord on feast days and appointed days. So the opening sets up the whole book. It is a text meant to be spoken in public, carried between two broken communities, and it asks both to turn back to God. Many scholars note that the history here does not fit well with other sources. They take the setting as a literary frame for older and newer material, and they differ on how much of it rests on real events.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Questions about The Book of Baruch
What is the Book of Baruch about?
It is set among Jewish exiles in Babylon. It contains a confession and prayer for mercy, a poem saying that true wisdom lies in God's law, and songs in which Jerusalem comforts her scattered children and promises their return.
Why is the Book of Baruch not in the Protestant Bible?
It was not part of the Hebrew Bible, and it survives in Greek. Protestant traditions follow the Hebrew list, so they place it among the apocrypha. Catholic and Orthodox Bibles include it as part of the Old Testament.
Who wrote the Book of Baruch and when?
It is attributed to Baruch, scribe of Jeremiah, in the sixth century BC. Scholars generally see it as a composite work from later authors, written between the second century BC and the first century AD, though they disagree on dates.
Is the Letter of Jeremiah part of Baruch?
In Catholic Bibles it appears as Baruch chapter six. In the Greek tradition and Orthodox Bibles it is usually a separate book. It is a short warning against the worship of idols in Babylon.
Is the Book of Baruch the same as 2 Baruch?
No. 2 Baruch, the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch, is a different work written after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. It is made up of visions and dialogues, while this book is made up of prayer and poetry.