Books: Stories of the Prophets
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Isaac Landman >> Stories of the Prophets
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By this time the two men had reached the gray, barren hillside from
which the Jordan valley and the Dead Sea can be seen in the distance.
It was here where Jeremiah received his call and commission to be a
prophet to his people. With deep emotion did he now bewail his lot:
"Ah! I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter and I
knew it not."
The injustice and the unrighteousness of it all came to him more
forcibly at this place of sacred memories, and he cried:
"Oh, Lord God of Hosts, who judgest righteously, who triest
the heart and the mind, I shall see thy vengeance on them;
for unto thee have I revealed my cause."
In the bitterness of his spirit he could no longer restrain his woe.
Outcast and disgraced, persecuted in Jerusalem and his life sought for
by his own family, Jeremiah cursed the very day of his birth:
"Cursed be the day in which I was born.
Let not the day wherein my mother bore me be blessed.
Cursed be the man who brought joyful tidings to my father, saying,
'A man child is born to thee,' making him very glad.
Let that man be as the cities which the Lord pitilessly overthrew,
Because he did not let me die.
Why was I born to see labor and sorrow,
That my days should be consumed with shame?"
Baruch did not break in upon the grief and anguish of Jeremiah. He
turned away, sat down quietly at the foot of a tree and listened, with
a fast-beating beating heart, to the sobs that were racking the very
frame of his beloved teacher.
For a long time the two sat there, each engrossed in his own thoughts.
The tree-clad hills of Gilead, to the northeast of them, were now
bathed in the deep shadows cast by the rapidly setting sun. Baruch
walked over to Jeremiah and laid a light hand upon his shoulder.
Jeremiah felt his presence but did not raise his head.
"Master!" Baruch called softly.
Jeremiah looked up into a tear-stained face in which he read sympathy,
love and sincere devotion. He arose slowly. The lines of a faint smile
of appreciation played about his mouth. He grasped the young man in
his embrace and clung to him as if he were his only remaining hope.
"Baruch! Baruch!" he cried, in a tear-choked voice, and held him tight
and stroked his head and kissed his forehead. The boy melted into
tears in the man's almost crushing embrace, and his very soul went out
to him in sympathy and love.
There in the twilight, the bond of friendship had been established
between Jeremiah and Baruch, to be broken only in death!
Baruch attempted to comfort his friend, but he at once saw the
hopelessness of the task.
Then he suggested to Jeremiah that they run away, that they go to
Babylonia, to Egypt, anywhere, to escape the horror of it all at home.
But Jeremiah showed him the uselessness of trying to run away from
duty's call:
"And if I say, I will not think of it nor speak any more in
His name,
Then there is in mine heart, as it were, a burning fire shut up
in my bones."
There was a fire burning within the heart of Jeremiah, impelling him
to prophesy. He could not help himself! He would not escape it!
And, what is more, that day of woe and trial, and the night that
followed, bound up Baruch's destiny with that of Jeremiah.
CHAPTER XIII.
_Teacher and Pupil._
Wonderful is the love of teacher and pupil! There is no blood
relationship to fuse that love. No selfishness enters into it. There
is only the common interest of the spirit upon which it feeds and
grows. It is, therefore, a love of the purest type.
Such a love was that of Jeremiah and his pupil, Baruch. Just as the
friendship between Josiah and Jeremiah was lasting, because as boys
they passed through the same danger at the time of the death of
Josiah's father, and just as the friendship between David and Jonathan
before them was knit closely together at the time when David was in
flight before the anger of King Saul, so Jeremiah and Baruch were
closely bound together in friendship and love from the very first
night that they spent outside of Anathoth together, when the pupil
saved his teacher's life from the conspiracy of his relatives.
Who knows what would have happened to the despondent, disgraced,
heart-broken old man that day had not Baruch warned him of the fate
that awaited him in his home town!
Yes! At fifty Jeremiah was an old man. His beard was gray, his hair
white, his shoulders prematurely bent. Deep wrinkles, lines of care
and woe, were furrowed in his face. Only at times, when he delivered
his fiery addresses to the people or when he courageously faced an
enemy like Pashhur, would he straighten up to his full height and show
a semblance of his gaunt form and strong physique.
Teacher and pupil passed many days and nights together in the
foothills, undecided on the next step for Jeremiah to take. Just then
he dared go neither to Anathoth nor to Jerusalem--and Baruch would not
leave him.
Fortunately, for both of them, old Ebed-melech, who had followed
Jeremiah from the pillory to Pashhur's chamber and from there, at a
distance, when he started for Anathoth, brought them food and drink
late that first night of their hiding, and continued to do so
every night.
For the present Jeremiah had little hope of returning to his task in
Jerusalem. He, therefore, often prayed to God in behalf of his people;
but always the answer came back to him:
"Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in
the streets of Jerusalem?
Therefore pray not thou for these people,
Neither lift up cry nor prayer for them,
Neither make intercession to me,
For I will not hear thee."
But the effect of prayer is mightier upon the persons who pray than
upon those prayed for. While Jeremiah's prayers could not bring back
the people of Judah to just and righteous lives without effort on
their own part, and while Jeremiah knew well enough that God could not
save these people simply because he prayed for them, yet the very act
of praying brought comfort and consolation to the distracted and
despondent prophet and to his loving pupil who clung to him.
After some days spent in discussing various plans for returning to
Jerusalem, an inspiration came to Jeremiah. He would write out the
addresses he had previously delivered in Judah and Jerusalem and add
such new thoughts as occurred to him, exactly as the Prophet Amos had
done when he was driven out of Bethel to Tekoah!
Many weeks were then spent by Jeremiah in dictating, and by Baruch in
writing down the prophecies. At last, when the scroll was completed
and Baruch looked up into Jeremiah's face, as if to ask "What now?"
Jeremiah took the young man by the shoulders and looking straight into
his eyes, said to him:
"I cannot go into the house of the Lord; therefore, go thou,
and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth,
the words of the Lord in the ears of the people, in the Lord's
house upon the fast-day; and thou also shalt read them in the
ears of all Judah that come out of their cities.
"It may be they will present their supplication, before the
Lord, and will return every one from his evil way; for great
is the anger and the wrath that the Lord hath pronounced
against this people.
"It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil
which purpose to do unto them; that they may return every
man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and
their sin."
This suggestion, or rather command, for the moment stunned Baruch. He
was not prepared to devote his life to the work of God in behalf of
his people, as his master had done. The son and heir of Neriah, Baruch
had a splendid future before him. He was a young man, full of hope
that his country's trouble would end, and full of ambition to become a
great man in Judah's history; but he knew that if he accepted the
mission that the prophet was entrusting to him, he might as well give
up all thought of such a future. The same fate that had overtaken
Jeremiah would probably overtake him, too.
All this Baruch had told Jeremiah with hesitation and a trembling
voice. Jeremiah, both his hands resting on the young man's shoulders,
listened very sympathetically. He knew that the great ambitions of his
pupil could never be realized. The country was doomed to destruction,
unless a great religious and moral revolution should change the
character and the lives of the people.
For a moment Jeremiah looked straight into Baruch's eyes with the
tenderness of a mother. Then, embracing him tightly in his arms, he
pressed him to his heart and said:
"O Baruch! Thou didst say, Woe is me now! for the Lord hath
added sorrow to my pain; I am weary with my groaning--and I
find no rest. Thus shalt thou say unto him, Thus saith the
Lord: 'Behold, that which I have built will I break down
and that which I have planted I will pluck up; and this in
the whole land.'
"'And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not;
for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh,' saith the
Lord; 'but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all
places whither thou goest.'"
For a long time Baruch's head was buried in Jeremiah's arms. Neither
spoke a word. Finally, when Jeremiah released Baruch from his embrace,
the young man's knees were shaking and he would have dropped to the
ground but for the support of Jeremiah's hands.
Tears streamed down his face. Baruch kissed his master's hands again
and again and cried out that he would go, that he would do Jeremiah's
bidding, which was God's bidding. "And Baruch, the son of Neriah, did
according to all that Jeremiah, the prophet, commanded him," and he
went down to Jerusalem and "read in the book, the words of the Lord,
in the Lord's house."
CHAPTER XIV.
_Baruch's First Venture._
It was the year after, that is 603, the fifth year of the reign of
Jehoiakim, and the ninth month, that Baruch took the completed scroll
and went down to Jerusalem.
He had timed his coming so as to arrive at the Temple on a great
fast-day, when many people were in the Temple courts attending to
their sacrifices.
The young man met very few whom he knew and was practically lost in
the crowd. Standing at the new gate in the upper court of the Temple,
the one built by Josiah, Baruch was wondering what to do. The day was
rather cold and everyone was hurrying about his duties, personal or
religious, or else seeking a place of warmth and shelter.
Baruch could see no chance of gathering a crowd, to whom to read from
his scroll. Like every young man who is about to attempt a big and
unusual thing, Baruch hesitated. Then he decided to give up for the
present and try again some other time. He tucked the scroll under his
arm and prepared to go down from the Temple Mount into the city.
Just as he turned to pass through the gate, however, he ran into no
less a prominent personage than Gemariah, son of Shaphan and brother
of Ahikam, who had defended Jeremiah during his trial at this very
gate.
Gemariah knew Baruch and greeted him most kindly. Baruch, too, was
delighted to find someone he knew. After Gemariah had inquired about
Anathoth and Baruch's family, he asked "What is that scroll?" Baruch
replied that it was something he desired to read to the people
assembled in the Temple.
Gemariah laughed affectionately, slapped the young man heartily on the
shoulder and asked whether it was some new poem or tale of adventure
that he had written. Baruch replied simply that it was something he
desired to read in the hearing of the assembled people. Gemariah
laughed again and very generously offered him one of the chambers
above the new gate for his purpose. Then he actually sent out a crier
to assemble a crowd for the young author. With expressions of good
wishes Gemariah left Baruch and proceeded to the place of the king,
where, in the chambers of the chief scribe, a meeting of the king's
counselors had been called to discuss Jehoiakim's proposed revolt from
Nebuchadrezzar.
Before long, Gemariah's chamber was overflowing and Baruch was reading
from the scroll. His voice was clear and strong. He was evidently very
well acquainted with his text, for he emphasized and enthused over
particular passages with all the power of an orator:
Thus saith the Lord:
"Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh
his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he
shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see
when good cometh, but shall inhabit the parched places in
the wilderness, a salt land and not inhabited.
"Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose
trust the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the
waters, that spreadeth out its roots by the river, and shall
not fear when heat cometh, but its leaf shall be green; and
shall not be anxious in the year of drought, neither shall
cease from yielding fruit."
Then Baruch turned to a passage of a different character. He was
following a pre-arranged program. He aimed at interesting his audience
first with selections of poetic charm and beauty. So he read:
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly
corrupt; who can know it? I, the Lord, search the mind, I try
the heart, even to give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his doing. As the partridge that
sitteth on eggs that she hath not laid, so is he that getteth
riches, and not by right; in the midst of his days they
shall leave him, and at his end he shall be a fool."
These beautiful figures of speech brought Baruch a round of applause.
He now had his audience; so he proceeded, and, with the fire and
fervor of a Jeremiah, delivered the following:
"The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with
the point of a diamond: It is graven upon the tablet of
your heart, and upon the horns of your altar.
"Thus saith the Lord of hosts:
"'Because ye have not heard my words, behold I will send and
take all the families of the north,' saith the Lord, 'and I
will send unto you Nebuchadrezzar, the king of Babylon, my
servant, and will bring them against this land, and against
the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round
about; and I will utterly destroy them, and make them an
astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations.
"'Moreover, I will take from them the voice of mirth and the
voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice
of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of
the lamp. And this whole land shall be a desolation and an
astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon.'"
Ah! The young man, then, was a prophet! This was evident to everyone.
He was speaking as did the Prophet Uriah, whom the king had put to
death, and as spoke the Prophet Jeremiah who, last year, had been
pilloried and driven out of Jerusalem!
Murmurs of astonishment and of pity arose from the audience. Men
whispered to each other about the brilliant young man's probable
arrest, punishment and, perhaps, death. Baruch felt instinctively the
drift of the conversations, and smiled. With a well-selected passage
he brought the talkers back to attention by the power and forcefulness
of his oratory. He was a transformed man, cool, collected, eyes ablaze
and peering at the very souls of his hearers. He held them and swayed
them and finally moved many to tears and to ask, "Wherefore hath the
Lord pronounced all this great evil against us?" "What is our
iniquity?" "What is our sin that we have committed against the Lord
our God?"
Now Baruch told them who he was and whose the addresses were. And in
answer to the questions put to him he quoted from Jeremiah:
"Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the Lord, and
have walked after other gods, and have served them, and
have worshiped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept
my law; and ye have done evil more than your fathers; for,
behold, ye walk every one after the stubbornness of his evil
heart, so that ye hearken not unto me; therefore will I cast
you forth out of this land, into the land that ye have not
known, neither ye nor your fathers."
It was, indeed, fortunate for Baruch that none of the Temple prophets
happened to be in the audience. There was present, however, a young
man who was at first amused at Baruch's poetic fancies, then
interested, then outraged when he discovered that he was listening to
Jeremiah's prophesies. This young man was Micaiah, son of Gemariah, in
whose chamber Baruch was speaking.
Now, Micaiah, grandson of the illustrious Shaphan, was growing up to
be a different type from his noble ancestor. He was proud of his
father's position at court and in the temple. He moved in the choicest
royal circles and was a devoted court follower.
When Baruch had finished his answer to the questioners, Macaiah had
had enough. Without a word he made his way through the crowd and ran
all the way to the palace where, he knew, his father was at the
counsel of the princes.
Post-haste and out of breath, he entered the scribe's chamber and
repeated, as best he could, the words he had heard Baruch read out of
the book to the people.
Here was a very awkward situation. The princes admitted Jeremiah's
cleverness and Baruch's courage; but just at this time, when the king
was contemplating rebellion from Babylonia, such preaching was
treasonable and would prove injurious to the cause.
They held a hurried conference. Some were for the immediate arrest of
Baruch; some were for his immediate death; some, who were opposed to
rebellion, were for hearing the book read to them. Among the latter
was Gemariah. One of their number, therefore, Jehudi by name, was
despatched to the Temple with orders to bring Baruch and his scroll to
the palace.
CHAPTER XV.
_The King Hears and Acts._
Jehudi arrived in Gemariah's chamber to hear Baruch finish this:
"Thus saith the Lord:
"'Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom; neither let the
mighty man glory in his might. Let not the rich man glory
in his riches; but let him that glorieth, glory in this,
that he hath understanding, and knoweth me, that I am the
Lord who exerciseth loving-kindness, justice and righteousness
in the earth; for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.'"
Jehudi pushed his way roughly through the crowd to Baruch. He laid his
hand upon the speaker's shoulder and ordered him, in the name of the
princes, to accompany him.
Baruch did not hesitate. His mind had been made up to face any
consequences that might result from his mission. His heart, therefore,
was strong and he accompanied Jehudi without protest.
Some of the princes marveled at the youth of Baruch, when they beheld
him. He felt much reassured when Gemariah stepped forward, smiled at
him and took the scroll from his hands. The son of Shaphan glanced at
several columns of the scroll, returned it to Baruch and said:
"Sit down, now, and read it in our ears."
While selecting his passages, Baruch thought very quickly. Why not
select prophecies that these princes would repeat to the king? Nothing
could please his master more than that Jehoiakim should hear; perhaps,
at last, he would understand. Therefore Baruch chose the following,
addressed to the "King of Judah that sittest upon the throne of David,
thou and thy servants and thy people".
"Execute ye justice and righteousness and deliver him that
is robbed out of the hand of the oppressor; and do no wrong,
do no violence, to the sojourner, the fatherless, nor the
widow; neither shed innocent blood in this place.
"For if ye do this thing, indeed, then shall there enter in
by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of
David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants
and his people. But if ye will not hear these words, I swear
by myself, saith the Lord, that this house shall become
a desolation."
As Baruch proceeded, he noted the restlessness of the princes under
the thunderbolt denunciations contained in his master's words. So, he
selected for his concluding passage this warning:
"For thus saith the Lord concerning the house of the king
of Judah:
"'Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon; yet
surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are
not inhabited.
"'And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with
his weapons; and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and
cast them into the fire.
"'And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall
say every man to his neighbor, "Wherefore hath the Lord
done thus unto this great city?" Then they shall answer,
"Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord their God,
and worshiped other gods, and served them."'"
Upon hearing this, the princes "turned in fear one toward another,"
and the spokesman said, "We will surely tell the king of all
these words."
Baruch was happy. His first venture upon his mission had proved more
successful than even Jeremiah could have hoped. He handed the scroll
to Jehudi, expressed his thanks for the courtesy shown him, made his
adieus and prepared to leave. Gemariah stopped him at the entrance,
however, and said to him, warningly and with emphasis:
"Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah, and let no man know where
ye are."
Baruch left the palace completely satisfied. Not only had he read the
prophecies to the people, but also to the princes; and now the princes
themselves were to read them to the king. On his way to Jeremiah's
hiding place, however, some of the joy in his heart left him, because,
thinking of Gemariah's suggestion, he feared lest the anger of the
king should be aroused and a search be sent out for Jeremiah with the
purpose of arresting him.
The winter palace was one of the achievements upon which Jehoiakim
always congratulated himself because of its structure and beauty.
Gemariah and the princes found the king in the sun parlor. Though the
day was bright and clear, it was unusually cold. A charcoal fire in an
Assyrian-wrought brass brazier, provided warmth for Jehoiakim who, at
this time, was by no means a well man.
The king was greatly amused by Gemariah's story of the incidents at
the Temple gate and in the scribe's chamber. He laughed heartily at
the fact that Neriah's son was turning prophet.
Jehoiakim asked to see the scroll. Gemariah, not knowing what the
king's attitude would be, had left it behind. Jehudi was sent for it.
Jehoiakim seated himself comfortably in front of the brazier, while
the princes were standing, and ordered Jehudi to read to him.
Jehudi had read but three or four columns when the king, to the
amazement of the princes, rose and in anger snatched it out of
his hands.
He glanced through parts of the papyrus, and, with an amused smile,
took a penknife out of his robe and began to slice the scroll
into pieces.
Several of the princes appealed to the king not to destroy it. In
reply, Jehoiakim walked up and down the chamber, cursing and swearing
that such things should be in his kingdom. He punctuated his remarks
by throwing piece after piece of the scroll into the brazier until it
was all consumed. Then he dismissed the princes, called them back and
ordered that the army prepare for rebellion, dismissed them again,
once more called them back and gave command that Jeremiah and Baruch
be found and brought before him, dead or alive.
CHAPTER XVI.
_Beginning of the End._
Jeremiah waited eagerly for the return of Baruch and listened most
attentively to the story of his adventure at the Temple and in the
palace of the king. His pupil's bravery and courage in trying moments
pleased the master greatly, and he complimented Baruch on his
achievements thus far. The question of the restoration of the scroll
never entered Jeremiah's mind at all, on account of his gladness in
having had his discourses brought home to the king.
Three days later, however, Ebed-melech brought with the provisions the
news that Jehoiakim had burned the scroll. Upon hearing this, all the
spirit of hopefulness left Jeremiah. He lost his temper and, at once,
dictated the following prophecy against Jehoiakim:
"Concerning Jehoiakim, king of Judah, thou shalt say,"
Thus saith the Lord:
"'Thou has burned this roll, saying "Why hast thou written
therein saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come
and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from thence
man and beast?"'
"Therefore, thus saith the Lord concerning Jehoiakim, king
of Judah:
"'He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David; and
his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and
in the night to the frost. And I will punish him and his seed
and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon
them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men
of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them.'"
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