_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.