A Narrow Escape.
The issue was squarely drawn.
Either the Temple Prophets were the true spokesmen of the God of Judah and Jeremiah was an impostor, or Jeremiah spoke the truth that had been "cut off from their mouth" and the Temple Prophets were feeding the people on "lying words."
A great concourse of citizens of Jerusalem and pilgrims to the city gathered for the debate. Jeremiah, much older looking than his years, was the center of attraction. He was tall and erect. His face was somewhat drawn and showed wrinkles of worriment. He was dressed in an unadorned brown mantle that singled him out among the holiday-attired priests and prophets with whom he was conversing.
Evidently this was to be a friendly argument, without ill-feeling on either side.
Jeremiah was the first to speak. As soon as he began it was plain to be seen that his worry was not fear of the arguments with which his opponents were about to attack him, but that it was deeper-seated. He started by informing his hearers that he was well acquainted with the things that were being preached in Jerusalem as the word of God.
"I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright. No manrepenteth him of his wickedness, saying, 'What have I done?'Everyone turneth to his course as a horse that rushethheadlong into battle.
"Yea, the stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed time;the turtle dove and the swallow and the crane observe thetime of their coming; but my people know not the law ofthe Lord."
"Is that so?" queried one of the Jerusalem prophets, with a sneer. In his reply, he pointed out that both the laws of the religion and the laws of the State were known to the priests and prophets, in whose charge were the Temple and the government, and were obeyed by them and the people. With sweeping gestures he emphasized the prosperity of the people and the peace of the country. "Thou art the disturber of the peace," he concluded hotly. "Leave the Temple and the State to the wise men, the scribes, the priests and prophets in Jerusalem, and all will be well."
"The same kind of argument," thought Jeremiah, as he listened attentively to the speaker. "They always fail to grasp the vital things that God demands of them." In his rejoinder, therefore, Jeremiah came back forcibly:
"How do ye say, 'We are wise and the law of the Lord is with us!' But, behold, the false pen of the scribes hath made falsehood of it. The wise men are put to shame. Lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord.
"And what manner of wisdom is in them? Every one, from the least even unto the greatest, is given to covetousness; from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.
"And they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace."
Instantly there came to Jeremiah's mind the story of the Kingdom of Israel with its deceitful priests and false prophets, who, at Bethel and Shiloh, taught and preached untruths about God—and the sad end of them all. They, too, had thought everything was well with them and their sanctuary and the peace of the land. So Jeremiah continued:
"Then go now to my sanctuary which is in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at first and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel.
"And now because ye have done all these deeds, and although I spoke to you insistently, ye have not heeded, and although I called you, ye have not answered, therefore I will do to the house, which ye call by My name, in which ye trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh."
This speech started several commotions in different parts of the crowd. From the extreme edge, to the right of the speakers, one man began to come forward, shouting:
"Blasphemy!"
The cry was taken up all around him. From various directions men, throwing their arms in the air and yelling at the top of their voices, made their way with difficulty toward the speakers, crying:
"Blasphemy! Blasphemy!!"
Jeremiah, at first, could not understand the commotion. What had he said, what had he done, that was blasphemous? Then, as the cry became general and the surging mob became threatening, the thought came to him that the people had been taught by the priests and prophets in Jerusalem that the Temple was inviolable, that no matter what the political fortunes of Judah might be, God would never permit "the House which is called by His name" to be destroyed.
Now Jeremiah understood and he was helpless. His simile of the sanctuary at Shiloh suggested the destruction and ruin of the Temple in Jerusalem—and that was blasphemy.
He did not know, however, that his opponents had purposely planted men in various sections of the assembly to wait and watch for any blasphemous hint in his argument and to raise the cry against him.
"Blasphemy! Blasphemy!" The cry was now general. And the leader who started it, when he came within reach of Jeremiah, grasped his mantle and shouted:
"You must die!"
The Temple guard rushed to the prophet's assistance. Blasphemy was punishable by death, but the punishment must come in the regular, legal way and not by the hands of the mob.
Under protection of the guard, therefore, Jeremiah was led to the new gate, built by King Josiah, where the princes sat as judges. At his heels was the threatening, gesticulating crowd, goaded on by Jeremiah's enemies, demanding his life.
The trial was opened without delay. Here were thousands of witnesses who had heard the man and there seemed little hope for him to escape being stoned to death. One of the prophets opened the case for the prosecution, addressing himself to the judges:
"This man is worthy of death; for he hath prophesied against this city in the name of God, saying, 'This house shall be like Shiloh. This city shall be deserted, without an inhabitant.'"
Turning dramatically to the crowd, he swept his arm over their heads, adding for the purpose of affirmation:
"As ye have heard with your ears."
"Aye, aye," many responded.
"Blasphemy! Blasphemy!" shouted others.
And still others demanded, "He must die! He must die!"
When a semblance of quiet was restored, Jeremiah stepped forward from between the two guards who had him in charge, faced the accusing people, and said, very calmly and humbly:
"It was the Lord who sent me to prophesy against this Temple and against this city all the words that you have heard."
"Bah!" jeered the leaders of the opposition, and many took up the signal and joined in the jeering. Jeremiah did not permit the jeers to interrupt him:
"Now therefore reform your ways and your acts and obey thevoice of the Lord your God; and the Lord will repent of theevil that he has pronounced upon you."
"Hear him! Hear him!" arose from all directions. "He blasphemes! He blasphemes!" Jeremiah paid no attention to these outcries, but turned to the judges and concluded his defense:
"But as for me, see, I am in your hand; do with me as appears to you to be good and right.
"Only be assured that, if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and upon its inhabitants, for verily the Lord hath sent me to you to speak all these things in your ears."
Jeremiah ceased. He walked back to his place between the two guards to await his sentence. The mob was rather taken by surprise at the prisoner's defense. He made no arguments for release, no pleas for his life, but stated his belief in his work and his faith in God, trusting for the rest in the justness of his cause.
From out among the princes arose Ahikam, the eldest son of Shaphan, who was the Royal Scribe for Jehoiakim, as his father had been for Josiah. Ahikam and Jeremiah had been close friends as young men, even as their fathers had been all their lives. Recently, however, they had not seen much of each other. Jeremiah was busy about his business and Ahikam was permanently stationed in Jerusalem, at the palace.
Jeremiah hardly recognized Ahikam when he began to address the judges. His interest in the speaker was greatly stirred, however, when he heard Ahikam say that he had no apology to offer for the position he was taking, nor for his friendship and love for the man who was accused of the crime of blasphemy. He said that he believed that his and Jeremiah's fathers were of the greatest service to King Josiah in the prosperity that attended his reign, and that, though the priests and prophets of Jerusalem might not understand it, Jeremiah wanted the peace and prosperity of the nation and of the capital, not their doom.
Then, rising to a pitch of oratorical flight, he cried:
"This man is not worthy of death, for he hath spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God."
Up jumped Pashhur, the chief officer of the Temple, and told the story of Uriah, the son of Shemaiah, who also had prophesied in the Temple in the name of God. Pashhur continued:
"And he prophesied against the city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah; and when Jehoiakim, the king, with all his mighty men and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death; but when Uriah heard it, he was afraid, and fled and went into Egypt.
"And Jehoiakim, the king, sent men into Egypt, and they fetched forth Uriah out of Egypt, and brought him unto Jehoiakim, the king, who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people."
But Ahikam, who, like his father, was acquainted with the history of his people, arose and answered Pashhur:
"Micah the Moreshtite, prophesied in the days of Hezekiah,king of Judah, and he spake to all the people of Judah,saying, 'Thus saith the Lord of Hosts: "Zion shall be plowedas a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps and the mountainof the house as the high places of a forest."'
"Did Hezekiah, king of Judah, and all Judah put him to death?Did he not fear the Lord and entreat the favor of the Lordso that the Lord repented him of the evil which he hadpronounced against them? But we are on the point of doinggreat injustice to ourselves."
To the surprise of the priests and the prophets Ahikam's argument prevailed with the princes who sat in judgment, and with the people themselves. They dispersed without further ado, but they continued discussing the situation among themselves.
No punishment was visited upon Jeremiah, but he had a narrow escape.
Jeremiah and Ahikam left the gate arm in arm. They were happy at the renewal of their friendship, even if it took place in the shadow of death.
Ahikam warned his friend to be more careful, when they parted.Jeremiah left him with much to think about. It was the first time thathe had been attacked and his life threatened. In addition, thoughJeremiah did not hear of it that day, Pashhur had sworn to cornerJeremiah yet, so that he could not escape.
A Taste of Martyrdom.
Jeremiah returned home a very sad man, but not a wiser one from the point of view of his safety. He kept much to himself in the city of Anathoth and devoted his time to teaching a group of young men with whom he had surrounded himself.
Among them was Baruch, son of Neriah, of a distinguished Jerusalem family, whose members had always stood high in the counsels of the kings. Baruch was not only a disciple of Jeremiah, but also acted as his secretary when writing was to be done.
Baruch was intimate with Jeremiah's family in Anathoth, and he informed Jeremiah that his cousins did not approve of his actions in the Temple. They did not like the notoriety it brought them and hoped he would hold his peace.
These cousins did not have the courage to speak their mind to Jeremiah face to face, and so he did not trouble about them, their likes or dislikes, their approval or disapproval. He had on his mind a very troublesome problem when it began to be rumored that Jehoiakim was about to re-introduce human sacrifices in Ge-Hinnom.
Ge-Hinnom was the "valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the gate of potsherds, called Tophet." The southwestern gate of the City of Jerusalem overlooked this valley where an altar had been erected for the atrocious Moloch-worship, but which was destroyed by Josiah during the Reformation.
Jeremiah had but to hear of the king's proposal to re-establish theMoloch-rites, to act.
He went to Jerusalem, despite the pleading of Baruch not to go, gathered a number of the Elders who had been his father's and Josiah's friends and co-workers, and asked them to accompany him to Tophet.
They proceeded through the southwestern gate, "the gate of the valley," followed by a number of idlers, the curious who keep at a distance to see what will happen.
Arrived at the ruins of the altar of Moloch, Jeremiah drew from under his mantle a potter's earthen bottle, and, without giving a hint of what he was about to do, broke it on one of the altar stones. Turning to the Elders, he said:
"Thus said the Lord of Hosts: 'Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again.'"
That was all! He had portrayed more vividly than he could ever have done in a long speech what would be the consequences if the king persisted in bringing back the horrible worship of Moloch.
Returning to the city, Jeremiah stopped at the Temple. He had not been in Jerusalem since he narrowly escaped stoning at the hands of the mob. As soon as he was recognized—and the word of his coming had been spread by the onlookers, who had returned from Tophet ahead of him—the crowd gathered about him, anxious to hear what he would have to say.
He told them a story first. He had been down at a potter's house that morning, watching the potter at work. The vessel the potter made didn't suit him, so he destroyed it while the clay was yet soft and pliable. Then he made another vessel out of that same clay, "as seemed good to the potter to make it." This story he followed up with a passionate plea to the people:
"'O house of Israel cannot I do with you as this potter?' saith the Lord. 'Behold, as the clay in the potter's hand, so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel.'
"'At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it; if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.'
"'Now, therefore,' thus saith the Lord: 'Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you. Return ye now every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.'"
Several of the Jerusalem prophets, upon Jeremiah's coming to the Temple, gathered quickly in Pashhur's chambers to talk the matter over. They had thought that the charge of blasphemy had frightened Jeremiah so that he would not return; but here he was again, as persistent in his course as ever. Not one was willing to admit that there was some truth in Jeremiah's pleadings and threats, but all of them came to this conclusion:
"Come and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words."
Pashhur listened to all their talk with amusemsnt. Jeremiah had been a nuisance around the Temple, of which he was chief officer, long enough. Here was his chance to fix him, he thought.
"Come, and let us smite him with the tongue?" he asked, with a jeering laugh. He told them that they were fools to argue with the pest. He would show them how to deal with him.
Pashhur buckled up his mantle, gritting his teeth. He fairly ran to the open place where Jeremiah was speaking. He burst through the crowd with curses upon them all. Facing Jeremiah, he shouted:
"Thou—" but his anger and hate overcame him. He almost foamed at the mouth with rage and could not speak a word.
Before Jeremiah understood what the matter was, Pashhur slapped him on both cheeks with his hands. Then he struck him square on the jaw with his right fist—and Jeremiah dropped to the slabbed marble of the courtyard, where he had been standing.
The crowd was startled and amazed at what had happened. But Pashhur gave no opportunity for remonstrance. A number of the Temple guards, who had come up with their chief, dispersed the people with curses and blows.
Pashhur stood over the prostrate body of Jeremiah, like the victor over his defeated adversary—waiting for him to show signs of rising that he might strike him again. When Jeremiah regained consciousness, however, the brutal Pashhur had thought better of it. Another such blow and he would have killed the prophet—and Pashhur knew the law on shedding innocent blood.
Therefore, when Jeremiah had fully recovered and had once more risen to his feet, Pashhur arrested him and had him led to the upper Temple gate, which is the gate of Benjamin. There he put him into the stocks with his own hands.
That whole day and that whole night Jeremiah remained pilloried. Hundreds of people passed him. Some, urged on by the priests and the false prophets, mocked at him; some, pitying him from the depths of their hearts, sympathized with him; some spat upon him.
Near the pillory, all that day and night, there hovered a gray-haired Ethiopian who longed to speak a word of cheer and comfort to the unfortunate prophet and to give him water to drink and food to eat, but he dared not because of the guard that Pashhur had placed over him.
During all the terrible agony and shame, Jeremiah did not utter a loud word of complaint or condemnation.
On the following morning Pashhur ordered Jeremiah to be brought to his chamber. There twenty-one stripes were administered to him; and after warning him never to enter Jerusalem again, Pashhur ordered him to leave the city and be thankful he wasn't carried out of it a corpse.
Before going, however, Jeremiah turned on Pashhur and said to him:
"The Lord hath not called thy name Pashhur, but Magor(Terror), for thus saith the Lord: 'Behold I am about tomake thee a terror to thyself and to all thy friends; andthey shall fall by the sword of your enemy before your veryeyes. But thee and all Judah will I give into the hands ofthe King of Babylon, and he will carry them into captivityand slay them with the sword.
"'Moreover, I will give all the riches of this city and allits possessions and all the treasures of the king of Judahinto the hands of their enemies, and they shall carry themaway to Babylon; and thou and all that dwell in thy houseshall go into captivity, and thou shalt die at Babylon andbe buried there, together with all thy friends to whom thouhast prophesied falsely.'"
Here, for the first time, Jeremiah spoke of Babylon as the source from which all the evil impending over Judah was to come. For, one of the Elders who had accompanied him to Tophet, the day before, had whispered to him that Jehoiakim was preparing for a revolt from Nebuchadrezzar.
The reason why such a dangerous idea had entered the mind of Jehoiakim was that Nebuchadrezzar had received word, while yet at Riblah, that his father, Nabopolassar, had died. Without delay, and before having subdued the Palestinian states to his entire satisfaction, he marched to Babylon to be crowned and to establish himself firmly upon his throne.
Jehoiakim thought he saw an opportunity here to regain his independence. Jeremiah knew how foolhardy and impossible this undertaking would be. He so informed Pashhur, therefore, and received a kick and a cuff for his pains, as a farewell from that worthy officer upon leaving Jerusalem.
The Woe of the Prophet.
"What now?" Jeremiah asked himself.
Without an idea as to what his next move should be or where he should now turn, he took the road leading to Anathoth.
A day and a night in the stocks and the smarting lashes at Pashhur's hands, had given him a taste of martyrdom, and left him sick of heart and soul. He wanted to go home! Yes, he would go home where he would find, among his relatives and those dear to him, the shelter and comfort and rest that he longed for so much. His heart yearned for love and his soul for peace.
He turned northward. Head bent, spirit crushed, wounded in mind and in body, he approached the town of his birth, where he had spent the happy days of his youth, where he had received his call to prophesy, that ended now in humiliation and disgrace.
The painful, bitter thoughts that passed through his mind were suddenly disturbed by the noise of someone running toward him and calling his name. Jeremiah looked up to see young Baruch, all out of breath, coming toward him, both his arms waving in the air as if giving a warning.
"Flee, master, flee!" Baruch cried, looking back in fear lest some one was pursuing him or would overhear him.
"Baruch!" exclaimed Jeremiah, stretching out his arms in welcome. The sight of the young man was the first moment of joy he had had since his encounter with Pashhur.
Baruch did not hear the joyous note in his master's greeting. His face was pale and he was trembling from head to foot. Mechanically he ran into Jeremiah's embrace, but did not return it. Facing Anathoth and pointing toward it, he whispered, rapidly, "They have devised devices against thee, saying, 'Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof; let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.'"
Jeremiah finally succeeded in calming Baruch and drew out of him the fact that his cousins had conspired to kill him, and that, to save himself, he must not enter Anathoth.
Jeremiah's family had been poor but respectable citizens of Anathoth for many generations. They traced their ancestry back to Eli and to the high priest, Abiathar, who served in the Temple during the time of David, but whom Solomon banished to the suburb.
His relatives had always looked upon Jeremiah as the black sheep of the family. Now, in addition to their poverty, he had cast ridicule upon them by his actions, and contempt by his punishment in the stocks. So they decided to put him out of the way and be rid of him, once for all.
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 Iknew 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 toBabylonia, to Egypt, anywhere, to escape the horror of it all at home.But Jeremiah showed him the uselessness of trying to run away fromduty's call:
"And if I say, I will not think of it nor speak any more inHis name,Then there is in mine heart, as it were, a burning fire shut upin 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.
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 inthe 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 theLord, and will return every one from his evil way; for greatis the anger and the wrath that the Lord hath pronouncedagainst this people.
"It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evilwhich purpose to do unto them; that they may return everyman from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity andtheir 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."
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.
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; yetsurely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which arenot inhabited.
"'And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one withhis weapons; and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, andcast 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.
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.'"
Then Jeremiah took another papyrus and began once more the laborious task of dictating his discourses to Baruch.
Those were indeed days of pain and sorrow for Jeremiah and Baruch. They were not troubled so much by Jehoiakim's designs upon their lives—for Ebed-melech kept them well informed on the progress of the search—as they were by the preparations for rebellion. They knew that this was the beginning of the end.
At one time the faithful, old Ethiopian warned them that the search party was near at hand. They were forced to hide in a cave for two days. It was then that Jeremiah cried:
"Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth."
This danger past, Jeremiah and Baruch continued their laborious task of finishing the new scroll of prophecies. Then came Spring, and with it Jehoiakim's rebellion.
Nebuchadrezzar had not yet fully established himself on his throne inBabylon. He was too busy to deal with the rebellious Judean, himself.So he ordered a guerrilla warfare to be carried on by detached troopsin all parts of Judah. It was only a question of time, however, whenNebuchadrezzar would invade Judah with his entire army and crushJehoiakim like a snail under foot. No wonder that Jeremiah asked:
"Who will have pity on thee, O Jerusalem?Or who will bemoan thee?Or who will turn aside to ask for thy welfare!"
His grief was not alone for the great and glorious city and for its people, but for himself as well, that he should have to witness what he knew was inevitable:
"Oh, that I could comfort myself against sorrow!My heart is faint within me.The harvest is past, the summer is ended and we are not saved.For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt.I mourn; dismay hath taken hold of me.Is there no balm in Gilead?Is there no physician there?Why, then, is not the health of the daughter of mypeople recovered?
"Oh, that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears,That I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughterof my people.Oh, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men;That I might leave my people and go from them."
This despondency and hopelessness did not last long, however. As Nebuchadrezzar's guerrillas continued their cruel and merciless warfare, destroying crops and whole villages, Jeremiah determined that he must once more return to Jerusalem. He was ready and willing to pay for his efforts in behalf of his country with his life, if need be.
A comforting and encouraging message came to him from God, at this time:
"I will make thee unto this people a fortified, brazen wall; and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee, for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee.
"And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible."
But Baruch and Ebed-melech counseled against undue risks. They had heard that the Rechabites, that tribe of wandering nomads, which, because of the vow their ancestor, Jonadab, son of Rechab, had taken never to settle permanently in any definite place and never to follow agricultural pursuits, had been driven south by the marauding guerrillas and were making their way toward Jerusalem. Jeremiah and Baruch fell in with them and came, unobserved, into the city.
Many strange stories had been told about these nomads and the whole population turned out to gape and wonder at them. Jeremiah directed them to the Temple, and hundreds of people followed them.
At the Temple, Jeremiah ordered bowls of wine and cups and invited theRechabites to refresh themselves with drink.
Jazaniah, their leader, arose in his place and, with a courteous bow to Jeremiah, replied:
"We drink no wine. For, Jonadab, our father, commanded us: 'Ye shall never drink wine, neither ye nor your sons. And we have obediently done just as Jonadab, our forefather, commanded us.'"
This incident gave Jeremiah the opportunity once more to pen his artillery against the people of Judah and Jerusalem.
"Thus saith the Lord:
"'Will he not learn instruction as to how one should heed my words? For, while the sons of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, have performed the command of their forefather, this people hath not hearkened unto me.'
"Therefore, thus saith the Lord: 'Behold I am about to bring upon Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them.'"
Jeremiah thus revealed dramatically the meaning of all his preaching. Just as the Rechabites had remained faithful to the ancient vow of their ancestors, so must Judah remain faithful to the covenant between them and their God, if the country was to be saved from the hands of the Babylonians.
Yet, this proved to be but one more act in the hopeless part that Jeremiah was playing in the drama of Judah. Hopeless, indeed, it was now. As Jeremiah himself expressed it:
"Can the Ethiopian change his skin,Or the leopard his spots?Then may ye also do goodThat are taught to do evil."
The very next year, the year 597, Nebuchadrezzar gathered his full army at Riblah and prepared to march on Jerusalem.
The First Deportation.
Poor, miserable Jehoiakim! He was not even given an opportunity to meet Nebuchadrezzar on the battlefield in a single engagement. The Babylonian had hardly entered Judean territory when Jehoiakim died and was buried with his ancestors.
Of course, Jeremiah's prophecy, at the moment of his anger, that Jehoiakim's body would be thrown to the dogs, did not come true; but the king's death did not in any way put off the calamity that was to befall Jerusalem and its people. Upon hearing of Jehoiakim's death, Nebuchadrezzar, at Riblah, hastened his preparations to besiege Jerusalem.
An eighteen-year-old boy, Coniah, also known as Jehoiachin, succeeded his incapable father to the throne.
Jeremiah's advice to the young king was to submit to Nebuchadrezzar and remain in peace. The policy of Nebuchadrezzar, with regard to his dependencies, was that of peace. As long as they did not rebel and paid their tribute, he left them entirely undisturbed to work out their own futures.
So Jeremiah hoped that if Jehoiachin would at once show his willingness to be honest with Nebuchadrezzar, there would still be a chance for the country. Therefore he sent this message to the king:
"Say to the king and to the queen mother, 'Sit ye down low,For from the head hath fallen your fair crown.'"
Urged on by the queen mother and his father's counselors, however,Jehoiachin proposed to hold out against the Babylonian siege.Jeremiah, therefore, delivered the following oration in Jerusalem:
"As I live, saith the Lord, though Coniah (Jehoiachin), the son of Jehioakim, wore the signet ring upon my right hand, I would pluck him thence. And I will give thee into the hand of them that seek thy life, whom thou dreadest, into the hands of the Chaldeans, and I will hurl thee forth, and thy mother who bore thee, into a land where ye were not born, and there ye shall die. But to the land for which they long they shall not return.
"Is Coniah despised as a broken vessel and thrown forth into a land which he knoweth not? O land, land, hear the word of the Lord! Write down this man as childless! For no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David and ruling any more in Judah."
But Jehoiachin continued his stubborn defense until, driven by the horrors of famine, he
"together with his mother and his servants, his princes and his chamberlains went to meet Nebuchadrezzar."
On this unconditional surrender, Nebuchadrezzar determined never again to be troubled by stiff-necked, rebellious Judah. To that end he thoroughly ransacked the treasuries of the Temple and of the royal palace. He took away all the gold vessels that belonged to the worship of the Temple and, in addition, carried away
"as captives, all Jerusalem and all the princes and all themighty warriors, even ten thousand, and all the craftsmenand the smiths; none remained, except the poorest people ofthe land.
"And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon; and the king'smother and the king's wives, and his chamberlains, and thechief men of the land he carried into captivity fromJerusalem to Babylon.
"And all the men of ability, even seven thousand, and thecraftsmen and the smiths, a thousand, all of them strongand ready for war; these the king of Babylon took captiveto Babylon."
This was the first great deportation, in the year 597. The pride and strength of the country were taken away and led captive to a strange land.
Poor Jeremiah!
Now he did not glory in the fact that all that he had spoken had finally come true.
He wept bitterly. He mourned as if every one of the exiles had been his brothers and sisters. He could not be consoled.
But when his first grief had worn off and the Prophet had a chance to study the conditions and to consider the future, God vouchsafed to him a new message for his people—a message of hope and of promise.