Chapter Four

Bar 4:1-8. Continuation of the discourse on wisdom. Bar 4:9-29. Jerusalem’s address to her children with consolation. Bar 4:30-37. Exhortation, with which the prophet addresses Jerusalem.

Baruch 4:1. Behold, the book of God’s commandments and the law that endures forever. All who hold fast to it shall live, but those who forsake it shall die. Bar 4:1-8. Wisdom contains in itself all the laws that can grant prosperity to the people who keep them. If Israel is now suffering, the cause is its falling away from God, the source of wisdom. 1. The law can be called eternal as a revelation of God’s eternal wisdom; especially must this be said of its moral content. “If you wish to enter into eternal life,” the Lord Jesus Christ Himself said to a young man, “then keep the commandments” (of the Mosaic law, Matt 19:17). From this it is clear that the moral commandments of the Mosaic law have been accepted in Christianity and from it have received the seal of eternity, of eternal obligation.

Baruch 4:2. Turn, Jacob, and take it, walk in the brightness of its light. Baruch 4:3. Do not give your glory to another, and your advantage to a foreign people. Baruch 4:4. Happy are we, Israel, that we know what is pleasing to God. 4. Compare Deut 4:8 and Ps 147:6-9.

Baruch 4:5. Take courage, my people, memorial of Israel! 5. “Memorial of Israel.” The small number of Israelites who remained represents as it were a memorial to their great ancestor, Jacob or Israel. This memorial of a great patriarch God will not allow to be destroyed, and therefore the Israelite people should not lose heart (“Take courage!”).

Baruch 4:6. You have been delivered to the nations, not for destruction, but because you angered God, you have been handed over to enemies; Baruch 4:7. for you provoked the One who created you by offering sacrifices to demons rather than to God. Baruch 4:8. You forgot the God who sustained you from of old, and also you grieved and the Jerusalem that raised you, 8. Jerusalem — this is the Old Testament Church, represented by its best servants — the true prophets, the pious priests and kings.

Baruch 4:9. for he saw the wrath that came upon you from God and said: “Listen, inhabitants of Zion, God brought great sorrow upon me, Bar 4:9-29. Jerusalem, like a widow bereft of children, bewails both herself and her children, whom the Chaldeans led into captivity. She can do nothing to help her children and will only pray to God for them (Bar 4:9-20). The captive Jews, for their part, should also beseech God for deliverance from captivity (Bar 4:21-24). While enduring disasters in captivity for now, they should at the same time continually ask God for help (Bar 4:21-29). 9. “Inhabitants of Zion” — peoples who lived not far from Jerusalem and who were witnesses to all the misfortunes that befell Jerusalem.

Baruch 4:10. for I saw the captivity of my sons and daughters, which the Eternal brought upon them. Baruch 4:11. I raised them in gladness, but I sent them away with weeping and sorrow. Baruch 4:12. Let no one rejoice over me, a widow abandoned and forsaken by many; I became desolate because of the sins of my children, for they turned aside from the law of God; Baruch 4:13. they did not know His ordinances, they did not walk in the ways of God’s commandments, and they did not enter upon the path of instruction in His righteousness. Baruch 4:14. Come, inhabitants of Zion, and remember the captivity of my sons and daughters, which the Eternal brought upon them. Baruch 4:15. For He brought upon them a people from afar, a bold and foreign people, who did not respect the elder and had no mercy on the child, Baruch 4:16. and took away the beloved sons of the widow and left the solitary daughter desolate. Baruch 4:17. And what can I do to help you? Baruch 4:18. He who brought these disasters upon you will also deliver you from the hand of your enemies. Baruch 4:19. Go, my children, go; for I have become empty. 19. “Go...” — an expression not entirely appropriate to those who had long been in captivity. Possibly the original had some other word that the translator did not convey precisely by the expression: “to go” (βαδίζετε).

Baruch 4:20. I took off the garment of peace and clothed myself in sackcloth of my prayer; I will cry out to the Eternal in my days. 20. “Garment of peace” — clothing worn at ordinary times. “Sackcloth” — coarse cloth worn at times of great disaster.

Baruch 4:21. Take courage, my children, cry out to God, and He will deliver you from violence, from the hand of enemies. Baruch 4:22. For I awaited your salvation from the Eternal, and joy came to me from the Holy One concerning the mercy that will soon come to you from the Eternal, your Savior. Baruch 4:23. I sent you away with sorrow and weeping, but God will return you to me with joy and gladness forever. Baruch 4:24. For as the inhabitants of Zion now see your captivity, so they will soon see your salvation from God, which will come to you with great glory and majesty of the Eternal. Baruch 4:25. Children! Endure the wrath from God that has come upon you; your enemy pursued you, but you will soon see his downfall, and you will tread upon his neck. 25. The prophecy that Israel will tread upon the neck of its enemies should be understood as a hyperbolic expression.

Baruch 4:26. My children, whom I raised in luxury went forth on rough roads, as a flock seized and carried off by enemies. Baruch 4:27. Take courage, my children, and cry out to God, for He who brought this upon you will remember you. Baruch 4:28. For just as your intention was to stray from God, increase your intention ten times to seek Him and return, Baruch 4:29. for He who brought these disasters upon you will bring you everlasting joy together with salvation. Baruch 4:30. Take courage, Jerusalem! He who gave you your name will comfort you. Bar 4:30-37. For his part, the author of the book addresses Jerusalem with encouragement. The chief thing to which he draws attention — the fall of Babylon, which oppressed the Jews. Yes, Babylon will be destroyed and Jerusalem will again see its sons! 30. “He who gave you your name,” that is, He who loved you, who chose you to be His holy city (compare Exod 31:2).

Baruch 4:31. Woe to those who oppressed you and rejoiced in your fall. Baruch 4:32. Woe to the cities that enslaved your children, woe to the land that received your sons, Baruch 4:33. for as it rejoiced in your fall and was glad in your devastation, so it will grieve over its own desolation. Baruch 4:34. I will take away the rejoicing from it over the multitude of its people, and its boasting will turn into mourning; Baruch 4:35. for fire will come upon it from the Eternal for many days, and it will be inhabited by demons for a very long time. 35. Compare Isa 34:14.

Baruch 4:36. Look around, Jerusalem, to the east, and see the joy coming to you from God. Baruch 4:37. Behold, your sons are coming, whom you sent away; they are gathered from the east to the west by the word of the Holy One, rejoicing in the glory of God.