Baruch - Jeremiah 45

Jeremiah 45:2 "Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, unto thee, O Baruch; v3 Thou didst say, Woe is me now! for the LORD hath added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest."

There are several Baruch's mentioned in this area of the Bible. This one, I believe, is still talking about the one Jeremiah used as a scribe when he was in prison.

There must have been some event which caused Baruch to get stressed. I'm thinking that it had something to do with his relationship to Jeremiah, i.e. he was seen as helping Jeremiah and it is obvious that the leaders did not think much of Jeremiah.

v5 "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."

I looked for the word 'prey' but found only Webster's definition which was not much help to me. I gather from this passage that things were not going to be peachy for Baruch but his life would be spared.

What I find amazing about this chapter is that the LORD would take a moment to send Baruch a message with all that was going on. Nations are falling, God's beloved Judah is being led into captivity. Yet he takes a moment to give some comfort to his servant and that of Jeremiah's. We do, after all, have Jeremiah's words preserved here.

So, the Lord is well able to deal with the masses and still pay attention to us as individuals. That's very comforting.

Psalm 136:1 "O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever."