Every man needs a friend who will stay with him to the end. The apostle Paul had Luke and Jeremiah had Baruch. Both wrote more than a little of our Bibles, both appear in the narratives, and both were true believers in the things they wrote.Baruch was Jeremiah’s amanuensis. God spoke to Jeremiah and Baruch wrote it all down.Baruch’s brother, Seraiah, was the officer in charge of King Zedekiah’s household (Jer.51:59). Thus, there may be some credence to the tradition that Baruch was from a noble family. One that was at least among the officials, anyway. In Jeremiah 32:12-16 we find Baruch assisting in the official archiving of a property deed for Jeremiah.Danger pay would be asked in Hollywood for Baruch’s next Job (Jer.36). Jeremiah sent Baruch to the temple courts to read from the scroll that he had just dictated to him. The court officials listened carefully, told Baruch to go into hiding with Jeremiah, and took the scroll to the King. King Jehoiakim cut off the sections of the scroll as they were being read to him and threw them into the fire. He wanted Jeremiah and Baruch arrested, but God hid them.After the destruction of Jerusalem, the Babylonians spared both Jeremiah and Baruch. In reaction to Jeremiah’s prophecy that the remnant must not to go to Egypt (Jer.43), the self-appointed leaders accused Baruch of inciting Jeremiah to do so. Saying he made up the ‘story’ to keep everyone in Jerusalem for deportation to Babylon. The leaders prevailed and Jeremiah and Baruch went to Egypt.Previously, after the king burned the scroll, Baruch received a personal message from God (Jer. 45). Baruch’s disposition had become that of Jeremiah’s: “Woe, is me!” As the amanuensis he knew and believed everything Jeremiah said from God. But like all of us, he obviously had sat around wondering what personal glories might have been in store for him under different circumstances. God pulls him straight with a rebuke of his ‘pie-in-the sky’ notions. God assures him that all will happen just as prophesied, but also that he can rest assured that he will be safe wherever he goes.What better co-worker in the Lord could a man want than Baruch? He was indeed the truest of Friends.
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