A Prophet's Sidekick

The sidekick: Batman had his Robin, Lone Ranger had his Tonto, Don Quixote had his Sancho, and the Prophet Jeremiah had his ... Baruch? Indeed, the great prophet whose words are recorded in the books of Jeremiah and Lamentations had help - a friend, follower, and scribe all rolled into one. Jeremiah was called by God as a boy to warn Jerusalem that because the people of Judah had worshipped other gods, Babylon was going to conquer them, unless they repented. The people did not listen or repent, and eventually, Jeremiah was called to tell Judah that there was no longer any way to avoid the invasion of Judah by Babylon, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the Babylonian exile. Finally, Jeremiah was called to promise the eventual restoration of the people to their land.

It was a fateful time in which to live. In Jeremiah’s lifetime, the good King Josiah instituted religious reforms based on the rediscovered book of Deuteronomy, but his three sons (Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, and Jeconiah), who were kings after him, disregarded those reforms and refused to heed the prophecies of Jeremiah. Zedekiah, the king who came after the sons of Josiah, was to be the last king of Judah. Jeremiah warned the last king not to rebel against Babylon, but Zedekiah made an alliance with Egypt anyway. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon besieged Jerusalem and conquered it, taking Zedekiah away in chains and destroying the city. Jeremiah’s prophecies had come to pass. It was a national disaster for Judah. Is it any wonder that the people wanted to “shoot the messenger”?

Jeremiah’s message was deeply unpopular, and there were times when he was imprisoned, or when his life was in danger. Some wanted to destroy his words. The prophet needed help to face such opposition, and he had it in the form of a scribe, named in our English Bible: Baruch. Baruch’s actual name was “Berekhyahu”, which means “Blessed of God”. He was the son of Neriyahu, (in English: Neriah, meaning “God is my Lamp”) and the brother of Seriah, the chamberlain of King Zedekiah. Baruch came from a distinguished family, and was himself a very learned man.

The first duty of Baruch was to write down the words spoken by the prophet. “In the fourth year of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah until today. It may be that when the house of Judah hears of all the disasters that I intend to do to them, all of them may turn from their evil ways, so that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin. Then Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote on a scroll at Jeremiah’s dictation all the words of the Lord that he had spoken to him.” (Jer 36:1-4)

Baruch’s role went beyond merely writing, however. Circumstances arose which demonstrated the value of Jeremiah’s sidekick. Jeremiah felt threatened by King Jehoiakim. Even when it was too dangerous for the prophet to come out of hiding and speak in the Temple, it was still God’s command that the people hear the message. So it fell to Baruch to temporarily fulfill the role of Jeremiah himself. “And Jeremiah ordered Baruch, saying, ‘I am prevented from entering the house of the Lord; so you go yourself, and on a fast day in the hearing of the people in the Lord’s house you shall read the words of the Lord from the scroll that you have written at my dictation. You shall read them also in the hearing of all the people of Judah who come up from their towns. It may be that their plea will come before the Lord, and that all of them will turn from their evil ways, for great is the anger and wrath that the Lord has pronounced against this people.’ And Baruch son of Neriah did all that the prophet Jeremiah ordered him about reading from the scroll the words of the Lord in the Lord’s house.” (Jer 36:5-8)

When the king’s officials heard Baruch reading the scroll, they were alarmed at the prophecy. Telling Baruch to hide and avoid arrest, they brought the scroll before the king. But the king showed his contempt for the prophecy by cutting it into pieces and burning them. “Now, after the king had burned the scroll with the words that Baruch wrote at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: Take another scroll and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which King Jehoiakim of Judah has burned. And concerning King Jehoiakim of Judah you shall say: [...] his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day and the frost by night. And I will punish him and his offspring and his servants for their iniquity; I will bring on them, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the people of Judah, all the disasters with which I have threatened them—but they would not listen. Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the secretary Baruch son of Neriah, who wrote on it at Jeremiah’s dictation all the words of the scroll that King Jehoiakim of Judah had burned in the fire; and many similar words were added to them.” (Jer 36:27-32)

So Baruch wrote down and spoke in public the words of the prophet. It was almost like he was a prophet himself. What did he feel and think about himself and his role? Did he want more credit or fame? Did he want to be a prophet himself? Jeremiah chapter 45 suggests that perhaps he did “seek great things” for himself. So too did Sancho seek greatness for himself as a reward for faithful service to the great Don Quixote. Perhaps it is a natural feeling for a sidekick to have. But God’s direct reply to Baruch was bleak. “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch: [...] I am going to break down what I have built, and pluck up what I have planted—that is, the whole land. And you, do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for I am going to bring disaster upon all flesh, says the Lord; but I will give you your life as a prize of war in every place to which you may go.’” (Jer 45:1-5) In a time when the whole country was to be destroyed, there was no “greatness” in being a prophet. Merely staying alive was the best reward Baruch could be given in such a terrible time.

Perhaps it is thanks to Baruch, the scribe, secretary, and editor, that we have the book of Jeremiah today. He is considered to be one of the writers who contributed to the Bible. His fame is such that, in the Catholic version of the Bible, the Apocryphal book “1 Baruch” is traditionally attributed to him and included in the Old Testament. He may not have felt appreciated in his own lifetime, but he now has the respect he deserved back then. Given his fame, it was understandably exciting when actual physical evidence of his life was found by archaeologists in Jerusalem.












A bulla is a small round clay seal, which is placed on a rolled-up scroll and stamped with the name of the writer of the scroll. A collection of these bullae were found in Jerusalem in a house burned during the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem. The fire burned the scrolls but baked the clay seals and preserved them. Among the seals was one stamped with the name, “Berekhyahu son of Neriyahu the scribe”, or, Baruch son of Neriah as it is written in the English Bible. It is quite possible that this is the very seal used by Baruch himself. Other seals, found with the Baruch seal, bear the names of people mentioned in the book of Jeremiah, including King Jehoiakim’s son, Jerahmeel (Jer 36:26), the King’s secretary Elishama (Jer 35:12), and the King’s scribe Gemariah (Jer 36:10). These other seals make it even more likely that the Baruch bulla is really that of Jeremiah’s scribe. A second Baruch bulla has also been found. Taken together, the seals are physical evidence of the historical truth contained in the Bible.