Purpose and Motifs of Baruch/ Paraleipomena of Jeremiah
A thorough summary of the story line of Paraleipomena of Jeremiah is given elsewhere1 and will not be repeated here. In short, however, the main characters are Jeremiah, Baruch, and Abimelech. Jeremiah, the prophet, is warned by God on the eve of the city's destruction, that Jeremiah should leave the city because God is about to open the gates to Nebuchadnezzar and his army. Jeremiah is concerned for his Ethiopian friend, Abimelech, and at God's instruction sends him for refuge to the vineyard of Agrippa where he falls into a 66-year period of sleep. During all this time of Abimelech's sleep, Jeremiah is taken away as a captive with many other Jews to Babylon while Baruch remains in the city.
As the storyline continues, Abimelech awakes from his sleep and is reunited with Baruch in Jerusalem. Their immediate concern is to inform Jeremiah and discover his well-being. Through a divinely commissioned eagle Jeremiah is not only informed, but also released along with the other captives who then begin their repatriation except for those who had married foreign wives while in exile. These were turned away and went into the desert and established a city that eventually became Samaria. Once Jeremiah had returned to the city, he begins to sacrifice to God there and in the midst of prayer, falls over as though dead. The people are exhorted not to touch him and they observe the prophet's body for three days, after which he comes to life again and exhorts the people to "Glorify God, and the Son of God who awakens us, Jesus Christ the light of all the aeons" (9:14). As he continues to prophesy about the coming of Christ, the people are offended and stone him to death after which Baruch and Abimelech set up a memorial in the name of Jeremiah.
Anderson makes a good observation regarding how the storyline runs with the main characters. He says:
In the final form of 4 Baruch, what begins as a revelation to the prophet continues as a pronouncement of the scribe and ends with a prophecy about the Christ. This sequence adequately reflects the redactional history of the work. Jeremiah, who completely overshadows Baruch in chapters 1 through 4, is almost totally eclipsed by Baruch in chapters 7 and 8, in which the prophet must accept the mediation of the scribe between himself and God. Moreover, we are told in 7:25-28 that God loved Baruch too much to let him suffer the same fate as Jeremiah.
He then observes that the shift from the importance of the prophet to the scribe is characteristic of a Pharisaical tendency.2
There are at least two motifs that are noteworthy in this story, both of which play into the purpose of the author. Of course, the most prominent is the destruction of the Temple which is likely a reference to the A.D. 70 destruction by Titus. The author employs typology here, using the earlier destruction of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar as the prototype. With the account of the repatriation of the Jews, this may be evidence that the author is holding out hope for the same thing for his generation. Another motif is that of resurrection. Even though the account in chapter 9 is generally accepted as a Christian interpolation3 the motif of resurrection is evident in at least two other places. The first is somewhat subtle and is the account of the 66-year sleep of Abimelech in chapters 5 and 6. The mere concept of sleep is a picture of the resurrection. But the picture is actually expounded in chapter 6 when Baruch is reunited with Abimelech after such a lengthy separation. This so moves Baruch to see his friend after 66 years that he lifts his eyes to heaven and says to the Lord:
You are the God who bestows a reward (on) those who love you. Prepare yourself, my heart; rejoice and be glad in your tabernacle, saying to your fleshly dwelling, 'Your sorrow has been turned to joy.' For the Mighty One is coming and will raise you in your tabernacle, for sin has not taken root in you. Be refreshed within your tabernacle, in your virgin faith, and believe that you will live.
Apparently, for Baruch (and also for the author), there is a coming day when those who have passed from these earthly tabernacles, will one day be raised by God. Note that it will occur at or about the same time of the "coming of the Mighty One." This would seem to refer to a momentous event in the eschaton when bodies of flesh will be raised to life ("will raise you in your tabernacle"; "be refreshed in your tabernacle"and "believe you will live").
A second reference to resurrection is explicit:
7:12-19 Then the eagle took flight, having the letter around his neck, and departed for Babylon. And when he arrived (there), he rested in a certain tree outside the city in a deserted place. And he was silent until Jeremiah came by, for he and certain other people were coming out to bury a dead man outside the city. For Jeremiah had made a request of King Nebuchacnezzar, saying, "Give me a place where I may bury the dead of my people." And the king had given (it) to him. And as they were going out with the dead man and weeping, they passed by the eagle. ? And the eagle descended upon the one who had died, and he came back to life. This happened that they might believe."
Thus, even allowing for the final chapter to be a Christian redaction, there is nonetheless a motif of resurrection conspicuous in the book.
Another motif that runs throughout the book is that of sin, and the contrast between responsive hearts and hardened hearts. When Jeremiah is given the revelation about God's judgment on the city at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, he goes to the Temple with Baruch and puts dust on head and begins to pray for the people. That author provides here an editorial comment of Jeremiah's practice. He says, "Whenever the people sinned, Jeremiah sprinkled dust on his head and would pray for the people until the sin was forgiven them" (2:3). At Baruch's inquiry as to Jeremiah's intense turmoil, Jeremiah responds to him with these words: "Avoid the rending of your garments, but rather let us rend our hearts; and let us not draw water for the troughs, but let us weep and fill them with tears" (2:5). The test in chapter 6 of those who "are not separated from Babylon" (6:17) is a test of the loyalty of the heart. Jeremiah, in pleading with those who had taken Babylonian wives, addresses the heart issue and says in 6:23-25:
Now these are the words that the Lord God of Israel, who led us from the land of Egypt, out of the great furnace, spoke: "Because you didn't keep my commandments, but your heart was lifted up and you stiffened your neck before me, in wrath and anger I delivered you to the furnace in Babylon. However, if you will listen to my voice," says the Lord, "from the mouth of Jeremiah my servant, whoever listens I will bring him back from Babylon, and whoever does not listen will become a stranger to Jerusalem and to Babylon.
But the people who had taken foreign wives refuse to listen and they harden their hearts. These were the people, Jeremiah recounts, who even pray to the foreign God Zar to have mercy on them (7:30). The people do not listen to Jeremiah, nor is Jeremiah's or Baruch's intercession for their repentance effective, because the people refuse to repent and they establish the city of Samaria, which, from the perspective of the author is rather pejorative. In chapter 9, the account of Jeremiah's prophecy of Christ really reveals the hardened condition of the hearts and the desperate need of repentance.
How do these two motifs (repatriation and resurrection) help to develop the overall purpose of the author? Clearly, the common denominator to both of these motifs is that of hope. On the one hand there is a near hope, viz. restoration of the city and repatriation back into it. On the other hand, there is a more distant (though nonetheless certain) hope, viz. the resurrection of the body. That there is a resurrection of the body, it can be argued that there is One who will stand over the resurrection event and will assign rewards and judgment according to his determination and his standard of righteousness. The Paraleipomena of Jeremiah does not intimate these details in this work, but that there is some broad outline of such an event can be assumed to be in the mind of the author. His purpose, in short, is to provide hope to his fellow-countrymen who have suffered devastating losses, both personally and corporately. Therefore, he addresses both with his twin motif of repatriation and resurrection.
Notes
1See under "Paraleipomena of Jeremiah: Introduction." To go there, click here: Introduction to Baruch/ Paraleipomena of Jeremiah
2 S. E. Robinson, "4 Baruch," in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: Apocalyptic Literature & Testaments. Vol. 2, ed. James H. Charlesworth (New York: Doubleday, 1983): 415.
3In fact, all of chapter 9 is regarded as a Christian redaction along with the test of crossing the Jordan in 6:25, which is considered to be a reference to Christian baptism. Cf. Robinson, 415.
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