CHAP. XLV. V. 1-3. This chapter, though inserted after the narrative of the desolations of Jerusalem and Judah, is properly a contin[401
4 Thus shalt thou say unto him, The CHAP. XLVI. Lord saith thus; Behold, that which I Predictions of the destruction of Pharaoh-necho's army, near
uation of the thirty-sixth chapter: and the message was sent to Baruch nearly twenty years before those desolations were accomplished. ( Notes , 36:1-4,8-19.) Baruch was probably a young man, when employed to write "the words at the mouth of Jeremiah, and to read the roll at the temple;" and though well disposed to the service of God, he had not sufficiently counted the cost. He had no doubt been grieved to write and read of the many and great calamities, which were coming on his people, and in which he was likely to be involved: but when he was persecuted for it by Jehoiakim, who sent to apprehend him, he complained, that "the Lord added grief to his sorrow;" and he was ready to faint with excess of disquietude and terror, from which he could find no rest. Some think, that his distress followed immediately, when he had written the roll; and that this message was sent to encourage him, previous to his reading of it.
V. 4, 5. Baruch, as a man of learning and ingenuity, probably had formed expectations of obtaining preferment, and was "seeking great things for himself." He had perhaps previously hoped, that the predicted judginents would not happen in his time; and that by prudence and activity he should obtain the favor of his superiors. For this the Lord rebuked him. 'Dost thou aspire to honor and dignity, 'in a time of common calamity?" Lowth .
God was about to break down the city and temple; to pluck up the people from the land, in which he had planted them; and to make dreadful destruction upon the Jews and neighboring nations: and was this a time for one of his servants to "seek great things for himself?" This was, (as one expresses it,) 'like painting his 'own cabin, whilst the ship was sinking.' ( Notes , 2 Kings 5:26,27.
Matt . 20:17-23. 1 Cor . 7:29 -31.) He was therefore commanded to give up such worldly hopes and pursuits: and he was assured, that the Lord would protect him from violence; so that neither Jehoiakim, nor his successors, nor the Jews, nor the Chaldeans, sliould put him to death; but that he should be wonderfully preserved in all places, till his time should come to die, according to the ordinary course of nature. ( Marg . Ref . Note ,
21:8-10, v. 9.)
the Euphrates, by the Chaldeans, 1-12: and of the invasion and conquest of Egypt by Nebuchadnezzar, 13-26. A word of encouragement to Jacob, 27, 28.
THE word of the LORD, which came to Jeremiah the prophet, a against the Gentiles;
2 Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaoh-necho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish. which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah.
a 1:10. 4:7. 25:15-29, Gen.c 2 Kings 23:29. Pharaoh-ne10:5. Num. 23:9. Zech. 2:8. choch. 2 Chr. 35:20. Necho. Rom. 3:29.
b 14. 25:9,19. Ez. 29:-32:
d. Is. 10.9. e 25:1. 36:1.
jections are generally greater than there is cause for; they always arise from weakness of faith and want of submission to the will of God; and they commonly have in them a great mixture of undue attachment to external things. We are apt to indulge a hope of being considerable in one way or other, and to flatter ourselves with the prospect of reputation or affluence; we are pleased with our own dreams, and put out of temper by being awaked out of them.
But the Lord knows the real cause of our despondency better than we do: and we should beg of him to examine our hearts, and to enable us to repress and mortify every ambitious, covetous, or sensual desire. In such a world of sin and sorrow, as this is at all times; (and not only in seasons of public calamity;) where death is continually ravaging, and will speedily cut us off; and which the Lord will soon break down and destroy, with all those whose treasures and hearts are in it; we should not seek more than "food convenient for us." ( Notes , Prov . 30:7-9.
Matt . 6:11,19-21. 1 Tim . 6:6-10.) And, however our lives may be preserved or exposed, or whithersoever we may be driven, our chief diligence should be employed in obtaining an assurance, that "when this earthly house of our tabernacle shall be dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens (Notes, 2 Cor. 4:13-18.5:1-8.)
NOTES.