but Baruch the son of Neriah has turned you against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may put us to death, and carry us away captive to Babylon.”
So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, and all the people, didn’t obey Yahweh’s voice, to dwell in the land of Judah. But Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, took all the remnant of Judah, who had returned from all the nations where they had been driven, to live in the land of Judah; the men, and the women, and the children, and the king’s daughters, and every person who Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan; and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah;
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv3–6 They afterwards throw the blame on Baruch, who had…
They afterwards throw the blame on Baruch, who had been the Prophet’s faithful servant. As they could not find out any reason why Jeremiah should speak falsely, they turned their fury against Baruch. They did not then spare Jeremiah for honor’s sake, but as they had no reason whatever to speak evil of him, they fixed the blame on Baruch, who yet was as innocent as Jeremiah. Baruch, they said, excites thee against us Had Jeremiah so prophesied through the influence of another, yet his crime might have been at least extenuated. Now they said that he was mendacious, and brought forth nothing but impositions; but the ungodly do not regard what they say, for the devil drives them on headlong. And they charged Baruch with a very great crime, that he wished to betray them to the Chaldeans, and then to expose them to slaughter, and to deliver them that they might be driven into exile. All this would have been the greatest cruelty.: But then if we consider what sort of man Baruch had been, and how innocently he had conducted himself, how he had endangered his life in defending the true worship of God and prophetic doctrine, there was surely no reason for loading him with so great a reproach.
But we see that God’s servants have been always exposed to extreme reproaches, even when they have exhibited the greatest integrity. If then, at this day, we hear of evil reports, after having labored to act uprightly, it ought not to appear to us a hard or a new thing to bear them with patience. We must, indeed, do what we can to stop the mouths of the malevolent and the wicked; nor ought we to give occasion, as Paul admonishes us, to the malignant. But when we have done our duty faithfully, if yet dogs bark at us, if we be loaded with many reproaches and crimes, let us learn patiently to endure them. This, then, ought to be done by us, since we see that Baruch was accused of extreme perfidy and cruelty.
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What now had Baruch to do with the Chaldeans? Had he fled to them? Was he anxious to gain influence for himself? or to procure favor for himself? There was no such thing; he always followed Jeremiah wherever he went. Jeremiah had indeed obtained some favor; but this was to be attributed to the gratuitous kindness of God. Baruch, then, had got leave from the Chaldeans to remain with the Prophet; for the condition of both was the same. But yet he had not followed the Chaldeans, when his option was given to him. For when the Chaldeans offered quietness and rest to Jeremiah, Baruch might have also gone to that fertile country; but he chose to remain in the land. We hence see that he had removed from himself every suspicion, and yet he could not stop the mouths of the malevolent, but they slandered and. calumniated him. Let us then know that God’s servants prove their firmness and constancy, when they are assailed on every side by the calumnies of men, and yet are satisfied with the testimony of their own conscience, and go on in their course, and look forward to the judgment of God, and care not what men think or speak, provided God approves of them, and is their judge in heaven.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv3, 5, 6 Thus the wicked do not only contemn and hurt…
Thus the wicked do not only contemn and hurt the messengers of God, but slander, and speak wickedly of all them that support or favor the godly.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv3–6 Jer 43:3 But Baruch the son of Neriah setteth…
Jer 43:3 But Baruch the son of Neriah setteth thee on against us, for to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they might put us to death, and carry us away captives into Babylon.
Ver. 3. But Baruch, the son of Neriah, setteth thee on against us.] A likely matter. What should Baruch gain by that? but malice careth not how truly or rationally it speaketh or acteth, so it may gall or kill Jeremiah and Baruch must be said to be in league together, and to collude for a common disturbance, like as the Papists say Luther and Zuinglius did; whereas they knew nothing one of another for a long time after that they began to stickle against Popery in several climates; and when they did hear of one another, they differed exceedingly, in the doctrine of the sacrament especially.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv3–6 Baruch was but a clerk or secretary to Jeremiah,…
Baruch was but a clerk or secretary to Jeremiah, so not very probable to overrule the prophet to a falsifying of his trust, and a betraying of his countrymen into the hands of their enemies; but so fond are wicked men of their lusts, that they will say any thing in justification of them, rather than deny themselves in them, and become obedient to the will of God.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv3–6 But Baruch the son of Neriah setteth thee on…
But Baruch the son of Neriah setteth thee on against us,.... First they charge the prophet with a lie, and deny his mission from the Lord; and now to lessen the prophet's crime they charged him with, they lay the blame on Baruch, as if he, out of ill will to them, had instigated the prophet to deliver such a message; which is not at all likely, that he should be prevailed upon by a younger person, and his secretary, to take such a step: nor can it be thought that Baruch should have any interest to serve by it; and, besides, both he and the prophet were too good men, the one to instigate, and the other to be instigated, to declare a falsehood in the name of the Lord. The end proposed, they suggest, was
for to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they might put us to death, and carry us away captives into Babylon; either that he or the prophet might deliver them into the hands of the Chaldeans, to be put to death by them, or be carried captive; which is not at all probable, it being inconsistent with that piety and humanity which were conspicuous in them both, and with their conduct, who chose rather to abide in their own land, with this small and despicable handful of people, than to go and live in the court of Babylon, where good care would have been taken of them.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v6 Verse 6. Men, and women, and children, and the…
Verse 6. Men, and women, and children, and the king's daughters] See the note on Jer 41:10. It is truly surprising that the Chaldeans should have left behind any of the royal family of Judah! But,
1. Perhaps they knew not there were any.
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2. If they did know, they might think, being children of concubines, they could not inherit. Or,
3. That being females, they were not eligible. And they had taken care to seize all Zedekiah's sons, and slay them before his eyes.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v4 Jer 43:4-7. So Johanan and all the captains, &c.,…
Jer 43:4-7. So Johanan and all the captains, &c., obeyed not, &c. — That is, they resolved not to obey the message God had sent them by Jeremiah; but took all the remnant of Judah that were returned, &c. — The resolution which they had formed they presently put in practice. Though Jeremiah and Baruch, and probably many of the people, were not willing to go along with them, yet these rebellious captains forced them to go; so that the prophet and his pious friends were now a kind of prisoners to their own countrymen. So they came into the land of Egypt — Their great inclination to go into Egypt arose, as has been intimated, from a supposition that they should be safer there from the Babylonians, who, they thought, might injure them at any time while they stayed in Judea; but would not venture to attack Egypt, on account of its strongly fortified cities, which commanded the passes into the country, and the various channels of the Nile, which were great obstructions to the march of an army. Thus they came even to Tahpanhes — One of the principal cities of Egypt, and a place of residence for their kings. The word is contracted to Hanes, Isa 30:4, and joined with Zoan, the chief city of the kingdom. Tahpanhes gave a name to a queen of Egypt, (1Ki 11:19,) and is supposed by many to be the same city which was afterward called Daphnæ Pelusiacæ. In this behaviour of the Jews we have an instance of great impiety joined to hypocrisy. They had promised with an oath to follow the advice of the prophet; but, because his counsel was not agreeable to their inclinations, they went down into Egypt, and even charged the prophet with speaking falsely in the name of the Lord. In these Jews we see a picture of those persons who, upon some occasions, express their zeal and good intentions, but reject the most wholesome counsels when those counsels thwart their passions, and are in opposition to what they have secretly purposed. With respect to Jeremiah, it may be observed, God suffered him to be carried to Egypt, that he might there denounce the ruin of the Egyptians as well as of the Jews, who had put their trust in them. Wherever the wicked are, the hand of God finds them out; and those who think, by disobeying him, to avoid the evils which they dread, and to that end make use of unlawful means, fall by those very means into the evils they expect to shun, and are confounded in their hope.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv4–5 All the people - Many, nevertheless, would be unwilling…
All the people - Many, nevertheless, would be unwilling agents, compelled to do what their unscrupulous leaders forced upon the community.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv3, 6 Baruch. He had been at Babylon, and was liberated…
Baruch. He had been at Babylon, and was liberated with Jeremias, always speaking with moderation of the king of Babylon, and exhorting the people to submission. This was enough to make the populace suspect. They are incapable of reasoning.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv3, 5, 6 Baruch--He being the younger spake out the revelations which…
Baruch--He being the younger spake out the revelations which he received from Jeremiah more vehemently. From this cause, and from their knowing that he was in favor with the Chaldeans, arose their suspicion of him. Their perverse fickleness was astonishing. In the forty-second chapter they acknowledged the trustworthiness of Jeremiah, of which they had for so long so many proofs; yet here they accuse him of a lie. The mind of the unregenerate man is full of deceits.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv3, 5 3. Baruch… setteth thee on — Why Baruch is…
3. Baruch… setteth thee on — Why Baruch is given this offensive pre-eminence does not appear. He was probably a younger man than Jeremiah, and was to some extent the medium of his communications. He may thus have given offence, and may have infused into the messages something of his own ardour and zeal.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On v3 (3) Baruch the son of Neriah setteth thee on…
(3) Baruch the son of Neriah setteth thee on against us.—This was the solution which presented itself to the suspicions of the murmurers. The prophet’s amanuensis had become his leader, and was making use of him as a tool for the furtherance of his own designs, and those designs were to court the favour of the conqueror by delivering the remnant of the people into his hands. The warning of Jer_45:5 may perhaps be taken as an indication that there was a certain ambition and love of eminence in Baruch’s character which gave a colour to the suspicion. Baruch himself has not appeared on the scene since the days of Jehoiakim (Jer_36:32), but it lies in the nature of the case that he would be known as advocating, like Jeremiah, the policy of submission to Nebuchadnezzar. The apocryphal Book of Baruch (Bar_1:1) represents him as being actually at Babylon at the time of the capture of Jerusalem, and this was in itself probable enough. On this assumption Jeremiah was perhaps suspected of actually receiving instructions from the Babylonian Court through Baruch, who in Jer_43:6 suddenly re-appears as the prophet’s companion. Prophet and scribe were apparently seized and carried off by force, to prevent their carrying out the schemes of which they were suspected. The “remnant of Judah returned from all nations” refers to the fugitives from Moab, Ammon, or Edom, mentioned in Jer_40:11. As the emigration included all who had gathered together under the protection of Gedaliah, it must have left the lands of Judah almost entirely depopulated, and the fear of this result may well have been among the reasons that determined Jeremiah’s counsels.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv3, 5 Baruch the son of Neriah setteth thee on. A…
Baruch the son of Neriah setteth thee on. A singular supposition Jeremiah leaving the initiative to his secretary! It may be conjectured that Baruch had somehow made himself specially unpopular; he may have been a more practical man (comp. Jer_45:5) than Jeremiah.
The credulity of unbelief.
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I UNBELIEF INVOLVES CREDULITY. Johanan and his companions here bring before us a striking instance of the credulity of unbelief. Refusing to admit that Jeremiah was divinely inspired, they asserted that he was instigated by Baruch the scribe. Now, we have seen Baruch acting solely as the amanuensis and spokesman of the prophet indeed, effacing himself with genuine humility and wisdom to serve the prophet the more faithfully; could this man be the inspirer of his master"s most decided utterances? The idea is preposterous. It is an evidence of gross credulity the credulity that believes in one"s own inventions, though they are infinitely less reasonable than the opposite ideas they are set up to oppose. All unbelief is belief it is belief in the negation of a proposition, and it requires as much evidence as the proposition it denies. It also has its consequences in reason which should be followed out remorselessly. Defenders of the faith have been too apologetic. They would often have been wiser if they had turned the flank of opponents and exposed the weakness of their position. It might often be shown that, in accepting this position, the opponents were standing on less firm ground than that which they dispute. For something must be true. If we came down to absolute nihilism, and discovered that nothing existed, even that discovery would be a truth. The absolute rejection of one proposition involves the acceptance of its opposite. But this opposite may be beset with heavier difficulties or favoured with weaker evidences than those which accompany the rejected proposition. If so, to accept the opposite proposition is really a mark of greater credulity than to admit that which presented the first claims.
II THE CREDULITY OF UNBELIEF MAY BE ILLUSTRATED IN THE CONTROVERSIES OF THE AGE. Consider it in relation to the main topics of these controversies, viz.:
1. The being of God. If there be no God, then the world must be eternal or self-created conclusions which may be shown to leave more difficulties than the hypothesis of a Creator and all the best thoughts of the highest orders of minds must be misconceptions a strange result for those who would regard the mind of man as the highest existence in the universe.
2. The immortality of the soul. Difficulties beset the theory of immortaIity. But what greater difficulties they have to face who, first believing in God (and we now have a right to start from that position), hold that the deepest appetite of man is destined never to be satisfied, that his highest aspirations are directed to an impossibility, and that his greatest powers are doomed to be blighted before they have grown to their full development? What credulity is required to make us believe that a good God could create a Tantalus!
3. The inspiration of the Bible. if the Bible be not inspired of God, the first literature of the world, containing by far its deepest, wisest, purest thoughts, and exercising unbounded influence for good, is founded on a delusion or a lie; for the writers of the Bible plainly claim to be inspired.
4. The Divine origin of Christianity. Christianity is the greatest fact in history; it revolutionized the decaying life of the old world, and gave a fresh upward movement to humanity; it is now the leading factor in the highest life of the foremost races of mankind; and it claims to be Divine. It seems to some of us that to say this claim is false, and thus to force upon us the inevitable alternative that its founders were deluded, and that it is a mere growth of human thought and effort, requires a faith which is so irrational as to be justly characterized as credulity.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v4 all the people
all the people
This probably did not include every individual there. The word "all" is a generalization that means many people. AT: "many of the people" (See: Hyperbole and Generalization)
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refused to listen to Yahweh's voice
Here "voice" represents commands. And here "to listen" means "to obey." AT: "would not obey Yahweh's command" (See: Metonymy)
where they had been scattered
This can be stated in active form. AT: "where Yahweh had scattered them" (See: Active or Passive)
Nebuzaradan
See how you translated this man's name in Jeremiah 39:9. (See: How to Translate Names)
Gedaliah ... Ahikam ... Shaphan
See how you translated these men's names in Jeremiah 39:14. (See: How to Translate Names)
Tahpanhes
See how you translated the name of this city in Jeremiah 2:16. (See: How to Translate Names)
translationWords
prince
voice
kingdom of Judah
commander
remnant
nation
prophet
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v3 43:3 It is not known why Baruch was blamed.
43:3 It is not known why Baruch was blamed.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.