BARUCH, THE SECOND BOOK OR EPISTLE OF. This is the document generally known as the apocryphal Book of Baruch ; but, as will be seen from the foregoing, it is only one of the two pro ductions which tradition has transmitted to us as the work of Jeremiah's friend.
1. Title.-This production is called in the Sep tuagint rd ptpXtop, which, like the Hebrew, ino (2 Sam. xi. 14 ; 2 Kings x. 6), is here best taken to denote epistle, a sense which this expression not unfrequently has, both in the Septuagint and in the P VNew Testament, and which the Syriac 1 .1 \\ rightly gives. This is most compatible with the form of this document, as well as with the exist ence and nature of the foregoing one. We call this epistle the second, and the other the first, ac cording to the Syriac, which describes them as such.
The Design of this design of this epistle is to exhort the Jews suffering in Pales tine under the oppression of their conquerors, to submit patiently to the chastisement they drew upon themselves, because of their departure from the living God, to remind them that in the midst of their afflictions they still have the divine teachings of wisdom revealed unto them in the law of God, which no other nation upon this earth ever had, and to assure them that if they obey the command ments, and return to God in repentance and prayer, the Lord will have mercy upon them, and make Jerusalem and its inhabitants the praise of the whole earth.
3. The Plan and Contents of this document consists of two parts ; the first extending from chap. i. 1 to iii. 8 ; the second from iii. 9 to v. 9. The former of these is the introduction to what is properly the epistle. In the second part the writer admonishes the Jews to listen to wisdom ; tells them that their contempt of her, who alone is the fountain of life and happiness, is the cause of all their miseries, and exhorts and encourages them to lay hold of her, since their sufferings are not in tended to destroy them, but have come upon them because they have forsaken their Creator and wor shipped idols 9 to iv. 8). Jerusalem is upon introduced as a widow bereft of her children, and clothed in sackcloth, mourning to all the cities around her, over her afflictions, recounting her warnings to her disobedient children, and describ ing their cruel treatment from the Gentiles (9-2o).
She then comforts her children, assuring them that He who scattered them will soon gather them, and that all the cities round about her which have seen their humiliation shall witness their glory (21 27) ; exhorts them therefore to suffer patiently, and to pray to God for mercy, who will receive them when they return to him, just as He rejected them when they left him (28, 29). Afflicted Jerusalem is then seconded in her bright hopes by an address from God himself, who is introduced as speaking to her, assuring her that He will comfort her, and afflict all those who bereft her of her children (30 32). Babylon, which rejoiced in her ruin, shall her self mourn over her own destruction (33-35). En couraged by this comforting assurance on the part of God, Baruch calls upon Jerusalem in words of triumphant joy to look around her, and see already her scattered children flocking to her from all the four corners of the earth (36, 37) ; bids her change her sable weeds for festive garments (v. I, 2); and depicts to her in glowing terms, worthy of an Isaiah, the restoration of her children, and their future never-ending glory (3-9). For the sixth chapter, which contains the epistle of Jeremiah, we must refer to JEREMIAH, EPISTLE OF.
4. The Unity of this Epistle.—That this epistle forms one whole is evident from the gradual but steady development of its plan, which is manifest throughout, and will hardly be questioned when we consider the beautiful adjustments of its con stituent parts, as shewn in the foregoing analysis of its contents. The greater flow of language, and the more graphic description, in the second part, are owing to its more inspiring theme, as well as to the fact that the writer therein reaches his climax, and are fully balanced by the pathetic prayer of the first part. The diction of every portion is in harmony with its subject, and shews both the skill and the good taste of the author.