Question About Baruch

Last updated on: December 28, 2014 at 7:46 pm by Mark Shea

Question About Baruch 2014-12-28T19:46:39-07:00 Mark Shea

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A reader writes:

A Protestant coworker is asking me questions about the seven “extra” books in the Catholic Bible. He recently asked me why in the book of Baruch it says that the Babylonian captivity would last seven generations when in Jeremiah it says it would last 70 years. I could not find an answer to this anywhere. Can you help? Thanks!

The passage from Baruch to which you refer is said by the author (traditionally Jeremiah’s secretary) to be from a letter from Jeremiah to the exiles in Babylon. It reads:

Because of the sins which you have committed before God, you will be taken to Babylon as captives by Nebuchadnezzar, king of the Babylonians. Therefore when you have come to Babylon you will remain there for many years, for a long time, up to seven generations; after that I will bring you away from there in peace. (Bar 6:2–3).

Jeremiah 29 is also a letter to the exiles in Babylon, with substantially the same message: You are there because of the sins of the nation. God has not forgotten you and will bring you back, etc. In the course of it, Jeremiah says:

When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfil to you my promise and bring you back to this place. (Je 29:10–11).

There are various possibilities to account for the discrepancy. Most biblical scholars would simply argue that Baruch is the work of a Hellenistic Jew writing several centuries after the historical Baruch to encourage Jews under Greek rule not to knuckle under to Greek paganism. The “seven generations” would therefore be a play on the original Jeremiah’s promise, suggesting that just as their ancestors had escaped Babylonian domination, so they would escape Greek domination.

It’s also possible the letter is by the original Jeremiah but being paraphrased by the original Baruch so that “generation” means “decade”.

Or it could be a scribal error in the transmission of the text.

Or something else.

Bottom line: there are lots of ways to look at Baruch’s differences with Jeremiah and not have to abandon the Church’s teaching that it is inspired. When people are *searching* for reason to reject the Deuterocanon, one of the favorite things to do is turn *differences* into *contradictions*. But of course, you can do exactly the same thing with texts that Christians all acknowledge are inspired. There are minor differences in the passion and resurrection narratives too. Paul gives three slightly differing accounts of his encounter with the risen Christ on the Damascus Road. Did Jesus say “Blessed are the poor” or “Blessed are the poor in spirit?” Did he say “Take, eat; this is my body” (Matthew), “Take; this my body” (Mark), “This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke), or ““This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” (Paul). Clearly, all the witnesses are recalling a single event which really happened. But none of them have a burning interest in the exact tape-recorded words used by Jesus. They are getting across the gist of what he said in a way their audience will understand and (a very important point) in a way their audience has *long* understood. They are *reminding* not introducing new information to their readers.

In much the same way, an advanced class on the Civil War, full of students who already know about the Gettysburg address might give the gist of what Lincoln said, while only using a few exact words of the address and giving a paraphrase of his point (“87 years ago, we founded the US on the twin propositions of liberty and that all men are created equal. Now that is being tested in this great civil war…”) Flat-footed literalists centuries from now would accuse the people in that conversation of “twisting” Lincoln’s words. But in fact it would simply be due to the fact that they *knew* Lincoln’s words so well that they did not feel the need to laboriously and precisely quote and footnote them every time they had a conversation about them. Paul, in particular, is not introducing a new audience to the story of the Last Supper (and he is the first to write down and account of it). Rather, he is talking about other things (namely, how you should conduct yourself in the liturgy and in your life) *in light of what both he and his audience know about the events of the Last Supper*.

The moral of the story is this: the biblical texts are not written to give us tape-recorded conversations, but to give us *accurate* memories of human testimony. Even modern methods of gathering human testimony cannot give us the kind purity that people, eager to get rid of this or that biblical text, perpetually demand. Exhibit A: the assassination of President Kennedy. You can, as with the gospels, get a reasonably accurate picture of what happened in Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963. But if you start hyper-emphasizing every teeny discrepancy between eyewitnesses, you can wind up with fifty million conspiracy theories. Add two thousand years and you could easily wind up with “scholarship” that concludes JFK did not exist at all.

Hope that helps.

Uncategorized

Mailbag

Scripture

Previous Post

November 18, 2014

Hops for Algernon

Next Post

November 18, 2014 Anomalous Events that Shake Skepticism

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 September 2006 June 2006 July 2005 April 2005 May 2002 April 2002 0000

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz