Baruch 1:15-22
#459 Weekday Year I Context (Friday of the 26th Week in Ordinary Time)
During the Babylonian captivity, the exiles prayed:
“Justice is with the Lord, our God;
and we today are flushed with shame,
we men of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem,
that we, with our kings and rulers
and priests and prophets, and with our ancestors,
have sinned in the Lord’s sight and disobeyed him.
We have neither heeded the voice of the Lord, our God,
nor followed the precepts which the Lord set before us.
From the time the Lord led our ancestors out of the land of Egypt
until the present day,
we have been disobedient to the Lord, our God,
and only too ready to disregard his voice.
And the evils and the curse that the Lord enjoined upon Moses, his servant,
at the time he led our ancestors forth from the land of Egypt
to give us the land flowing with milk and honey,
cling to us even today.
For we did not heed the voice of the Lord, our God,
in all the words of the prophets whom he sent us,
but each one of us went off
after the devices of his own wicked heart,
served other gods,
and did evil in the sight of the Lord, our God.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Bar 1:15-22
The author of the Book of Baruch is thought to be a secretary of the Prophet Jeremiah. As such, the book was written after the Babylonian exile. So, what we hear today, rather than being a prayer written during that exile, is actually a reflective prayer (of penitence and atonement) used leading up to the feast of Booths according to scholars. (Note, the first line in today’s reading is not scriptural but rather inserted in the Missal as a “sense line” – a summary of the introduction.)
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Baruch 3:9-15,32
#41ABC Solemnities ABC Context (Easter Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter)
Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life:
listen, and know prudence!
How is it, Israel,
that you are in the land of your foes,
grown old in a foreign land,
defiled with the dead,
accounted with those destined for the netherworld?
You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom!
Had you walked in the way of God,
you would have dwelt in enduring peace.
Learn where prudence is,
where strength, where understanding;
that you may know also
where are length of days, and life,
where light of the eyes, and peace.
Who has found the place of wisdom,
who has entered into her treasuries?
The One who knows all things knows her;
he has probed her by his knowledge
The One who established the earth for all time,
and filled it with four-footed beasts;
he who dismisses the light, and it departs,
calls it, and it obeys him trembling;
before whom the stars at their posts
shine and rejoice;
when he calls them, they answer, "Here we are!"
shining with joy for their Maker.
Such is our God;
no other is to be compared to him:
He has traced out the whole way of understanding,
and has given her to Jacob, his servant,
to Israel, his beloved son.
Since then she has appeared on earth,
and moved among people.
She is the book of the precepts of God,
the law that endures forever;
all who cling to her will live,
but those will die who forsake her.
Turn, O Jacob, and receive her:
walk by her light toward splendor.
Give not your glory to another,
your privileges to an alien race.
Blessed are we, O Israel;
for what pleases God is known to us!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Bar 3:9-15, 32
Baruch, the secretary of Jeremiah, composed this poem in praise of the Law of Moses. The poem rejoices in the saving power of God for those who are faithful using Wisdom-like references to speak of divine intervention. "This section is a consideration and eulogy of the divine attribute of true Wisdom; at the same time, it is an exhortation addressed to Israel ("Listen, Israel": 3:9). This passage from Baruch is similar in style to many of the Wisdom writings in the Old Testament. True Wisdom was given to Israel, who forsook it (3:9-14). The pagan nations look for Wisdom where there is none, Wisdom in solely human terms: they believe that it is to be found in worldly power and wealth, and in control over natural resources and animals (3:15-31); they fail to seek the Wisdom that comes from God (3:32-36; cf. Job 28:12-28; Sirach 1:1-10; Wisdom 7:7-14). The Lord revealed his Wisdom to Israel in the Law; they should consider themselves blessed for having been chosen to receive the commandments of the Lord (3:37-4:4)." [1]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Baruch 4:5-12, 27-29
#460 Weekday Year I Context (Saturday of the 26th Week in Ordinary Time)-
Fear not, my people!
Remember, Israel,
You were sold to the nations
not for your destruction;
It was because you angered God
that you were handed over to your foes.
For you provoked your Maker
with sacrifices to demons, to no-gods;
You forsook the Eternal God who nourished you,
and you grieved Jerusalem who fostered you.
She indeed saw coming upon you
the anger of God; and she said:
“Hear, you neighbors of Zion!
God has brought great mourning upon me,
For I have seen the captivity
that the Eternal God has brought
upon my sons and daughters.
With joy I fostered them;
but with mourning and lament I let them go.
Let no one gloat over me, a widow,
bereft of many:
For the sins of my children I am left desolate,
because they turned from the law of God.
Fear not, my children; call out to God!
He who brought this upon you will remember you.
As your hearts have been disposed to stray from God,
turn now ten times the more to seek him;
For he who has brought disaster upon you
will, in saving you, bring you back enduring joy.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Bar 4:5-12, 27-29
This passage marks the change in the Book of Baruch from the lessons taught to the people through their exile to a representation of Jerusalem. In his first prophetic discourse, the holy city is given voice as it laments the sin of the people who have turned away from God and will be carried away as a punishment. She (Jerusalem) cries to the returnees to come back to the Lord who is their salvation. God's mercy is expressed through the prophet reminiscent of last part of the book of Isaiah (cf. Isaiah 60:1-4; 63:7-9; 66:10-11) and some of Jeremiah's oracles (cf. Jeremiah 30:18-22). The passage is both a song of consolation and an exhortation to turn to the Lord. [2]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Baruch 5:1-9
#6C Solemnities C Context (2nd Sunday of Advent C)
Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and misery;
put on the splendor of glory from God forever:
wrapped in the cloak of justice from God,
bear on your head the mitre
that displays the glory of the eternal name.
For God will show all the earth your splendor:
you will be named by God forever
the peace of justice, the glory of God’s worship.
Up, Jerusalem! stand upon the heights;
look to the east and see your children
gathered from the east and the west
at the word of the Holy One,
rejoicing that they are remembered by God.
Led away on foot by their enemies they left you:
but God will bring them back to you
borne aloft in glory as on royal thrones.
For God has commanded
that every lofty mountain be made low,
and that the age-old depths and gorges
be filled to level ground,
that Israel may advance secure in the glory of God.
The forests and every fragrant kind of tree
have overshadowed Israel at God’s command;
for God is leading Israel in joy
by the light of his glory,
with his mercy and justice for company.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Bar 5:1-9
This selection is the entire fifth chapter of the book of the Prophet Baruch. In it, the prophet rejoices over the restoration of Israel as a nation after the diaspora [3]. In Hebrew tradition, this can only be accomplished after the people have endured their punishment and returned to God’s favor. The author envisions the joy of their homecoming – a gift of God’s mercy, reestablishing them in the land he gave them.
#459 Weekday Year I Context (Friday of the 26th Week in Ordinary Time)
During the Babylonian captivity, the exiles prayed:
“Justice is with the Lord, our God;
and we today are flushed with shame,
we men of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem,
that we, with our kings and rulers
and priests and prophets, and with our ancestors,
have sinned in the Lord’s sight and disobeyed him.
We have neither heeded the voice of the Lord, our God,
nor followed the precepts which the Lord set before us.
From the time the Lord led our ancestors out of the land of Egypt
until the present day,
we have been disobedient to the Lord, our God,
and only too ready to disregard his voice.
And the evils and the curse that the Lord enjoined upon Moses, his servant,
at the time he led our ancestors forth from the land of Egypt
to give us the land flowing with milk and honey,
cling to us even today.
For we did not heed the voice of the Lord, our God,
in all the words of the prophets whom he sent us,
but each one of us went off
after the devices of his own wicked heart,
served other gods,
and did evil in the sight of the Lord, our God.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Bar 1:15-22
The author of the Book of Baruch is thought to be a secretary of the Prophet Jeremiah. As such, the book was written after the Babylonian exile. So, what we hear today, rather than being a prayer written during that exile, is actually a reflective prayer (of penitence and atonement) used leading up to the feast of Booths according to scholars. (Note, the first line in today’s reading is not scriptural but rather inserted in the Missal as a “sense line” – a summary of the introduction.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Baruch 3:9-15,32
#41ABC Solemnities ABC Context (Easter Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter)
Hear, O Israel, the commandments of life:
listen, and know prudence!
How is it, Israel,
that you are in the land of your foes,
grown old in a foreign land,
defiled with the dead,
accounted with those destined for the netherworld?
You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom!
Had you walked in the way of God,
you would have dwelt in enduring peace.
Learn where prudence is,
where strength, where understanding;
that you may know also
where are length of days, and life,
where light of the eyes, and peace.
Who has found the place of wisdom,
who has entered into her treasuries?
The One who knows all things knows her;
he has probed her by his knowledge
The One who established the earth for all time,
and filled it with four-footed beasts;
he who dismisses the light, and it departs,
calls it, and it obeys him trembling;
before whom the stars at their posts
shine and rejoice;
when he calls them, they answer, "Here we are!"
shining with joy for their Maker.
Such is our God;
no other is to be compared to him:
He has traced out the whole way of understanding,
and has given her to Jacob, his servant,
to Israel, his beloved son.
Since then she has appeared on earth,
and moved among people.
She is the book of the precepts of God,
the law that endures forever;
all who cling to her will live,
but those will die who forsake her.
Turn, O Jacob, and receive her:
walk by her light toward splendor.
Give not your glory to another,
your privileges to an alien race.
Blessed are we, O Israel;
for what pleases God is known to us!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Bar 3:9-15, 32
Baruch, the secretary of Jeremiah, composed this poem in praise of the Law of Moses. The poem rejoices in the saving power of God for those who are faithful using Wisdom-like references to speak of divine intervention. "This section is a consideration and eulogy of the divine attribute of true Wisdom; at the same time, it is an exhortation addressed to Israel ("Listen, Israel": 3:9). This passage from Baruch is similar in style to many of the Wisdom writings in the Old Testament. True Wisdom was given to Israel, who forsook it (3:9-14). The pagan nations look for Wisdom where there is none, Wisdom in solely human terms: they believe that it is to be found in worldly power and wealth, and in control over natural resources and animals (3:15-31); they fail to seek the Wisdom that comes from God (3:32-36; cf. Job 28:12-28; Sirach 1:1-10; Wisdom 7:7-14). The Lord revealed his Wisdom to Israel in the Law; they should consider themselves blessed for having been chosen to receive the commandments of the Lord (3:37-4:4)." [1]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Baruch 4:5-12, 27-29
#460 Weekday Year I Context (Saturday of the 26th Week in Ordinary Time)-
Fear not, my people!
Remember, Israel,
You were sold to the nations
not for your destruction;
It was because you angered God
that you were handed over to your foes.
For you provoked your Maker
with sacrifices to demons, to no-gods;
You forsook the Eternal God who nourished you,
and you grieved Jerusalem who fostered you.
She indeed saw coming upon you
the anger of God; and she said:
“Hear, you neighbors of Zion!
God has brought great mourning upon me,
For I have seen the captivity
that the Eternal God has brought
upon my sons and daughters.
With joy I fostered them;
but with mourning and lament I let them go.
Let no one gloat over me, a widow,
bereft of many:
For the sins of my children I am left desolate,
because they turned from the law of God.
Fear not, my children; call out to God!
He who brought this upon you will remember you.
As your hearts have been disposed to stray from God,
turn now ten times the more to seek him;
For he who has brought disaster upon you
will, in saving you, bring you back enduring joy.”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Bar 4:5-12, 27-29
This passage marks the change in the Book of Baruch from the lessons taught to the people through their exile to a representation of Jerusalem. In his first prophetic discourse, the holy city is given voice as it laments the sin of the people who have turned away from God and will be carried away as a punishment. She (Jerusalem) cries to the returnees to come back to the Lord who is their salvation. God's mercy is expressed through the prophet reminiscent of last part of the book of Isaiah (cf. Isaiah 60:1-4; 63:7-9; 66:10-11) and some of Jeremiah's oracles (cf. Jeremiah 30:18-22). The passage is both a song of consolation and an exhortation to turn to the Lord. [2]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Baruch 5:1-9
#6C Solemnities C Context (2nd Sunday of Advent C)
Jerusalem, take off your robe of mourning and misery;
put on the splendor of glory from God forever:
wrapped in the cloak of justice from God,
bear on your head the mitre
that displays the glory of the eternal name.
For God will show all the earth your splendor:
you will be named by God forever
the peace of justice, the glory of God’s worship.
Up, Jerusalem! stand upon the heights;
look to the east and see your children
gathered from the east and the west
at the word of the Holy One,
rejoicing that they are remembered by God.
Led away on foot by their enemies they left you:
but God will bring them back to you
borne aloft in glory as on royal thrones.
For God has commanded
that every lofty mountain be made low,
and that the age-old depths and gorges
be filled to level ground,
that Israel may advance secure in the glory of God.
The forests and every fragrant kind of tree
have overshadowed Israel at God’s command;
for God is leading Israel in joy
by the light of his glory,
with his mercy and justice for company.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Bar 5:1-9
This selection is the entire fifth chapter of the book of the Prophet Baruch. In it, the prophet rejoices over the restoration of Israel as a nation after the diaspora [3]. In Hebrew tradition, this can only be accomplished after the people have endured their punishment and returned to God’s favor. The author envisions the joy of their homecoming – a gift of God’s mercy, reestablishing them in the land he gave them.
"By way of recapitulation, the book ends with a new song of consolation, the fourth in the book. It promises everlasting happiness, and the tone is eschatological. The new Jerusalem will be given a symbolic name that indicates not only that she belongs to God but also her main features: she will be "peace of righteousness" and "glory of godliness", that is, just peace and glorious devotion." [4]
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[1] The Navarre Bible: “Major Prophets”, Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2002, pp.566-567
[2] The Navarre Bible: “Major Prophets”, Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2002, p. 574
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[1] The Navarre Bible: “Major Prophets”, Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2002, pp.566-567
[2] The Navarre Bible: “Major Prophets”, Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2002, p. 574
[3] 597 is considered the
beginning date of the Jewish Diaspora. While Cyrus the Persian allowed the
Judaeans to return to their homeland in 538 BC, most chose to remain in
Babylon. A large number of Jews in Egypt became mercenaries in Upper Egypt on
an island called the Elephantine. (Ancient
Jewish History)
[4] The Navarre Bible: “Major Prophets”, Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2002, p. 577.
Fin
Fin
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