Neville Turley

The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. Psalm 119:130 (NIV)

Some Bible persons are instantly familiar to us. Others less so. Elishama and Baruch are lesser known personalities. Baruch was Jeremiah’s scribe, Elishama was secretary to the leaders of Judea during the reign of King Jehoiakim. As such, he was the curator of the scroll of Jeremiah’s prophecies which he kept in his room before it was read to the king.  (Jeremiah 36:20-21)

Jeremiah was a major prophet. His book in the Bible consists of 52 chapters and is followed by Lamentations which ancient Jewish and Christian traditions also ascribe to him.

Jeremiah was a lonely, sad and sensitive figure who suffered much hardship for faithfully proclaiming God’s judgement on his people if they did not repent.

When King Jehoiakim heard what Jeremiah had dictated to Baruch concerning the king’s dynasty, he was incensed.  He demanded the scroll be brought and read to him. Whenever three or four columns were read, the king, far from repenting, cut them off and threw them into a fire pot until the entire scroll was burnt.

It was the first recorded attempt of Bible censorship.Throughout the centuries many people would also attempt to decry, destroy and burn the scriptures, all have failed.

The wonderful thing about Elishama and Baruch is that we have proof today that they were not just mythical figures of a Bible writer’s imagination. In 1976 a hoard of some 250 clay seals were unearthed outside Jerusalem.  Each seal bearing the name of an individual served as an official signature and were impressed on a document to identify the sender.

One seal read “Elishama, servant of the king”, another bore the name of “Baruch, son of Neriah.”  Historical evidence that Elishama and Baruch lived in the time of King Jehoiakim just as the Bible reveals.

Elishama and Baruch are important to us for their very existence confirms that the Bible is true down to the finest detail.

Prayer: Almighty God thank you for your holy word. May the Holy Spirit inspire and guide us in his teaching that we may be drawn ever closer to you. For Jesus sake Amen