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The Right Route Needs to Be Selected NowThe Watchtower—1980 | March 1
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But as for you, you keep seeking great things for yourself. Do not keep on seeking.’”—Jer. 45:4, 5.
9, 10. Why did Jehovah have reason to disapprove of Baruch’s seeking “great things” for himself at that time?
9 Baruch knew what “great things” he was seeking for himself, although Jehovah did not state them to him. Evidently Jehovah did not approve of them, and so he should stop seeking them. Why?
10 It was because of Jehovah’s immediate purpose. In that very year he had raised up Nebuchadnezzar as king of Babylon, and this was the one whom he purposed to use as his executioner against Baruch’s people. Particularly from the days of King David (1077-1037 B.C.E.), Jehovah had built up the kingdom of Israel, but now, by means of Nebuchadnezzar, he was about to tear down that royal government, to continue out of action for 2,520 years, or until 1914 of our own century. Back in 1473 B.C.E., Jehovah had planted the nation of Israel in the Promised Land, but now, after more than 800 years, he was about to uproot it. For 70 years the land of the kingdom of Judah was to lie empty of Jew and domestic animal, while its people were in exile in the land of Nebuchadnezzar. In view of such impending things, was it the appropriate time for a man who knew of Jehovah’s purpose as proclaimed by Jeremiah to be seeking “great things” of a personal kind for himself? Not at all!
11. What depended upon Baruch’s making the right decision, and that now?
11 That is why Jehovah told him to stop seeking such things. What if Baruch kept on seeking selfish things? Could he then have any heart harmony with the message that he was being used to write down and to proclaim? No! Some sort of break between him and Jehovah’s prophet Jeremiah would certainly follow. If Baruch wanted to keep in heart harmony with Jeremiah and his message, then he would have to stifle selfish ambition. There were 18 years yet to pass till the foretold calamity, and yet it was now necessary for Baruch to make a decision. His very life, his “soul,” depended upon his making the right decision, yes, sticking to it. This he had to do if he wanted to keep his ties unbroken.
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The Right Route Needs to Be Selected NowThe Watchtower—1980 | March 1
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14, 15. (a) As a reward for obedience, what was Baruch to have as a “spoil” for himself? (b) Did it work out that way?
14 What is the reward for doing this? It is set out in what Jeremiah was told to say to Baruch: “‘For here I am bringing in a calamity upon all flesh,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘and I will give you your soul as a spoil in all the places to which you may go.’”—Jer. 45:5b.
15 It really worked out that way for Baruch. This proves that he made the right decision without undue delay. This is verified in an earlier chapter, at Jeremiah 43:5-7, which tells of what happened after Jerusalem was destroyed in 607 B.C.E. We read: The fearful surviving Jews in their flight from the land of Judah down to Egypt took along “Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah. And they finally came into the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of Jehovah; and they came gradually as far as Tahpanhes,” in northern Egypt.
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