1, 2. (a) In the fourth year of Jehoiakim, what problem did Baruch face? (b) How did Jehovah help Baruch?

BARUCH, the faithful scribe of Jeremiah, had grown weary. It was the fourth year of the reign of wicked King Jehoiakim, or about 625 B.C.E. Jeremiah told the scribe to write in a roll of a book all the words that Jehovah had spoken through the prophet about Jerusalem and Judah, utterances made over the 23 years of Jeremiah’s career up till then. (Jer. 25:1-3; 36:1, 2) Baruch did not read the contents of the scroll to the Jews right then. He would do that the following year. (Jer. 36:9, 10) But was something distressing Baruch?

² “Woe, now, to me,” moaned Baruch, “for Jehovah has added grief to my pain! I have grown weary because of my sighing.” You have likely had occasion to make utterances of weariness, whether doing so audibly or just in your heart. Whichever way Baruch did it, Jehovah was listening. The Examiner of human hearts knew what caused Baruch’s troubled state, and through Jeremiah, God kindly corrected Baruch. (Read Jeremiah 45:1-5.) You might wonder, though, why Baruch was feeling so weary. Was it the assignment he had received or perhaps the circumstances in which he had to perform it? His feelings really bubbled up from the heart. You see, Baruch was “seeking great things.” What were they? What assurance did Jehovah give him if he accepted God’s counsel and direction? And what can we learn from Baruch’s experience?

⁵ You can understand that a person accustomed to an elevated station might grow weary of recording denunciatory messages against Judah, one after another. In fact, supporting God’s prophet might have put at risk Baruch’s position and career. And think of the consequences if Jehovah tore down what he had built up, as we read at Jeremiah 45:4. The “great things” that Baruch had in mind​—whether the gaining of additional honor in the royal court or material prosperity—​might prove to be in vain. If Baruch was seeking a secure position in the doomed Jewish system of that time, God had reason to restrain him from that inclination.