Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Prooemium
It is asked, first, whether Baruch is a canonical book. Calvin, Chemnitz, and among Catholics, John Driedo (Book 1, On Scripture, last chapter) deny it. St. Jerome also seems to deny it in his Preface to Jeremiah, as do Lyranus, Dionysius, and certain others. First, because it is not in the Hebrew canon, nor does it exist in Hebrew. Secondly, because St. Gregory Nazianzen in his Poem, St. Jerome in the Prologus Galeatus, Damascenus (Book 4, On the Faith, chapter 18), when they list the canonical books, omit Baruch. Thirdly and finally, because what is said in chapter 1:10 — that holocausts were offered and feasts celebrated at Jerusalem after the destruction of the temple and altar — seems to be false.
But it is now a matter of faith that the book of Baruch is canonical, and all the orthodox now agree on this. So the Councils of Florence and Trent define in the decree on canonical books. The same is evident from St. Cyril, St. Gregory Nazianzen and Gregory of Nyssa, from Eusebius, Athanasius, Clement of Alexandria, and Ambrose, who cite it as canonical. See Bellarmine, Book 1, On the Word of God, chapter 8. To the first objection I respond that many books are in the Christian canon that were not in the Hebrew canon, such as the books of Maccabees, Tobit, Judith, Ecclesiasticus, and Wisdom. To the second I respond that the ancients who omit Baruch include him under the name of Jeremiah, whose scribe he was, as will soon be evident. To the third I will respond at chapter 1, verse 10.
That Baruch once existed in Hebrew, and was written in that language, is not to be doubted: our Latin edition also has Hebraisms; whence it appears to have been translated from the Hebrew, not from the Greek; for the Greek is sometimes more expansive than our Vulgate; and our Vulgate often differs from the Greek.
It is asked, secondly, what is the argument of this book? I answer: The first chapter contains the letter of the Jews held captive in Babylon, which they write and send to the Jews who were in Jerusalem, together with money they had collected, and the book of Baruch, which book begins at chapter 1, verse 15. In chapter 2, Baruch presents a pious prayer to be used by the Jews in captivity, by which, confessing their sins, they might obtain remission from God. In chapter 3, he exhorts the captives to return to God and God's law, and thus reconcile God to themselves. In chapter 4, he introduces Jerusalem as a mother, weeping over the captivity of her children. In chapter 5, he consoles them with the hope of a swift and joyful return to their homeland. Chapter 6 is the letter of Jeremiah, in which he warns the Jews, as they were being led away to Babylon, how they should conduct themselves there regarding idols.
Note: It is called the book of Baruch, either because Baruch is the author, as Lyranus and Dionysius hold, or rather because Baruch wrote it down, as he himself attests in chapter 1:1, namely at the dictation of Jeremiah: whence the Fathers everywhere cite and call this the book of Jeremiah: see them in Maldonatus's Preface, and in Christopher a Castro on chapter 1:1. For when Jeremiah had persuaded King Jeconiah to obey God and surrender himself with his people to Nebuchadnezzar, and migrate to Babylon, he composed this exhortatory and consolatory book, which he entrusted to Baruch, so that he might carry it to Babylon for the consolation of the exiles and to raise their hope: he entrusted it, I say, not so much in writing as by word; but Baruch, after the death of Jeremiah, wrote and published this book.
Argumentum
For after Jerusalem was destroyed, Baruch together with Jeremiah was carried off to Egypt by the fleeing Jews, as Josephus attests, and indeed as Jeremiah himself attests in chapter 44; and when Jeremiah had been stoned there by the Jews, and Nebuchadnezzar was soon to devastate Egypt, Baruch withdrew from there to Babylon, to console the Jews, and there in the fifth year after the destruction of Jerusalem, which was the 23rd year of Nebuchadnezzar, he wrote this book, as is evident from chapter 1:2. This book was therefore written after the destruction of Jerusalem, not before, on which see more at chapter 1:2.
It is asked, thirdly, who and of what character was Baruch? I answer: He was of a noble family, as Josephus states (Antiquities 10, 11); for he had a brother Seraiah who was a prince: for both were sons of Neriah, son of Maaseiah, as is evident from chapter 51 of Jeremiah, chapter 59, compared with chapter 1:1 here. Furthermore, Baruch was the disciple, follower, and scribe of Jeremiah, and a sharer and companion in his labors and tribulations. Therefore from the wisdom, patience, zeal, and holiness of Jeremiah, it is easy to conjecture how wise, patient, zealous, and holy Baruch was. Hence Baruch in Hebrew means the same as "blessed." Thirdly, the Hebrews report that not only was Baruch a prophet, but also his father Neriah, his grandfather Maaseiah, his great-grandfather Zedekiah, and his great-great-grandfather Sedei: for he names them in chapter 1:1. For the rule of the Hebrews is that all those whom a prophet mentions at the beginning of a book as his ancestors were prophets: whether this is true will be examined elsewhere. This book is thought (and this is gathered from its history) to have been written at the same time as the book of Tobit: hence by some it is placed after that book.