Scripture Daily

Context No. 1196 of 4322 · Baruch

Context · Reflection

Baruch 2:1-10: in context

1Therefore the Lord has made good his word which he pronounced against us, and against our judges who judged Israel, and against our kings, and against our princes, and against the men of Israel and Judah, 2to bring upon us great plagues such as never happened before under the whole heaven, as it came to pass in Jerusalem, according to the things that are written in the law of Moses, 3that we should each eat the flesh of our own son, and each eat the flesh of our own daughter. 4Moreover he has given them to be in subjection to all the kingdoms that are around us, to be a reproach and a desolation among all the people around us, where the Lord has scattered them. 5Thus they were cast down and not exalted, because we sinned against the Lord our God in not listening to his voice. 6To the Lord our God belongs righteousness, but to us and to our fathers confusion of face, as at this day. 7All these plagues have come upon us which the Lord has pronounced against us. 8Yet have we not entreated the favor of the Lord by everyone turning from the thoughts of his wicked heart. 9Therefore the Lord has kept watch over the plagues. The Lord has brought them upon us, for the Lord is righteous in all his works which he has commanded us. 10Yet we have not listened to his voice, to walk in the commandments of the Lord that he has set before us.

Baruch continues the exiles' prayer of confession. God has done exactly what he warned, bringing on Jerusalem the disasters written in the law of Moses, even to the horror of famine so severe that people ate their own children. He has scattered them and made them a reproach among the nations. And the confession is unflinching: to the Lord our God belongs righteousness, but to us and our fathers belongs shame of face, as it is this day. All these disasters came because we sinned and would not listen; even now we have not turned from the thoughts of our wicked hearts. The Lord is righteous in all he has commanded, and we have not obeyed.

The refrain that anchors this confession is one of the healthy sentences a guilty person can say: to the Lord belongs righteousness, but to us shame of face. It is a complete surrender of self-justification. The exiles do not argue that the punishment was excessive, do not blame their circumstances or their enemies or even their ancestors alone; they take the shame onto themselves and grant God the righteousness. God was right, and we were wrong. That is the only honest place from which real repentance can begin, and it is remarkably hard to reach, because everything in us wants to shift the blame, to say the judgment was unfair, to keep a shred of our own righteousness. The exiles let it all go: the shame is ours, the righteousness is his. And they are honest even about their present state, admitting that even now they have not fully turned. There is no pretense here, no cleaning up the confession to look better; just the raw truth, God is righteous, we are ashamed, and we still have not fully repented. It is the naked honesty that mercy can actually work with, the surrender that stops defending itself and simply grants that God was right.

When I have failed, can I say with the exiles, to God belongs righteousness and to me shame of face, surrendering the self-justification and granting that God was right?

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