Political Power and Ideology in the Book of Baruch

The Book of Baruch consists of four distinctive parts (the prose narrative, the prayer of penitence, the praise of wisdom, and the words of consolation), but it is likely that all these parts were composed by the same author / authors. Each part has its characteristic emphases as regards political power. The first scene depicts the leaders of Judah in exile deprived of their political power. Instead of them the great ruler is the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar who is not portrayed as a villain but rather he is acting as an instrument of YHWH. When the people of Judah are asked to obey Nebuchadnezzar, we could speak of a kind of “political acquiescence”. The last section of Baruch explicitly reveals the political model favoured by the author: YHWH himself is the only leader of his people. The era of the Davidic monarchs has been replaced by theocracy.