590 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTSEgypt ( 43:6-7), and he is arguably the one to whom we owe the report of
events and prophecies occurring there.
It has long been assumed that Baruch was a scribe of high social standing
(Cheyne; Peake). Josephus (Ant x 158) says he came from a distinguished fam-
ily and was exceptionally able in his native tongue. In 32:12, he is introduced
with a double patronym, "son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah," which for a scribe
would indicate descent from an established scribal family. Scribes in antiquity
came in families (Lambert 1957: 2-3; Rainey 1969: 128) and took great pride
in their professional status (see "In Praise of Learned Scribes" and "The Satire
on the Trades," both dating to the fourteenth or thirteenth century B.C., in
ANET^3 431-34). Baruch's brother, Seraiah, who held an important govern-
ment post under Zedekiah and was the one responsible for the colophon in
51:59-64 (MT), was also a trained scribe (Gevaryahu 1973: 209). A seal im-
pression from a royal archive of undisclosed location, but probably in Jerusa-
lem, has turned up with the inscription, "Belonging to Berechiah, son of
Neriah, the scribe." This seal doubtless belonged to the Baruch mentioned
here (Avigad 1978a; 1986b: 28-29 #9; 1997: 175 #417). "Baruch" is the short
form of "Berechiah" (berekyahU) and the name by which the scribe presum-
ably went. The seal has both a patronym and title "the scribe." Baruch is
called "the scribe" later in vv 26 and 32. Millard (1999: 132) says that, among
the seals found on cuneiform tablets, a minority have professions or occupa-
tions appended to their names. These include a mayor, goldsmiths, black-
smiths, seal-cutters, gate-keepers, a bird-catcher, a weaver, a baker, a granary-
officer, and scrihes. Since Baruch's seal impression was found among bullae
belonging to royal officials, Avigad (1978a: 55; 1986b: 130) concludes thal
Baruch was not simply Jeremiah's personal scribe but an official scribe who
perhaps left his position to join Jeremiah in his struggle. Muilenburg ( l 970a:
231) thought that Baruch was a royal scribe. If Baruch did have official status
in Jerusalem, he could qualify as one of the otherwise elusive "Deutero-
nomic" scribes, with the one difference that he is a contemporary of Jeremiah,
not an exilic or postexilic figure. A second bulla with the same inscription and
a fingerprint turned up subsequently on the antiquities market and is in the
possession of a London collector (ArOd 2/2 [ 1999] 31 ). The names "Baruch/
Berekiah" and "Neriah" were common in the period and have been found on
seals, bullae, and ostraca from Jerusalem, Arad, Lachish, and elsewhere (see
Appendix I). On Baruch, the scribe, see articles by Muilenburg l 970a; Ge-
varyahu 1973; and Lundbom, "Baruch [Person]," ABD 1: 617. On owners and
users of Hebrew seals, see most recently Millard 1999.
Malamat ( 1991 a) has called attention to an interesting parallel in the Mari
documents (ARM 26/2 #414) to the incident described here. A high official of
Zimri-Lim, named Yasim-El, wrote to his lord about a certain Atamrum, a
type of prophet called a "respondent," who requested a scribe to take down a
message from the god Shamash for the king. He responded by getting Uto-
kam, the scribe, who then wrote up the tablet. The relevant portion of the
letter reads: