Seraiah and the Pronouncement Against Babylon- The Historical Figure

The historical Seraiah and end times Babylon, the United States of America, with special emphasis on the 2606 elapsed years (to late 2013)....Long but good read.

Man on a Mission, Part I: Seraiah and the Pronouncement Against Babylon- The Historical Figure

Posted on May 27, 2013 by CARLOS MONTAÑA
Introduction-

Seraiah the son of Neriah is a rather obscure Bible character, yet one who plays a hugely important prophetic role for the prophet Jeremiah. I will attempt to unveil in this article more specifically what his role entailed. We find mention of Seraiah solely in the final six verses of Jeremiah 51, verses which conclude the prophecies of Jeremiah as Chapter 52 is but a historical review. Here are the verses in question; Jeremiah 51 (bold emphasis C.M.N.)-

59 The word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah into Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. And this Seraiah was a quiet prince.

60 So Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that should come upon Babylon, even all these words that are written against Babylon.

61 And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, and shalt see, and shalt read all these words;

62 Then shalt thou say, O Lord, thou hast spoken against this place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever.

63 And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates:

64 And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

Seraiah was the brother of the much more famous Baruch, Jeremiah’s chief scribe, whom we encounter in various places in the Book of Jeremiah (for ex., Chapters 36 & 45). There exists also a respected non-canonical book entitled The Apocalypse of Baruch which is included in the 1611 Authorized version of the King James Bible within the Apocrypha section. For those interested in the life, writings, prophecies, and legends of Baruch, I highly recommend the book by Wright (2003) listed in the Bibliography.



Baruch ben Neriah

The Quiet Prince-

Now, of Baruch’s brother Seraiah little is known outside of what we read of him in Jeremiah, and suffice to say that he is best recognized by the designation “quiet prince”. This term is also rendered “chief chamberlain”, “quartermaster”, “prince of Menucha” (the resting place; see Numbers 10:33), “chief over the prophecy”, and “the prince of prophecy” in other Bible versions and commentaries, with the Hebrew for “quiet prince” actually combining Strong’s H4496 and H8269. There exists also ample speculation that Seraiah may have assisted his brother Baruch in the writing and editing of certain of Jeremiah’s words from the Lord; this theory is presented by M. Leuchter who has investigated, in part, the style similarities between Jeremiah 1 and 51, the two Chapters which “bookend” the entire prophetic text of the Book of Jeremiah!

Without doubt, Seraiah did act as Jeremiah’s official “voice” in at least this one instance which is discussed in the concluding verses of Chapter 51. But what can we discern of the man Seraiah himself? From the article The Quiet, Sensitive God-

http://biblefocus.net/consider/sound-of-silence/Silence-in-our-Lives.html

The word for ‘quiet’ implies peaceful, still, or a prince of consolation. Seraiah was not silent, but quiet. Seraiah speaks in the quiet the words delivered to Jeremiah. He read aloud the words, or caused Jeremiah’s words to be heard in Babylon.

Therefore, Seraiah acted then as a mouthpiece for the Prophet Jeremiah! From C. Knapp’s thought-provoking article entitled Seraiah, the Man of Rest, I share with you the following-

Seraiah was a ‘man of rest’ because he bowed to the judgment of God concerning the city to which he was sent . . . like Seraiah, he (the Christian) is sent into it (Babylon) with a message; he is commissioned to declare its doom; his business here is to be a witness against it . . .

It seems that we could say, then, that Seraiah was “in Babylon” but not “of Babylon” . . . we should all be so obedient!



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