In the following scriptures Baruch is telling the Jews that they suffer because they have caused suffering, they are enslaved and persecuted by a foreign nation because they sacrificed animals and  persecuted the creatures of the earth.

    It is important to understand that carnivores grasping for a divine sanction for eating flesh will say that what Baruch really meant was that animals sacrificed to gods other than Jehovah should not be eaten. But Baruch's statement in 3: 32, that the four footed creatures sacrificed by Jews were created by God to live on earth, amply destroys that premise.  And therefore Baruch's view is the view of mainstream Hinduism and Buddhism: that all animal sacrifices are by their nature sacrifices to demons.

"Why is it, O Israel, why is it that you are in the land of your enemies, that you are growing old in a foreign country..."3:10.

 "...you have forsaken the fountain of wisdom.  If you had walked in the way of God, you would be dwelling in peace for ever."  3:13.

"He who prepared the earth for all time filled it with four-footed creatures."  3:32.
 

 "Take courage, my people, O memorial of Israel!  It was not for destruction that you were sold to the nations, but you were handed over to your enemies because you angered God.  For you provoked him who made you by sacrificing to demons and not to God." 4: 5-7.

    Note that Baruch's condemnation of animal sacrifices as demonic is an almost verbatim quote from Chapter 19 of the Ethiopic Book of Enoch:

 And Uriel said to me: 'Here shall stand the angels who have connected themselves with women, and their spirits assuming many different forms are defiling mankind and shall lead them astray into sacrificing to demons as gods...19: 1

  Even in Chapter 1 of Baruch we have scriptures that, though translated by orthodox scholars, still convey the original vegetarianism of the Jews.  For example, we know that Kannan, the Tamil Hindu name for Krishna, was the source of the name Canaan, the promised land of milk and honey, favorite foods of the Hindus since the days of the Vedas.  In context with the above scriptures, we can easily discern the truth that Baruch is telling: that the Jews of his day have forsaken the vegetarian covenant and that God is punishing them through their captivity in Babylon.

20 And many evils have cleaved to us, and the curses which the Lord foretold by Moses his servant: who brought our fathers out of the land of Egypt, to give us a land flowing with milk and honey, as at this day.

21 And we have not hearkened to the voice of the Lord our God according to all the words of the prophets whom he sent to us:

22 And we have gone away every man after the inclinations of his own wicked heart, to serve strange gods, and to do evil in the sight of the Lord our God.

   Baruch was the secretary for Jeremiah, who advised the Israelites to grow gardens and eat produce while they were in captivity in Babylon, and Jeremiah warned them against eating what is sacrificed to idols.  Baruch clearly understood that carnivorism is precisely that, a sacrifice to idols or demons. Moreover, Baruch understood that the animal sacrifices ultimately benefited neither the animal nor the human who ate flesh.

   " How is it, Israel, that you are in the land of your foes, grown old in a foreign land, defiled with the dead, accounted with those destined for the nether world? You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom!  Had you walked in the way of God, you would have dwelt in enduring peace.  Learn where prudence is, where strength, where understand: that you may know also where are length of days, and life, where light of the eyes, and peace." 9-14

     The longevity proof is now and always has been the strong suit of the vegetarian.  God is Existence, Eternal, Never Ending Existence. Those who most closely approximate the ways of God will therefore live longer lives. Moses said it. Buddha said it.  Vedic scholars affirmed it. And from the time of the Vedas, the Dhammapada, to the time of the Essenes living during Jesus' time, to numerous Chinese records, and in our own day by medical researchers from so-called prestigious universities like Harvard and Princeton, that vegetarianism does indeed add years to our lives.  There's no disputing it.  Even honest carnivorous researchers agree.  Only egotists wishing to sanction their ill-gotten profits, or their addictions, disagree.
 

Where are the rulers of the nations, they who lorded it over the wild beasts of the earth, and made sport of the birds of the heavens: they who heaped up the silver and the gold in which men trust; of whose possessions there was no end? They schemed anxiously for money, but there is no trace of their work: they have vanished down into the nether world... 3: 16-19

   Having sufficiently established that Baruch was against the animal sacrifices and that he and Jeremiah remained true to the original Vegetarian Covenant, we see in in Paraleipomena Jeremiou or 2 Baruch, that Baruch affirms that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were vegetarian, that is, were also faithful to that Covenant.

19 And Baruch sent to the market of the gentiles and got papyrus and ink and wrote a letter as follows: Baruch, the servant of God, writes to Jeremiah in the captivity of Babylon:

20 Greetings! Rejoice, for God has not allowed us to depart from this body grieving for the city which was laid waste and outraged.

21 Wherefore the Lord has had compassion on our tears, and has remembered the covenant which he established with our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
 

    We understand perfectly well that the covenant spoken of is the vegetarian covenant that God established in "Genesis" and affirmed, as in the Ethiopic Books of Enoch and Noah, which denounce the animal sacrifices as having originated with the fallen angel Azazel, who taught humans to make weapons and to sacrifice animals (and humans).  Enoch and Noah both condemn all bloodshed, whether of humans or animals, mining, cosmetics, and writing. In other words, God commands humans not to interfere with creation as it is. For humans to attempt to improve on nature is to repeat the sin of the Fallen Angels.  Who is the deity of the Ethiopic Book of Enoch? Of this there is no doubt. James Hastings, editor of the Dictionary of the Bible, admits that the deity of the Ethiopians is named Saba, Seba, or Sheba, all of which are transliterations of Shiva.   Those who have read the Ethiopic Book of Enoch will easily see that the Book of Baruch is summarizing the lessons of that book, that the fallen angels bred with women and gave birth to giants, and that the fallen angels spread the evil that became what we know as Jewish orthodoxy.  Baruch gives a thumbnail version of the cosmology of the Ethiopic Book of Enoch:

24 O Israel, how great is the house of God, and how vast is the place of his possession!

25 It is great, and hath no end: it is high and immense.

26 There were the giants, those renowned men that were from the beginning, of great stature, expert in war.

27 The Lord chose not them, neither did they find the way of knowledge: therefore did they perish.

28 And because they had not wisdom, they perished through their folly.

29 Who hath gone up into heaven, and taken her, and brought her down from the clouds?

30 Who hath passed over the sea, and found her, and brought her preferably to chosen gold?

31 There is none that is able to know her ways, nor that can search out her paths :

32 But he that knoweth all things, knoweth her, and hath found her out with his understanding: he that prepared the earth for evermore, and filled it with cattle and fourfooted beasts:

33 He that sendeth forth light, and it goeth: and hath called it, and it obeyeth him with trembling.

34 And the stars have given light in their watches, and rejoiced:

35 They were called, and they said: Here we are: and with cheerfuIness they have shined forth to him that made them.

36 This is our God, and there shall no other be accounted of in comparison of him.
 

    When the cattleman cult overthrew the Asherah, which is described at length in the Book of Kings, they were overthrowing Asura, a name for almighty God among the vegetarian Hindus who had established Judaism. He looks to the East as many Jews did, as the place where the beliefs of original Judaism originated.

4: 36 Look about thee, O Jerusalem, towards the east, and behold the joy that cometh to thee from God.

4: 37 For behold thy children come, whom thou sentest away scattered, they come gathered together from the east even to the west, at the word of the Holy One rejoicing for the honour of God.

5: 5 Arise, O Jerusalem, and stand on high: and look about towards the east, and behold thy children gathered together from the rising to the setting sun, by the word of the Holy One rejoicing in the remembrance of God.

   In Chapter 5 of Baruch we have further direct references to the Ethiopic Book of Enoch:

 For God hath appointed to bring down every high mountain, and the everlasting rocks, and to fill up the valleys to make them even with the ground: that Israel may walk diligently to the honour of God. Baruch 5: 7

And the high mountains shall be shaken,
And the high hills shall be made low. Ethiopic Book of Enoch 1: 6

   Baruch also refers to the sweet smelling trees mentioned in the Ethiopic Book of Enoch:

Baruch 5: 8 Moreover the woods, and every sweet-smelling tree have overshadowed Israel by the commandment of God.

  The following selections, the short chapters 29 and 31 and a selection from chapter 32, are from the Ethiopic Book of Enoch:

1 And thence I went to another place in the desert, and approached to the east of this mountain 2 range. And there I saw aromatic trees exhaling the fragrance of frankincense and myrrh, and the trees also were similar to the almond tree.

1 And I saw other mountains, and amongst them were groves of trees, and there flowed forth from 2 them nectar, which is named sarara and galbanum. And beyond these mountains I saw another mountain to the east of the ends of the earth, whereon were aloe-trees, and all the trees were full 3 of stacte, being like almond-trees. And when one burnt it, it smelt sweeter than any fragrant odour.

1 And after these fragrant odours, as I looked towards the north over the mountains I saw seven mountains full of choice nard and fragrant trees and cinnamon and pepper.
 

59 The sun, and the moon, and the stars being bright, and sent forth for profitable uses, are obedient.
60 In like manner the lightning, when it breaketh forth, is easy to be seen: and after the same manner the wind bloweth in every country.
61 And the clouds when God commandeth them to go over the whole world, do that which is commanded them.
62 The fire also being sent from above to consume mountains and woods, doth as it is commanded.

 And first the sun goes forth and traverses his path according to the commandment 7 of the Lord of Spirits, and mighty is His name for ever and ever. And after that I saw the hidden and the visible path of the moon, and she accomplishes the course of her path in that place by day and by night--the one holding a position opposite to the other before the Lord of Spirits. And they give thanks and praise and rest not; For unto them is their thanksgiving rest. 8 For the sun changes oft for a blessing or a curse, And the course of the path of the moon is light to the righteous And darkness to the sinners in the name of the Lord,
Who made a separation between the light and the darkness, And divided the spirits of men,
And strengthened the spirits of the righteous, In the name of His righteousness.
9 For no angel hinders and no power is able to hinder; for He appoints a judge for them all and He judges them all before Him. Ethiopic Book of Enoch Chapter 41: 6-9
 

1 And I saw other lightnings and the stars of heaven, and I saw how He called them all by their 2 names and they hearkened unto Him. And I saw how they are weighed in a righteous balance according to their proportions of light: (I saw) the width of their spaces and the day of their appearing, and how their revolution produces lightning: and (I saw) their revolution according to the 3 number of the angels, and (how) they keep faith with each other. Chapter 43: 1-3.

 Behold the summer and the winter, how the whole earth is filled with water, and clouds and dew and rain lie upon it. Chapter 2: 3.

...and the clouds of the 21 mist are connected, and the one gives to the other. And when the spirit of the rain goes forth from its chamber, the angels come and open the chamber and lead it out, and when it is diffused over the whole earth it unites with the water on the earth. And whensoever it unites with the water on 22 the earth . Chapter 60: 21-22.

3 And there mine eyes saw the secrets of the lightning and of the thunder, and the secrets of the winds, how they are divided to blow over the earth, and the secrets of the clouds and dew, and there 4 I saw from whence they proceed in that place and from whence they saturate the dusty earth. Chapter 41: 3.

1 [In those days mine eyes saw the secrets of the lightnings, and of the lights, and the judgments they execute (lit. ' their judgment '): and they lighten for a blessing or a curse as the Lord of 2 Spirits willeth. And there I saw the secrets of the thunder, and how when it resounds above in the heaven, the sound thereof is heard, and he caused me to see the judgments executed on the earth, whether they be for well-being and blessing, or for a curse according to the word of the Lord of Spirits. 3 And after that all the secrets of the lights and lightnings were shown to me, and they lighten for blessing and for satisfying.]

And there I saw closed chambers out of which the winds are divided, the chamber of the hail and winds, the chamber of the mist, and of the clouds, and the cloud thereof hovers over the earth from the 5 beginning of the world. And I saw the chambers of the sun and moon, whence they proceed and whither they come again, and their glorious return, and how one is superior to the other, and their stately orbit, and how they do not leave their orbit, and they add nothing to their orbit and they take nothing from it, and they keep faith with each other, in accordance with the oath by which they 6 are bound together. And first the sun goes forth and traverses his path according to the commandment 7 of the Lord of Spirits, and mighty is His name for ever and ever. And after that I saw the hidden and the visible path of the moon, and she accomplishes the course of her path in that place by day and by night-the one holding a position opposite to the other before the Lord of Spirits.
Enoch 41: 4-7

   In the Ethiopic Book of Enoch fire pervades the entire universe doing the will of Deity, punishing evil doers, whether they are the fallen angels in the lake of fire (which is referred to in the Book of Revelations) and Deity is surrounded by tongues of flame, or the luminaries of the sky fulfilling their karma in the heavens. The deity is Shiva, the main male Deity of the Ethiopians, known as Saba, which is the root of the Sabbath, and the Sabaoth.  As lord of yoga Shiva is also lord of the Kundalini Fire. Pillars erected to Shiva by the Jews, who were originally Sabeans, were named masseva. Pillars erected by the followers of Shu, the father of Seb, Lord of the Earth in Egypt, were named mastebah, the st being the local form of the double s of the Hebrews.

    Baruch and Jeremiah were both of the pure remnant of Judaism, and while we can expect that their scriptures, like all scriptures, whether apocryphal, or orthodox, that pass through the filters of orthodoxy, do not contain all the affirmations of vegetarianism and egalitarianism that were originally there. Nonetheless, as we have seen on virtually every page of this web site, the views of the pure remnant of Judaism, denouncing animal sacrifices and economic elitism, still shine through.

   The obedient and sentient fire described by Baruch is the same fire of the Ethiopic Book of Enoch.  It is the fire of Shiva, surrounded by tongues of fire, who is also the Lord of the Christian's Pentecost.
 
 

1,2 From thence I went to another place to the west of the ends of the earth. And I saw a burning 3 fire which ran without resting, and paused not from its course day or night but (ran) regularly. And 4 I asked saying: 'What is this which rests not?' Then Raguel, one of the holy angels who was with me, answered me and said unto me: 'This course of fire which thou hast seen is the fire in the west which persecutes all the luminaries of heaven.'

1 And from thence I went to another place of the earth, and he showed me a mountain range of 2 fire which burnt day and night. Chapter 24.

6 And these mountains which thine eyes have seen,
The mountain of iron, and the mountain of copper, and the mountain of silver,
And the mountain of gold, and the mountain of soft metal, and the mountain of lead,
All these shall be in the presence of the Elect One
As wax: before the fire,
And like the water which streams down from above [upon those mountains],
From Chapter 52.

  In his classic description of societies that worship icons, Baruch comments, like Zechariah, that the priests "sell and abuse" what is sacrificed to the idols, just as the fallen Jews had done in the temple in Jerusalem and elsewhere. They sacrificed animals who were earlier enslaved (i.e. abused) and sell their flesh to eat.  It is no secret that flesh-eating sects like orthodox Judaism, Christianity and Islam do the same: they enslave, then slaughter animals, then sell their flesh to eat.  These three religions also believe in abject slavery, that Deity sanctions one human owning another, and therefore these societies naturally breed the elitist societies of rich and poor which have plagued humankind throughout much of its history.

27 The things that are sacrificed to them, their priests sell and abuse: in like manner also their wives take part of them, but give nothing of it either to the sick, or to the poor.
 

   Let us look at Zechariah 11: 4-5, which so succinctly portrays the economic rather than religious motives of orthodox Judaism sacrificing animals: the priests of Judaism also abuse and sell animal flesh, without, of course, concern over the lives of the animals, who are forbidden to be eaten in the vegetarian covenant of Genesis 1: 29-30.

"Thus said the Lord my God: `Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter.  Those who buy them slay them and go unpunished; and those who sell them say,  "Blessed be the Lord, I have become rich"'; and their own shepherds have no pity on them." 11: 4-5.

    As other pages of this study dealing with the denunciations of animal sacrifices demonstrate, the denunciation of animal sacrifices was shared by virtually all the late prophets.