Jeremiah 36: 1 – 32
Fast flame forecasts future
1 Now it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying: 2 “Take a scroll of a book and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel, against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah even to this day. 3 It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the adversities which I purpose to bring upon them, that everyone may turn from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.” 4 Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote on a scroll of a book, at the instruction of Jeremiah, all the words of the LORD which He had spoken to him. 5 And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, “I am confined, I cannot go into the house of the LORD. 6 You go, therefore, and read from the scroll which you have written at my instruction, the words of the LORD, in the hearing of the people in the LORD’s house on the day of fasting. And you shall also read them in the hearing of all Judah who come from their cities. 7 It may be that they will present their supplication before the LORD, and everyone will turn from his evil way. For great is the anger and the fury that the LORD has pronounced against this people.” 8 And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading from the book the words of the LORD in the LORD’s house. 9 Now it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the LORD to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem. 10 Then Baruch read from the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the LORD, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court at the entry of the New Gate of the LORD’s house, in the hearing of all the people. 11 When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the LORD from the book, 12 he then went down to the king’s house, into the scribe’s chamber; and there all the princes were sitting—Elishama the scribe, Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, Elnathan the son of Achbor, Gemariah the son of Shaphan, Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes. 13 Then Michaiah declared to them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read the book in the hearing of the people. 14 Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, “Take in your hand the scroll from which you have read in the hearing of the people, and come.” So Baruch the son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and came to them. 15 And they said to him, “Sit down now, and read it in our hearing.” So, Baruch read it in their hearing. 16 Now it happened, when they had heard all the words, that they looked in fear from one to another, and said to Baruch, “We will surely tell the king of all these words.” 17 And they asked Baruch, saying, “Tell us now, how did you write all these words—at his instruction?” 18 So Baruch answered them, “He proclaimed with his mouth all these words to me, and I wrote them with ink in the book.” 19 Then the princes said to Baruch, “Go and hide, you and Jeremiah; and let no one know where you are.” 20 And they went to the king, into the court; but they stored the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the hearing of the king. 21 So the king sent Jehudi to bring the scroll, and he took it from Elishama the scribe’s chamber. And Jehudi read it in the hearing of the king and in the hearing of all the princes who stood beside the king. 22 Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month, with a fire burning on the hearth before him. 23 And it happened, when Jehudi had read three or four columns, that the king cut it with the scribe’s knife and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth. 24 Yet they were not afraid, nor did they tear their garments, the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words. 25 Nevertheless Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah implored the king not to burn the scroll; but he would not listen to them. 26 And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to seize Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but the LORD hid them. 27 Now after the king had burned the scroll with the words which Baruch had written at the instruction of Jeremiah, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying: 28 “Take yet another scroll, and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned. 29 And you shall say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, ‘Thus says the LORD: “You have burned this scroll, saying, ‘Why have you written in it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and cause man and beast to cease from here?’?” 30 Therefore thus says the LORD concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: “He shall have no one to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat of the day and the frost of the night. 31 I will punish him, his family, and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring on them, on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah all the doom that I have pronounced against them; but they did not heed.” 32 Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it at the instruction of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And besides, there were added to them many similar words.
Does today’s topic ‘Fast flame forecasts future’ seem confusing? Well in just four words you have the overall picture of todays scripture teaching.
The king of Judah Jehoiakim had called for the nation to conduct a ‘Fast’ before the Lord. The nation of Babylon had laid a siege against Jerusalem. It was the hope of the King that Egypt would come to their rescue and clear out the Babylonian army.
Stop and think about this action for a moment. The Holy Father God Yahweh had sent His prophet to relay what the king and the people should do. They were to repent and ask God His forgiveness for their forsaken Him. This they will not do. They want our Holy Creator Ruler to accept their ways not His, so they want to go with a religious ritual (A Fast) to hope God will accept their plan instead.
To make His point our Holy Master God instructs His spokesperson Jeremiah to write down all His words forecasting the future and reads them to the people in the Temple. The king after hearing the reading has the scroll burned in a fire thus responding to our Holy God that he does not accept God’s warning that Egypt will not come and relieve the nation, but the Babylonians will in fact will come and destroy the city. Wow!
We have here the third example of the disobedience which was so prevalent in Judah. The first was revealed in their hypocritical attitude to the freeing of their bondmen and bondwomen. The second was revealed in the contrast between the people and the Rechabites. This third brings out the attitude of the leadership towards YHWH.
One great importance of this chapter is that it demonstrates conclusively that it was not unusual for prophets to record their prophecies in writing with a view to them being read out. Jeremiah was at this time in some way under restraint and he therefore calls on his faithful assistant Baruch to record his prophecies, and then to read them out in the Temple.
When the leading men of Judah, ‘the princes’, learned of this reading out of Jeremiah’s prophecies in the Temple they called on Baruch to come and read the scroll to them, and stirred by the words determined to bring them to the king, as was their duty. But meanwhile, knowing the evil propensities of the king and what might happen once he knew of Jeremiah’s prophecies, some of them advised Baruch and Jeremiah to go into hiding.
When the king learned of the scroll he had it brought to him and read before him, but after every three or four sections, with the approval of most of his nearest courtiers and despite the protests of some, he, or the reader at his command, would take a ‘knife’ and slice off the portion that had been read and throw it into the fire in order to indicate what he thought of it, thereby no doubt hoping to annul the prophecy. This went on until the whole scroll had been burned. It was indeed an open declaration that he was not willing to listen to the voice of YHWH. But it was a foolish action for by it he brought YHWH’s greater judgment on himself.
1 Now it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying:
This event is fairly precisely dated, occurring in 605 BC. It may possibly have been just prior to Jerusalem’s enforced submission to Nebuchadnezzar after he had defeated the Egyptians at Carchemish and Hamath and had sacked Ashkelon.
2 “Take a scroll of a book and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel, against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah even to this day.
Jeremiah was commanded to take ‘a roll of a written record’. This would probably be made up of papyrus strips glued together to form a scroll of up to thirty feet long and ten inches wide. The scroll would be wound round two ‘rollers’, two suitable pieces of wood, which could be held one in each hand so that the scroll could be unrolled from one piece of wood on to the other while it was being read.
On it he was to write ‘all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations.
3 It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the adversities which I purpose to bring upon them, that everyone may turn from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.”
The expressed hope was that Judah would hear of the evils which YHWH purposed to bring on them because of their disobedience, and would repent, ‘returning every man from his evil way’, so that their inward sin and their outward acts of transgression might be forgiven, thus enabling YHWH to alter course. God was still concerned to bring all men to repentance and into a knowledge of the truth.
Jeremiah thus dictated his prophecies to Baruch who wrote them down on a scroll. In Baruch’s own words, “He proclaimed all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the scroll” (verse 18). This would, of course, have taken some considerable time. He then even later (on the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim) sent him to the Temple to read them out to the gathered crowds, in the hope that they would repent and turn from their sin and disobedience.
4 Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote on a scroll of a book, at the instruction of Jeremiah, all the words of the LORD which He had spoken to him.
Jeremiah then called on the services of Baruch the son of Neriah who wrote down all the words of Jeremiah’s prophecies, as they were dictated to him, on a scroll. Baruch was apparently a professional scribe and a supporter of Jeremiah. Scribes had an important status and he seemingly came from an important family. His father Neriah was probably also a scribe. His grandfather Maasaiah (32.12) was apparently the governor of Jerusalem during the reign of Josiah (2 Chronicles 34.8). His brother Seraiah was clearly an important courtier (51.59). Both Seraiah, and especially Baruch, were loyal to Jeremiah and Baruch regularly suffered along with Jeremiah, even sharing his exile in Egypt.
5 And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, “I am confined, I cannot go into the house of the LORD.
For some reason Jeremiah was unable to go to the Temple at the time of the fast.
6 You go, therefore, and read from the scroll which you have written at my instruction, the words of the LORD, in the hearing of the people in the LORD’s house on the day of fasting. And you shall also read them in the hearing of all Judah who come from their cities.
His instruction to Baruch was that he should read his prophecies, the words of YHWH, to the people gathered in the Temple on the fast day, and to people of ‘all Judah’ who would be gathered out of the cities of Judah for the fast. He wanted his prophecies to be heard as widely as possible.
7 It may be that they will present their supplication before the LORD, and everyone will turn from his evil way. For great is the anger and the fury that the LORD has pronounced against this people.”
For his longing was to bring the people to repentance. He longed that the people might listen to what was said, take note of it, and turn from their evil ways, and begin to obey YHWH and worship Him alone, for he was very much aware of the antipathy of YHWH towards their sins, that is, of ‘the great anger and wrath that that He had pronounced against His people’ because of His holiness.
8 And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading from the book the words of the LORD in the LORD’s house.
Baruch did what Jeremiah had required of him and read out from the scroll the words of YHWH, reading them out in YHWH’s house before all the people. It was a courageous act for there was a very good possibility of a hostile reaction from the authorities, and even from the gathered crowds.
9 Now it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the LORD to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem.
The date was around November/December 604 BC, and the people of Judah had been called to come to Jerusalem for a special fast ‘before YHWH’. With all their idolatry they recognized that in such a situation it was YHWH of Hosts Who was needed.
This was not one of the regular Jewish feasts. It was presumably called because of the dire political situation as they saw that Nebuchadnezzar was about to exert his authority over Judah after his rout of the Egyptians at Carchemish and Hamath and his sacking of the Philistine city of Ashkelon.
10 Then Baruch read from the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the LORD, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court at the entry of the New Gate of the LORD’s house, in the hearing of all the people.
Taking advantage of the crowds massing into the Temple Baruch read out the words of Jeremiah from the scroll, making use of a window or balcony in the room of Gemariah the Scribe, which was in the upper court (elsewhere called ‘the inner court’) by the New Gate of YHWH’s house, to the waiting crowds below.
11 When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the LORD from the book,
One of those who heard the words, and may have been in the room with Baruch, was Micaiah, who was Gemariah’s son. He listened carefully to all the words which Baruch spoke from the scroll containing all the words of YHWH.
12 he then went down to the king’s house, into the scribe’s chamber; and there all the princes were sitting—Elishama the scribe, Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, Elnathan the son of Achbor, Gemariah the son of Shaphan, Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes.
He then went down from the Temple to the palace-complex where there was a gathering of many of the leading men of Judah in the Scribes’ Room. It was an important gathering made up of many of Jehoiakim’s top advisers. They may well have been sitting there awaiting the king’s summons to a council meeting.
Elishama is called ‘the Scribe’ and may have been the king’s official scribe, a leading cabinet post (Gemariah was also a Scribe and this was in the Scribes’ Room, thus the title here must be significant). If he can be identified with the Elishama in 41.1; 2 Kings 25.25 he was of royal birth, and his grandson Ishmael would assassinate Gedaliah, Nebuchadnezzar’s appointed Governor of Judah after the destruction of Jerusalem (no doubt seeing him as a traitor). Elnathan was leader of the deputation which, at the king’s command, extradited Uriah the prophet from Egypt (26.22). His father had been involved in the discovery of the Book of the Law in the Temple (2 Kings 22.12). His family were therefore important courtiers, close to the king. Apart from Gemariah we know nothing about the others. But they were all leading men (princes). Elnathan and Delaiah, along with Gemariah, later pleaded with Jehoiakim not to destroy the scroll.
13 Then Michaiah declared to them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read the book in the hearing of the people.
Micaiah then told the gathering in the Scribes’ Room all he could recall of the words that Baruch had read out in the Temple.
14 Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, “Take in your hand the scroll from which you have read in the hearing of the people, and come.” So Baruch the son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and came to them.
This was enough to make them realize how important Baruch’s scroll was, so they sent a man named Jehudi to Baruch, calling on him to come and read the scroll before them. Baruch accordingly came (they were not the kind of men to be trifled with).
Jehudi’s great-grandfather was named Cushi, and the naming of three generations would indicate that Jehudi (‘the Jew’) was now qualified as a full Israelite. The Cushites may well have been linked with the Egyptians as requiring three generations before this could be so (Deuteronomy 23.7-8). His name (the Jew) probably celebrated that fact.
15 And they said to him, “Sit down now, and read it in our hearing.” So Baruch read it in their hearing.
Then they called on him to read out the prophecies so that they could hear them. And while they listened carefully, he read it out to them. The fact that they asked him to ‘sit down’ indicated respect for his position. These men were used to other standing in their presence, or even prostrating themselves.
The whole gathering was stirred by the words, for they were clearly a section of the king’s council who in general supported Jeremiah’s outlook, and filled with apprehension by the words enquired further into their exact source, being determined to bring them to the king’s notice. Baruch explained that they had been dictated to him by Jeremiah, while he recorded them. Then in preparation for what they were about to do they recommended to Baruch that he and Jeremiah should go into hiding.
16 Now it happened, when they had heard all the words, that they looked in fear from one to another, and said to Baruch, “We will surely tell the king of all these words.”
Having listened carefully to the words that Baruch read out the whole gathering looked at one another, stirred by the words and apprehensive at what the words had prophesied was coming on Judah. Then they turned to Baruch and assured him that they would bring them to the attention of the king. This was not an unfriendly act, but an indication of how seriously they took them. They knew that in the end they were intended for the king and would have been aware of some of the events mentioned in them. Furthermore, their reading out in the Temple had made them public knowledge and it would not have been safe to withhold them from the king.
17 And they asked Baruch, saying, “Tell us now, how did you write all these words—at his instruction?”
But before doing so they wanted to be sure of the exact source of the words, and so they asked Baruch to describe the process and the circumstances which had resulted in them being written. It was important to know how far Baruch himself ought to accept responsibility for the words, especially as he had read them out in the Temple, which was not necessarily a scribe’s duty. (Besides so-called prophets had many ways of obtaining their ‘prophetic words’ and they wanted to know how far these could be relied on).
18 So Baruch answered them, “He proclaimed with his mouth all these words to me, and I wrote them with ink in the book.”
Baruch explained that Jeremiah had proclaimed the words to him while he wrote them down on the scroll. Had he simply been acting as a paid scribe he could have argued that he was ‘only doing his job’. But by proclaiming them in the Temple he had undoubtedly implicated himself.
19 Then the princes said to Baruch, “Go and hide, you and Jeremiah; and let no one know where you are.”
The princes (leading men), who knew only too well what Jehoiakim’s reaction might be, then advised Baruch that he and Jeremiah should hide themselves away and leave no trace of their whereabouts. The implication was that the king would otherwise have them arrested, and even put to death. If this was not long after the death of the prophet Uriah who had also proclaimed Jeremiah’s words (26.20) we can understand the danger that Baruch was in. Having given this advice the princes then put the scroll in the room of Elishama the Scribe for safe-keeping. It was stored in the Cabinet office.
When the king learned about the scroll he commanded that it be brought to him and called on Jehudi to read it out before him and his courtiers, many of whom had little sympathy with Jeremiah for on the whole they made no protest when Jehoiakim burned the scroll. And while the reading was in process, every time Jehudi had read four columns Jehoiakim cut them off and burned them. His intention may well have been to nullify the prophecy. He then called for the arrest of Jeremiah and Baruch, but they could not be found because ‘YHWH hid them’.
20 And they went to the king, into the court; but they stored the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the hearing of the king.
Having safely deposited the scroll in the room of Elishama the Scribe, a room which would contain many official documents, they went before the king and informed him about the scroll and what it contained.
21 So the king sent Jehudi to bring the scroll, and he took it from Elishama the scribe’s chamber. And Jehudi read it in the hearing of the king and in the hearing of all the princes who stood beside the king.
The king was impressed enough to send Jehudi for the scroll and called on him to read it out before himself and the courtiers, which, of course, he did. Again, we are not told how much he read of it.
22 Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month, with a fire burning on the hearth before him.
An explanation is then given of how he had a fire available. It was because he was sitting in his winter accommodation where there was a brazier alight in the room in which there would be a charcoal fire which was there to provide warmth.
23 And it happened, when Jehudi had read three or four columns, that the king cut it with the scribe’s knife and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth.
The aim would be to nullify the prophecy in the same way as Hananiah had broken the symbolic yoke around Jeremiah’s shoulders. But it was not to be nullified so easily. On the other hand, to have left it in written form would have seemed to the king and his courtiers, and to all who heard of it, to be an acceptance of the prophecy. It would also have meant that others could have read it and been influenced by it. Thus, the king acted in order to rid himself of the hated Jeremiah’s influence.
24 Yet they were not afraid, nor did they tear their garments, the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words.
Meanwhile neither the king nor the courtiers reacted in their hearts to the prophecy. They neither ‘feared’ (unlike those who had been gathered in the scribes’ room who had more confidence in Jeremiah) nor indicated a reaction by tearing their clothes. In other words, they did not respond to the prophecy, but mainly (at least outwardly) treated it with contempt, many partly, no doubt, being influenced by the king’s presence.
25 Nevertheless Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah implored the king not to burn the scroll; but he would not listen to them.
There were, however, three presents, who had also been present in the scribes’ room, who pleaded with the king not to destroy the scroll. These were Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah. It was a brave act and indicated their high standing in that they dared to do it, but the king refused to listen to their pleadings.
26 And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to seize Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but the LORD hid them.
Then the king sent three of his trusted servants to arrest Baruch and Jeremiah. Arresting important people may well have been one of their duties.
Jeremiah is consequently told to prepare a second scroll containing details of his prophecies, to replace the one that had been burned, and he took the opportunity that this presented to expand on the previous scroll. Meanwhile YHWH assured Jehoiakim that His wrath was coming on him in that the king of Babylon would certainly come and destroy the land, and in that the succession would not be maintained by his descendants. Furthermore, because of his action in rejecting the scroll and treating it ignominiously, his body too would be treated ignominiously on death. He had cast YHWH’s words on the fire. His own body would be cast on the ground outside the walls of Jerusalem, open to the fiery heat of the sun by day and to the frost by night.
27 Now after the king had burned the scroll with the words which Baruch had written at the instruction of Jeremiah, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying: 28 “Take yet another scroll, and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned.
Because of Jehoiakim burning the scroll YHWH sent a further word to Jeremiah about him. Note the emphasis on Jehoiakim’s having burned the words. This was his crime, that he had burned the words of YHWH.
Jeremiah was then told to take another roll of papyri and write on it all the words that had been written on the earlier scroll which Jehoiakim had burned.
29 And you shall say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, ‘Thus says the LORD: “You have burned this scroll, saying, ‘Why have you written in it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and cause man and beast to cease from here?’?”
‘You have burned this roll’ does not necessarily mean that Jehoiakim had burned it himself. It simply suggests that he was responsible for its burning, although it may in fact be that he did burn it himself in order to demonstrate his contempt for Jeremiah’s prophecies. The reason for his actions is given. It was because he took objection to the suggestion that the king of Babylon would come and destroy the land to such an extent that man and beast would cease from it.
30 Therefore thus says the LORD concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: “He shall have no one to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat of the day and the frost of the night.
Jehoiakim himself would receive a twofold punishment. First, he would have no one to sit on the throne of David once he was gone, and second his dead body would be humiliated by being cast out to face the ravages of the weather. He had cast YHWH’s words into the heat, he himself would be cast to both heat and cold.
The first was fulfilled in that Jehoiachin, while ruling for king for three months, was possibly never crowned, (certainly not in the time honored way for the resources necessary were partly in Babylonian hands), and definitely never ruled over the land. For the whole three months he was shut up in Jerusalem under siege. He was then followed by his uncle. We do not have details of how the second was fulfilled (the ignominious treatment of his body) but it is clear elsewhere that he suffered ignominiously on his death (compare 22.18-19), and unusually nothing is said about his burial in 2 Kings.
31 I will punish him, his family, and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring on them, on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah all the doom that I have pronounced against them; but they did not heed.”
YHWH’s judgments on Judah as written about in the scroll would be fulfilled. He, his family and his ruling men would all be punished for their iniquity, and all the evil that YHWH had declared would be brought on them. And it was all because they would not listen.
32 Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it at the instruction of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And besides, there were added to them many similar words.
So Jeremiah did what YHWH had commanded, took another scroll and handed it to Baruch, who wrote down in it all that had been written in the previous book, together with a number of additions along the same lines.
