JEREMIAH 36 COMMENTARYEDITED BY GLENN PEASE

Jehoiakim Burns Jeremiah’s Scroll1 In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord:

BARNES, "In the fourth year of Jehoiakim - See Jer_25:1 note. The present chapter belongs to the very end of that year. The capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar took place early in Jehoiakim’s fourth year, long before the writing of Jehoiakim’s scroll. The humiliation seems to have sunk deeply into the heart of Jehoiakim, and when Jeremiah prophesied extended dominion to the Chaldaeans Jer_36:29, his anger knew no bounds. It was the fact that judgment had begun which made it expedient to gather Jeremiah’s predictions into one volume, with the object:

(1) of inducing the people to repent, and(2) of persuading the king to be a true subject of the Chaldaean empire.

CLARKE, "And it came to pass in the fourth year - About the end of this year, see Jer_36:9. This discourse also bears its own date, and was probably delivered at a time when the people enjoyed peace, and were about to celebrate one of their annual fasts.

GILL, "And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah,.... Eighteen years before the destruction of Jerusalem: that this word came unto Jeremiah from the Lord; the following order to write in a roll all his prophecies he had hitherto delivered: saying; as follows:HENRY, "In the beginning of Ezekiel's prophecy we meet with a roll written in vision,for discovery of the things therein contained to the prophet himself, who was to receive

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and digest them, Eze_2:9, Eze_2:10; Eze_3:1. Here, in the latter end of Jeremiah's prophecy, we meet with a roll written in fact, for discovery of the things contained therein to the people, who were to hear and give heed to them; for the written word and other good books are of great use both to ministers and people. JAMISON, "Jer_36:1-32. Baruch writes, and reads publicly Jeremiah’s prophecies

collected in a volume. The roll is burnt by Jehoiakim, and written again by Baruch at Jeremiah’s dictation.fourth year — The command to write the roll was given in the fourth year, but it was not read publicly till the fifth year. As Isaiah subjoined to his predictions a history of events confirming his prophecies (Isa_36:1-22; Isa_37:1-38; Isa_38:1-22; Isa_39:1-8), so Jeremiah also in the thirty-seventh through forty-third chapters; but he prefaces his history with the narrative of an incident that occurred some time ago, showing that he, not only by word, but in writing, and that twice, had testified all that he about to state as having subsequently come to pass [Grotius]. At the end of Jehoiakim’s third year, Nebuchadnezzar enrolled an army against Jerusalem and took it in the end of the fifth or beginning of the sixth year, carrying away captive Jehoiakim, Daniel, etc. Jehoiakim returned the same year, and for three years was tributary: then he withheld tribute. Nebuchadnezzar returned and took Jerusalem, and carried off Jehoiakim, who died on the road. This harmonizes this chapter with 2Ki_24:1-20 and Dan_1:1-21. See on Jer_22:19.

K&D, "In the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim the word of the Lord came toJeremiah, bidding him commit to writing all the addresses he had previously delivered, that Judah might, if it were possible, still regard the threatenings and return (Jer_36:1-3). In accordance with this command, he got all the words of the Lord written down in a book by his attendant Baruch, with the further instruction that this should be read on the fast-day in the temple to the people who came out of the country into Jerusalem (Jer_36:4-8). When, after this, in the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim, a fast was appointed, Baruch read the prophecies to the assembled people in the chamber of Gemariah in the temple. Michaiah the son of Gemariah mentioned the matter to the princes who were assembled in the royal palace; these then sent for Baruch with the roll, and made him read it to them. But they were so frightened by what was read to them that they deemed it necessary to inform the king regarding it (Jer_36:9-19). At theiradvice, the king had the roll brought and some of it read before him; but scarcely had some few columns been read, when he cut the roll into pieces and threw them into the pan of coals burning in the room, at the same time commanding that Baruch and Jeremiah should be brought to him; but God hid them (Jer_36:20-26). After this roll had been burnt, the Lord commanded the prophet to get all his words written on a new roll, and to predict an ignominious fate for King Jehoiakim; whereupon Jeremiah once more dictated his addresses to Baruch (Jer_36:27-32).

Since Jeremiah, according to Jer_36:3, Jer_36:6, Jer_36:7, is to get his addresses written down that Baruch may be able to read them publicly on the fast-day, now at hand, because he himself was prevented from getting to the temple, the intention of the divine command was not to make the prophet put down in writing and gather together all the addresses he had hitherto given, but the writing down is merely to serve as a means of once more presenting to the people the whole contents of his prophecies, in 2

order to induce them, wherever it was possible, to return to the Lord. In the fourth year of Jehoiakim, Nebuchadnezzar, after vanquishing the Egyptians at the Euphrates, advanced against Judah, took Jerusalem, and made Jehoiakim tributary. In the same year, too, Jeremiah had delivered the prophecy regarding the giving up of Judah and all nations for seventy years into the power of the king of Babylon (Jer 25); this was before he had been bidden write down all his addresses. For, that he did not receive this command till towards the end of the fourth year, may be gathered with certainty from the fact that the public reading of the addresses, after they were written down, was to take place on the fast-day, which, according to Jer_36:9, was not held till the ninth month of the fifth year. The only doubtful point is, whether they were written down and read before or after the first capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. Most modern commentators take the former view; e.g., Hitzig says, briefly and decidedly, "According to Jer_36:29, the Chaldeans had not as yet appeared in the country." But this is not mentioned in Jer_36:29. The threatening in this verse, "The king of Babylon shall come and destroy this land, and exterminate men and beasts from it," does not prove that the king of Babylon had not yet come to Judah, but merely that the country had not yet been destroyed, and men and cattle exterminated from it. When Jerusalem was first taken, Nebuchadnezzar contented himself with subjecting Jehoiakim under his supreme authority and requiring the payment of tribute, as well as carrying away some of the vessels of the temple and some hostages. The devastation of Judah and the extirpation of men and beasts did not commence till the second subjugation of Jerusalem under Jehoiakim, and was completed when the city was utterly destroyed, in Zedekiah's time, on its third subjugation. The settlement of the question that has been raised depends on the determination of the object for which the special fast-day in the fifth year was appointed, whether for averting the threatened invasion by the Chaldeans, or as a memorial of the first capture of Jerusalem. This question we have already so far decided in the Commentary on Daniel, at Jer_1:1, where it is stated that the fast was held in remembrance of that day in the year when Jerusalem was taken for the first time by Nebuchadnezzar; we have also remarked in the same place, that Jehoiakim either appointed or permitted this special fast "for the purpose of rousing the popular feeling against the Chaldeans, to whom they were in subjection, - to evoke in the people a religious enthusiasm in favour of resistance; for Jehoiakim keenly felt the subjugation by the Chaldeans, and from the first thought of revolt." However, every form of resistance to the king of Babylon could only issue in the ruin of Judah. Accordingly, Jeremiah made Baruch read his prophecies publicly to the people assembled in the temple on that day, "by way of counterpoise to the king's desire;" the prophet also bade him announce to the king that the king of Babylon would come, i.e., return, to destroy the land, and to root out of it both men and beasts. These circumstances give the first complete explanation of the terror of the princes when they listened to the reading of the book (Jer_36:16), as well as of the wrath of the king, exhibited by his cutting the book in pieces and throwing it into the fire: he saw that the addresses of the prophet were more calculated to damp those religious aspirations of the people on which he based his hopes, than to rouse the nation against continued submission to the Chaldeans. Not till now, too, when the object of the appointment of the fast-day was perceived, did the command given by God to the prophet to write down his prophecies appear in its proper light. Shortly before, and in the most earnest manner, Jeremiah had reminded the people of their opposition to the word of God preached by him for twenty-three years, and had announced to them, as a punishment, the seventy years' subjugation to the Chaldeans and the desolation of the country; yet this announcement of the fearful chastisement had made no deeper or more 3

lasting impression on the people. Hence, so long as the threatened judgment was still in the distance, not much could be expected to result from the reading of his addresses in the temple on the fast-day, so that the command of God to do so should appear quite justified. But the matter took a considerably different from when Nebuchadnezzar had actually taken Jerusalem and Jehoiakim had submitted. The commencement of the judgments which had been threatened by God was the proper moment for laying before the hearts of the people, once more, the intense earnestness of the divine message, and for urging them to deeper penitence. Just at this point the reading of the whole contents of the prophecies delivered by Jeremiah appears like a final attempt to preserve the people, on whom judgment has fallen, from complete destruction.

CALVIN, "The Prophet relates in this chapter a history worthy of being remembered, and very useful to us; for he says that he wrote down by God’s command what he had previously taught in the Temple, and also that he sent that summary by Baruch to be recited in the Temple, that the report of this spread, and that the king’s counsellors called to them Baruch, and that when they heard what was written in the volume, they brought word to the king, having, however, first admonished Baruch to conceal himself, together with Jeremiah, lest the king should be exasperated against them. And so it happened, for the king, being instantly filled with indignation, ordered Jeremiah and Baruch to be taken, that they might be put to death; but they were hidden and protected through God’s favor. We shall hereafter see what the king by his obduracy had effected, even to cause the Prophet to speak more boldly against him. COFFMAN, " Verse 1GOD'S WORD WRITTEN IN A BOOK;THE BOOK READ TO THE PEOPLE; TO THE PRINCES; AND TO THE KING;THE BOOK BURNED BY THE KING; AND THE BOOK REWRITTENThe chapter heading here also serves as a list of the chapter divisions.It was a critical hour in Israel's history. The Babylonians had just defeated the Egyptians in the Battle of Carchemish and were at that time moving into Palestine. "The crisis was at hand, and it was the psychological moment for Jeremiah to make a last-minute appeal for Jerusalem and Judea to repent and turn to the Lord."[1]Jehoiachim, however, hated Babylon. He was a vassal of Egypt, for the moment compelled to be instead a vassal of Babylon; but he was planning a revolt. He had evidently appointed a fast day to lead the people in mourning over that Chaldean victory which had made him and Jerusalem tributary to Babylon, with the purpose, no doubt, of fomenting opposition to Nebuchadnezzar.

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Jeremiah himself, however, was for the time restrained from appearing in the Temple; and that situation prompted the commandment of God to convert all of his prophecies to a written record, and the commandment for them to be read to the people in the Temple.Before exploring the text of the chapter, we wish to reject a couple of critical allegations which radicals have attempted to fasten upon it.(1) First, there is the proposition proposed by Robinson, namely, that, "The circumstances throw light on the origin of written prophecy,"[2] even calling this "The first roll written!" There is no truth whatever in such statements. There was, in the days of Jeremiah, absolutely nothing new, either in the science and industry of writing, nor in the writing of Biblical prophecies. That Jeremiah should have dictated to a professional scribe the words of his prophecies, and that the scribe wrote them in one of the customary rolls, either of papyrus or the skins of animals, both of which had been in use for centuries, as Graybill wrote, "was normal for the times."[3]"Herodotus relates that the Ionians, from the earliest period, wrote on goat and sheepskins; and as the Hebrews were familiar with dressing skins at the time of their departure from Egypt, there is every reason to believe that Moses employed such materials in writing the Pentateuch."[4] Donald J. Wiseman authored an extensive eight-page article in the New Bible Dictionary, affirming that "the science of writing is at least as old as 3,100 B.C."; "writing is mentioned more than 450 times in the Bible"; "The Bible states that Moses wrote the Decalogue (Exodus 17:14), the words of God (Exodus 24:4), the Torah (Joshua 8:31), Deut. (24:1), all the statutes and judgments (Exodus 34:27), the legal enactments (Deuteronomy 24:1), the details of all the journeys of the Israelites (Numbers 33:2), etc., etc."[5]Centuries before Moses, the laws of Hammurabi were inscribed on a solid block of granite (black diorite) eight feet high, which was discovered at Susa in 1902! Furthermore, there are at least two instances of writing long before Hammurabi! These facts are mentioned in an article by W. J. Martin in the New Bible Dictionary, pp. 501,502.(2) The other critical canard is the allegation that, it must have been a very small collection of prophecies, because they were all read three times in a single day! Indeed, indeed! And where is there anything in the sacred text that supports a notion like that? The events described here are a summary; and all of the events mentioned probably took place over a period of several days. It evidently took several months to conclude the extensive Book of Jeremiah's prophecies. Also we have the repeated statement that "all the words of Jeremiah" (Jeremiah 35:13) were read some three times, with the exception noted in the text itself that the king did not wait to hear "all the words" but acted promptly to burn it. It is an unfounded and purely gratuitous "guess" that all of these things happened in one day, or even in one week. The text gives no hint whatever of the time frame in which these things

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happened.Jeremiah 36:1-3GOD COMMANDS THE BOOK TO BE WRITTEN"And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiachim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day. It may be that the house of Israel will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin."The date of the chapter is firmly fixed in the fourth year of Jehoiachim. "This was the year 604 B.C., following the victory of Nebuchadnezzar over the Egyptians at Carchemish."[6] "It is scarcely a coincidence that it was in this very month of December that the Babylonians assaulted, captured, and sacked Ashkelon on the Philistine plain; and not long afterward, Jehoiachim was forced to become a vassal of Babylon."[7] Halley further described the historical situation. "Jeremiah at that time had been prophesying 23 years, from the 13th year of Josiah to the fourth year of Jehoiachim. The purpose was to have Baruch read a copy of all Jeremiah's prophecies to the people at a time when Jeremiah had apparently been banned from the temple area. It took a year or so to write the prophecies. Its reading made a profound impression on some of the princes, but the king reacted angrily, burning the roll in the fire."[8]COKE, "Jeremiah 36:1. And it came to pass, &c.— It is uncertain whether what is related in this chapter happened during the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, (for this city was besieged in the 4th year of Jehoiakim: see 2 Kings 24:1-2.) or after the siege, when Jehoiakim was escaped from the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. One would imagine from what follows, particularly from Jeremiah 36:9 that it happened at the end of the fourth year; which would lead one to suppose that Nebuchadnezzar was retired. Jeremiah says nothing of the siege, and he orders Baruch to read his prophesies before an assembly of the people, who came to Jerusalem out of their cities, Jeremiah 36:6 which denotes a time of joy, and a grand festival. See Calmet. EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMMENTARY, "THE ROLLJeremiah 36:1-32"Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee."- Jeremiah 36:2THE incidents which form so large a proportion of the contents of our book do not

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make up a connected narrative; they are merely a series of detached pictures: we can only conjecture the doings and experiences of Jeremiah during the intervals. Chapter 26 leaves him still exposed to the persistent hostility of the priests and prophets, who had apparently succeeded in once more directing popular feeling against their antagonist. At the same time, though the princes were not ill-disposed towards him, they were not inclined to resist the strong pressure brought to bear upon them. Probably the attitude of the populace varied from time to time, according to the presence among them of the friends or enemies of the prophet; and, in the same way, we cannot think of "the princes" as a united body, governed by a single impulse. The action of this group of notables might be determined by the accidental preponderance of one or other of two opposing parties. Jeremiah’s only real assurance of safety lay in the personal protection extended to him by Ahikam ben Shaphan. Doubtless other princes associated themselves with Ahikam in his friendly action on behalf of the prophet.Under these circumstances, Jeremiah would find it necessary to restrict his activity. Utter indifference to danger was one of the most ordinary characteristics of Hebrew prophets, and Jeremiah was certainly not wanting in the desperate courage which may be found in any Mohammedan dervish. At the same time he was far too practical, too free from morbid self-consciousness, to court martyrdom for its own sake. If he had presented himself again in the Temple when it was crowded with worshippers, his life might have been taken in a popular tumult, while his mission was still only half accomplished. Possibly his priestly enemies had found means to exclude him from the sacred precincts.Man’s extremity was God’s opportunity; this temporary and partial silencing of Jeremiah led to a new departure, which made the influence of his teaching more extensive and permanent. He was commanded to commit his prophecies to writing. The restriction of his active ministry was to bear rich fruit, like Paul’s imprisonment, and Athanasius’ exile, and Luther’s sojourn in the Wartburg. A short time since there was great danger that Jeremiah and the Divine message entrusted to him would perish together. He did not know how soon he might become once more the mark of popular fury, nor whether Ahikam would still be able to protect him. The roll of the book could speak even if he were put to death.But Jeremiah was not thinking chiefly abort what would become of his teaching if he himself perished. He had an immediate and particular end in view. His tenacious persistence was not to be baffled by the prospect of mob violence, or by exclusion from the most favourable vantage ground. Renan is fond of comparing the prophets to modern journalists; and this incident is an early and striking instance of the substitution of pen, ink, and paper for the orator’s tribune. Perhaps the closest modern parallel is that of the speaker who is howled down at a public meeting and hands his manuscript to the reporters.In the record of the Divine command to Jeremiah, there is no express statement as to what was to be done with the roll; but as the object of writing it was that

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"perchance the house of Judah might hear and repent," it is evident that from the first it was intended to be read to the people.There is considerable difference of opinion as to the contents of the roll. They are described as: "All that I have spoken unto thee concerning Jerusalem and Judah, and all the nations, since I (first) spake unto thee, from the time of Josiah until now." At first sight this would seem to include all previous utterances, and therefore all the extant prophecies of a date earlier than B.C. 605, i.e., those contained in chapters 1-12, and some portions of 14-20 (we cannot determine which with any exactness), and probably most of those dated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, i.e., 25 and parts of 45-49. Cheyne, however, holds that the roll simply contained the striking and comprehensive prophecy in chapter 25. The whole series of chapters might very well be described as dealing with Jerusalem, Judah, and the nations; but at the same time 25 might be considered equivalent, by way of summary, to all that had been spoken on these subjects. From various considerations which will appear as we proceed with the narrative, it seems probable that the larger estimate is the more correct, i.e., that the roll contained a large fraction of our Book of Jeremiah, and not merely one or two chapters. We need not, however, suppose that every previous utterance of the prophet, even though still extant, must have been included in the roll; the "all" would of course be understood to be conditioned by relevancy; and the narratives of various incidents are obviously not part of what Jehovah had spoken.Jeremiah dictated his prophecies, as St. Paul did his epistles, to an amanuensis; he called his disciple Baruch ben Neriah, and dictated to him "all that Jehovah had spoken, upon a book, in the form of a roll."It seems clear that, as in 26, the narrative does not exactly follow the order of events, and that Jeremiah 36:9, which records the proclamation of a fast in the ninth month of Jehoiakim’s fifth year, should be read before Jeremiah 36:5, which begins the account of the circumstances leading up to the actual reading of the roll. We are not told in what month of Jehoiakim’s fourth year Jeremiah received this command to write his prophecies in a roll, but as they were not read till the ninth month of the fifth year, there must have been an interval of at least ten months or a year between the Divine command and the reading by Baruch. We can scarcely suppose that all or nearly all this delay was caused by Jeremiah and Baruch’s waiting for a suitable occasion. The long interval suggests that the dictation took some time, and that therefore the roll was somewhat voluminous in its contents, and that it was carefully compiled, not without a certain amount of revision.When the manuscript was ready, its authors had to determine the right time at which to read it; they found their desired opportunity in the fast proclaimed in the ninth month. This was evidently an extraordinary fast, appointed in view of some pressing danger; and, in the year following the battle of Carehemish, this would naturally be the advance of Nebuchadnezzar. As our incident took place in the depth of winter, the months must be reckoned according to the Babylonian year,

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which began in April; and the ninth month, Kisleu, would roughly correspond to our December. The dreaded invasion would be looked for early in the following spring, "at the time when kings go out to battle." [1 Chronicles 20:1]Jeremiah does not seem to have absolutely determined from the first that the reading of the roll by Baruch was to be a substitute for his own presence. He had probably hoped that some change for the better in the situation might justify his appearance before a great gathering in the Temple. But when the time came he was "hindered"-we are not told how-and could not go into the Temple. He may have been restrained by his own prudence, or dissuaded by his friends, like Paul when he would have faced the mob in the theatre at Ephesus; the hindrance may have been some ban under which he had been placed by the priesthood, or it may have been some unexpected illness, or legal uncleanness, or some other passing accident, such as Providence often uses to protect its soldiers till their warfare is accomplished.Accordingly it was Baruch who went up to the Temple. Though he is said to have read the book "in the ears of all the people," he does not seem to have challenged universal attention as openly as Jeremiah had done; he did not stand forth in the court of the Temple, [Jeremiah 26:2] but betook himself to the "chamber" of the scribe, or secretary of state, Gemariah ben Shaphan, the brother of Jeremiah’s protector Ahikam. This chamber would be one of the cells built round the upper court, from which the "new gate" {Cf. Jeremiah 26:10} led into an inner court of the Temple. Thus Baruch placed himself formally under the protection of the owner of the apartment, and any violence offered to him would have been resented and avenged by this powerful noble with his kinsmen and allies. Jeremiah’s disciple and representative took his seat at the door of the chamber, and, in full view of the crowds who passed and repassed through the new gate, opened his roll and began to read aloud from its contents. His reading was yet another repetition of the exhortations, warnings, and threats which Jeremiah had rehearsed on the feast day when he spake to the people "all that Jehovah had commanded him"; and still both Jehovah and His prophet promised deliverance as the reward of repentance. Evidently the head and front of the nation’s offence had been no open desertion of Jehovah for idols, else His servants would not have selected for their audience His enthusiastic worshippers as they thronged to His Temple. The fast itself might have seemed a token of penitence, but it was not accepted by Jeremiah, or put forward by the people, as a reason why the prophecies of ruin should not be fulfilled. No one offers the very natural plea: "In this fast we are humbling ourselves under the mighty hand of God, we are confessing our sins, and consecrating ourselves afresh to service of Jehovah. What more does He expect of us? Why does He still withhold His mercy and forgiveness? Wherefore have we fasted, and Thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and Thou takest no knowledge?" Such a plea would probably have received an answer similar to that given by one of Jeremiah’s successors: "Behold, in the day of your fast ye find your own pleasure, and oppress all your labourers. Behold, ye fast for strife and contention, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye fast not this day so as to make your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I have chosen? the day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow

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down his head as a rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and a day acceptable to Jehovah?""Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy healing shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of Jehovah shall be thy rearward." [Isaiah 58:3-8]Jeremiah’s opponents did not grudge Jehovah His burnt offerings and calves of a year old; He was welcome to thousands of rams, and ten thousands of rivers of oil. They were even willing to give their firstborn for their transgression, the whether the title "scribe" refers to the fruit of their body for the sin of their soul; but they were not prepared "to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with their God." [Micah 6:6-8]We are not told how Jeremiah and the priests and prophets formulated the points at issue between them, which were so thoroughly and universally understood that the record takes them for granted. Possibly Jeremiah contended for the recognition of Deuteronomy, with its lofty ideals of pure religion and a humanitarian order of society. But, in any case, these incidents were an early phase of the age long struggle of the prophets of God against the popular attempt to make ritual and sensuous emotion into excuses for ignoring morality, and to offer the cheap sacrifice of a few unforbidden pleasures, rather than surrender the greed of gain, the lust of power, and the sweetness of revenge.When the multitudes caught the sound of Baruch’s voice and saw him sitting in the doorway of Gemariah’s chamber, they knew exactly what they would hear. To them he was almost as antagonistic as a Protestant evangelist would be to the worshippers at some great Romanist feast; or perhaps we might find a closer parallel in a Low Church bishop addressing a ritualistic audience. For the hearts of these hearers were not steeled by the consciousness of any formal schism. Baruch and the great prophet whom he represented did not stand outside the recognised limits of Divine inspiration. While the priests and prophets and their adherents repudiated his teaching as heretical, they were still haunted by the fear that, at any rate, his threats might have some Divine authority. Apart from all theology, the prophet of evil always finds an ally in the nervous fears and guilty conscience of his hearer.The feelings of the people would be similar to those with which they had heard the same threats against Judah, the city and the Temple, from Jeremiah himself. But the excitement aroused by the defeat of Pharaoh and the hasty return of Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon had died away. The imminence of a new invasion made it evident that this had not been the Divine deliverance of Judah. The people were cowed by what must have seemed to many the approaching fulfilments of former

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threatenings; the ritual of a fast was in itself depressing; so that they had little spirit to resent the message of doom. Perhaps too there was less to resent: the prophecies were the same, but Baruch may have been less unpopular than Jeremiah, and his reading would be tame and ineffective compared to the fiery eloquence of his master. Moreover the powerful protection which shielded him was indicated not only by the place he occupied, but also by the presence of Gemariah’s son, Micaiah.The reading passed off without any hostile demonstration on the part of the people, and Micaiah went in search of his father to describe to him the scene he had just witnessed. He found him in the palace, in the chamber of the secretary of state, Elishama, attending a council of the princes. There were present, amongst others, Elnathan ben Achbor, who brought Uriah back from Egypt, Delaiah ben Shemaiah, and Zedekiah ben Hananiah. Micaiah told them what he had heard. They at once sent for Baruch and the roll. Their messenger, Jehudi ben Nethaniah, seems to have been a kind of court usher. His name signifies "the Jew," and as his great-grandfather was Cushi, "the Ethiopian," it has been suggested that he came of a family of Ethiopian descent, which had only attained in his generation to Jewish citizenship.When Baruch arrived, the princes greeted him with the courtesy and even deference due to the favourite disciple of a distinguished prophet. They invited him to sit down and read them the roll. Baruch obeyed; the method of reading suited the enclosed room and the quiet, interested audience of responsible men, better than the swaying crowd gathered round the door of Gemariah’s chamber. Baruch now had before him ministers of state who knew from their official information and experience how extremely probable it was that the words to which they were listening would find a speedy and complete fulfilment. Baruch must almost have seemed to them like a doomster who announces to a condemned criminal the ghastly details of his coming execution. They exchanged looks of dismay and horror, and when the reading was over, they said to one another, "We must tell the king of all these words." First, however, they inquired concerning the exact circumstances under which the roll had been written, that they might know how far responsibility in this matter was to be divided between the prophet and his disciple, and also whether all the contents rested upon the full authority of Jeremiah. Baruch assured them that it was simply a case of dictation: Jeremiah had uttered every word with his own mouth, and he had faithfully written it down; everything was Jeremiah’s own.The princes were well aware that the prophet’s action would probably be resented and punished by Jehoiakim. They said to Baruch: "Do you and Jeremiah go and hide yourselves, and let no one know where you are." They kept the roll and laid it up in Elishama’s room; then they went to the king. They found him in his winter room, in the inner court of the palace, sitting in front of a brasier of burning charcoal. On this fast day the king’s mind might well be careful and troubled, as he meditated on the kind of treatment that he, the nominee of Pharaoh Necho, was likely to receive from Nebuchadnezzar. We cannot tell whether he contemplated resistance or had already resolved to submit to the conqueror. In either case he

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would wish to act on his own initiative, and might be anxious lest a Chaldean party should get the upper hand in Jerusalem and surrender him and the city to the invader.When the princes entered, their number and their manner would at once indicate to him that their errand was both serious and disagreeable. He seems to have listened in silence while they made their report of the incident at the door of Gemariah’s chamber and their own interview with Baruch. The king sent for the roll by Jehudi, who had accompanied the princes into the presence chamber; and on his return the same serviceable official read its contents before Jehoiakim and the princes, whose number was now augmented by the nobles in attendance upon the king. Jehudi had had the advantage of hearing Baruch read the roll, but ancient Hebrew manuscripts were not easy to decipher, and probably Jehudi stumbled somewhat; altogether the reading of prophecies by a court usher would not be a very edifying performance, or very gratifying to Jeremiah’s friends. Jehoiakim treated the matter with deliberate and ostentatious contempt. At the end of every three or four columns, he put out his hand for the roll, cut away the portion that had been read, and threw it on the fire; then he handed the remainder back to Jehudi, and the reading was resumed till the king thought fit to repeat the process. It at once appeared that the audience was divided into two parties. When Gemariah’s father, Shaphan, had read Deuteronomy to Josiah, the king rent his clothes; but now the writer tells us, half aghast, that neither Jehoiakim nor any of his servants were afraid or rent their clothes, but the audience, including doubtless both court officials and some of the princes, looked on with calm indifference. Not so the princes who had been present at Baruch’s reading: they had probably induced him to leave the roll with them, by promising that it should be kept safely; they had tried to keep it out of the king’s hands by leaving it in Elishama’s room, and now they made another attempt to save it from destruction. They entreated Jehoiakim to refrain from open and insolent defiance of a prophet who might after all be speaking in the name of Jehovah. But the king persevered. The alternate reading and burning went on; the unfortunate usher’s fluency and clearness would not be improved by the extraordinary conditions under which he had to read; and we may well suppose that the concluding columns were hurried over in a somewhat perfunctory fashion, if they were read at all. As soon as the last shred of parchment was shrivelling on the charcoal, Jehoiakim commanded three of his officers to arrest Jeremiah and Baruch. But they had taken the advice of the princes and were not to be found: "Jehovah hid them."Thus the career of Baruch’s roll was summarily cut short. But it had done its work; it had been read on three separate occasions, first before the people, then before the princes, and last of all before the king and his court. If Jeremiah had appeared in person, he might have been at once arrested, and put to death like Uriah. No doubt this threefold recital was, on the whole, a failure; Jeremiah’s party among the princes had listened with anxious deference, but the appeal had been received by the people with indifference and by the king with contempt. Nevertheless it must have strengthened individuals in the true faith, and it had proclaimed afresh that the religion of Jehovah gave no sanction to the policy of Jehoiakim: the ruin of Judah

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would be a proof of the sovereignty of Jehovah and not of His impotence. But probably this incident had more immediate influence over the king than we might at first sight suppose. When Nebuchadnezzar arrived in Palestine, Jehoiakim submitted to him a policy entirely in accordance with the views of Jeremiah. We may well believe that the experiences of this fast day had strengthened the hands of the prophet’s friends, and cooled the enthusiasm of the court for more desperate and adventurous courses. Every year’s respite for Judah fostered the growth of the true religion of Jehovah.The sequel showed how much more prudent it was to risk the existence of a roll rather than the life of a prophet. Jeremiah was only encouraged to persevere. By the Divine command, he dictated his prophecies afresh to Baruch, adding besides unto them many like words. Possibly other copies were made of the whole or parts of this roll, and were secretly circulated, read, and talked about. We are not told whether Jehoiakim ever heard this new roll; but, as one of the many like things added to the older prophecies was a terrible personal condemnation of the king, we may be sure that he was not allowed to remain in ignorance, at any rate, of this portion of it.The second roll was, doubtless, one of the main sources of our present Book of Jeremiah, and the narrative of this chapter is of considerable importance for Old Testament criticism. It shows that a prophetic book may not go back to any prophetic autograph at all; its most original sources may be manuscripts written at the prophet’s dictation, and liable to all the errors which are apt to creep into the most faithful work of an amanuensis. It shows further that, even when a prophet’s utterances were written down during his lifetime, the manuscript may contain only his recollections of what he said years before, and that these might be either expanded or abbreviated, sometimes even unconsciously modified, in the light of subsequent events. Jeremiah 36:32 shows that Jeremiah did not hesitate to add to the record of his former prophecies "many like words": there is no reason to suppose that these were all contained in an appendix; they would often take the form of annotations.The important part played by Baruch as Jeremiah’s secretary and representative must have invested him with full authority to speak for his master and expound his views; such authority points to Baruch as the natural editor of our present book, which is virtually the "Life and Writings" of the prophet. The last words of our chapter are ambiguous, perhaps intentionally. They simply state that many like words were added, and do not say by whom; they might even include additions made later on by Baruch from his own reminiscences.In conclusion, we may notice that both the first and second copies of the roll were written by the direct Divine command, just as in the Hexateuch and the Book of Samuel we read of Moses, Joshua, and Samuel committing certain matters to writing at the bidding of Jehovah. We have here the recognition of the inspiration of the scribe, as ancillary to that of the prophet. Jehovah not only gives His word to His servants, but watches over its preservation and transmission. But there is no

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inspiration to write any new revelation: the spoken word, the consecrated life, are inspired; the book is only a record of inspired speech and action.WHEDON, "1. Fourth year of Jehoiakim — This is also the date of chapter 25. (See Jeremiah 25:1.) But probably the twenty-fifth chapter belongs in the beginning of this year, while this chapter should fall near its close. For the reading “in the ears of the people,” did not take place until the ninth month of the following year. (See Jeremiah 36:9.) From the first verse of Daniel we learn that the capture of Jerusalem took place in the fourth year of Jehoiakim. It is not unlikely that this event falls between the two chapters above mentioned.PETT, "Verses 1-3YHWH Tells Jeremiah To Write Down His Prophecies (Jeremiah 36:1-3).Jeremiah 36:1‘And it came about in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from YHWH, 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 (this would explain the calling of a fast day as they may have been deciding what they would do next in the face of the sacking of Ashkelon).Alternatively others see it as a fast declared after their subjection to Babylon, with it being intended as a sad memorial of it, with a view to stirring up antagonism against the Babylonians. We could then see in this an attempt by Jeremiah to quell that sense of rebellion.PETT, "Verses 1-32Jeremiah Writes Out His Prophecies In Written Form And Commits Them To Baruch Who Reads Them Out In The Temple. The Scroll Eventually Reaches Jehoiakim Who Demonstrates His Contempt For The Prophet By Slowly Burning It Once It Has Been Read Out, Something That Causes YHWH To Pronounce Judgment On Him. Jeremiah Then Rewrites His Prophecies With Further Additions (Jeremiah 36:1-32).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.

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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 amanuensis Baruch to record his prophecies, and then to read them out in the Temple. His concern was to avert the wrath of YHWH from the people by constraining them to respond to His covenant.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 (compare how Hananiah had broken the symbolic yoke - Jeremiah 28:10). 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.

2 “Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah and all the other nations from the time I began speaking to you in the reign of Josiah till now.

BARNES, "A roll of a book - A parchment-scroll, consisting of several skins sewn together, and cut of an even breadth, with a piece of wood at one end (or, in case of larger volumes, at both ends) on which to roll them up.

Write therein all the words ... - The phrase means that the roll was to contain “all the counsel of God” Act_20:27 upon the special point mentioned in Jer_36:3; and that the prophet was not to keep anything back.15

CLARKE, "Take thee a roll of a book - Take a sufficient quantity of parchment; cut and stitch it together, that it may make a roll on which to write the words that I have already spoken, that they may serve for a testimony to future generations. The Jewish rolls, several of which now lie before me, were made of vellum, or of sheep-skins dressed in the half-tanned or Basil manner. These were cut into certain lengths, and those parts were all stitched together, and rolled upon a roller. The matter was written on these skins in columns or pages. Sometimes two rollers are used, that as the matter is read from the roll in the left hand, the reader may coil it on the roller in his right. In this form the Pentateuch is written which is read in the synagogues.

GILL, "Take thee a roll of a book,.... A roll of parchment, which being wrote on, and rolled up, was called a book; but books, in those times, did not consist of leaves cut and stitched together, and bound up, as our books are, but sheets of parchments being written upon, were glued together, and then rolled up; hence such writings were called volumes; which name we still retain, and give to books, though the same practice is not used: and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah; for though Israel was carried captive before the times of Jeremiah, and his prophecies were chiefly directed against Judah; yet as there were some of the ten tribes mixed with them, they were included in these prophecies, and therefore mentioned: and against all the nations; such as Egypt, Edom, Ammon, and Moab, Jer_9:26; from the day that I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day; that is, from the time the Lord called him to prophesy in his name, which was in, the thirteenth year of Josiah, who reigned one and thirty years; and this being the fourth year of Jehoiakim, it must be the three and twentieth year of his prophesying, and the a course of full two and twenty years; see Jer_1:2; now all the sermons, discourses, and prophecies, he had delivered out against one and another, during this time, must all be written in one roll or book, that that they might be read. Kimchi says their Rabbins (n)would have it that this roll was the book of the Lamentations, called by them "Megallah", or roll.

HENRY 2-3, "The command which God gave to Jeremiah to write a summary of his sermons, of all the reproofs and all the warnings he had given in God's name to his people, ever since he first began to be a preacher, in the thirteenth year of Josiah, to this day, which was in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, Jer_36:2, Jer_36:3. What had been only spoken must now be written, that it might be reviewed, and that it might spread the further and last the longer. What had been spoken at large, with frequent repetitions of the same things, perhaps in the same words (which has its advantage one way), must now be contracted and put into less compass, that the several parts of it might be better compared together, which has its advantage another way. What they had heard once must be recapitulated, and rehearsed to them again, that what was forgotten might be

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called to mind again and what made no impression upon them at the first hearing might take hold of them when they heard it the second time. And what was perhaps already written, and published in single sermons, must be collected into one volume, that none might be lost. Note, The writing of the scripture is by divine appointment. And observe the reason here given for the writing of this roll (Jer_36:3): It may be the house of Judah will hear. Not that the divine prescience was at any uncertainty concerning the event: with that there is no peradventure; God knew certainly that they would deal very treacherously, Isa_48:8. But the divine wisdom directed to this as a proper means for attaining the desired end: and, if it failed, they would be the more inexcusable. And, though God foresaw that they would not hear, he did not tell the prophet so, but prescribed this method to him as a probably one to be used, in the hopes that they would hear, that is, heed and regard what they heard, take notice of it and mix faith with it: for otherwise our hearing the word, though an angel from heaven were to read or preach it to us, would stand us in no stead. Now observe here, 1. What it is hoped they will thus hear: All that evil which I purpose to do unto them. Note, The serious consideration of the certain fatal consequences of sin will be of great use to us to bring us to God. 2. What it is hoped will be produced thereby: They will hear, that they may return every man from his evil way. Note, The conversion of sinners from their evil courses is that which ministers should aim at in preaching; and people hear the word in vain if that point be not gained with them. To what purpose do we hear of the evil God will bring upon us for sin if we continue, notwithstanding, to do evil against him? 3. Of what vast advantage their consideration and conversion will be to them: That I may forgive their iniquity.This plainly implies the honour of God's justice, with which it is not consistent that he should forgive the sin unless the sinner repent of it and turn from it; but it plainly expresses the honour of his mercy, that he is very ready to forgive sin and only waits till the sinner be qualified to receive forgiveness, and therefore uses various means to bring us to repentance, that he may forgive.JAMISON, "roll of a book — a book formed of prepared skins made into a roll.

Compare “volume of the book,” that is, the Pentateuch (Psa_40:7). It does not follow that his prophecies were not before committed to writing; what is implied is, they were now written together in one volume, so as to be read continuously to the Jews in the temple.against ... nations — (Jer_25:15, etc.).from ... days of Josiah — (Jer_25:3). From Josiah’s thirteenth year (Jer_1:2).

K&D, "The word of the Lord to Jeremiah was to this effect: "Take thee a book-roll, and write on it אליה ) for עליה) all the words that I have spoken unto thee concerning Israel and Judah, and concerning all the nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah till this day. Jer_36:3. Perhaps the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I meditate doing to them, that they may return every one from his evil way,and that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin." ישמעו here means, to hear correctly and lay to heart; cf. Jer_26:3. Hitzig views the command as meaning, not that Jeremiah is now for the first time to write down his addresses (which would be an impossibility for the most faithful memory), but that he is merely to write them down together in one book, out of the several scattered leaves and scraps. Graf has already refuted this view,

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though more fully than was necessary. It is not a copying, word for word, of every separate address that is meant, but merely a writing down of the essential contents of all his oral discourses. This is quite clear, not merely from what is stated in Jer_36:3 as the object of this command, but also from the character of these collected addresses, as they are preserved to us. That the expression "all the words" is not to be understood in the most rigid sense, follows from the very fact that, when Jeremiah anew wrote down his prophecies, Jer_36:32, he further added "many similar words" to what had been contained in the first book-roll, which was burned by Jehoiakim. But Jeremiah might perhaps be able to retain in his memory the substance of all the addresses he had delivered during the twenty-three years, since all of them treated of the same subjects -reproof of prevailing sins, threat of punishment, and promises.

CALVIN, "The Prophet then says at the beginning, that the word of Jehovah came, by which he was ordered to write in a volume of a book whatever he had previously spoken By the volume of a book he means the volume in which he was to write; for ספר sepher, does not here mean a written book, for the volume was without any writing. Then the Prophet must have dictated to his servant Baruch. And this mode of speaking occurs also elsewhere, as in Psalms 40:7. But the Hebrews, according to an ancient custom, called a volume מגלה , megele; for they had no books in a compact form, such as we have in the present day, but had volumes or rolls; and the same word, volume, is also used in Latin. For as the Hebrews called what is folded up מגלה , megele, which comes from גלל , gelal, to fold up, or to roll; so the Latins also have derived it from a verb (volvo) which means to roll, and we call it rolle; and in Gaul they used the same form of writing; for all ancient documents and also judicial proceedings were wont formerly to be written on rolls, and in the old archieves there is nothing found but what is so written. God then ordered his Prophet to take a roll, and then he commanded him to write all the words which he had heard from the mouth of God, and which he had pronounced against Israel, and against Judah, and against all other nations.We see here, in the first place, what is the benefit of having the Scripture, even that what would otherwise vanish away or escape the memory of man, may remain and be handed down from one to another, and also that it may be read; for what is written can be better weighed during leisure time. When one speaks only, every one takes in something according to his capacity and his attention; but as words from man’s mouth glide away, the utility of Scripture does hence appear more evident; for when what is not immediately understood is repeated, it brings more light, and then what one reads to-day he may read tomorrow, and next year, and many years after. As then God saw that he had been, as it were, beating the air when he had spoken by his Prophet, his purpose was that those things which Jeremiah had in vain spoken, should be written down. In this manner he, no doubt, intended to condemn both the king and his counsellors, and also the whole people, not only for their idleness, but also for their insensibility, even because all his teaching had been without fruit, though Jeremiah had labored much among them, and had been assiduous and faithful in the discharge of his office as a teacher.

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We now perceive the design of God in saying, Take a volume and write in it; and he says, all the words which I have spoken to thee This was said in order that the Jews might understand that Jeremiah did not bring forward his own fictions, but faithfully delivered what he had heard from God’s mouth. He adds, against Israel and affainst Judah For Jeremiah at the beginning had prophesied against the ten tribes; but after the kingdom of Israel was cut off, he performed his office only towards the remaining people, so that his doctrine referred especially to the Jews. It is added, against all nations; and this we shall presently see; and it hence appears that his prophecies were not written according to the order of time, as I have before reminded you, but that the volume was written without regard to order. It was yet so far preserved that this book contains a summary of all the doctrine taught by Jeremiah during the whole course of his ministry. He says, from the day in which he began to speak, even from the days of Josiah, he says, to this day And the Prophet had been performing his duty as a teacher, not for ten, or twenty, or thirty, but for forty years. It follows, — TRAPP, "Jeremiah 36:2 Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day.Ver. 2. Take thee a roll (a) of a book,] i.e., A volume. {as Isaiah 8:1} {See Trapp on "Isaiah 8:1"}And write therein.] Jeremiah had a command to write; so have not our empty scripturients, whose rapes on the innocence of paper, as one phraseth it, make the press almost execrable. Ista prurientis calami scabies potius est, quam scriptio. (a)All the words that I have spoken unto thee.] The sum and substance of all thy sermons for these twenty-three years past. See Jeremiah 1:2; Jeremiah 25:3. WHEDON, " 2. A roll of a book — A book-roll; that is, a roll properly prepared for writing.And write — Not copy as if into one volume what already existed in a written form but detached, but reduce to writing the things which had, from time to time, been spoken. There is nothing in the form of language, either excluding or including written aids to the memory, in doing this work. The purpose of this writing, as shown in Jeremiah 36:3, was to influence the people by means of it. A writing is something more staid and impressive than the fleeting utterances of oral discourse can be.PETT, "Jeremiah 36:2“Take you a roll of a written record, and write in it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day

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that I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah, even to this day.”Jeremiah was commanded to take ‘a roll of a written record’, a phrase also occurring in Psalms 40:7; Ezekiel 2:9; Ezekiel 3:1; Zechariah 5:1-2. This would probably be made up of papyrus strips glued together to form a scroll of up to ten metres (thirty feet) long and thirty centimetres (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. The writing would be in columns parallel to the two rods and following one after the other. Thus one or two columns, or even more, could be seen at a time as the scroll 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, from the day that I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah, even to this day.’ It probably contained a good deal of chapters 1-20 and possibly some of what followed later (prophesied prior to this date).It is difficult to believe that YHWH only ever suggested this need to write down his prophecies to Jeremiah, and we may therefore see it as probable that most of the prophets followed this tactic (compare Hosea 8:12; Isaiah 30:8; 2 Chronicles 21:12; 2 Chronicles 26:22; Job 19:23). Indeed it is quite probable that Jesus called Matthew (Levi), the public servant and experienced keeper of records, for that very purpose.

3 Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, they will each turn from their wicked ways; then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin.”

BARNES, "Compare Jer_26:3. In point of date Jer. 26: is immediately prior to the present.

CLARKE, "It may be that the house of Judah will hear - It was yet possible to avert the judgments which had been so often denounced against them. But in order to

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this they must -1. Hear what God has spoken.2. Every man turn from his evil way.3. If they do so, God graciously promises to forgive their iniquity and their sin.

GILL, "It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them,.... Not that there was any uncertainty in God as to the knowledge of future events, any more than a change in his purposes: he had purposed to bring evil upon them, which purpose would not be disannulled; and he knew that the Jews would not hearken to the prediction of it, or be concerned about it, and repent of their sins, and reform; but this method he was pleased to take, as being, humanly speaking, a probable one to awaken their attention, and which would leave them inexcusable: that they may return every man from his evil way; repent of it, and reform: that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin; by not inflicting on them the punishment and ruin threatened: where repentance is, remission of sin is likewise, and both are the gifts of divine grace, when spiritual and evangelical.

JAMISON, "hear — consider seriously.return ... from ... evil way — (Jon_3:8).

CALVIN, "Here God explains the object he had in view, even to make another trial whether the Jews were healable, so that the teaching of the Prophet might be conducive to their salvation. But he uses the particle אולי auli, “it may be,” which implies a doubt; because they had so often, and for so long a time, and in such various ways, shewed themselves to be so obstinate that hardly a hope could be entertained of their repentance. God, however, shews that he was not wearied, provided there remained in them still the smallest particle of religion. It may be then, he says, that the house of Judah will hear all the evil, etc.We have seen how the Prophet labored, not only to terrify his own nation by threatenings, but also sweetly to allure them to the service of God; but God speaks here of them as of perverse men, who were almost intractable, according to what is said in Psalms 18:26, that God would be severe towards the perverse; for God deals with men according to their disposition. As the Jews then were unworthy that God should, according to his gentleness, teach them as children, this only remained for them, to repent under the influence of fear. It may be, he says, that they will bear all the evil, etc. We now see why God touches only on threatenings, for this alone remained for men so obstinate.He says, The evil which I think to do, etc. God here transfers to himself what belongs to men; for he does not think or deliberate with himself; but as we cannot

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comprehend his incomprehensible counsel, he sometimes assumes the person of man; and this is what is common in Scripture. But he says, that he thinks of what he pronounces in his word; for as long as God exhorts men to repent, he holds, as it were, his hand suspended, and allows an opportunity to repent. He then says, that he is, as it were, in the midst of his deliberations: as when one wants to know whether an offender will submit, so God transforms himself, in a manner, into what man is, when he says, I think; that is, let them know that vengeance is not in vain denounced in my word; for I will perform whatever I now threaten, except they repent.He says, That they may turn every one from his evil way This is to hear, previously mentioned, even when men become seriously touched, so as to be displeased with their vices, and to desire from the heart to surrender themselves to God. He joins a promise, for without the hope of pardon it cannot be, that men will repent, as it has been often said; but it must be repeated, because few understand that faith cannot be separated from repentance; and a sinner can never be induced to return truly to God, unless he entertains a hope of pardon, for this is a main truth, according to what is said in Psalms 130:4,“With thee is mercy, that thou mayest be feared.”Then, according to what is commonly done, the Prophet says, that if the Jews turned to God, he would be propitious to them, as though he had said, that men would not be disappointed, if they repent, because God would readily meet them, and be reconciled to them: for this one thing alone, as I have said, is what can encourage us to repent, that is, when we are convinced that God is ready to give us pardon. He mentions iniquity and sin. The Prophet, no doubt, referred to these two words, in order to shew that we ought by no means to despair, though sins be heaped on sins. It follows — COKE, "Verse 3Jeremiah 36:3. It may be, &c.— These and other expressions of the like kind, sufficiently indicate that God's foreknowledge of future events lays no irresistible restraint on the will of man, nor takes away the liberty of human actions. Baruch was the most faithful disciple of our prophet: he served him as long as he lived in the capacity of his secretary, and never left him till his death. TRAPP, "Jeremiah 36:3 It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.Ver. 3. It may be that the house of Judah will hear, &c.] See here the utility of the Holy Scriptures, and the excellent use that may be made of reading them. A man may be thereby doubtless converted where preaching is wanting, as various were in Queen Mary’s days, when the Word of God was precious; (a) as Augustine was by

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reading Romans 13:1-14., Fulgentius by the Frophet Jonah, Franciseus Junius by John 1:1-51., &c.; the eunuch, [Acts 8:26-39] and those noble Bereans, [Acts 17:11] were notably prepared for conversion by this ordinance.That I may forgive their iniquity and their sin,] i.e., Their sins of all sorts, giving them a free and full discharge. NISBET, "A DREAD UNCERTAINTY‘It may be.’Jeremiah 36:3; Jeremiah 36:7The words tell of an awful uncertainty as to the future of the chosen people.Will they repent? ‘It may be——’Let us recognise—I. The even balance.—Could anything be more soul-stirring than to realise that a crisis so momentous had come? In Jeremiah 36:3 it is the voice of God, in Jeremiah 36:7 the voice of Jeremiah in echo. Divine love and prophetic zeal were linked in a supreme effort to turn the scale of destiny for a whole people. A people, too, with a history that has no parallel for its marvels of providence and grace. Now they stood on the brink of a precipice of disaster. Before the last step, the dreadful plunge, is taken, another effort is to be made to save them. ‘It may be——’ Among us there may be some for whom the personal crisis is just as momentous, just as urgent. Who knows the hour at which he passes over the line when God and His messengers are to make the last great effort to save him? Is it always at death? One dare not say ‘Yes, always!’ Might it not be here and now, in the hour when God speaks home some searching truth to the heart? Has He sent forth for some of us to-day His message that may never be repeated, saying, ‘It may be that [they] will hear … that they may return … that I may forgive.’II. The favouring conditions.—A series of prophecies, twenty-three years long, culminated in Jeremiah 25:1-12, a vivid forecast of Babylon’s victory over Jerusalem, and the fall and captivity of the Jews. This was trumpeted forth in the fourth year of Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 25:1). Probably at that very time Nebuchadnezzar had just defeated the forces of Egypt at Carchemish, and was marching towards Jerusalem. In a few months the city was captured. But Nebuchadnezzar, being called away, shortly left the vanquished city (2 Chronicles 36:6-7; Daniel 1:1), and before the year closed God stirred up Jeremiah to repeat all his warnings given in those long twenty-three years. Baruch wrote at Jeremiah’s dictation in some secluded hiding-place, and took, it seems, some nine months to prepare his awful message. Then, when the people had themselves arranged a day of fasting, in view of their calamitous estate, Baruch came forth and spoke the words

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of Jeremiah, in which was the voice of God (Jeremiah 36:1-10). Was there not everything to make the message effective? If only the people’s heart had been sincere in their day of fast, how could they do other than hear, heed, and repent? For us it is a matter of the greatest moment that we should not miss our crisis. If it comes in the solemn hour of worship, though it be on some ordinary Sunday, we shall look back upon it and feel that only hardened perversity could have blinded our eyes to its meaning. Is it our crisis now?III. The disaster.—There is the burning of the roll. So impotent to do away with the prophecy. Cf. the case of Luther’s books. ‘Do you imagine that Luther’s doctrines are found only in those books that you are throwing into the fire? They are written where you cannot reach them, in the hearts of the nation.’ Then the dread captivity, now inevitable. But withal the remnant and the restoration, and every good promise wholly fulfilled. For the many, spite of all the tender mercy and longsuffering of God, desolation and misery; for the few, repentance, hope, and salvation. For us, too, there is the overshadowing of a great possibility of disaster, but also a promise and hope that never fail.PETT, "Jeremiah 36:3“It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do to them, that they may return every man 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.

BI, "It may be.It may beI. This word shows us the heart of God. Displeased because of sin, but longing to show mercy to the sinner. All His counsels and warnings, promises and threatenings, are for good (Deu_5:29-33; Deu_32:44-47; Isa_1:18-20; Jer_8:7-11; Eze_12:3; Eze_18:31; Hos_11:1-8; Joh_3:16-17; Luk_19:10; Luk_19:41-42).II. This word reveals the grand possibilities of human life.

1. Earnest attention (Jer_36:3).2. Penitential prayer (Jer_36:7).3. Moral reconciliation. The hindrances to peace are not with God, but with us.

III. This word holds out encouragement to all true workers for Christ.

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1. Prayer.2. Holy endeavour.3. Missionary enterprise. (W. Forsyth, M. A.)

4 So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and while Jeremiah dictated all the words the Lord had spoken to him, Baruch wrote them on the scroll.

CLARKE, "Then Jeremiah called Baruch - This man, so useful to the prophet, and so faithfully attached to him, was by office a scribe; which signifies, not only a writer, but also a man in office; a chancellor, secretary, etc., a learned man; one acquainted with laws and customs.

GILL, "Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah,.... One of his disciples, and whom he had before made use of in the purchase of a field of his uncle's son, and to whom he gave the evidence of the purchase, Jer_32:12; he was probably a better penman than the prophet, or a quicker writer; however, he thought proper, for quicker dispatch, to make use of him as his amanuensis: and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord, which he had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a book; it seems that Jeremiah had not committed any of his prophecies to writing; and yet it cannot be thought that by the mere strength of memory he could repeat every discourse and prophecy he had delivered in the space of two and twenty years; wherefore it must be concluded, that that same Spirit, which first dictated the prophecies to him, brought them fresh to his memory; so that he could readily repeat them to Baruch, who took them down in writing on a roll of parchment.

HENRY, "The instructions which Jeremiah gave to Baruch his scribe, pursuant to the command he had received from God, and the writing of the roll accordingly, Jer_36:4. God bade Jeremiah write, but, it should seem, he had not the pen of a ready writer, he

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could not write fast, or fair, so as Baruch could, and therefore he made use of him as his amanuensis. St. Paul wrote but few of his epistles with his own hand, Gal_6:11; Rom_16:22. God dispenses his gifts variously; some have a good faculty at speaking, others at writing, and neither can say to the other, We have no need of you, 1Co_12:21. The Spirit of God dictated to Jeremiah, and he to Baruch, who had been employed by Jeremiah as trustee for him in his purchase of the field (Jer_32:12) and now was advanced to be his scribe and substitute in his prophetical office; and, if we may credit the apocryphal book that bears his name, he was afterwards himself a prophet to the captives in Babylon. Those that begin low are likely to rise high, and it is good for those that are designed for prophets to have their education under prophets and to be serviceable to them. Baruch wrote what Jeremiah dictated in a roll of a book on pieces of parchment, or vellum, which were joined together, the top of one to the bottom of the other, so making one long scroll, which was rolled perhaps upon a staff.JAMISON, "all ... words of ... Lord — God specially suggesting what might

otherwise have escaped his memory, and directing the choice of words, as well as the substance (Joh_14:26; Joh_16:13).

K&D 4-7, "Jeremiah carries out the divine command by making Baruch write down on a book-roll all the words of the Lord, out of his mouth ('מפי , i.e., at the dictation of Jeremiah); and since he himself is prevented from getting to the house of the Lord, he bids him read the words he had written down in the ears of the people in the temple on the fast-day, at the same time expressing the hope, Jer_36:7 : "Perhaps their supplication will fall down before the Lord, and they will return each one from his wicked way; for great is the wrath and the anger which the Lord hath expressed concerning this people." Baruch, who is mentioned so early as Jer_32:12. as theattendant of the prophet, was, according to the passage now before us, his amanuensis, and executed his commissions. אני according to Jer_33:1 ,עצור and Jer_39:15, might mean, "I am in prison;" but this does not accord with the request of the princes, Jer_36:19, that Jeremiah should hide himself. Moreover, עצור does not mean "seized, captus," but "stopped, restrained, hindered;" see on Neh_6:10. The cause of hindrance is not mentioned, as being away from the purpose of the narrative. "To read in the roll in the ears of the people," i.e., to read to the people out of the book. ם בי ם צ does not mean "on any fast-day whatever," but, "on the fast-day." The article is omitted because there was no need for defining the fast-day more exactly. The special fast-day mentioned in Jer_36:9 is intended. 'תפל תחנתם their supplication will fall down before the" ,וגוLord," i.e., reach unto God, as if it were laid before His feet. נפל is transferred from the posture of the suppliant - his falling down before God - to his supplication. Hence, in Hiphil, to make the supplication fall down before the Lord is equivalent to laying the request at His feet; Jer_38:26; Jer_42:9; Dan_9:18, Dan_9:20. If the supplication actually comes before God, it is also heard and finds success. This success is pointed out in 'וישבו that they may repent." If man, in a repentant spirit, supplicates God for" ,וגוgrace, God grants him power for conversion. But the return of the people from their wicked way is indispensable, because the wrath which God has expressed concerning it is great, i.e., because God has threatened a heavy judgment of wrath.

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CALVIN, "Here the Prophet declares that he dictated to Baruch, a servant of God, whatever he had previously taught. But there is no doubt but that God suggested to the Prophet at the time what might have been erazed from his memory; for all the things which we have some time ago said, do not always occur to us. Therefore the greater part of so many words must have escaped the Prophet, had not God dictated them again to him. Jeremiah then stood, as it were, between God and Baruch; for God, by his Spirit, presided over and guided the mind and tongue of the Prophet. Now the Prophet, the Spirit being his guide and teacher, recited what God had commanded; and Baruch wrote down, and then proclaimed the whole summary of what the Prophet had taught.He therefore says, that he called to him Baruch the son of Neria, who wrote from his mouth, and he wrote all the words of Jehovah Jeremiah repeats again that nothing came from himself. We hence see that he did not dictate, according to his own will, what came to his mind, but that God suggested whatever he wished to be written by Baruch. It is added, that he commanded Baruch to recite in the Temple what he had written, because he himself was detained. Some think that he was shut up in prison; and he used the same word before, when he told us that he was cast into prison by Zedekiah. But as sacred history does not say that he suffered any such thing under Jehoiakim, I am inclined to think that he was prevented by God; I do not, however, ascribe it to a divine oracle; for it might have happened either through God’s command, or through some human impediments. (101) If we believe the Prophet to have been in prison, and that he might have gone out, he yet abstained; for the more liberty was given him, the more bound he felt himself to continue in prison, lest he should violate public authority. But the other supposition is more probable, that he was detained by God’s hand. However this may have been, he says that he could not go forth; and he mentioned this, lest it should appear that he was only careful as to himself, and that through fear of danger, he devolved this duty on Baruch. He then shews that he did not shun his office, because it exposed him to hatred, but that he was not at liberty to go forth.COFFMAN, "Verse 4THE READING OF THE BOOK TO THE PEOPLE"Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of Jehovah, which he had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a book. And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up; I cannot go into the house of Jehovah: therefore go thou and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of Jehovah in the ears of the people in Jehovah's house upon the fast-day; and also thou shalt read them in the ears of Judah that come out of their cities. It may be that they will present their supplication before Jehovah, and will return everyone from his evil way; for great is the anger and

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wrath that Jehovah hath pronounced against this people. And Baruch the son of Neriah did all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book, the words of Jehovah in Jehovah's house."At this point in their history, the apostasy of Israel was complete. God had commanded only one fast day, the Day of Atonement; but the evil rulers of the people had made public fasting to be a political weapon; and the one mentioned here in the month of December was connected in no way with the Day of Atonement which came in the seventh month. "December was the Hebrew month Chisleu that began on the first moon of the ninth month."[9]For additional comment regarding the many fasts invented by the Jews, after their own devices, and not according to the will of God, See Vol. 4 of my Minor Prophets Series, pp. 99-104.Keil stated that the fast-day mentioned here was, "In remembrance of that day in the year when Jerusalem was taken for the first time by Nebuchadnezzar ... It was appointed (or allowed) by Jehoiachim for the purpose of rousing popular feeling against the Chaldeans to whom they were subjugated."[10]TRAPP, "Jeremiah 36:4 Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah: and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the LORD, which he had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a book.Ver. 4. Then Jeremiah calIed Baruch, … and (a) Baruch wrote from the mouth.] Dictantis ab ore pependit. Jeremiah, it seemeth, had either not written his prophecies, or not so legibly, or in loose papers only; now he hath them fair written out into a book, making the same use of Baruch as afterward Paul did of Tertius, [Romans 16:22] who himself wrote no very good hand, as some have gathered from Galatians 6:11; {See Trapp on "Galatians 6:11"}PETT, "Verses 4-8Jeremiah Calls On Baruch To Act As His Amanuensis And Having Dictated His Prophecies Sends Him To The Temple To Read Them Out To The Crowds Who Are Gathered There On A Special Fast Day (Jeremiah 36:4-8).One of the purposes of the writing out of the prophecies at this time would appear to be that a special fast day was to be called some months later to which all the people of Judah were to be summoned. The purpose of that fast day was probably in order to persuade the gods who were being worshipped in the Temple along with YHWH to intervene and help Judah in their dealings with the Babylonians. It may well have been part of the build up towards the negotiations which would necessarily follow the defeat of Egypt at Carchemish and Hamath and the sacking of Ashkelon. They may well have thought that Jerusalem would be next. It was an apposite time to bring home to the people the prophecies of Jeremiah which had previously been

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given (see e.g. chapters 1-20).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” (Jeremiah 36:18). 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. The delay in doing this probably had in mind awaiting the fast day when the prophecies would be especially telling. Jeremiah would be aware of events on the political front and would no doubt have expected such a day to be called.Jeremiah 36:4‘Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of YHWH, which he had spoken to him, on a roll of a written record.’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 (Jeremiah 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 (Jeremiah 51:59). Both Seraiah, and especially Baruch, were loyal to Jeremiah and Baruch regularly suffered along with Jeremiah, even sharing his exile in Egypt.BI 4-7, "I am shut up.Jeremiah in prison

1. Jeremiah’s age was one of great political troubles.2. It was also an age of signal religious privileges.3. It was an age of great moral corruption.

I. His imprisonment suggests the sad moral character of his age. The prisons of an age are often criteria by which to determine its character. When prisons are filled with men of signal excellence of character, force of conscience, and self-denying philanthropy, you have sad moral proofs of the deep moral corruption of the age that could tolerate such enormity.II. His imprisonment suggests God’s method of raising humanity. Heaven’s plan embraces the agency of good men. The agency is twofold, primary and secondary. There are spiritual seers and spiritual mechanics.

1. Jeremiah may be regarded as a type of the primary human agents whom God employs. They are frequently in the lowest secular condition; yet in that condition

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God communes with them, and gives them a message for the world.2. Baruch may be regarded as a type of the secondary agents. In this age the Baruchs are numerous. Men abound who will take down the thoughts of great thinkers; but the Jeremiahs are rare. Thought power, rather than tongue power, is wanted now.

III. His imprisonment suggests the inability of the external to crush a holy soul.1. He is free in his communion with heaven. From the dungeon he cried, and God heard him (Lam_3:56-57).2. He was free in his sympathies with the race. He could not go out in body to the house of the Lord, but he went out in soul. Walls of granite, massive iron bars, chains of adamant, cannot confine the soul; nor can the densest darkness throw on it a single shadow. (Homilist.)

God’s servant imprisonedWhen Henry Burton, two centuries ago, was persecuted for the name of Christ and put in prison, “I found,” he said, “the comforts of my God in the Fleet Prison exceedingly, it being the first time of my being a prisoner.” Go thou, and read in the roll.The prophet and the roll:—I. The solicitude of Jeremiah—(verses 4, 5).II. The command of Jeremiah (verse 6).III. The hope of Jeremiah (verse 7).If Divine mercy could not woo them back to righteousness, he hoped that Divine justice might drive them. Alas! he was disappointed. The national heart, with a few rare exceptions, hardened into granite. And then they were overwhelmed with calamities. (E. Davies, D. D.)

The utility of Holy ScriptureSee here the utility of the Holy Scriptures and the excellent use that may be made of reading them. A man maybe thereby doubtless converted, where preaching is wanting, as divers were in Queen Mary’s days, when the Word of God was precious; as Augustine was, by reading Rom_13:1-14.; Fulgentius, by the prophet Jonah; Franciscus Junius, by Joh_1:1-51., &c. (John Trapp.)

Jeremiah 36:6The fasting-day.Symbolism of a fastI. It exhibits the duty of a wise self-restraint or self-denial, in receiving the good gifts of heaven. What could more exactly typify this than the temporary withdrawing from

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innocent pleasure, and even from the proper nourishment of the frame? It is temporary, and not absolute; an occasion, and not a permanency; a suspension, and not a renunciation. It admonishes us by an example, and does not crush us by a law. It reminds us of the obligation of sobriety in the use of the world s offerings. It bids us reflect that it is good for us to break away at times from what is plentiful, contenting ourselves with what is scanty; and to interrupt the course of the enjoyments that only do not reproach us, in order to make room for higher satisfactions. It exhorts us to be frugal, to be watchful, to be provident. It enjoins to be temperate in all things, and to let our moderation be known to all men; to learn how to lack as well as how to abound; and to show to others and prove to ourselves how well we can resign what we would fain keep, and refrain from what we desire to do, controlling tongue and hand, wish and passion, at the call of any holy commandment.2. It typifies our weak and subject condition. When we pause in the midst of our blessings, and put them at a distance for a while that we may see them the better, we remember how precarious is our hold upon them, and how easily what we dispense with for a day may be withdrawn from us for ever. Fulness may shrink. Strength and activity may be crippled. Resources heaped up ever so high may be scattered to the winds. Opportunity and desire may perish together. It is good to be impressed with this at intervals, though it would not be good to dwell upon it perpetually; for you make a man none the better by making him habitually sad.3. It presents an image of the sorrows of the world. These are a part of our subjection, and a peculiar part. While it is foolish and ungrateful to anticipate trouble, every day having enough to do with its own; and it is one of the worst occupations we can engage in, to torment ourselves with unarrived calamities, and paint the white blank of the future with woe; yet it becomes thoughtful persons, and has no tendency to make them less thankful, to consider She evils of humanity. They may be thus preserved from presumption, thus guarded against surprises, thus furnished with a fellow-feeling for the sufferings of others, and thus better prepared for their own trial when God shall send it.4. Fasting represents penitence. It does so on the principle already mentioned, since penitence is one kind of grief. It does so on another ground. When a man is thoroughly stricken with the sense of sin, and seeks to express that consciousness, he describes his unworthiness to receive the bounties of heaven by declining to partake of them. (N. L. Frothingham.)

WHEDON, "4. Wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah — That is, at his dictation. The writing was done under his supervision; but, as stated above, there is no conclusive reason why the scribe might not avail himself in making his record of any earlier ones if they existed. This matter of writing would seem to have been the most honourable of employments. Hence in this case the scribe is Baruch, a member of a noble family.

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5 Then Jeremiah told Baruch, “I am restricted; I am not allowed to go to the Lord’s temple.

BARNES, "Shut up - Hindered from going; perhaps through fear of Jehoiakim.

CLARKE, "And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up,.... In prison, according to Jarchi; but this is not likely, for then there would have been no occasion for an order to take him, Jer_36:26. Grotius thinks he was obliged by the king's order to stay at home; possibly he might be restrained by the Spirit of God, or had not freedom in his own mind to go abroad; there might be a restraint, an impulse upon his spirit, by the Spirit of God. Some think he was under some legal pollution, which made him unfit to go into the temple: for it follows: I cannot go into the house of the Lord: labouring either under some bodily infirmity, or ceremonial defilement, or was forbidden by the king. What was the true cause is not certain; but so it was, that either he was discharged, or disabled, or disqualified, from going into the house of God.GILL, "And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up,.... In prison, according to Jarchi; but this is not likely, for then there would have been no occasion for an order to take him, Jer_36:26. Grotius thinks he was obliged by the king's order to stay at home; possibly he might be restrained by the Spirit of God, or had not freedom in his own mind to go abroad; there might be a restraint, an impulse upon his spirit, by the Spirit of God. Some think he was under some legal pollution, which made him unfit to go into the temple: for it follows: I cannot go into the house of the Lord: labouring either under some bodily infirmity, or ceremonial defilement, or was forbidden by the king. What was the true cause is not certain; but so it was, that either he was discharged, or disabled, or disqualified, from going into the house of God.

JAMISON, "I am shut up — not in prison, for there is no account of his imprisonment under Jehoiakim, and Jer_36:19, Jer_36:26 are inconsistent with it: but, “I am prevented,” namely, by some hindrance; or, through fear of the king, to whose anger Baruch was less exposed, as not being the author of the prophecy.TRAPP, "Jeremiah 36:5 And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I [am] shut up; I cannot go into the house of the LORD:

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Ver. 5. I am shut up.] Or, I am detained, or restrained; haply by some legal pollution that he had contracted, as by touching a dead carcase, &c.; or by some bodily infirmity, or by the lying in wait of his enemies, or by the Spirit of God, {as Acts 16:6-7} for a punishment to the Jews by the prophet’s absence and silence, and for the safety of his servant in those perilous times.PETT, "Jeremiah 36:5‘And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, ‘I am restricted (or ‘locked up’), I cannot go into the house of YHWH,”For some reason Jeremiah was unable to go to the Temple at the time of the fast. It may have been because he was going through a period of uncleanness which debarred him from entering the Temple, or he may have been ill or have suffered an accident, or he may have been temporarily detained in order to prevent him going and inciting the people (if so it could only have been temporary for the period of the fast, for he was later able to go into hiding), or it may simply have been that the Temple authorities had barred him from going there to speak.

6 So you go to the house of the Lord on a day of fasting and read to the people from the scroll the words of the Lord that you wrote as I dictated. Read them to all the people of Judah who come in from their towns.

BARNES, "The fasting day - A fasting day. Baruch was to wait for a proper opportunity Jer_36:9.

CLARKE, "Upon the fasting day - A day when multitudes of people would be gathered together from all parts to implore the mercy of God. This was a favorable time to read these tremendous prophecies.

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GILL, "Therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth,.... The roll being finished, Baruch is ordered to read it, which was the end of writing it: and since the prophet could not go himself, he sends another in his room, to read the words of the Lord in the ears of the people, in the Lord's house, upon the fasting day; the day of atonement; the great fast, which was on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim; and so a different time of reading from that in Jer_36:9. This was a very proper time to read it in, when the people were fasting and humbling themselves before the Lord; though some think this was a fast proclaimed by Jehoiakim, to avert the vengeance threatened by the Chaldean army: and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities; to keep the feast of tabernacles; as they did five days after the fast, or day of atonement; and this seems to be the second reading of the roll enjoined.

HENRY 6-8, " The orders which Jeremiah gave to Baruch to read what he had written to the people. Jeremiah, it seems was shut up, and could not go to the house of the Lord himself, Jer_36:5. Though he was not a close prisoner, for then there would have been no occasion to send officers to seize him (Jer_36:26), yet he was forbidden by the king to appear in the temple, was shut out thence where he might be serving God and doing good, which was as bad to him as if he had been shut up in a dungeon. Jehoiakim was ripening apace for ruin when he thus silenced God's faithful messengers. But, when Jeremiah could not go to the temple himself, he sent one that was deputed by him to read to the people what he would himself have said. Thus St. Paul wrote epistles to the churches which he could not visit in person. Nay, it was what he himself had often said to them. Note, The writing and repeating of the sermons that have been preached may contribute very much towards the answering of the great ends of preaching. what we have heard and known it is good for us to hear again, that we may know it better. To preach and write the same thing is safe and profitable, and many times very necessary (Phi_3:1), and we must be glad to hear a good word from God, though we have it, as here, at second hand. Both ministers and people must do what they can when they cannot do what they would. Observe, When God ordered the reading of the roll he said, It may be they will hear and return from their evil ways, Jer_36:3. When Jeremiah orders it, he says, It may be they will pray (they will present their supplications before the Lord) and will return from their evil way. Note, Prayer to God for grace to turn us is necessary in order to our turning; and those that are convinced by the word of God of the necessity of returning to him will present their supplications to him for that grace. And the consideration of this, that great is the anger which God has pronounced against us for sin, should quicken both our prayers and our endeavours. Now, according to these orders, Baruch did read out of the book the words of the Lord, whenever there was a holy convocation, Jer_36:8.

JAMISON, "go — on the following year (Jer_36:9).fasting day — (See Jer_36:9). An extraordinary fast, in the ninth month (whereas the fast on the great day of atonement was on the tenth day of the seventh month, Lev_

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16:29; Lev_23:27-32), appointed to avert the impending calamity, when it was feared Nebuchadnezzar, having in the year before (that is, the fourth of Jehoiakim), smitten Pharaoh-necho at Carchemish, would attack Judea, as the ally of Egypt (2Ki_23:34, 2Ki_23:35). The fast was likely to be an occasion on which Jeremiah would find the Jews more softened, as well as a larger number of them met together.CALVIN, "Go thou, then, he says, and read in the volume The Prophet, in this case, was ready to incur any odium which might be, for he did not bid Baruch to relate by memory what he had heard from him, but ordered him to take the volume, and to read, as we shall hereafter see, what he had written. The Prophet then did not, in this instance, avoid danger, and put Baruch in his own place, but he expressly told him to read from the volume: What thou hast written, he says,from my mouth, and, what Jehovah has spoken, these things read thou to the people in the Temple, on a fasting day This day was chosen, first, because there was then a greater concourse of people, according to what immediately follows, for he was to read these things in the ears not only of the citizens, but also of the whole people; and on fast-days they were wont, as it is well known, to come in great numbers to the city for the purpose of sacrificing. It was then God’s purpose that these threatenings should be proclaimed, not only to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, but also to all other Jews, that the report of them might spread to every part of the land. In the second place, such a day was much more suitable to the message conveyed; for why was a fast enjoined, except humbly to supplicate God’s mercy, and to deprecate his wrath? As then this was the design of a fast, the Jews ought to have been then, as it were, in a submissive state of mind, prepared calmly to receive these threatenings, and to profit by them.We then see that there were two reasons why the Prophet, by God’s command, fixed on this day, — first, because there was a larger number of people, — and, secondly, because a fast ought to have rendered them teachable, so that they might more readily submit to God, acknowledge their sins, and, being terrified, might also flee to God’s mercy, and thus loathe themselves on account of their sins. The rest tomorrow. TRAPP, "Jeremiah 36:6 Therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of the LORD in the ears of the people in the LORD’S house upon the fasting day: and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities.Ver. 6. Therefore go thou, and read in the roll.] A minister, when he cannot himself officiate, must provide another in his stead.Which thou hast written from my mouth.] And which the Holy Ghost hath put into my mouth, both matter and words.Upon the fasting day.] A very fit time for the reading of the Scriptures, that the people then convened might hear and fear, and supplicate, and convert, and God might heal them. The fast here mentioned was not the ordinary yearly fast, called

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the day of expiation or atonement, but another that was conceptivum et liberum, kept on some special occasion for the averting of God’s judgment, such as was that at Nineveh. There was afterwards, indeed, a yearly fast kept in November, to bewail this wicked practice of King Jehoiakim in cutting and casting into the fire this blessed book. (a)PETT, "Jeremiah 36:6“You therefore go, and read in the roll, which you have written from my mouth, the words of YHWH in the ears of the people in YHWH’s house on the fast-day, and also you shall read them in the ears of all Judah who come out of 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 also 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 Perhaps they will bring their petition before the Lord and will each turn from their wicked ways, for the anger and wrath pronounced against this people by the Lord are great.”

BARNES, "They will present their supplication - i. e., humbly. See the margin. The phrase also contained the idea of the prayer being accepted.

CLARKE, "Present their supplication - “Let their supplication fall,” that they may fall down before God, and deplore their sins.

GILL, "It may be they will present their supplication before the Lord,.... Or, "perhaps their supplication will fall" (o); they will present it in an humble manner before him; alluding to the prostration of their bodies, and dejection of their countenances, in

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prayer: and will return every man from his evil way; not only pray for mercy, but repent of sin, and reform; without which mercy is not to be expected: for great is the anger and fury that the Lord hath pronounced against this people; a very sore judgment, no less than the utter destruction of their city, temple, and nation.

JAMISON, "present ... supplication — literally, “supplication shall fall”; alluding to the prostrate attitude of the supplicants (Deu_9:25; Mat_26:39), as petitioners fall at the feet of a king in the East. So Hebrew, Jer_38:26; Dan_9:18, Margin.CALVIN, "Jeremiah, after having dictated to the scribe Baruch what he had before preached to the people, repeats what the object was, which we have previously observed; for it was God’s will to make the trial, whether the people could by any means be restored to a sound mind. This had, indeed, been in vain attempted for a long time; but God was yet willing to proceed to the utmost extent in his mercy. Hence Jeremiah now declares the purpose for which he wished the book to be read to the people. Nor is there a doubt but that Baruch had been thus admonished, that he might exhort the people to repentance as it were from the mouth of Jeremiah.Now, there are two things mentioned as necessary in order to obtain pardon, — prayer, and turning or conversion. For if any one only in words seeks to be reconciled to God, he will not succeed. Turning or conversion cannot be separated from prayer. But then were a sinner to repent a thousand times, he would still remain exposed to God’s judgment; for reconciliation, by which we are absolved, does not depend on repentance, but on the gratuitous favor of God; for God does not receive us into favor because he sees that we are changed to a better mind, as though conversion were the cause of pardon; but he embraces us according to his gratuitous mercy. This, then, is the reason why Jeremiah joins together these two things — prayer, and conversion or repentance; for as I have said, hypocrites confess in words their sins and seek pardon, but it is with a feigned or a double heart. Hence that prayer may be genuine, repentance must be added, by which men shew that they loathe themselves. And then, ou the other hand, it is not enough for us to turn or repent, except the sinner flees to the mercy of God, for pardon flows from that fountain; for God, as it has been said, does not forgive us for any merit in us, but because it seemeth him good to bury our sins. The sum of the whole is, that God would have the prophecies of Jeremiah to be recited before the whole people, as they were conducive to their safety and salvation. The manner is described, — that the people were humbly to pray and also really to repent.As to the expression, It may be, a prayer will fall, (102) we have elsewhere explained its meaning. The Scripture speaks of prayer, that it rises and that it falls. Both expressions are suitable, though to be understood in a different way; for prayer

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cannot be rightly offered except man ascends and falls. These two things seem contrary, but they well agree together; nay, they cannot be separated. For in prayer two things are necessary — faith and humility: by faith we rise up to God, and by humility we lie prostrate on the ground. This is the reason why Scripture often says that prayer ascends, for we cannot pray as we ought unless we raise upwards our minds; and faith, sustained by promises, elevates us above all the world. Thus then prayer is raised upwards by faith; but by humility it falls down on the earth; for fear ought to be connected with faith. And as faith in our hearts produces alacrity by confidence, so also conscience casts us down and lays us prostrate. We now understand the meaning of the expression.He adds, Because great is the wrath and indignation which Jehovah hath pronounced, or hath spoken, against this people. By wrath and indignation we are to understand God’s vengeance, the cause being put for the effect. But the Prophet intimates, that except men are wholly blinded, and as it were estranged in mind, they ought to be very deeply touched, when God sets before them some dreadful judgment. When God chastises some slight fault, and when he does not so very grievously threaten us, we ought to feel alarmed; but when God shews his wrath to be so kindled that final ruin ought to be dreaded, we must be stupid indeed, if such a threatening does not terrify us. Then the Prophet says that there was no hope of relaxation, for God had pronounced no light or common judgment on the people; but he shews that he was prepared to destroy the whole nation, as the Jews had deserved extreme punishment. TRAPP, "Verse 7Jeremiah 36:7 It may be they will present their supplication before the LORD, and will return every one from his evil way: for great [is] the anger and the fury that the LORD hath pronounced against this people.Ver. 7. It may be they will present their supplication.] Heb., Their supplication will fall before the Lord. Fasting of itself is but a "bodily exercise," and profiteth little. If the soul be not afflicted, rebel flesh tamed, prayers edged, and reformation effected, men fast to no purpose. [Isaiah 58:3; Isaiah 58:5 Zechariah 5:5; Zechariah 5:7]PETT, "Jeremiah 36:7“It may be they will present their supplication before YHWH, and will return every one from his evil way, for great is the anger and the wrath that YHWH 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

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that He had pronounced against His people’ because of His holiness.

8 Baruch son of Neriah did everything Jeremiah the prophet told him to do; at the Lord’s temple he read the words of the Lord from the scroll.

GILL, "And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him,.... Here follows Baruch's obedience to the prophet's commands; which he considered no doubt as the will of the Lord, who directed the prophet to give the orders he did; and which he punctually observed, in all respects, as to things, time, and place: reading in the book the words of the Lord in the Lord's house; the prophecies of Jeremiah, which came from the Lord, and which he had transcribed into a book from the mouth of the prophet; these he read before the people in the temple, a first, if not a second time, before the reading of it recorded in the following verses.CALVIN, "Here the promptitude of Baruch is commended, for he did not disobey God’s Prophet, but willingly undertook the office deputed to him. His office, as we have said, was not without danger. As then his message was by no means popular, but on the contrary very disagreeable, hence is seen the devotedness of Baruch. He made no refusal, for he knew that this burden was laid on him for some purpose. Jeremiah then says, that he did as he had been commanded, and read in the Temple the words of Jehovah (103) He calls them a little farther on the words of Jeremiah, but the same thing is meant; for as God is, as it were, represented by his ministers, so he often transfers to them what belongs peculiarly to himself. (Romans 2:16; 2 Timothy 2:8) That is called the doctrine of Jeremiah, which yet, properly speaking, has no other author but God. So Paul called that Gospel, of which he was the preacher and witness, his Gospel; and yet he himself had not devised the Gospel, but had received it from Christ, and faithfully delivered it as from his hand.We ought, therefore, to notice this mode of speaking, which occurs everywhere in Scripture, — the same thing is ascribed to God and to his servants. Thus we find what may seem strange, — the Apostles are said to forgive sins, they are spoken of as bringing salvation; but the reason is, because they were ministers of God’s grace, and exhorted men in Christ’s name to be reconciled to God. They then absolved,

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because they were the testifiers of absolution. So also the words which God dictated to his servant were called the words of Jeremiah; yet, properly speaking, they were not the words of man, for they did not proceed from a mortal man, but from the only true God. It follows —8.And Baruch, the son of Neriah, did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, in order to read in the book the words of Jehovah in the house of Jehovah.What Jeremiah had commanded Baruch was to take a roll and to write the words from his mouth: this Baruch did, and for this purpose, that he might read the words (as the Targum has it) in the Lord’s house. — Ed. TRAPP, "Jeremiah 36:8 And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book the words of the LORD in the LORD’S house.Ver. 8. And Baruch the son of Neriah did according, &c.] Nihil de sua saliva admiscens. He faithfully performed the prophet Jeremiah’s commands, not standing to cast perils, being thereunto heartened and hardened by Jeremiah [Jeremiah 45:5]PETT, "Jeremiah 36:8‘And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the written record the words of YHWH in YHWH’s house.’So 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 In the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, a time of fasting before the Lord was proclaimed for all the people in Jerusalem and those who had come from the towns of Judah. 40

BARNES, "The ninth month answers to our December, and the fast was probably in commemoration of the capture of Jerusalem by the Chaldaeans in the previous year.

CLARKE, "In the ninth month - Answering to a part of our December.

GILL, "And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month,.... This was a different time of reading the book from the former, enjoined by the prophet, and performed by Baruch, Jer_36:6; that was on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim; this was in the fifth year of his reign, and in the ninth month of the year, a year and two months after the former, as it should seem; but Jehoiakim's fifth year beginning in the seventh month after the day of atonement, this ninth month is to be reckoned not from the beginning of his fifth year, but from the beginning of the ecclesiastical year in the spring; so that this was but two months after the former reading: that they proclaimed a fast before the Lord: this was not an ordinary fast, or a common annual one of divine appointment, which came in course, but an extraordinary one, upon some particular occasion. Some think it was on account of the dearth, drought, and famine in the land, Jer_14:1; and others, which seems most likely, take it to be on account of the calamity threatened the nation by the Chaldean army. This fast was not in course, but was proclaimed by the order of the king and his council; and it may be at the request of the people, at least they, greed and consented to it, and indeed are represented in the text as the proclaimers; for so the word "they" is explained in the following clause, which should be rendered, not to all the people, but even "all the people in Jerusalem" (p), and all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem: these proclaimed the fast; they applied to the government for one, or however obeyed the king's orders, and published and proclaimed a fast; not only the inhabitants of Jerusalem, but those who came from other cities on business, or for safety, or for worship.

HENRY 9-19, "It should seem that Baruch had been frequently reading out of the book, to all companies that would give him the hearing, before the most solemn reading of it altogether which is here spoken of; for the directions were given about it in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, whereas this was done in the fifth year, Jer_36:9. But some think that the writing of the book fairly over took up so much time that it was another year ere it was perfected; and yet perhaps it might not be past a month or two; he might begin in the latter end of the fourth year and finish it in the beginning of the fifth, for thee ninth month refers to the computation of the year in general, not to the year of that reign. Now observe here, 1. The government appointed a public fast to be religiously

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observed (Jer_36:9), on account either of the distress they were brought into by the army of the Chaldeans or of the want of rain (Jer_14:1): They proclaimed a fast to the people; whether the king and princes or the priests, ordered this fast, is not certain; but it was plain that God by his providence called them aloud to it. Note, Great shows of piety and devotion may be found even among those who, though they keep up these forms of godliness, are strangers and enemies to the power of it. But what will such hypocritical services avail? Fasting, without reforming and turning away from sin, will never turn away the judgments of God, Jon_3:10. Notwithstanding this fast, God proceeded in his controversy with this people. 2. Baruch repeated Jeremiah's sermons publicly in the house of the Lord, on the fast-day. He stood in a chamber that belonged to Gemariah, and out of a window, or balcony, read to the people that were in the court, Jer_36:10. Note, When we are speaking to God we must be willing to hear from him; and therefore, on days of fasting and prayer, it is requisite that the word be read and preached. Hearken unto me, that God may hearken unto you. Jdg_9:7. For our help in suing out mercy and grace, it is proper that we should be told of sin and duty. 3. An account was brought of this to the princes that attended the court and were now together in the secretary's office, here called the scribe's chamber, Jer_36:12. It should seem, though the princes had called the people to meet in the house of God, to fact, and pray, and hear the word, they did not think fit to attend there themselves, which was a sign that it was not from a principle of true devotion, but merely for fashion sake, that they proclaimed this fast. We are willing to hope that it was not with a bad design, to bring Jeremiah into trouble for his preaching, but with a good design, to bring the princes into trouble for their sins, that Michaiah informed the princes of what Baruch had read; for his father Gemariah so far countenanced Baruch as to lend him his chamber to read out of. Michaiah finds the princes sitting in the scribe's chamber, and tells them they had better have been where he had been, hearing a good sermon in the temple, which he gives them the heads of. Note, When we have heard some good word that has affected and edified us we should be ready to communicate it to others that did not hear it, for their edification. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 4. Baruch is sent for, and is ordered to sit down among them and read it all over again to them (Jer_36:14, Jer_36:15), which he readily did, not complaining that he was weary with his public work and therefore desiring to be excused, nor upbraiding the princes with their being absent from the temple, where they might have heard it when he read it there. Note, God's ministers must become all things to all men, if by any means they may gain some, must comply with them in circumstances, that they may secure the substance. St. Paul preached privately to those of reputation, Gal_2:2. 5. The princes were for the present much affected with the word that was read to them, Jer_36:16. Observe, They heard all the words they did not interrupt him, but very patiently attended to the reading of the whole book; for otherwise how could they form a competent judgment of it? And, when they had heard all, they were afraid, were all afraid, one as well as another; like Felix, who trembled at Paul's reasonings. The reproofs were just, the threatenings terrible, and the predictions now in a fair way to be fulfilled; so that, laying all together, they were in a great consternation. We are not told what impressions this reading of the roll made upon the people (Jer_36:10), but the princes were put into a fright by it, and (as some read it) looked one upon another, not knowing what to say. They were all convinced that it was worthy to be regarded, but none of them had courage to second it, only they agreed to tell the king of all these words; and, if he think fit to give credit to them, they will, otherwise not, no, though it were to prevent the ruin of the nation. And yet at the same time they knew the king's mind so far that they advised 42

Baruch and Jeremiah to hide themselves (Jer_36:19) and to shift as they could for their own safety, expecting no other than that the king, instead of being convinced, would be exasperated. Note, It is common for sinners, under convictions, to endeavour to shake them off, by shifting off the prosecution of them to other persons, as these princes here, or to another more convenient season, as Felix. 6. They asked Baruch a trifling question, How he wrote all these words (v. 17), as if they suspected there was something extraordinary in it; but Baruch gives them a plain answer, that there was nothing but what was common in the manner of the writing - Jeremiah dictated and he wrote, Jer_36:18. But thus it is common for those who would avoid the convictions of the word of God to start needless questions about the way and manner of the inspiration of it.

JAMISON, "they proclaimed ... to all the people ... to all, etc. — rather, “all the people ... all the people proclaimed a fast” [Michaelis]. The chiefs appointed the fast by the wish of the people. In either version the ungodly king had no share in appointing the fast.

K&D, "Baruch executes his commission.Jer_36:9-19

The reading of the book in the temple. - Jer_36:9. In the fifth year of Jehoiakim, in the ninth month, "they proclaimed a fast before the Lord - all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people who had come out of the cities of the Judah to Jerusalem." קתא ם to ,צcall, declare, appoint a fast; cf. 1Ki_21:9, 1Ki_21:12; 2Ch_20:3. From the tenor of the words, the people who lived in Jerusalem and those who had come thither out of thecountry might seem to have called the fast. But this is impossible; for the people from the cities of Judah evidently came to Jerusalem only in consequence of the fast being appointed. Hence Graf is of opinion that קתא ם צ seems here used in a general way of the keeping of such a fast. This view is not confirmed by any parallel instances. The expression is inexact, and the inexactness has arisen from the effort to attain greater conciseness of expression. The meaning is this: a fast was proclaimed, and all the people in Jerusalem and out of the cities of Judah came to worship the Lord in the temple. It remains doubtful with whom the appointment originated, - whether with the king, or with the high priest and the priesthood. The ninth month corresponds to our December, and consequently came round with the cold season; cf. Jer_36:22. The fast-day was a special one; for in the law only the day of atonement, in the seventh month, was prescribed as a fast-day. On the object of this measure, see supra, p. 316f.CALVIN, "Here is added a fuller explanation; for the Prophet relates nothing new, but according to what is common in Hebrew he expresses at large what he had before briefly stated: for he had said, that Baruch read in the Temple the words of God as he had been commanded; but he now relates when and how this was done, even in the fifth year of Jehoiakim, and when a fast was proclaimed in the ninth month (104) We now then see the design of this repetition, even to point out more clearly the time. He then says that the book was read and recited when a fast was proclaimed in the fifth year of Jehoiakim. The Jews, no doubt, knew that some

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grievous calamity was at hand, for this proclamation was extraordinary. And we know that when some calamity was apprehended, they usually betook themselves to this remedy, not that fasting in itself was pleasing to God, but because it was a symbol of humiliation, and it also prepared men for prayer. This custom did not creep in without reason, but God designed thus to habituate his people to repentance. When, therefore, God manifested some tokens of his displeasure, the Jews then thought it necessary, not only to seek forgiveness, but also to add fasting to their prayers, according to what we find in the second chapter of Joel as well as in other places. It was then a solemn confession of sin and guilt; for by fasting they acknowledged themselves to be exposed to God’s judgment, and also by sackcloth and ashes; for they were wont to throw aside their fine garments and to put on sackcloth, and also to scatter ashes on their heads, or to lie on the ground: and these were the filth as it were of the guilty: and in this state of debasement they sought pardon of God, thus acknowledging in the first place their own filthiness by these external symbols, and secondly, confessing before God and angels that they were worthy of death, and that no hope remained for them except God forgave them.As, then, Jeremiah writes here that there was a fast proclaimed, there is not the least doubt but that some tokens of God’s vengeance then appeared. And though Jehoiakim had provoked the King Nebuchadnezzar by refusing to pay tribute, yet the idea prevailed always among the Jews that nothing happened except through the just vengeance of God. As, then, they knew that they had to do with God, they thought that it behoved them to pacify him.He afterwards adds, that a fast before Jehovah was proclaimed; not that it was meritorious, or that an expiation would thereby be done, as the Papists imagine, who think that they can redeem their sins by fastings, and hence they call them satisfactions; but the Prophet says that the fast was proclaimed before Jehovah, as an addition to prayer. As, then, it was a solemn meeting for prayer, fasting was, as it were, a part added to it, that they might by this external symbol more fully humble themselves before God, and at the same time testify their repentance. And he says that it was proclaimed to all the people who were at Jerusalem, and to the other Jews who came from other cities to the Temple to pray. And we hence conclude that fasting in itself is of no moment, but that it was an evidence of repentance, and therefore added to prayer. And Christ, having mentioned prayer, added fasting, (Matthew 17:21) not that fasting ought not to be separated from daily prayers; for we ought always to pray; but we are not to fast morning and evening; nay, we pray when our table is prepared for us and meat are set before us; and then when we dine and sup, we pray to God. But this is to be understood of more serious prayers, when, as we have said, God summons us, as it were, before his tribunal, and shews manifest tokens of his displeasure. And for this reason also, Paul, in 1 Corinthians 7:5, when bidding husbands to dwell with their wives, adds this,“Except it may be for a time”— for what purpose? even that they might give themselves wholly to prayer and

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fasting. We hence see that fasting was not an ordinary thing, but when required by some urgent necessity.Then, this also is to be noticed, that the fast was proclaimed to the other Jews who had come to Jerusalem; for why was it necessary for them to come to Jerusalem, except humbly to supplicate God’s favor.— proclaim a fast before Jehovah did all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people that came from the cities into Jerusalem.It was a fast that the people proclaimed, and not the king, who was a very ungodly one. His conduct on this occasion proved his great impiety. — Ed. COFFMAN, "Verse 9DETAILS ON THE FAST-DAY READING OF THE ROLL"Now it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiachim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem, proclaimed a fast before Jehovah. Then read Baruch in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of Jehovah, in the chamber of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court, at the entry of the new gate of Jehovah's house, in the ears of all the people."This paragraph merely describes where the reading took place, evidently in one of the prominent chambers of the temple. For this to have been done with any degree of completion it would have required most of the whole day; and it is nowhere stated that the two subsequent readings took place on the fast-day.COKE, "Jeremiah 36:9. They proclaimed a fast— It was customary among the Jews, to proclaim anniversary fasts upon certain days, in memory of some great calamity which had befallen them at that time. Of this kind were the fasts of the 4th, 5th, 7th, and 10th months, mentioned by the prophet Zechariah; the first instituted in memory of the city's being taken by Nebuchadnezzar; the second, in memory of the temple's being burned in that month; the third, for the murder of Gedaliah; and the fourth in memory of the siege which then began. See Lowth, and Zechariah 3:5; Zechariah 8:19.TRAPP, "Jeremiah 36:9 And 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 that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem.Ver. 9. They proclaimed a fast.] Haply for fear of the Chaldeans, who, having lately beaten Pharaohnecho, was like enough to invade Judea; or else, because of that great dearth. [Jeremiah 14:1-2; Jeremiah 14:12; Jeremiah 36:6]

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PETT, "Verses 9-15Baruch’s Reading Of The Words Of Jeremiah In The Temple Comes To The Ears Of The Princes Of Judah Who Summon Him To Read It Before Them (Jeremiah 36:9-15).Baruch’s (or Jeremiah’s) influence comes out in that he was able to make use of ‘the room of Gemariah the son of Shaphan, the scribe’ from which to proclaim his message, no doubt through a window or balcony. As fellow-scribes connected with the inner circles in Jerusalem they were clearly on friendly terms, and Gemariah was seemingly sympathetic towards Jeremiah. A piece of clay inscribed ‘Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe’ has been discovered in investigations around Jerusalem. His father may have been the Shaphan who held an important position under King Josiah (2 Kings 22:3; 2 Kings 22:8-10), and was involved in the repairs to the Temple and the reading of the Book of the Law to Josiah (2 Kings 22:10), and Gemariah must have been important in order to have a room allocated to him in the Temple area. We do in fact discover later that he was one of the king’s circle of scribes and counsellors (Jeremiah 36:12), which would be why he was not present when the scroll was read out. What follows may well have been a carefully thought out strategy for bringing Jeremiah’s words to the king, or it may simply have been YHWH Whose purpose brought it about. Initially, however, his words reached some of the king’s advisers.Jeremiah 36:9‘Now it came about in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that all the people in Jerusalem, and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem, proclaimed a fast before YHWH.’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 recognised 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 From the room of Gemariah son of Shaphan 46

the secretary, which was in the upper courtyard at the entrance of the New Gate of the temple, Baruch read to all the people at the Lord’s temple the words of Jeremiah from the scroll.

BARNES, "Gemariah seems to have inherited his father’s office of public scribe or secretary of state (see 2Ki_22:3). As brother of Ahikam, he would be favorable to Jeremiah.

The higher court - The inner court; into which it was not lawful for the people to enter, but the chamber probably itself formed one of its sides, and could be approached from the outer court.

CLARKE, "In the chamber of Gemariah - He was one of the princes of Judah. See Jer_36:12.

GILL, "Then read Baruch in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the Lord,.... The prophecies of Jeremiah he had taken from him in writing on a roll of parchment; these he read in the temple, in a part of it, after described:

JAMISON, "chamber — Baruch read from the window or balcony of the chamber looking into the court where the people were assembled. However, some of the chambers were large enough to contain a considerable number (Neh_13:5).

Gemariah — distinct from the Gemariah, son of Hilkiah, in Jer_29:3.Shaphan — the same person as in 2Ki_22:3.scribe — secretary of state, or he who presided over the public records.higher court — that of the priests, the court of the people being lower (2Ch_4:9).new gate — (Jer_26:10). The east gate.

K&D, "Jer_36:10On this day Baruch read the addresses of Jeremiah out of the book to the people who had come to the temple, in the "chamber of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, the scribe, in the upper forecourt, at the entrance of the new gate of the house of the Lord." Gemariah the son of Shaphan was one of the king's private scribes, a secretary of state. For, according to Jer_36:12, he belonged to the princes, and was probably a brother of

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Ahikam the son of Shaphan, who had already shown himself, before this, a protector of the prophet (Jer_26:24). The chamber which he had in the temple was situated in the upper forecourt, at the entrance of the new gate, whose position we cannot exactly determine (see on Jer_26:10), but which led from the outer to the inner court of the priests, which rose higher than the others.CALVIN, "He says that the roll was then read in the Temple, in the chamber of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan the scribe The chambers, as we have before said, were annexed to the court of the priests; for the Levites were the guardians of the Temple; and every priest also, while performing his duty, remained in the Temple. As to Shaphan, he is called a scribe, not the king’s chancellor, who is afterwards called by the same name; for I regard him as being an actuary. For they called the scribes ספרים, sepharim; but sometimes by this name are meant the interpreters of the Law, and sometimes the actuaries, whose office it was to collect the prophecies, or who were engaged in collecting public acts. Then Gemariah, the son of Shaphan the scribe, had his chamber in the Temple; and he says, in the higher court Hence we conclude, according to what I have already said, that these chambers were parts of the court. And he adds, In the entrance of the new gate of the Temple Some think that this was the eastern gate, and that the greatest concourse of people was usually there. We hence see that Baruch boldly performed his duty in reading the roll, though the reading of it must have greatly exasperated the minds of the whole people. It follows, —TRAPP, "Jeremiah 36:10 Then read Baruch in 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 higher court, at the entry of the new gate of the LORD’S house, in the ears of all the people.Ver. 10. Then Baruch read in the book.] He read with a courage, verbis non solum disertis sed et exertis, out of a chamber window, that the people under him might the better hear.In the chamber of Gemariah.] Who himself, it seemeth, was not present, but his son Micaiah was, and carried his father and the rest of the princes the news. [Jeremiah 36:12] "Jeremiah 36:10‘Then Baruch read in the scroll (written record) the words of Jeremiah in the house of YHWH, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan, the scribe, in the upper court, at the entry of the new gate of YHWH’s house, in the ears 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.We do not know how much of the scroll was read to the people. If we say that

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someone, ‘read the Bible to the congregation’ we do not thereby indicate that the whole Bible was read to them. It may be that what was read would be selected passages.PETT

11 When Micaiah son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the Lord from the scroll,

BARNES, "Probably as his father had lent Jeremiah the hall, Michaiah had been commanded to bring Gemariah Jer_36:12 tidings, as soon as the reading was over, of the nature of the prophet’s words, and the effect produced by them upon the people.GILL, "When Micaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan,.... Who was present when Baruch read in the roll to the people in his father's chamber; but his father was absent, and was with the princes in the secretary's office at the same time, as Jer_36:12 shows: the son seems to be a more religious man than the father, unless he was placed as a spy, to hear and see what he could: however, when he had heard out of the book all the words of the Lord: which were spoken by the Lord to Jeremiah, and which Baruch read out of the book he had written in his hearing; for it is a vain conceit of Abarbinel, that Micaiah did not hear these words from the mouth of Baruch reading, but out of the book which he looked into; for then it would have been said, which he had "seen" or "read" out of the book, and not "heard".K&D 11-13, "Jer_36:11-13

Micaiah, a son of Gemariah, was also listening to the reading; and he it was who brought the news into the palace. He made of the room, i.e., the office, of Elishama, the secretary of state, where the princes, viz., Elishama, Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, Elnathan the son of Achbor (cf. Jer_26:22), Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, had just met for a consultation; and he mentioned to them what he had heard.COFFMAN, "READING OF THE ROLL TO ALL THE PRINCES

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"And when Micaiah the son of Gemariah the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of Jehovah, he went down into the king's house, into the scribe's chamber: and, lo, all the princes were sitting there, to wit, Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes. Then Micaiah declared unto them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people. Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, unto Baruch, saying, Take in thy hand the roll wherein thou hast read in the ears of the people, and come. So Baruch the son of Neriah took the roll in his hand and came unto them. And they said unto him, Sit down, now, and read it in our ears. And it came to pass when they had heard all the words, they turned in fear one toward another, and said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words. And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell us now, How didst thou write all these words at his mouth? The Baruch answered them, He pronounced all these words unto me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book. Then said the princes unto Baruch, Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah; and let no man know where ye are.""All the princes ..." (Jeremiah 36:14,14). Apparently all of these princes had an impressive pedigree and were doubtless some of the most important people in the city."They turned in fear one toward another ..." (Jeremiah 36:16) "All of them were afraid, and they demonstrated by looks, gestures, and words their fear and concern." Why were they afraid? The words of the prophet alone were enough to strike fear into the heart of every believer; but there was also another reason. The king, upon hearing that these princes had listened to the words of Jeremiah, might have been expected to react violently. They promptly informed Baruch that they would indeed tell the king all about it. There was, in fact, no way whatever by which such a report could have been avoided. The words of the book had already been read publicly!They immediately requested that Baruch would explain to them just how the dictation took place, and Baruch promptly answered. It is evident that: (1) God's Word was transmitted accurately, and (2) that it was not edited or changed in any manner by Baruch.The sympathy of these mighty princes toward Baruch and Jeremiah is evident in a number of incidentals: (1) they invited him to "sit," thus assuming the position of a teacher; (2) they questioned him about the manner of the dictation; and (3) they warned him to hide both himself and Jeremiah from the wrath of the king, which they had every right to anticipate. The implication in this is that, they would not have rushed their appearance before Jehoiachim, but would, in all probability, have allowed a reasonable time to pass in order to facilitate the hiding of Baruch and the prophet.

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The king's lust for blood had already been demonstrated to those princes, when he extradited Uriah from Egypt and murdered him, casting the prophet's body into the common graveyard (Jeremiah 26:23).TRAPP, "Jeremiah 36:11 When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of the LORD,Ver. 11. When Micaiah the son of Gemariah had heard.] With what affection he heard the book read by Baruch is uncertain. We have many Herodian hearers before us a second time - such, I mean, as have a Herod’s heart toward the preacher, and little do we know who they are that sit before us; those precious balms we bring break their heads with a witness, and make the blood run about their ears.PETT, "Jeremiah 36:11‘And when Micaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the scroll (written record) all the words of YHWH,’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 went down to the secretary’s room in the royal palace, where all the officials were sitting: Elishama the secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Akbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials.

BARNES, "he scribe’s chamber - The chancery in which the king’s business was conducted. Probably Elishama was one of the “principal scribes of the host” Jer_52:25, i. e., the secretary of state for war. The business which had brought together “all the princes” would have reference to the Chaldaean war.

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GILL, "Then he went down into the king's house,.... The royal palace, which was not upon the mountain on which the temple stood, but lay lower, and therefore Micaiah is said to go down to it; with what design he went thither is not certain, whether out of ill will to Jeremiah and Baruch, or out of good will, being affected with what he had heard, and desirous that some steps might be taken by the government to prevent the calamities coming upon them, according to these prophecies; which latter seems most probable, since no charge or accusation is brought by him; and since his father, with others, to whom he gave the account afterwards, interceded with the king that the roll might not be burnt, Jer_36:25; however, immediately after he had heard the roll read, he went to the king's house: into the scribe's chamber; the secretary's office; formerly his grandfather Shaphan's, now Elishama's: and, lo, all the princes sat there; some of them are mentioned by name: even Elishama the scribe; or secretary; the prime minister, the principal secretary of state, and therefore named first, in whose chamber or office they were: and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah; who this person was, or his office, is not known; he is nowhere else made mention of; and who his father was is not certain: and Elnathan the son of Achbor; the same that Jehoiakim sent to Egypt to fetch Uriah from thence, Jer_26:22; and Gemariah the son of Shaphan: who was Micaiah's father, and in whose chamber Baruch read the roll: and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah; of this prince also no account is given elsewhere: and all the princes; the rest of them, who were either members of the great sanhedrim, or courtiers; it appears from hence that this court was very profane and irreligious; for though they had proclaimed a fast, to make a show of religion, or at the importunity of the people; yet they did not attend temple worship and service themselves, but were all together in the secretary's office, very probably about political affairs.

JAMISON, "scribe’s chamber — an apartment in the palace occupied by the secretary of state.

princes — holding a counsel of state at the time.Elnathan — who had already been an instrument of evil in Jehoiakim’s hand (Jer_26:22, Jer_26:23).Hananiah — the false prophet (Jer_28:10-17).

CALVIN, "It is not known with what design this Michaiah came to the princes and the king’s counsellors, he may have been an informer, who intended to create ill-will to the Prophet, and to ingratiate himself with the princes, as courtiers usually do. If

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this was the case, we may learn from this example, that not all who hear are so teachable and ready to obey as to make proficiency in the knowledge of good and holy doctrine: we see that many patiently hear and give some evidence of docility, and yet cherish perverseness in their hearts, and afterwards calumniate what they have heard. Such may have been the character of Michaiah, spoken of here. But his case may have been different, — that being filled with wonder, he conveyed to the king’s counsellors what he deemed new and, as it were, incredible. I leave this without offering an opinion, for we have nothing certain on the subject.It is said that he came into the king’s palace, where all the princes sat, and into the chamber of the scribe It is probable that this scribe was the king’s chancellor, with whom were all the princes of the court. Some he names, and then says, that they were all there, and that Michaiah read to them the words which he had heard from the mouth of Baruch when he read to the whole people.Now it was not without the wonderful purpose of God that the king at length came to know what had passed in the Temple, in order that his perverseness against God might be detected, as we shall hereafter see. This messenger, indeed, was the means of bringing danger to Jeremiah as well as to his servant Baruch; but the Lord protected them. However, the impiety and the obstinacy of the king were discovered; for when they were all terrified, he despised God and became enraged against his Prophet. He burnt the book, and wished also to destroy its author. It now follows, — TRAPP, "Jeremiah 36:12 Then he went down into the king’s house, into the scribe’s chamber: and, lo, all the princes sat there, [even] Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes.Ver. 12. Then he went down into the king’s house.] For there was his father and the rest of the princes, suam aulam vel gulam confectantes, following their court delights, while the people were now humbling themselves before the Lord, and trembling at his Word. Great men are, many of them, of that Earl of Westmoreland’s mind, who profanely said, I need not pray to God, since having tenants enough to pray for me.PETT, "Jeremiah 36:12‘He went down into the king’s house, into the scribe’s chamber: and, lo, all the princes were sitting there, to wit, Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and 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

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have been sitting there awaiting the king’s summons to a council meeting (a cabinet meeting). If they were all involved in the advice to Jeremiah and Baruch to hide themselves (Jeremiah 36:19), they appear to have been a group sympathetic to Jeremiah. It is noteworthy that Jehoiakim did not send any of them to oversee the arrest of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 36:26).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 Jeremiah 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 (Jeremiah 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 After Micaiah told them everything he had heard Baruch read to the people from the scroll,

GILL, "Then Micaiah declared all the words that he had heard,.... The sum and substance of them; for it cannot be thought that he should retain in his memory every word that he had heard; though, as it is very probable he was much struck and affected with what he had heard, he might remember and declare a great deal of it: when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people; and this he also declared, no doubt, that what he had heard, and then related, were read by Baruch out of a book; as is clear from the princes sending for Baruch, and ordering him to bring the roll along with him, as in Jer_36:14.

14 all the officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, 54

the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to say to Baruch, “Bring the scroll from which you have read to the people and come.” So Baruch son of Neriah went to them with the scroll in his hand.

BARNES, "Jehudi signifies a Jew and Cushi an Ethiopian, but it seems reasonable to conclude that they are genuine, proper names.

GILL, "Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi,.... Who, according to Junius, was the king's apparitor: he is described by his descent, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi; him the princes sent, being not one of their body, but a servant at court: to Baruch; who was very probably still in the temple, where Micaiah left him: saying, take in thine hand the roll wherein thou hast read in the ears of the people, and come; that is, to the king's palace, to the secretary's office, where they were, and bring the roll along with him he had been reading to the people, and of which Micaiah had given them some account; and which had such an effect upon them, as to make them desirous of hearing it themselves; so Baruch the son of Neriah took the roll in his hand, and came unto them; which showed great boldness and intrepidity in him, to go at once, without any hesitation, to court, and appear before the princes with his roll, which contained things so very disagreeable to the king and his ministry; but as he had not been afraid to read it publicly before the people in the temple, so neither was he afraid to read it before the princes at court.

JAMISON, "Jehudi — of a good family, as appears from his pedigree being given so fully, but in a subordinate position.

come — Instead of requiring Baruch to come to them, they ought to have gone to the temple, and there professed their penitence. But pride forbade it [Calvin].

K&D, "Jer_36:14On this information the princes sent Jehudi (perhaps one of the under-officers of the secretary of state) to Baruch, to bring him, with the book from which he had read. From the designation, "Jehudi son of Nethaniah, son of Shelemiah, son of Cushi," Hitzig and Graf conclude that the first and last are not proper names, but appellatives, "the Jew"

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and "the Cushite," and account for the use of them on the ground that, through the application of the law given in Deu_23:7-8 to Cushites as well as Egyptians, the ancestor was a Cushite, and only his great-grandson became a Jew, or Jewish citizen, and was called "Jehudi." But this view is opposed (1) by the fact that the names of the father and the grandfather are true proper names, and these, moreover, contain the name Jah(Jahveh), - hence are genuine proper names of Israelites; moreover, (2) even in olden times Jehudith occurs as a woman's name, Gen_26:34. According to this, Jehudi is a true proper name, and at the most, Cushi is but a surname of the great-grandfather, given him because of his descent from the Cushites. Further, the law, Deu_23:7, applies only to the posterity of the Edomites and Egyptians, that these should not be received into the congregation of the Lord till the third generation; this ordinance was based on grounds which did not permit of its application to other nations. These might be naturalized even in the first generation on undergoing circumcision, with the exception of Canaanites, Ammonites, and Moabites, who were not to be admitted into the Israelitish community even in the tenth generation, Deu_23:3.CALVIN, "They ought indeed to have gone up immediately into the Temple; but though they were not wholly irreligious, yet they shewed some pride, as they commonly do who are surrounded with splendor, being not disposed to humble themselves. We see that all courtiers are so inflated with pride, that they think it a disgrace to mingle with the common people. They wish some special honor to be reserved for themselves. This was the reason that they did not go up into the Temple that they might learn the message, but sent for Baruch to come to them. Now it was this that prevented them from the heart to repent.We shall indeed see that they were smitten with fear, and filled with amazement; and we shall also see that they brought the matter before the king, and yet wished to provide for the safety of the Prophet and his servant; but they ought to have gone farther, even to join the people in the Temple, and make a public confession of their repentance. Why they did not we have explained: pride, vanity, and ambition always accompany wealth and power.Baruch was then sent for, but in an honorable manner; for they did not send an obscure man; and hence his genealogy is given, and not only the name of his father is mentioned, but that of his grandfather and of his great-grand-father; and hence we conclude that he was a man of some eminence. They commanded him to come, and it is added, that having taken the roll he came to them; by which he manifested his firmness. His promptitude previously was commendable, that he ventured to go forth to the Temple and publicly to recite what tended to kindle the rage of the whole people. As in the beginning, he promptly undertook the office deputed to him, so now he persevered in the same course. He came to the princes; and he did not hide the roll, though he might have been carrying with him his own death, but he boldly went forth to them, for he knew that the whole business was under the direction of God. It follows, —PETT, "Jeremiah 36:14

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‘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 roll in which you have read in the ears of the people, and come.” So Baruch the son of Neriah took the roll in his hand, and came to them.’This was enough to make them realise 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 may well have been a Sudanese (Ethiopian, Cushite) proselyte. His 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. Compare 2 Samuel 18:21 where Cushi was the name of a man who was then called the Cushite. It would appear that Cushi was a name often taken by proselytes from Cush (Northern Sudan).

15 They said to him, “Sit down, please, and read it to us.”So Baruch read it to them.

GILL, "And they said unto him, sit down now,.... Or, "pray sit down" (q); they received him very courteously, and treated him with great humanity, and showed much respect to him, in beseeching him to sit down by them: and read it in our ears; as he had done in the ears of the people, with an audible voice, clearly and distinctly, that they might be able to hear it, so as to understand it: so Baruch read it in their ears; without any fear or dread, though in the king's palace, and before an assembly of princes; nor did he excuse himself on account of weariness, having just read it to the people; or upbraid the princes with not being in the temple, where they might have heard it. PETT, "Jeremiah 36:15

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‘And they said to him, “Sit down now, and read it in our ears.” So Baruch read it in their ears.’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.

K&D 15-16, "Jer_36:15-16When Baruch came, the princes, in token of friendly and respectful treatment, bade him sit down and read to them out of the book he had brought with him. Jer_36:16. But when they heard all the words read, "they were afraid one at another;" i.e., by looks, gestures, and words, they gave mutual expression of their fear, partly because of the contents of what had been read. Although they were generally acquainted with the sense and the spirit of Jeremiah's addresses, yet what had now been read made a powerful impression on them; for Baruch plainly had read, both to the people in the temple and to the princes, not the whole book, but only the main portions, containing the sternest denunciations of sin and the strongest threats of punishment. The statement, "he read in (out of) the book the words of Jeremiah" (Jer_36:10), does not mean that he read the whole book; this would only have wearied the people and weakened the impression made. But they were partly also terrified, perhaps, by the boldness of a declaration which so decidedly opposed the desires and hopes of the king; for the thought of the event mentioned in Jer_26:20. would at once suggest to them the danger that might arise to the live of Jeremiah and Baruch from the despotic character of the king. They said therefore to Baruch, "We must tell the king all these things." For it was clear that the matter could not long remain concealed from the king, after the public reading in the temple. Hence they dared not, agreeably to their official relation to the king, hide from him what had taken place.

16 When they heard all these words, they looked at each other in fear and said to Baruch, “We must report all these words to the king.”

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BARNES, "They were afraid both one and other - literally, “they trembled each to his neighbor,” i. e., they showed their alarm by their looks and gestures one to another. They felt that what he had so consistently prophesied for a period of 23 years would in all probability be fulfilled.

We will surely tell - Rather, We must tell the king. It was their official duty.

GILL, "Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words,.... In the roll or book read by Baruch; they heard them read patiently, which was what the king afterwards would not do: they were afraid both one and another; both good and bad; for there were some of both sorts among them: or, "a man to his friend" (r); they looked at one another, and knew not what to say to each other, as men amazed and astonished; they trembled at what they heard, the threatenings were so terrible, and the calamity threatened so great; and they consulted together what they should do with this roll, or what course they should take to avert the threatened vengeance, and particularly whether they should acquaint the king with it or not; and which they thought the safest and most prudent part to do: and said unto Baruch, we will surely tell the king of all these words; this they said, not to terrify Baruch, or out of any ill will to him; but partly for their own security, lest they should incur the king's displeasure, should he come to the knowledge of it any other way; and chiefly hoping it might have some effect upon him, to cause a reformation; though of this they were dubious, and rather feared it would exasperate him; and therefore desired that Baruch and Jeremiah would hide themselves, Jer_36:19; this was the sense of some of them, of those that were good men among them, and wished things were otherwise than they were.

JAMISON, "afraid, both one and other — Hebrew, “fear-stricken,” they turned to one another (compare Gen_42:28). This showed, on their part, hesitancy, and some degree of fear of God, but not enough to make them willing to sacrifice the favor of an earthly king.

We will surely tell the king — not the language of threatening but implying that the matter is of such moment that the king ought to be made acquainted with it, so as to seek some remedy against the divine anger.CALVIN, "We see that there was some regard for religion in the princes, for they submitted to hear, and respectfully received the Prophet’s servant. Had Jeremiah himself come, he would, no doubt, have been received as God’s Prophet, as such honor was given to his servant, that the princes ordered him to be seated, which was certainly a favor. It hence appears that they were not profane despisers of God. Then follows another thing, — that they were moved with fear Then as to the king’s counsellors, we see that they were in such a state of mind, that they readily listened to, and dreaded the threatenings of God. But it was a fear that no doubt soon vanished; and what he says, that they feared each as to his neighbor, was a sign of a change; for he who fears as he ought, thinks of himself, and examines himself before

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God; but when the mind wavers, eyery one looks to another. It was then a sign of repentance not real and genuine, so to fear as to look to one another, for they ought, each of them, to look to God, that they might from an inward consciousness acknowledge their sins, and thus flee to the true remedy.It follows, that they said, Declaring we shall declare to the king, etc. We hence learn, that their fear was such, that they did not yet wish to offend the king. They then referred the matter to him, being anxious to gratify him. This is the religion of the court, even so to fear God as not to lose favor, but on the contrary, so to perform one’s duty, as not to be liable to the charge of not being sufficiently attentive and devoted to the king’s interest. In short, the Prophet thus represents to us, as in a glass, the religion of the king’s counsellors, and shews to us at the same time that their minds were corrupted by ambition, and that ambition so prevailed, that they paid more regard to a mortal king than to the only true King of heaven. TRAPP, "Jeremiah 36:16 Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they were afraid both one and other, and said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words.Ver. 16. They were afraid, both one and other,] (a) Expavescunt et sese mutuo respiciunt; they were afraid, and looked one upon another, being much distracted at this new and unexpected occurrence; neither wist they at first what to do, being affected after a sort, and smitten with the weightiness of the business.We will surely tell the king.] They durst do no otherwise; for if these things should have come to the king’s ear, and they not first tell him, they might come into the danger of his displeasure. WHEDON, " 16. They were afraid — Literally, they trembled each to his fellow. They showed the alarm with which these words filled their minds. This was due, not to the novelty of the predictions, as with many of them they must have been acquainted, but to the solemnity of the occasion, the gravity of the subject-matter, the earnestness of the scribe himself, and the cumulative force of the predictions.We will surely tell — Rather, we must tell. These matters, so important, we may not hide from the king.PETT, "Verses 16-19The Princes Having Listened To What Was Written In The Scroll Ascertain The Facts About It And Feel It Necessary To Inform The King About Its Contents Meanwhile Advising Baruch and Jeremiah To Go Into Hiding (Jeremiah 36:16-19).The whole gathering were 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

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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.Jeremiah 36:16‘Now it came about, when they had heard all the words, they turned in fear one towards 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 (such as the Temple sermon in chapter 7). 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 Then they asked Baruch, “Tell us, how did you come to write all this? Did Jeremiah dictate it?”

BARNES, "The scroll might have been drawn up by Baruch from memoranda of his own without the prophet’s direct authority. The princes therefore did not ask from curiosity, but to obtain necessary information.

CLARKE, "How didst thou write all these words? - At his mouth? - So the text should be pointed. They wished to know whether he had not copied them, or whether he wrote as Jeremiah prophesied.GILL, "And they asked Baruch,.... The following question, which may seem at first sight an odd, needless, and trifling one, as some have called it:

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saying, tell us now, how didst thou write all these words at his mouth? this question does not regard the manner of writing them, whether with ink or not, for that they could see with their eyes, and yet Baruch's answer seems to have respect to this, as if he so understood them; nor barely the matter of them, as whether it was the substance of what was contained in the roll that Jeremiah dictated, and that only, leaving it to Baruch to use what words he would, or whether the express words were dictated by him; but rather it seems to have regard to the possibility of doing it: by the question it appears, that Baruch had told the princes that the prophet had dictated all these things to him, and he had taken them down in writing from his mouth; now they wanted more satisfaction about the truth of this matter. It was a difficulty with them how it was possible for Jeremiah to recollect so many different discourses and prophecies, delivered at different times, and some many years ago, and so readily dictate them to Baruch, as fast as he could write them; wherefore they desire he would tell them plainly and faithfully the truth of the matter, how it was, that so they might, if they could, affirm it with certainty to the king; since, if this was really fact which he had related, these prophecies originally, and the fresh dictating of them, must be from the Spirit of God, and would certainly have their accomplishment.

JAMISON, "What they wished to know was, whether what Baruch had read to them was written by him from memory after hearing Jeremiah repeating his prophecies continuously, or accurately from the prophet’s own dictation.

K&D 17-18 "Jer_36:17-18Meanwhile, in order to inform themselves more exactly regarding what had happened, they ask Baruch, "Tell us, how hast thou written all these words at his mouth?" Thereupon Baruch replied, "He used to call aloud these words to me," i.e., he used to dictate them to me by word of mouth, "and I wrote them in the book with ink." The

imperfect expresses the repeated or continued doing of anything; hence יקרא here means to dictate, which requires considerable time. In the following circumstantial clause is found the participle ואני while I was writing; and so I myself was doing ,כתבnothing else all the time than writing down what was dictated. Some commentators have found a stumbling-block in מפיו in the question of the princes (Jer_36:17); the lxx and Ewald omit this word, inasmuch as Baruch does not explain till afterwards that he had written down the words from the mouth of Jeremiah. Others, like Venema, take מפיו as a question = המפיו. Both explanations are arbitrary and unnecessary. The princes knew quite well that the substance of the book was from the mouth of Jeremiah, i.e., contained his addresses; but Baruch, too, might have composed the book from the oral discourses of the prophet without being commissioned by him, without his knowledge also, and against his will. Accordingly, to attain certainty as to the share of the prophet in this matter, they ask him, and Baruch answers that Jeremiah had dictated it to him.CALVIN, "he king’s counsellors were, no doubt, so astonished when they heard that these threatenings had been written as the Prophet had dictated them, that they were agitated by different thoughts, as the unbelieving are wont to be; and not

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receiving as they ought to have done, the heavenly doctrine, they vacillated, and could not pursue a uniform course. Such, then, was the uncertainty that possessed the minds of the princes; for they could hardly believe that these words had been delivered by memory, but had suspicion of some trickery, as the unbelieving imagine many such things respecting God’s servants; and they seem to act thus designedly, that they may obscure God’s favor, which appears before their eyes. For this purpose, then, they are said to ask Baruch how he took the words from the mouth of Jeremiah (105)TRAPP, "Jeremiah 36:17 And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell us now, How didst thou write all these words at his mouth?Ver. 17. Tell us, How didst thou write all these words at his mouth?] Praeposteram movent interrogationem; they put an odd question, saith one, when they should rather have bethought themselves of breaking off their sins by repentance. God loves obedience and not questioners, saith Luther.PETT, "Jeremiah 36:17‘And they asked Baruch, saying, “Tell us now, How did you write all these words at his mouth?”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 different ways of obtaining their ‘prophetic words’ and they wanted to know how far these could be relied on).

18 “Yes,” Baruch replied, “he dictated all these words to me, and I wrote them in ink on the scroll.”

BARNES, "He pronounced - He used to say aloud, he dictated. Baruch’s office was

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merely mechanical. He contributed nothing but hand, pen, and ink.GILL, "Then Baruch answered them,.... At once, without any hesitation, plainly and fully: he pronounced all these words unto me with his mouth; that is, the Prophet Jeremiah delivered by word of mouth, not the substance only of this roll, but the express words of it, and everyone of them, and that clearly and distinctly, without any hesitation, or premeditation; by which it is plain it was by the Spirit of the Lord he did it; neither matter nor words were Baruch's, but were exactly as they were delivered: and I wrote them with ink in the book; as they saw with their eyes, and which was the manner of writing with the Jews so early; Baruch had no further concern in this matter than to provide pen, ink, and parchment, and to make use of them as he did, just as the prophet dictated and directed him.

JAMISON, "his mouth — Baruch replies it was by the oral dictation of the prophet; Jer_36:2 accords with this view, rather than with the notion that Jeremiah repeated his prophecies from manuscripts.

ink — his specification of the “ink” implies: I added nothing save the hand, pen, and ink.He simply answered, that Jeremiah had pronounced these words to him. They might hence have concluded, that Jeremiah had no roll laid before him, and that he had been not long meditating on what he communicated to his scribe Baruch. And though he seems to have said no more than what might satisfy the princes, yet the purport of the whole is, that Jeremiah did not produce the roll from a recess or his desk, but promptly gave utterance to what God’s Spirit suggested to him. Their astonishment, then, must have increased, when the king’s counsellors knew that these commands did not proceed from a mortal man, but that, on the contrary, God spoke them by the mouth of Jeremiah, and by the hand of Baruch. It follows, — COKE, "Jeremiah 36:19. Go, hide thee— "We cannot avoid giving the king information of what we have heard; but, as we know his violent temper, we advise you to abscond awhile, to avoid his fury." This example of the princes of Judah deserves remarking: they are careful to unite the duties which they owe to God, to justice, and humanity, with that which they are obliged to pay to their king. Calmet. TRAPP, "Jeremiah 36:18 Then Baruch answered them, He pronounced all these words unto me with his mouth, and I wrote [them] with ink in the book.Ver. 18. And Baruch answered them.] Answerably (a) to the question they asked him. [Jeremiah 36:17] Dignum patella operculum.And I wrote them with ink in the book.] The use, then, of writing with pen and ink is ancient among the Hebrews.

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PETT, "Jeremiah 36:18‘Then Baruch answered them, “He proclaimed all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the scroll (written record).”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.This is the only mention of ‘ink’ in the Old Testament. It was a black carbon (charcoal) mixed with gum or oil and would be brushed on by the stylus which would often be a reed split at the end to form a kind of brush. It would be solidified and kept in the scribe’s palette, being moistened by the reed when required.

19 Then the officials said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah, go and hide. Don’t let anyone know where you are.”

CLARKE, "Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah - They saw that the king would be displeased, and most probably seek their lives; and as they believed the prophecy was from God, they wished to save both the prophet and his scribe; but they were obliged to inform the king of what they had heard.

GILL, "Then said the princes unto Baruch,.... Being satisfied with his answer: go hide thee, thou and Jeremiah, and let no man know where ye be. Some of these princes at least seem to be good men, and believed what was read to them, and had a value for the prophet and his scribe, and were concerned for their welfare; and knowing the furious temper of the king, and his little regard to the prophets; and fearing he would resent what had been so publicly read to the people, provided against the worst; and in point of prudence advised Baruch and his master to abscond, and not let anyone know, no, not their nearest friends, where they were, lest they should be betrayed; nor did they, the princes, desire to know themselves. Jeremiah might be in prison, as some have thought, at the first reading of the roll, which was in the fourth year

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of Jehoiakim, and be at liberty now, which was in the fifth year; see Jer_36:1.JAMISON, "Showing that they were not altogether without better feelings (compare

Jer_36:16, Jer_36:25).

K&D, "Jer_36:19Thereupon the princes advised Baruch to hide himself and Jeremiah; for they know beforehand that Jehoiakim would put to death the witnesses of the truth.

CALVIN, "We see that these courtly princes changed, when they perceived that it was indeed God’s hand, and yet they remained in a state of insensibility. God often thus terrifies profane men, and yet they return to their own indifference. They seemed, indeed, to be for a moment awakened, and seriously to acknowledge God’s judgment; but these thoughts presently vanished away. It thus happened, that they allowed that God had spoken, but it was, as it were, to the deaf, for it was in vain, as we shall shortly see.Then the king’s counsellors derived no benefit; but they were not cruel, for they wished the Prophet to be hidden, lest the king should deal severely with him. We see many such men at this day who are not influenced by divine truth. They nod, indeed, as asses who move their ears; for they confess with their mouths that what is propounded to them is true and right; but as I have said, they either close their eyes, or at least do not attend, so as to know that it is God who speaks. It appears that such were the king’s counsellors, of whom the Spirit of God has declared what we shall presently see. They then counselled Baruch to hide himself, and also Jeremiah to do the same; for they saw that there was danger to them, except they took themselves to flight. It afterwards follows, — COKE, "Jeremiah 36:19. Go, hide thee— "We cannot avoid giving the king information of what we have heard; but, as we know his violent temper, we advise you to abscond awhile, to avoid his fury." This example of the princes of Judah deserves remarking: they are careful to unite the duties which they owe to God, to justice, and humanity, with that which they are obliged to pay to their king. Calmet. TRAPP, "Jeremiah 36:19 Then said the princes unto Baruch, Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah; and let no man know where ye be.Ver. 19. Go hide thee, thou and Jeremiah.] This was well, but not all. They draw not Baruch before the king to answer what he had done; but why do they not take him to the king with his roll, and plead both for it and him too? Had they been true patriots and hearty friends to the truth, they would have done so; but they knew that this wicked king could not endure the prophets, [Jeremiah 26:21; Jeremiah 36:26] and one of their company had been the king’s agent in bringing Uriah the prophet out of Egypt to be butchered by him. [Jeremiah 26:22]

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PETT, "Jeremiah 36:19‘Then the princes said to Baruch, “Go, hide yourself, you and Jeremiah, and let no man 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 (Jeremiah 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.

20 After they put the scroll in the room of Elishama the secretary, they went to the king in the courtyard and reported everything to him.

BARNES, "The court - i. e., The inner quadrangle of the palace, in which was the royal residence.

They laid up the roll - They left the scroll in charge, i. e., in the care of someone.GILL, "And they went in to the king into the court,.... The inner court, the king's court, where he usually resided; though very probably they did not rush in at once; but first sent to know whether the king could be spoke with, or would admit them, they having something to communicate to him; which they might do by the person in waiting, by whom they were introduced: but they laid up the roll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe; they did not take it with them, but left it in the secretary's office; and, no doubt, put it up safe in some chest or scrutoire, as something valuable, and not to be exposed to everyone; or to be thrown about, torn, or trampled on, as a book of no use and value: very probably it was with the consent of Baruch that it was left with them: and this was a point of prudence in them not to take it with them when they went to the king:

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and told all the words in the ears of the king; that is, the sum and substance of them; for it cannot be thought they should remember every word in the roll; but the main of it they did, and rehearsed it in a very audible manner.HENRY 20-24, "We have traced the roll to the people, and to the princes, and here

we are to follow it to the king; and we find,I. That, upon notice given him concerning it, he sent for it, and ordered it to be read to him, Jer_36:20, Jer_36:21. He did not desire that Baruch would come and read it himself, who could read it more intelligently and with more authority and affection than any one else; nor did he order one of his princes to do it (though it would have been no disparagement to the greatest of them), much less would he vouchsafe to read it himself; but Jehudi, one of his pages now in waiting, who was sent to fetch it, is bidden to read it, who perhaps scarcely knew how to make sense of it. But those who thus despise the word of God will soon make it to appear, as this king did, that they hate it too, and have not only low, but ill thoughts of it.II. That he had not patience to hear it read through as the princes had, but, when he had heard three or four leaves read, in a rage he cut it with his penknife, and threw it piece by piece into the fire, that he might be sure to see it all consumed, Jer_36:22, Jer_36:23. This was a piece of as daring impiety as a man could lightly be guilty of, and a most impudent affront to the God of heaven, whose message this was. 1. Thus he showed his impatience of reproof; being resolved to persist in sin, he would by no means bear to be told of his faults. 2. Thus he showed his indignation at Baruch and Jeremiah; he would have cut them in pieces, and burnt them, if he had had them in his reach, when he was in this passion. 3. Thus he expressed an abstinent resolution never to comply with the designs and intentions of the warnings given him; he will do what he will, whatever God by his prophets says to the contrary. 4. Thus he foolishly hoped to defeat the threatenings denounced against him, as if God knew not how to execute the sentence when the roll was gone in which it was written. 5. Thus he thought he had effectually provided that the things contained in this roll should spread no further, which was the care of the chief priests concerning the gospel, Act_4:17. They had told him how this roll had been read to the people and to the princes. “But,” says he, “I will take a course that shall prevent its being read any more.” See what an enmity there is against God in the carnal mind, and wonder at the patience of God, that he bears with such indignities done to him.III. That neither the king himself nor any of his princes were at all affected with the word: They were not afraid (Jer_36:24), no, not those princes that trembled at the word when they heard it the first time, Jer_36:16. So soon, so easily, do good impressions wear off. They showed some concern till they saw how light the king made of it, and then they shook off all that concern. They rent not their garments, as Josiah, this Jehoiakim's own father, did when he had the book of the law read to him, though it was not so particular as the contents of this roll were, nor so immediately adapted to the present posture of affairs.JAMISON, "chamber — There were chambers in the king’s palace round the court

or great hall, as in the temple (Jer_36:10). The roll was “laid up” there for safekeeping, with other public records.

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K&D, "The reading of the book before the king. - Jer_36:20. The princes betook themselves to the king חצרה, into the inner fore-court (leaving the book-roll in the chamber of the secretary of state), and gave him an account of the matter. חצר is the inner court of the palace, in which the royal dwelling-apartments are situated. הפקיד, to entrust a thing or person to any one (Jer_40:7), hence to deposit, preserve, Isa_10:28.CALVIN, "The Prophet now relates that the princes went to the king, after having first deposited the roll with Elishama the scribe; for as the king’s ears were tender, they were unwilling to perform at once so odious an office. And thus they who are with kings, and engage their attention, fascinate them with their flatteries; for there is in courts no independence, for the greatest flatterer is the highest in favor. As, then, all courtiers seek eagerly to find out how they may please kings, so they carefully beware lest they should offend them. This was the reason why the princes deposited the roll with Elishama. We hence learn that their regard for God was small and frigid; for if they believed that Jeremiah had dictated to his scribe what he had received from the Spirit of God, the offending of the king ought not certainly to have been deemed by them of so much moment. Why, then, did they not venture immediately to bring forward the roll, and to exhort the king to hear, except that adulation, as I have said, is always timid. Hence then it was that they ventured not to shew the roll to the king, but only told him that they had read some dreadful things, so that the king did not find fault with them, as they had not too boldly brought before him what he was unwilling to hear. This, then, is one thing. COFFMAN, "THE READING OF THE BOOK BEFORE THE KING"And they went in to the king into the court; but they had laid up the roll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe: and they told all the words in the ears of the king. So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll; and he took it out of the chamber of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king. Now the king was sitting in the winter-house in the ninth month: and there was a fire in the brazier burning before him. And it came to pass that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, that the king cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was in the brazier, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier. And they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words. Moreover Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll; but he would not hear them. And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king's son, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdiel to take Baruch and Jeremiah the prophet; but Jehovah hid them.""Three or four leaves ..." (Jeremiah 36:23). The "roll of the book" did not have leaves, so what is meant is that "after reading three or four prophecies, the king refused to hear any more.""The king cut it with the penknife ..." (Jeremiah 36:23). According to Keil, the

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tenses used here indicate that the king repeatedly cut the book, casting it into the fire until all of it was burned.[11]As a number of commentators have pointed out, hardly any explanation is needed for this whole chapter.TRAPP, "Jeremiah 36:20 And they went in to the king into the court, but they laid up the roll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the ears of the king.Ver. 20. And they went in to the king.] God by his providence so disposed it, that both king and princes, whether they would or not, should hear their doom; and as for some of the princes, they seem to have some good affections wrought in them, but too weak to work unto true "repentance to salvation."PETT, "Verses 20-25The Scroll Is Brought To The King And Is Read Before Him And On Hearing Each Section He Cuts It Up With A Knife And Burns It After Which He Calls For The Arrest Of Jeremiah And Baruch Who Are, However, In Hiding And Cannot Be Found (Jeremiah 36:20-25).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 in order to nullify the prophecy. He then called for the arrest of Jeremiah and Baruch, but they could not be found because ‘YHWH hid them’.Jeremiah 36:20‘And they went in to the king into the court, but they had laid up the roll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and they told all the words in the ears 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.BI 20-26, "He cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth until an the ton was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth The burnt rollI.The incidents connected with the text.

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II. A few observations upon them.1. The piety of the parent is no assured guarantee for the religion of the son. The life of the Spirit can alone come from God, and it is given and withheld in a way to us past finding out. There are many instances in which we should not be justified in attributing any neglect to the parent, though the child may not by any means have walked in his steps; and, where this does occur, men not unfrequently become monsters of iniquity; for it has been well remarked that none are more abandoned than those who become wicked after a religions education: they cannot have quietness in vice till they have stupefied their consciences; and the greater the obstacles before men can fully indulge their lusts, the more depraved they are afterwards. The testimony of the Spirit, respecting Josiah, the father of Jehoiakim, is this, “that he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David.”2. However men may slight and pour contempt upon the threatenings of God, they can in no way prevent their fulfilment. Jehoiakim and his princes mocked at the message of God, despised His gracious warnings, and purposed the infliction of punishment upon the prophet and scribe concerned in their delivery; but by so doing they did but provoke the wrath of the Lord till there was no remedy: God at length brought upon them the King of Babylon. And all this, we are told, took place, that “the Word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled.” The destruction of the world in the time of Noah was long delayed; but it came at length, and that when men were little expecting it. And, if men will not be prevailed upon to flee to the refuge which God hath in infinite mercy provided, this warning must be fulfilled in their destruction.3. Those who slight God’s warnings increase their condemnation. It was declared by the Lord through Huldah, the prophetess, to Josiah, the father of Jehoiakim, Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God when thou heardest His words against this place and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before Me, and didst rend thy clothes and weep before Me, I have even heard thee also, saith the Lord: behold I will gather thee to thy fathers; and thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace” (2Ch_34:27).

III. The applicability of this subject to present times. Are there not those in this our land who endeavour, by the keen knife of wit and sarcasm, to cut the Bible in pieces, and thus bring it into contempt, and cause it to be neglected? And why do they act thus? They hate the Bible because they perceive that its threatenings are pointed at them and their sins; they are against the Bible because they see that the Bible is against them; they Know very well that, if the Bible be true, if it be indeed the Word of the living God, they are in a very awful case—in danger of feeling the wrath of God for ever in another world: this they cannot bear to think of, and therefore they first begin to wish that it may not be true; next, indulge a faint hope that it is not; and, lastly, are led on by. Satan to believe that it is nothing else but a cunningly-devised fable, fitted to frighten and alarm the minds of the weak; forgetting that the very circumstance which makes it so distasteful to themselves, namely, that it forbids the indulgence of every sinful desire and the practice of every wicked act, is of itself one of the very strongest proofs that it is not the Word of man, but of God.IV. Some lessons of instruction.

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1. The duty of reverencing God’s Word.2. The duty of making it known according to our ability among others.3. The duty of dealing ,faithfully with those who live in disobedience to God’s commands. (T. Grantham.)

The burnt roll and the ScripturesI. The words in the roll were inspired by God; so are the Scriptures.

1. Christ appealed to and taught out of them (Mat_4:4; Mar_12:10; Joh_7:42; Act_1:16; Heb_3:7; 2Pe_1:19; 2Pe_1:21; 2Ti_3:16).2. Further proof—

(1) Their harmony and agreement.(2) The perfect moral scheme they unfold.(3) Their power over men’s hearts.(4) Their wonderful preservation.

II. The words in the roll contained Divine threatenings against sin. So throughout the Scriptures.III. The words in the roll were intended to produce penitence and result in forgiveness (verse 3). “To the Lord our God belong—mercies,” &c.IV. The words in the roll are despised by the hardened and rebellious (verses 22-24). Burning was merely the outward and visible sign of contempt, neglect, and disdain.V. The words in the roll are, nevertheless, reverenced by some (verse 25). (Homiletic Magazine.)

Rejection of God’s messageI. Deep and varied interest of the Book of Jeremiah.

1. Divine truth of doctrine and promise (Jer_17:1-27; Jer_30:1-24; Jer_31:1-40, &c.).2. Views of a prophet’s inner life of anguish and faith (chaps. 1, 9, 10, 12).3. Passages of vivid narrative (this chapter).

II. A strange scene.III. A searching lesson for the soul. The possibility of complete indifference to the most urgent warnings from God, even without open rejection of religion. Let us take the case of Zedekiah thus in some few respects.

1. His act as a specimen of the soul’s acts now.2. His excuses.3. His doom.

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IV. Zedekiah hears a message from one whom, on the whole, he owns as God’s messenger, and, by way of reply, he burns it. Countless souls own the Bible, as, on the whole, God’s Word. Perhaps in a time of distress, like Zedekiah (chap. 38.), they will anxiously turn to it. But in their hour of security, when grief or conscience is silent, the Bible may warn mere, but in vain. Church lessons, sermon texts, family portions, private reading, all bring them God’s warnings. The soul, while it dares not say it is false, can yet cast the unfelt truth aside.V. Zedekiah, perhaps, explained his act in some vague way to himself. “Jeremiah is a prophet; but cannot a prophet be prejudiced and exaggerate?” So Bible readers will let sceptical depreciation off the Bible so far warp them as just to take the edge off the reality of its warnings. “Ye shall not surely die.”VI. But much more than this: Zedekiah positively rejected the message from wounded pride. He did not want it: he was well enough as he was. This blinded him in great measure to the question whether it were from God or not. So self will rise against the very words of Jesus, till it has seen its need and misery as it is (Rev_3:17).VII. Zedekiah, for all this security and indifference, was on the verge of a real and dreadful doom. Ruin, captivity, blindness, bereavement (chap. 39.). So now, indifference to Divine warnings is no disproof of their truth. The Judge of all the earth will act, not on our view of things, but on His own.VIII. He who threatens is He who atones, saves, and loves. He sends His real threatenings to drive us to His real mercy (Rev_3:19). (H. C. G. Moule, D. D.)

Jeremiah’s roll burntThe history with which our text is connected is soon told. It appears that Jeremiah the prophet, at the command of the Lord, had instructed Baruch the scribe to write, in a roll of a book, an abstract or an abridgment of all the sermons which during the last three-and-twenty years he had preached, as well as an account of the various judgments which the Lord had denounced against Judah by reason of their sins. This was done that the king and his people might be put in remembrance of what they had heard, and that they might the better understand it, when they had it all before them at one view.I. The importance of the written word. Our Lord and His apostles speak to us by their written words in the New Testament; and they attest the inspiration of the written Old Testament by the numberless quotations from its various hooks. These Scriptures we are commanded to “talk of, when we walk by the way, and when we sit in the house.” We are also especially to heed them when they are read or explained to us in the sanctuary of public worship.II. The value of Divine ordinances. We should come up to the house of God, my brethren, “to ask those things that be necessary as well for the body as the soul.” We should come up “to set forth God’s most worthy praise.” We should also come up to hear “His most holy Word.”III. The Lord’s object in the Scriptures. The object which God has in view in giving us His Word, is to save our souls. He therein tells us, first, of our danger, and then of our refuge. The Scriptures, therefore, when rightly received, issue in our salvation. This was the Lord’s object in reference to Judah. Judah had sinned; and the Lord had threatened,

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by Jeremiah, to punish those sins. Mean-while, however, he tried once more to bring them to repentance. He therefore commanded Jeremiah to commit to writing all the evils he had pronounced against that nation, in the hope that, when they read what was written, they might be alarmed at their danger, and seek pardon from their God before their destruction came.IV. The rebellion of the carnal mind. “The carnal mind,” we are told, “is enmity against God.” It on this account opposes God’s Word, and hates and persecutes God’s faithful servants.V. The folly of destroying God’s word. Those men destroy God’s Word who will not receive its sayings. It matters not, however, my brethren, whether you receive the whole Word of God, or not. By it you must be one day judged. The judgment will be set, and the books will be opened. If you could get together and burn all the Bibles in the universe, that flame would never destroy God’s truth. Hell would be the same: eternity would be the same: death and judgment would be unaltered. Reject not, then, the inspired Word. Receive it most thankfully. Pray, over it most earnestly. (C. Clayton, M. A.)

The rash penknifeJehoiakim s last opportunity was now to come. The Spirit of God comes upon the prophet Jeremiah, and inspires him with a message from Heaven. Baruch, the scribe, is summoned to take it down in writing from his lips. I see him coming to the prophet’s chamber with ink and pen and sheets of parchment. The people are awed and amazed. One of them, named Michaiah, instantly hastens off to the palace, and, finding a number of the princes gathered together, acquaints them with what has taken place, and gives them the substance of the prophecy. Presently one of these is commissioned to go into the monarch’s presence and inform him. Jehoiakim, professing great indifference, has yet his curiosity aroused, and wishes the document itself to be brought to him. So Jehudi runs and fetches the roll, telling of the awful judgments that are about to descend upon the throne and upon the land, and proceeds to read it aloud to the king. The tragic sequel you already know, So Jehoiakim’s day of grace closed. In that moment the door of mercy was shut against him for ever! His doom was sealed. The Spirit of God was quenched. The man was given up. Not, observe, that his life was ended; he lived at least four years after this; but he had sinned away his day of grace, and never more was God to ply him with the offers of mercy. His soul’s ruin was now complete.I. Those who, in their early days, have resisted holy influences, generally turn out the most wicked of men. I hardly know an exception to this rule. Nor can you much wonder that it is so. It is just what we might expect. When a man deliberately tramples on conviction, and resists the dealings of God’s Spirit, he uses the most effectual means to sear his conscience and harden his heart. If, in early days, you have been hedged round with Christian influences, and loving counsels, and bright examples, and fervent prayers: and you have withstood all these things, you are just the person most likely to make a rebound to the other extreme, and plunge headlong into gross iniquity.II. If a man’s religion is not genuine and heart-deep, it often happens that troubles and calamities only drive him farther away from God. Do you remember what is written of King Ahaz? It might be written of many a one besides him. “In the time of stress did he trespass yet more against the Lord.” Yes, with some men the more they suffer the more they sin. Adversity angers them against God. It is well known that times of pestilence,

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whilst they have brought out an unwonted religious earnestness on the one side, have brought out an unusual amount of wickedness on the other. The plague of London developed the vices of the metropolis to a frightful extent. Men patrolled the streets singing ribald songs beside the dead cart. When a ship is wrecked, and about to go to the bottom, if some fall on their knees and pray, others fly to drink and cursing. Nothing is a truer touchstone of character than the way in which a man treats the chastenings of God.III. As the heart gets hardened in sin, there is a growing unwillingness to listen to the voice of God. As soon as a young man begins an evil course, and resolves to take his fill of sinful pleasure, he acquires a hatred of his Bible, and a disinclination to attend the house of God. If he cannot silence God’s ministers, he will keep as far as possible from them, and shut his ears against all good counsel I know a man to whom the sound of the church bells is so hateful, that in the warmest day in summer he will close all his windows, if possible, to keep it out. He was once a very different man, but now the devil has got such possession of him, that he abhors every vestige of religion; and I verily believe that were you to put a Bible into his hand, he would cut it in pieces with his penknife, and pitch it into the fire. If I want to know something of your state of heart, I ask, what value do you put on, and what use do you make of the law of God? (J. T. Davidson, D. D.)

The Bible disposed of, what then?Were the Bible proved to be quite unworthy of confidence, were it shown to be dotted everywhere with error as thick as a leper with his loathsome scales, what advantage would it be to godless men?I. God would still remain. The Bible does not make God; it does not even demonstrate the being of God. It assumes Him. Its opening words are, “In the beginning God created.” The simplest argument in all the world is that which phrases itself thus: Design supposes a designer. Were I to say that John Milton made Paradise Lost by jumbling letters in a bag and tossing them forth, all reasonable men would laugh at me; but this would be no more preposterous than is the allegation that our universe is a fortuitous concourse of atoms. All men know that back of law is the Lawgiver, back of order the Arranger, back of design an Infinite Contriver. But while the world would retain its belief in God, it would, in the absence of the Scriptures, know nothing of His Providence or of His Fatherhood.II. The sense of sin would remain. The Bible is not responsible for the sense of sin. If there were no Bible, our consciences would still speak to us. When Prof. Webster was lying in prison awaiting his doom he made formal complaint that he was affronted by his keepers, who shouted at him, “Oh, you bloody man!” and by his fellow-prisoners, who pounded on the walls of his cell, shouting, “Oh, you bloody man!” A watch was set, but no voice was heard; it was his guilty conscience that was crying out against him. It is not the Bible that gives us Ixion on the wheel, or Sisyphus vainly rolling the stone up the mountain-side, or Tantalus up to his lips in the ever-receding waters. No, in any case conscience would remain; but in the absence of revelation we should know no remedy for its sting.III. Were the bible destroyed, our sense of duty would still remain. The moral law is set forth in the Scriptures in the Decalogue and the Sermon on the Mount. The Decalogue, however, was written in the human constitution long before it found expression in

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Scripture. It is interwoven with the nerves and sinews of the race. The Sermon on the Mount is simply a broad and glorious exposition of the Decalogue. There is nothing new or original here. We are reminded that the Golden Rule itself did not originate with Christ. The ethical system of the Bible is merely an authoritative statement of certain laws which are written in the soul of man. God here places His imprimatur on those otherwise anonymous precepts which the whole world recognises as right. So, were the Bible to vanish, the moral distinctions would remain, and a man would know his duty while, alas! ever sensible of not doing it.IV. The bible gone, death would still remain; death-and judgment following after. It needs no revelation from on high to tell us that, as Abd-el-Kader says, “the black camel kneels at our gate.” That admonition is written on the grave-stones that line the journey of our life.

“The air is full of farewells to the dyingAnd mournings for the dead.”

But without the Scriptures we should have no hope of triumph over death.V. The dream of immortality would still remain. This is quite independent of Scripture. The Greeks put an obolus upon the tongue of the dead to pay their ferriage across the Styx because there might be a happy land beyond. The Indian chic was buried with his bows and arrows at his side, because, if there should by chance be a happy hunting-ground, he would need them there. Thus immortality has always been a fond dream—a dream only. When Cicero lighted the lamp in the grave of his daughter it was with the thought that possibly her life, though extinguished for a time, might be rekindled. When Socrates put the cup of hemlock to his lips, he said, “I go; whether to perish or to live again I know not.” The old fable of the Phoenix expressed the fondest of pagan hopes. No, no, we should not lose the dream but we should lose the certainty, for in the Gospel life and immortality are brought to light. The twilight vanishes, the dream becomes a splendid reality. The Bible is our noonday sun. Its glories are far away from the multitude who will not receive it. There are mysteries, vast and incomprehensible here; but burn the Book, or what is the same, let the world lose its confidence in it, and all that makes life worth living goes from us. But the Bible is in no danger; it has come to stay; it will glorify life and illuminate the valley of death until the last penitent sinner has gone through heaven’s gate. Voltaire said that he would pass through the forest of the Scriptures and girdle all its trees so that in a hundred years Christianity would be only a vanishing memory. The hundred years have expired; Voltaire is gone, and “none so poor to do him reverence,” but Christianity is still here, and the trees of the Lord are full of sap. The brazier of Jehoiakim is a golden altar, the fumes of which, like frankincense, have gone through all the earth. (D. J. Burrell, D. D.)

The mutilated Bible1. Consider the object which God has in view in writing His Word and sending His written messages to mankind. This object is most pathetically set forth (verse 3). That is why God has given us the Bible! Not to bewilder us, not to start us on courses of intellectual speculation, not to tempt our curiosity, not to found rival sects, but to bring us to Himself to obtain forgiveness of iniquity and sin.2. Man is so unwilling to hear anything unpleasant or disagreeable about himself

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that lie gets into a wrong temper before he actually knows what God s object is. Jehoiakim did not hear the whole roll. Did any man ever destroy the Bible who knew it wholly? The difficulty is in the “three or four leaves.” There are men to-day who having heard three or four leaves of Genesis have cut it with the penknife. They cannot get over the six days and the talking serpent, so they cut the roll with the penknife. Or if they begin another book, they are offended by the extraordinary numbers of people killed in war, and the romantic ages of the patriarchs; so they cut the roll with the penknife. Or if they begin elsewhere, they are offended by the descriptions of human nature, its depravity, its helplessness, its horrible sin; and having heard three or four leaves, they cut the roll with the penknife. Now the Bible must be read in its entirety, that all its parts may assume their just proportions and their appropriate colour.3. Though Jehoiakim cut the roll and cast it into the fire, the words were all rewritten, and the impious king fell under the severe and fatal judgment of God (verse 30). Men have not destroyed revelation when they have destroyed the Bible. “The Word of the Lord abideth for ever.” The penknife, cannot reach its spirit, the fire cannot touch its life. The history of the Bible is one of the proofs of its inspiration.4. The desire to cut the Bible with the penknife and to cast it into the fire, is quite intelligible because in a sense profoundly natural. The Bible never lures human attention by flattering compliments. What wonder if the leper should break the mirror which shows him his loathsomeness?5. This desire to mutilate the holy Word shows itself in various ways, some of them apparently innocent, others of them dignified with fine names and claiming attention as the last developments of human progress.

(1) Look, for example, at the use made of the sectarian penknife.(2) Look at the use of the philosophical penknife. The letter is cut down to nothing, and revelation becomes a question of consciousness, so that the inquiry is not so much, What is written? as, What do you feel? From these reflections we may well learn to hold the roll as inviolable, holy, sufficient, final. (J. Parker, D. D.)

The indestructible BookThere are thousands of Jehoiakims yet alive who cut the Word of God with their penknives; and my object is to designate a few of them. The first man I shall mention as thus treating the Word of God is the one who receives a part of the Bible, but cuts out portions of it with his penknife, and rejects them. Jehoiakim showed as much indignity toward the scroll when he cut one way as when he cut the other. You might as well behead Moses as to behead Jonah. Yes, I shall take all the Bible or none. No; you shall not rob me of a single word of a single verse of a single chapter of a single book of my Bible. When life, like an ocean, billows up with Rouble, and death comes, and our barque is sea-smitten, with halyards cracked, and white sails flying in shreds, like a maniac’s grey locks in the wind—then we will want God’s Word to steer us off the rocks, and shine like lighthouses through the dark channels of death, and with hands of light beckon our storm-tossed souls into the harbour. In that last hour take from me my pillow, take away

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all soothing draughts, take away the faces of family and kindred, take away every helping hand and every consoling voice—alone let me die, on the mountain, on a bed of rock, covered only by a sheet of embroidered frost, under the slap of the night-wind, and breathing out my life on the bosom of the wild, wintry blast, rather than in that last hour take from me my Bible. Stand off, then, ye carping, clipping, meddling critics, with your penknives! I can think of only one right way in which the Bible may be divided. A minister went into a house, and saw a Bible on the stand and said, “What a pity that this Bible should be so torn! You do not seem to take much care of it. Half the leaves are gone.” Said the man: “This was my mother’s Bible; and my brother John wanted it, and I wanted it; and we could not agree about the matter, and so each took a half. My half has been blessed to my soul, and his half has been blessed to his soul.” That is the only way that I can think of in which the Word of God may be rightfully cut with a penknife. The next man that I shall mention as following Jehoiakim’s example is the infidel who runs his knife through the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, and rejects everything. Men strike their knife through this Book, because they say that the light of nature is sufficient. Indeed! Have the fire-worshippers of India, cutting themselves with lancets, until the blood spurts at every pore, found the light of nature sufficient? Has the Bornesian cannibal, gnawing the roasted flesh from human bones, found the light of nature sufficient? No! I call upon the pagodas of superstition, the Brahminic tortures, the infanticide of the Ganges, the bloody wheels of the Juggernaut, to prove the light of nature is not sufficient. A star is beautiful, but it pours no light into the midnight of a sinful soul. The flower is sweet, but it exudes no balm for the heart’s wound. All the odours that ever floated from royal conservatory, or princely hanging gardens, give not so much sweetness as is found in one waft from this scriptural mountain of myrrh and frankincense. All the waters that ever leaped in torrent, or foamed in cascade, or fell in summer shower, or hung in morning dew, gave no such coolness to the fevered soul as the smallest drop that ever flashed out from the showering fountains of this Divine Book. The light of nature is not sufficient. Infidels strike their penknife through this Book because they say that it is cruel and indecent. There are things in Ezekiel and Solomon’s Song that they don’t want read in the families. Ah! if the Bible is so pernicious just show me somebody that has been spoiled by it. Again, they strike their penknife through the Bible because it is full of unexplained mysteries. What, will you not believe anything you cannot explain? Have you finger-nails? You say, “Yes.” Explain why, on the tip of your finger, there comes a nail. You cannot tell me. You believe in the law of gravitation; explain it, if you can. I can ask you a hundred questions about your eyes, about your ears, about your face, about your feet, that you cannot answer. And yet you find fault that I cannot answer all the questions you may ask about this Bible. I would not give a farthing for the Bible if I could understand everything in it. I would know that the heights and depths of God’s truth were not very great if, with my poor, finite mind, I could reach everything. Again, the infidel strikes his penknife through this Book because he says, if it were God’s Book, the whole world would have it. He says that it is not to be supposed that if God had anything to say to the world He would say it only to the small part of the human race who actually possess the Bible. To this I reply that the fact that only a part of the race receives anything is no ground for believing that God did not bestow it. Who made oranges and bananas? You say, God. I ask, How can that be, when thousands of our race never saw an orange or a banana? If God were going to give such things why did He not give them to all? If all the human race had the same climate, tile same harvests, the same health, the same advantages, then you might by analogy argue that if He had a Bible at all He would give it to the whole race at the same time. Again, 78

the infidel strikes his penknife through the Book by saying: “You have no right to make the Bible so prominent, because there are other books that have in them great beauty and value.” There are grand things in books professing no more than human intelligence. The heathen Bible of the Persians says: “The heavens are a point from the pen of God’s perfection.’’ “The world is a bud from the bower of His beauty.” “The sun is a spark from the light of His wisdom.” “The sky is a bubble on the sea of His power.” Beautiful! Beautiful! Confucius taught kindness to enemies; the Shaster has great affluence of imagery; the Veda of the Brahmins has ennobling sentiment; but what have you proved by all this? Simply that the Author of the Bible was as wise as all the great men that have ever lived put together; because, after you have gone through all lands, and all ages, and all literatures, and after you have heaped everything excellent together and boiled it down, you have found in all that realm of all the ages but a portion of the wisdom that you find in this one Book. Take it into your heart! Take it into your house! Take it into your shop! Take it into your store! Though you may seem to get along quite well without this Book in your days of prosperity, there will come a time to us all when our only consolation will be this blessed Gospel. (T. De Witt Talmage.)

The written WordJeremiah continued to prophesy close up to the time of the first captivity. The days were evil, the cup of the nation’s iniquity was filling rapidly, as rapidly, indeed, as the cup of its predicted desolation and sorrow, yet the people discerned not the signs of the times.I. The circumstances which led to the preparation of this roll. Jeremiah had now been a preacher to the people for three-and-twenty years, serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and warning the nation” every one night and day with tears.” The effect of these spoken addresses, however, had been utterly disappointing; under Divine guidance he must now have recourse to another expedient. He must prepare a summary of all his sermons, revive upon the minds of the people the warnings which seemed to have passed away; must enable them to read, each in the solitude of his secret chamber, words which, as heard with the outward ears, had neither moved them to repentance nor kindled in them any sense of alarm. “And the word came unto Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day.” It is worthy your noting how frequently in the Old Testament the Almighty gives instructions to have His words committed to writing; to Habakkuk it is said, “Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables.” The commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai must be preserved on two tables of testimony,—tables of stone, written with the finger of God; and the commission given to Ezekiel shall be contained in “the roll of a book, written within and without.” Of all this, no doubt the design is to make us appreciate the value of a written revelation, of a written rule of faith, of a written charter of salvation, of a written and inspired record of the mind and will of God. In a matter so vital to man’s happiness, God would not leave us at the mercy of man’s memories—to the fidelity with which oral traditions might be handed down. But let us see what this history teaches us is the avowed purpose of the Most High in giving us this written revelation. “Write all these words, for it may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them”; and the same thought is repeated in the seventh verse, where Baruch is instructed to go and read the writing to the assembled people. “It may be, they will present their supplication before

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the Lord, and will return every one from his evil way.” But how striking is this language on the part of Almighty God. “It may be” that such and such effects will follow on the use of certain means. In the infinite prescience of the everlasting mind we know there can be no such thing as a “may be”; gathering into its sweep as that mind does the issues of all being, chance, time, space, every circumstance with regard to every soul, is an inevitable must be. While still further, with regard to this very people of whom it is said, “It may be that they will turn,” we know it was a settled fact, in the order of the Divine omniscience, that they would not turn, but would “deal very treacherously.” Too humble we cannot be in dealing with those apparently conflicting difficulties of moral state, nor too thankful either. They teach us that in relation to the acts and purposes of an infinite mind there are things which are too high for us; that however much two statements may seem to cross each other, if they are clearly revealed we must accept both. “An intellect to which nothing would be paradoxical,” says Bishop Horsley, “would be an infinite intellect.” It is a bad way of reconciling two Scripture doctrines to ignore or overlook or hide under a bushel one of them. The denial of the doctrine of the Divine predestination, of a knowledge on the part of God of how you or I shall act at any given moment of our future history, is simple atheism; the dethronement of God from the rule of the universe, and a passing of the sceptre to the hands of a thousand wild contingencies, that each may contend for it as it will. And yet with all this “must be” in the Divine purposes, room should be left for the “may be” in the human volition and acts. I bid you take a practical example. Look at the apostle Paul and his companions in the storm. All the men in that ship were to be saved; he knew that, as an absolute purpose of God, which nothing could prevent. It was “a must be”; but the sailors did not believe in this assurance. Hope was gone, the ship must be abandoned. “Down with, the boats instantly, and let each for himself take his chance of deliverance.” Now, how did Paul act, with his foreknowledge that all the passengers should be saved? Did he sit quietly? Just the reverse; with all the earnestness and solemnity of one who felt that on the assistance of these sailors he and all that sailed with him were dependent for their life, he cried out, “Except these abide in the ship ye cannot be saved.” I have told you that there shall be no loss of any man’s life among us and I believe that It shall be even as it was told. He seems to add, God s predestinations are accomplished not by the superseding of human efforts, but by the employment of them; not by forcing our moral liberty, but in harmony therewith. The end is fixed; but for the fulfilment of it my earnestness is necessary, your submission to my directions is necessary; the labour and skill of these seamen to lighten the ship, to take up the anchor, to loose the rudder-bands, to hoist up the mainsail to the wind are necessary. There is a sense in which it “must be” that you shall be saved, and there is a sense in which it may be that you shall perish. You have, to do, not with the certainty, but with the contingency, and it hangs upon this, “Except these abide in the ship.” And it is under like limitations that God uses the expression, “it may be,” in regard to the effect which the writings of Jeremiah might have upon the minds of those who should read them,—whether the Jews or ourselves. But, in our case, the putting of the Bible into our hands is, so to speak, a moral experiment. To us, His ministering servants, God says, “Here is a book fitted by the nature of its discoveries to commend itself to every man’s conscience; calculated by its discoveries of a Saviour’s love, and power, and tenderness, to win the most hardened heart to repentance, and accompanied, moreover, with such piercing and persuasive energy, through the influences of the Spirit, that only on the supposition of the most resolved obduracy and pride can any conscience remain unconvinced of its guilt, or any sinner continue in the error of his ways. I, in My infinite foresight, may know that in the case of this man, or of that, the message will fail, but I 80

will have the experiment tried with all. Thou shalt speak My word unto them, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear.’” You must preach upon contingencies; “Take thee a roll of a book, ‘it may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil that I purpose to do unto them.’” But let us look at this “may be”—this merciful contingency that God, in condescension to our forms of thought, is pleased to speak of. These possible results, which it is in the heart of God to do, should be produced by our taking the Book of Scripture into our hands. First, God hopes thereby to excite in us a holy fear of His just displeasure—“It may be that they will hear all the evil that I purpose to do unto them.” Yes, will hear it and believe in it—will not suppose that I speak parables, will not think that I have just menaced merely to humble, or have drawn pictures of calamity only to terrify, but will be persuaded of a truth that if My message be not accepted these results will follow. I will leave men to themselves, I will withdraw from them the influences of My Holy Spirit, I will bid the great High Priest offer up no more prayers for them, I will even suffer them to delude themselves into a false peace. Oh! ye who despise the Word, will ye hear all the evil which God purposes to do unto you? But see, God has better hope of His work. He trusts it may produce amendment of life, accompanied with earnest desires for forgiveness—“It may be that they may return every man from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.” Do not fail to note here the import of that expression. “That I may forgive.” It touches upon another of God s deep things, namely, upon what God is able to do, what are the limits imposed upon Him by the nature of His own attributes, upon some things which cannot be done by Him, to whom, nevertheless, we are accustomed to say that “all things are possible.” Sins of longest life I can forgive, and sins of the blackest dye; I can forgive infirmity, forgive years of despised grace and despised opportunity, but it is beyond the power of My holy nature, beyond the reach of the great propitiation, to forgive where there is no returning, where the heart is still in love with evil, enslaved under the uncast-off yoke of sin. “It may be that they may return, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.” I must note one other of these contingent results which God hopes for through His written Word, put by the Spirit into the mouth of Jeremiah; namely, that it will set the people upon much earnest prayer. “It may be,” he says to Baruch, in the seventh verse, “that they will present their supplications before the Lord, and will return every one from his evil way.” Very beautifully does this come in, for none of the other results were to be expected without this the sense of spiritual danger, the heart to turn from sin, the desire for experimental assurance of the Divine forgiveness, are, it is true, not things that we could ever obtain by ourselves, but are the gifts of God, promised to earnest and persevering prayer. You are told to pray, told that it is the will of God that you should pray. There you have something; use that, and then God will give more. You pray that you may know how to pray; if the heart so turned to God be not yours, yet you desire that you may have that heart, and all hinges upon your honest use of God’s kind” contingencies. This merciful experiment He is making with you as to the use of His written Word, “it may be they wall present their supplications before the Lord.” If they do, the next step will follow, “they will return every one from his evil way.” Such is the design of a gracious God, in ordering Jeremiah to prepare the roll; such were His ends in restoring it after it was destroyed, and presenting it, with all its subsequent enrichments, for the use of us and of our children unto this day.II. The roll destroyed. Jeremiah, as we learn from the narrative, was at this time under restraint; not in prison, where he was not placed until afterwards, but only forbidden by Jehoiakim to exercise his prophetic functions, or even to be present at the services of the temple. Accordingly he gives it in charge to Baruch, a man who had taken all the Lord’s

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words in his mouth, to go up and recite all the words of the Lord in the ears of the people who would assemble in the Lord’s house on the fast day. Whether there was no congregation assembled, or in obedience to some unrecorded instruction, the first reading of the roll seems to have taken place in the hearing of a single person only, in one of the side courts in the entrance of the gates of the Lord’s house. This noble hearer was Michaiah, the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, the scribe, who was so arrested by the words he had heard that he lost no time in going to tell them, as well as he could remember, to the princes at the time resident in the court of Jehoiakim. Interested in this second-hand recital, the princes thought they should like to hear for themselves, and they accordingly sent for Baruch to the palace, that they might have a private hearing of the words of this roll. And here it concerns us nearly, to watch what effect the reading of this roll had upon the princes. Well, in the first instance, it produced in the minds of these princes sentiments of deep emotion. “It came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they were afraid, both one and the other, and said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the king all these words.” Easily can we conceive how encouraged Baruch would be by this first fruit of a faithful message; he had stirred up the dormant activities of conscience; the arrows of conviction were rankling sharply in the soul, a sudden fear had evidently taken hold of the men,—“they trembled.” For this, as we know, is the sequel: the princes tell the matter to the king, the king sends for the book, commands one of his servants to read out of it, and is so irritated at its disclosures, that at the end of the third or fourth leaf he takes the roll from the hand of Jehudi, and having cut it up to pieces that no part of it might be recovered, waits with awful deliberation until all the roll is consumed in the fire on the hearth. The marvel of the sacred writer seems to be less at the burning than at what followed the burning, or rather at what did not follow the blasphemous hardihood that could go so far and not tremble at the mischief itself had wrought, “yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king nor any of his servants that heard all these words.” It is just here that an important practical lesson comes in for us, for it tells us what despised religious conviction may lead to; what a soul-hardening tendency there is in warnings which we have felt once, and felt keenly too, but which we resolved afterwards we would put aside and try to forget all about; and the danger is the same to this day. Show me a man who has never been the subject of one serious or solemn thought, whom the Word, whether read or preached, has never penetrated with a sense of sin or danger, and of that man, I say, I have hope. The arrow is yet on the wing, it may pierce him yet. But when we come to the case of a man who, like Judah’s princes, has trembled under the power of the Word, or who, like Jehoiakim himself, has felt it to be so pointedly addressed to his own heart that he could bear its presence no longer, then I say there is room for nothing but the most distressing apprehension, and fearful standings in doubt. Ay! better had it been for Elnathan, and Delaiah, and Gemariah never to have seen that roll at which their consciences trembled, than having seen it and having trembled at it, to have relapsed into their former indifference, and even to stand by whilst its dishonoured pages were blazing on the hearth.III. The roll restored and replenished with more awful judgments. Who ever hardened his heart against God and prospered? Who ever kicked against the pricks of an accusing conscience and did not live to mourn in bitterness his folly? The anger of Jehoiakim against the roll was great, because it told him that the king of Babylon should certainly come and destroy the land. And so, like the foolish Brahmin who crushed the microscope with a stone because it showed him insects in his food, he thought to be revenged on the roll by burning it in the fire. Well, what are the consequences? Why, the

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new roll Jeremiah was to write contained not only the former things, but some worse, even the utter ruin of the royal house, the condemnation of Jehoiakim’s posterity to captivity and shame, and the exposure of his own body to the burial of an ass, as an eternal monument of God’s displeasure against all who despised the warnings of His written Word. Not only was Jeremiah to rewrite all the words of the Book which had been burned in the fire, but, says the sacred historian, “There were added besides unto them many like words.” And what is the great practical lesson I wish you to derive from this part of the history? That the Word of God is imperishable. A singular and wonderful Providence, as we all know, has watched over that Word. Every jot and tittle shall have its complete fulfilment, for indeed there is something beyond the mere writing. Oh, suffer me to remind you of its double aspect, its double lesson, its double tendency, either to strengthen the mind and hopes of the righteous, or to cover with overwhelming hopelessness the prospects of the ungodly and the sinner. Let me say a word first to those who feel that they do not belong to Christ, have no part in the covenant, know well enough they are not washed, not sanctified, not justified by the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God. Must I not in all faithfulness say to them, even as Baruch would have said to Jehoiakim when he threw the strips and shreds of heavenly truth into the flame, “Be thou well assured that all the words written in this roll shall come to pass, yes, and there shall be added unto them many like words”? The neglect of the preached Word can but aggravate the condemnation. “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not pass away.” More grateful, however, is it to the minister of the Gospel of love and peace to approach this imperishableness of the written Word from its other side, and see what are the promises to them that fear God. And to them I say, even to all that are in Christ Jesus, to all that have found peace, this unfailing certainty of all that God hath written in His Word is like a footing on the everlasting rock. Yes, it is yours to live in a world of change, changes in nature, changes in Providence, changes in the Church of God, changes in the rolling seasons, changes in your own frames and feelings, and desires and spiritual experiences; and what protection and refuge against your own inconstancy, your own fluctuations of purpose, and will, and power, is it to be able to fall back on the unchanging, eternal, indefeasible Word of promise of the Most High God, of Jesus “the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.” (D. Moore, M. A.)

Bible-burningWe read in the first lesson this morning the earliest instance of Bible-burning on record, and also the uselessness of the experiment. On this page of the Bible we have two extremes brought into juxtaposition—there is the extreme of utter obedience, as illustrated by the Rechabites, in the preceding chapter, and the extreme of disobedience, recorded here. Between these two cases lies the life conduct of the men and women of our generation. Few are so obedient as to follow out to the very letter the duties enjoined on us by God’s holy Word. We like to shirk the more disagreeable, and to modify others so as to justify a partial obedience; and yet, though we may try to find loopholes through which to escape distasteful duties, I question much whether any would go to the extreme of defiance, represented by Jehoiakim’s conduct in burning the Book itself. Whether the teachings of the Book are followed out as they should be, or disregarded, people generally admit their duty to obey and yield honour and respect to the Book itself, if not from proper motives, then from a superstitious, unreasoning veneration. The holy Bible ought to be treated by us with respect at least; the Book ought not to be treated as any other book, but should occupy a place peculiarly its own, and that because it is the gift of

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God to man, the gift which shows us the way of salvation, which tells us of God’s relationship to us as our Father, which tells the story of a Saviour’s love and compassion. Jehoiakim is a beacon to us to warn us of the danger of hardening our hearts and resisting holy influences. Sins persisted in bring sorrow and reverses, and the effect of reverses is either to bring us to God or to drive us far away from Him into the outer darkness of misery and ruin. Unless the heart is illuminated by the light of true religion, man will rebel when God chastens; misfortunes will but drive him into evil excesses, and, instead of quickening within his breast the sense of sin and inciting to repentance, he will go from bad to worse, he will be unwilling to hear the voice of God, will shut his eyes to his danger, and will, in effect, dismiss those whose duty it is to recall him to his better self, with the old answer of Felix to Paul. (M. P. Maturin, M.A.)

Rejected blessingsTime is the material of our lives, but do not those people out it with a penknife, and cast it into the fire, who talk of “killing time,” and put their words into practice? But if it perishes it is recorded, and an hour will come when they would give all that they possess for a moment of it. Youth is one of the precious opportunities of life—rich in blessings if we choose to make it so, but having in it the materials of undying remorse if we out it with a penknife, and cast it into the fire. Health is another of God’s most precious gifts which is too often cut with a penknife and thrown into the fire of passionate sin. “Never treat money affairs with levity—money is character.” This is a wise precept, for money is a power lent to us by God, not for our own use only, but for the good of others. There is then such a thing as conscientious money-spending, and it is very sinful to cut money, so to speak, with a penknife and cast it into the fire. If we are to be saved, we must use the means of salvation which God gives to us as He gave this roll of a book to Jehoiakim. Above all, we must not treat with contempt the gracious invitations of our Saviour to come unto Him. If we despise or neglect so great salvation, we shall kill our souls. No doubt Jehoiakim fancied when he burned the roll upon which God’s threatenings against his sins were written, that these would somehow be prevented from taking effect. But the truth of God is not so easily destroyed. Jeremiah caused another and a longer roll to be written. From this we may learn the often-forgotten fact that the truth of God does not depend upon men. They may believe or they may not believe, but though this matters to themselves it cannot destroy truth. It is well to remember this fact, which, when stated, seems so obvious, for many men have a contemptuous patronising way of talking about religion as if it would perish if they ceased to believe it. And as it is with truth, so is it with our responsibilities. We do not get rid of them by simply ignoring them and treating them with contempt. (E. J. Hardy, M. A.)

Jehoiakim’s penknifeA homely writer says, “Jehoiakim’s patent has expired, and a whole army of followers of his are fond of cutting at God’s Word.” God gives very sharp, earnest, forcible warnings. He gives them in Scripture; He gives them in our daily lives. Do not let us handle Jehoiakim’s penknife to pare down the long dark columns of warning against sin and heedlessness and godlessness, which are written in His book. Shall I tell you how this absurd childish folly comes about? It comes of small pieces of heedlessness, gentle warnings not heeded, then stronger ones are sent, and they too are soon tossed aside. I

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cannot believe that Jehoiakim became such a downright fighter against God by any sudden visitation; he probably went on from smaller neglects to greater; from neglects to rejections; from rejections to defiance, till at last he thought as little of cutting God’s Word into fragments, as he once would have thought of putting off a serious thought to a more convenient season. (J. Kempthorne, M. A.)

Burning the rollI remember, when on a mission, coming down from a pulpit where I had been pleading with souls, and going up to a respectably dressed man, one on whom my eye had rested more than once while preaching. I saw the tear was in his eye; I knew that the Word had gone home to his heart. I entreated him then and there to give himself up to the Lord. I daresay I talked with him for a quarter of an hour, till at last I found he too seemed to burn the roll. He began by listening to me politely and civilly, but as I went on earnestly pleading with him, pressing him to surrender himself to God, I saw he was resisting and hardening his heart, till at last he said something to the effect that he wished I would not talk to him any more. So after offering a short prayer I had to withdraw. A few weeks after, that man was struck on the head in a drunken broil, and never had time to say, “God save my soul.” His day of grace ended in that church, he too had burned the roll. (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.)

Unbelief does not alter factsJehoiakim made the other mistake of thinking that he had removed the danger when he had destroyed the roll that told of it. He could burn the parchment, but did that arrest the tramp of Nebuchadnezzar’s army? Putting out the lighthouse lamps does not blow up the reef. Its merciless fangs are as sharp as ever, and all the more surely fatal because they are hid in the darkness. We do not alter facts by refusing to believe them, or to attend to the statement of them. As Bishop Butler says, “Things are as they are,” and burning Jeremiah’s roll changed nothing. Only it was the throwing away of one more possibility of escape, and made the king a more hopeless victim of the fierce conqueror. (A. Maclaren.)

Jehoiakim’s wickednessWe have before us one of the most tragic acts of wickedness recorded in the history of the kings of Judah. It is in striking contrast with the act of the good King Josiah (2Ch_34:15-33), who, when the lost book of the law was found, humbled himself and gave instant heed to its warnings and precepts; all the more so because the good king was father of this wicked and defiant one. Truly grace does not run in the blood. The chapter before us relates how Jeremiah had written out a summary of the prophecies concerning the impending captivity, and caused it to be read to the people assembled at a great and special fast in the Temple, and afterward to the princes in private, and finally to the king (verses 1-19). The object of the special message was one of compassion and pity on the part of Jehovah (verses 3, 7). It is wonderful how, in the midst of His wrath, God always remembers mercy. The reading of the prophecy to the people evidently made a deep impression, for the news of it was carried to the princes, who sent for Baruch and had

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him read it to them. They in turn were deeply affected, and said it must be brought before the king. They, however, knew his tyrannical temper, and took two precautions. First, after hearing from Baruch s lips how he came to write this prophecy of woe, they warned him to go with Jeremiah, and both to secrete themselves from the wrath of the king; then they laid the writing up in the house of the scribe (verses 15-19), and lastly went in to report the matter to the king. These princes seemed favourable to the prophet and to the Word of God, but they feared the king. An evil king can suppress the good that is in his people and prevent a whole nation from repentance or reformation. Men in authority have great privilege, but also great responsibility.I. The Word of God destroyed. The burden of the word of Jeremiah, which was a summary of all his prophecies on this point, was that Judah should be carried away captive by the King of Babylon (verse 29). This was not the first warning, but the gathering up of all past threats; it was God’s final word to the king and the people. As it was read, he ordered it bit by bit to be cut away and thrown into the fire until all was consumed. In this action the following points may be noted—

1. The contempt of the king. The princes had put the writing away in the house of the scribe (verse 20) before they went in to the king. This was a testimony of their respect for a message sent by a prophet of the Lord, and of their fear for its safety. The king, however, had no such feelings of reverence for God’s Word. He did not even dignify the document by sending a proper official to bring it; but showed his contempt by telling a page or under-secretary to fetch it. This act was a suggestive prelude to what followed afterward. The Bible, of all books, is entitled to the place of highest honour, and it is a bad sign when this due respect ceases to be manifest.2. The rage of the king. As the book was being read, the king overlooked the message, which undoubtedly was incorporated, that God hoped that the reading of it might induce them to turn from their sins and claim His promised mercy. Many people, who declaim against what they call the hard and bitter denunciation of sin and of the judgments of God, seem persistently to forget that the Book which condemns sinners to death and hell is mostly taken up with earnest and loving entreaties to repentance, with promises of life and salvation. God was beyond his reach, but” His Word being within his grasp, he poured out his wrath against that. He ordered it to be cut to pieces and burned with fire. This was not a hasty and impulsive action on the part of the king, but deliberate and premeditated. He perseveres in his evil work, notwithstanding the remonstrances of his princes. He was a “proud and haughty scorner, who dealt in proud wrath” (Pro_21:24). There are times when remonstrance ceases to be wise, and a wilful sinner must be given up to his chosen way. The reason for his wrath was the evil tidings which the prophet’s words brought him. Yet how foolish was his wrath—how impotent his rage! For what did he destroy? Only the parchment on which the Word of God was written; not the Word of God itself. It is related of a heathen princess of hideous countenance, that on looking into a mirror which a missionary had, and seeing her ugliness, she destroyed the glass in rage, and ordered that no more mirrors should be brought into her kingdom. I once saw a man in a railway carriage to whom a leaf of the New Testament had been given, crumple it up in his hand, fling it on the floor, spit on it, and grind it under his heel. This action was as ridiculous as it was impotent. The rage of the hater of God’s Word was evoked, but the Word of God was not destroyed.3. The attitude of the witnesses. There were two classes of witnesses present.

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(1) The king’s servants; his pages and immediate attendants. “Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king nor any of his servants that heard all these words.” This implies that the message not only failed to bring about any repentance or desire that the evils threatened might be averted (compare 2Ch_34:19), but that the servants were not even horrified at the action of the king in ordering the writing to be destroyed. They became parties to the act of the king in his wilful unbelief, in his contempt and deliberate defiance of Jehovah. When we join ourselves either in service or companionship with unbelieving men, we must be prepared either to go with them or break from them, when a crisis comes by reason of God’s Word. We may serve an ungodly king, like Daniel, if we have the courage to take God’s part when occasion comes, or we may have social and business relations with unbelievers, if we are prepared to act in a like loyal manner. But how often a timid Christian finds himself overborne by his wicked companions when they warm themselves at their fire, as with Peter in the High Priest’s palace.(2) On the other hand, there were three princes present who “made intercession to the king, that he would not burn the roll; but he would not hear them.” They had, however, cleared their skirts and washed their souls from the iniquity. Are we as faithful in all such like emergencies?

4. The baffled king. Having destroyed the writing, the king began to reflect that he had not avoided God’s Word or put himself beyond the further reach of it, so long as the scribe and the prophet were at large. He therefore sent to have them arrested. Probably he contemplated their murder, thinking thus he would get rid of the Word. This is an old method with the haters of God. “But the Lord hid them.” Let us suppose he had succeeded in getting hold of the prophet and had killed him; would he next seek to destroy God too? This would be the logical course. How men forget that when they have destroyed the outward revelation they have not destroyed the Word of God; and when they have killed the prophets they have not baffled the Spirit by whom the prophets speak. God hid His prophet and His scribe. Man is immortal till God has no further need of him. Let all God s witnesses know of a truth that God can deliver His servants from any manifestation of the wrath of man, if it is best for them and for His cause; and let them know when He does not deliver, it is neither for want of love, faithfulness, nor power, but because all round it is best that they should seal their testimony with suffering or death.II. The indestructible Word. The facts in this incident bring out clearly the truth, that man’s hatred and rage against God’s Word are as impotent as is the broken wave that falls back in spray from the rock against which it has spent itself. In this conflict of man against God’s message, we see that it is neither a book nor a man against which the enemies of Christ fight. God can reproduce His Word, either by the same prophet, as He did in this case, or by another. Before the world can get rid of the Gospel it must kill all the believers in the world, and then they must not be too sure that God has not hidden His Word as He hid His prophet, to come forth unexpectedly, as the law came forth in the time of Josiah. Millions of Bibles may be destroyed, and the preachers and witnesses of the Word burned and put to the sword, but it only serves to both increase the Word of God and multiply the witnesses. When will the world learn that they cannot fight against God? Look only at the impotence of men in this conflict in the past. One Herod destroyed the little children, but God hid His Christ; another Herod beheaded John the Baptist, but failed utterly to destroy his testimony. The world crucified Christ; but God

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raised Him from the dead. The world imprisoned the apostles, stoned Stephen, put James to the sword, persecuted the young Church, but this only served to increase the number of believers and multiply the revelation. Paul wrote more Epistles while in prison than he would have if he had been free. John wrote the Revelation while he was exiled for the Word of God. “The Word of God cannot be broken,” or defeated,—as this foolish and wicked king found out. Several points more may be noted in connection with this latter half of our study.1. God takes note of our treatment of His Word. It is evident that the eyes of the Lord were upon the king while he was burning the roll, from the fact that, immediately afterward, He commissioned Jeremiah to rewrite it.2. The Word rewritten. “Not one jot or tittle” of God’s Word shall pass away till all be fulfilled. What was the king advantaged by his work? What are any of us advantaged by our unbelief? Suppose we say, “I do not believe God’s Word,” will that alter the fact that it will be carried out to the letter? Suppose instead of destroying God’s Word, we keep it closed, never look into it and never go where it is preached, or, reading and hearing, do not heed it; will that prevent it from being fulfilled? Shall our unbelief make God’s Word to be a lie? Did the unbelief of the antediluvians prevent the flood?3. More words added. In the first message God had simply told the king that he and the people would be carried away captive, but now He adds more, saying that for this act of wickedness he himself should be deprived of a direct heir, and his body should be cast out and exposed to the heat of the day and the frost of the night. He would not only bring upon the men of Judah all that He had first declared, but would add an especial punishment to the king. Cumulative unbelief brings cumulative punishment. With the burial of an ass shall he be buried; dragged and east out far from the gates of Jerusalem, and none shall mourn for him, either as brother, or kindred, or king (Jer_22:19). To mutilate the Word of God, either by adding to it or destroying it, is to bring special additional plagues and sufferings upon the transgressor (Rev_22:18-19). Let us learn this solemn lesson in connection with the Word of God. His Word is eternal; it can neither be bound nor broken; that it will not cease in the world until all that is written therein be fulfilled. All the unbelief, neglect, and rage against it are utterly futile (Isa_40:6-8). (G. F. Pentecost.)

The story of a penknifeI. Jehoiakim’s use or misuse of the penknife. Let us talk a little about this famous penknife. In itself it was a very insignificant article. Very unlike was it to its namesakes of to-day, which contain so many other things beside the knife blades that one feels as if one were carrying about an engineer’s tool bag and a portable carpenter’s shop. The knife Jehoiakim used was a rough specimen of workmanship, doubtless, even though, as it belonged to me king s confidential secretary, it is likely to have been the very best of its kind. Probably it was a straight bit of metal thickened at one end for a handle, flattened and sharpened for a blade at the other end. A pocket-knife it was not, being carried in the oblong writing-case or box along with the ink horn and reed pen. That rough bit of bladed iron was the instrument of the king’s spiritual suicide.II. The meaning of Jehoiakim’s conduct.

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1. He had formed a resolution against God. The message of the roll asserts the Divine authority over Jehoiakim and his kingdom. He would not permit such interference. He would manage his own affairs. How bright a day was it for some of us when we resolved that we would serve God! But what a black day it must be when the decision is taken that God shall not be served. That was what Jehoiakim meant. He doomed himself henceforward to follow his own will.2. This resolution was avowed by a public act. Among our red-letter days, if the day of decision for Christ comes first, the day of professing Christ comes next in importance. As days are reckoned in heaven, that would be the exact order. But what a terrible thing to express the opposite decision! It may be quickly and easily done-by the tone of a laugh. Jehoiakim’s courtiers would all know, as well as if he had said the words, punctuating each word with a slash of the penknife at the manuscript, “I will not serve God.”3. The decision and profession were impatient and hasty. The entire roll was God’s message to the king. Only three or four columns—a very small portion comparatively, was read before the whole was destroyed. To decide against God without hearing Him out, is a madman’s act. “Let our minds be open a while longer.” Jehoiakim had committed himself, and all the greater part of his people.4. This hasty action was an insult to God. To tear up a letter unread or in public—and Jehoiakim did both—can have but one meaning. “This letter ought never to have been written.” But fancy acting like this towards God, and saying to your Maker, “You have no business to interfere with me!”

III. The use of the penknife by imitators of Jehoiakim in other times. In many ways it is possible to insult Almighty God by professing a hasty, half-conscious decision that we will let Him manage our life. The penknife is still at work in various ways.1. One favourite kind of penknife is an insult or injury to God’s messenger. God’s message is often represented by the man who brings it, and pulling the servant to pieces, in one way or another, is a common expression of revolt against God. Herod’s penknife was the sharp sword of his executioner, putting an end to the life of the prophet who had become an incarnate rebuke. Cruelty is not always necessary. A passing slight is quite enough.2. Similar results may be effected by staying away from a meeting, or severing oneself from a society or class, breaking off an acquaintance with an earnest Christian, and so on. The Bible class is getting rather “warm,” as you call it. Conversions are frequent, and it will be your turn soon. So you absent yourself.3. A more or less sincere profession of scepticism will serve the purpose well. Are there some here ready to decide hastily against God and heaven? Have you listened to the entire message which, in various ways, God has spoken? Have some of us used the penknife in days gone by? Has the message of the Saviour no power to affect us now, because of certain action of ours in the past, which has torn up, as it were, the communication between God and ourselves? Are we on this account conscious of no desire or inclination to be better than we are? Let us humbly entreat the Lord we have insulted to speak again. Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth. No, I am not Thy servant; but I fain would be; nor am I sure that I can hear. I destroyed my hearing by my own act; but oh, for the sake of the dear Saviour, who bade the Gospel be preached to every creature, speak again, Lord, and make me listen. (W. Carey Sage,

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M. A.)

A fool and his penknifeAll things were hastening to a general clash and ruin unless they speedily mended their ways; and the king and his flatterers were living, as such gentry do, in a fools’ paradise. Jeremiah saw it with the seer’s illumined eyes. It came to him as the Word of the Lord, and as the Word of the Lord he wrote it down on a roll of parchment. The roll was brought to the king, as he sat enthroned in one of his palaces, with his courtly parasites and sycophants around him. It contained no flattery. It was a black picture of the king’s misdoings, and the terrible consequences which some near morrow would bring. The royal sinner did not like it. What sinner does, whether he be king or beggar? He did not want to think about to-morrow. No man on the highway to destruction does.I. Now that picture of the king with the penknife is often repeated in various ways. The Bible has been so often attacked by that instrument that if it were not the indestructible Word and work of God it would long since have disappeared. People have always been so busy cutting out what they did not believe, or what they did not like, that really it is only by a perpetual miracle that there is any of it left. I thank God that I have still my Bible, and believe in it in spite of all the cutting and paring down that has been done. Somehow it stands the fire and comes out unharmed, no matter what furnace you pass it through. Critics have their day, and Jehoiakims do their fooling and die, but the Word of the Lord endureth for ever.II. I am afraid we all keep that instrument for special occasions, and use it when we do not wish to face an inconvenient or unwelcome truth. Men who profess the greatest reverence for the Bible sometimes manage to put out parts which do not harmonise with their conduct and views. There are our good friends who admire, honour, revere, and love Christ as the highest man, but stop short of worshipping Him as Divine. It must surely be a difficult thing for them to read the New Testament without the penknife.III. I fear we are all sinners, either with penknife or the paste. We often cut out moral precepts and commandments if they do not quite accord with our conduct. Most of us use the knife on those many words of Jesus and His apostles which warn us against Mammon worship and covetousness and the love of money, and tell us not to pay all our devotions to the people who have it. It makes our conscience easier if we can somehow get these texts put out. Some people do not always like the Fourth Commandment and kindred injunctions which speak to us about honouring father and mother and reverencing the hoary head. “That is quite antiquated prejudice, and out of date,” they say; “let the penknife deal with it.” There are people who talk far too freely, and not always too truthfully, discussing the faults of friends, and passing on mischievous scandal. I read them what Jesus said: “For every idle word you shall give account.” “Oh! is that there?” they say. “I do not believe it; lend me a penknife.” And there are Christian people who find it desperately hard to forgive; it is as hard as to get a camel through the eye of s needle. They will keep a grudge and maintain a silent quarrel with a fellow-Christian for years. I open the book for them and read: “If thy brother offend thee seventy times, and seventy times repent, thou shalt forgive him,” &c. “Be ye kind, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any.” And they stop me and say, “These things are not in my Bible; I have cut them all out.” And there are all those sayings of the Master and His apostles about cheerfulness, gladness,

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thankfulness—“Be of good cheer; in all things give thanks; be content with such things as ye have; rejoice always, and again I say rejoice.” They are the brightest and pleasantest sunshine in the Bible; but some of us use the penknife on them every day. We should all be better Christians if we could lust take the Book as it is, and not be always forgetting or putting out the parts we least like. But let me not forget to say that the penknife is used far more constantly, and more in Jehoiakim’s fashion, by those who are not Christians at all, by those who are living wholly irreligious lives. Away with all the warnings, threatenings, counsels, and invitations which stand in the way of our desires. “The soul that sinneth it shall die.” “The wages of sin is death.” “For all these things God will surely bring thee into judgment.” “Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap” Cut away the roll; burn it; let us forget the words; out of mind is out of existence; the day of reckoning will never come. But it does come, nevertheless! The inevitable hour creeps on; the debt stands though you tear the bill in two and burn both halves. You cannot burn God’s ledger in which all the accounts are kept. You will have to pay that bill unless, through faith and repentance and the merits of Jesus, it is all forgiven. (J. G. Greenhough, M. A.)

The indestructible WordI. Eyes opened to see. There was a vast difference between Baruch, whose heart was in perfect sympathy with Jeremiah, and Jehudi or the princes. But there was almost as much between the faithful scribe and the heaven-illumined prophet. The one could only write as the words streamed from those burning lips; he saw nothing, he realised nothing; to him the walls of the chamber were the utmost bound of vision; whilst the other beheld the whole landscape of truth outspread before him, the rocks and shoals on the margin of the ocean, the inrolling storm-billows tipped with angry foam, the gathering clouds, the ship straining in every timber and driving sheer on the shore. This was the work of the Spirit who inspired him, and whose special function it was to open the eye of the seers of the old time to the great facts of the unseen and eternal world, which were shortly to be reduplicated in the world of the temporal and visible. To speak what he knew, and to testify what he had seen—such was the mission of the prophet. In our case there is no likelihood of this. Yet men may be seers still. Two men may sit together side by side. The veil of sense may hang darkly before the one, whilst for the other it is rent in twain from the top to the bottom. Happy are they the eyes of whose heart are opened, to know what is the hope of His calling, what the riches of His inheritance in the saints, and what the exceeding greatness of His power toward them that believe. It is very important that all Christians should be alive to and possess this power of vision. It is deeper than intellectual, since it is spiritual; it is not the result of reasoning or learning, but of intuition; it cannot be acquired in the school of earthly science, but is the gift of Him who alone can open the eyes of the blind, and remove the films of earthliness that shut out the eternal and unseen. It is a thousand pities to be blind, and not able to see afar off, when all around stand the mountains of God in solemn majesty; as the Alps around the Swiss hostelry, where the traveller arrives after nightfall, to eat and drink and sleep, unconscious of the proximity of so much loveliness. If, on the other hand, you have the opened eye, yon will not need books of evidences to establish to your satisfaction the truth of our holy religion; the glory of the risen Lord; the world of the unseen. With the woman of Samaria you will say, “We have seen it for ourselves.” They who see these things are indifferent to the privations of the tent-life, or,

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as in Jeremiah’s case, rise superior to the hatred of man and the terrors of a siege.II. The use of the penknife. It is probable that no one is free from the almost unconscious habit of evading or toning down certain passages which conflict with the doctrinal or ecclesiastical position in which we were reared, or which we have assumed. In our private reading of the Scripture we must beware of using the penknife. Whole books and tracts of truth are practically cut out of the Bible of some earnest Christians. But we can only eliminate these things at our peril. The Bible is like good wheaten bread, which contains all the properties necessary to support life. And we cannot eliminate its starch or sugar, its nitrates or phosphates, without becoming enfeebled and unhealthy. It is a golden rule to read the Bible as a whole.III. The indestructible word. Jeremiah wrote another roll. And the facts to which Jeremiah bore witness all came to pass. Neither knife nor fire could arrest the inevitable doom of king, city, and people. The drunken captain may cut in pieces the chart that tells of the rocks in the vessel’s course, and put in irons the sailor who calls his attention to it; but neither will avert the crash that must ensue unless the helm is turned. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)

21 The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and Jehudi brought it from the room of Elishama the secretary and read it to the king and all the officials standing beside him.

GILL, "So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll,.... The same person the princes sent to Baruch to come to them, and bring the roll with him, Jer_36:14. This the king did, out of curiosity, and to satisfy himself of the truth of what the princes said; and by this it appears they had told him of the roll, which contained what they had given him a summary of, and where it was: and he took it out of Elishama the scribe's chamber; or, "out of the chamber of Elishama the scribe"; who knew where it was, being present at the reading of it in the secretary's office, and saw where it was laid; or, however, was directed by the secretary where it was, and might have the key of the chest or scrutoire given him in which it was laid: and Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes that stood by the king: as he doubtless was ordered; and which he did so loudly,

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clearly, and distinctly, that the king and all the princes could hear; which princes were those who had heard it before, and were come to the king to acquaint him with the substance of it; and who stood by the side of the king, or about him, in honour to him; though there might be also others besides them, who were before with the king, and waiting on him; and Abarbinel thinks that other princes distinct from those that went to the king are meant. When it is said that Jehudi read the roll in the hearing of the king and princes, it mast be understood of a part of it only, and not the whole; as Jer_36:23shows.JAMISON, "sent Jehudi — Note how unbelievers flee from God, and yet seek Him

through some kind of involuntary impulse [Calvin]. Jehudi seems to have been the king’s ready tool for evil.

K&D 21-22, "Jer_36:21-22Thereupon the king makes Jehudi fetch the book, and causes it to be read before

himself and the assembled princes. עמד to stand over, since the one who is ,מעלstanding before his master, while the latter is sitting, overtops him; cf. Gen_18:8. The king was sitting, as is stated in Jer_36:22 by way of preparation for what follows, in the winter-house, i.e., in that portion of the palace which was erected for a winter residence, in the ninth month, i.e., during the winter, and the pot of coals was burning before him. The rooms of eastern houses have no stoves, but in the middle of the floor there is a depression, in which is placed a sort of basin with burning coals, for the purpose of heating the apartment: cf. Keil's Bibl. Archäol. ii. §95, S. 7. For the expression ואת־האח, "and as for the fire-pot, it was burning before him," cf. Ewald, §277, d.CALVIN, "It now follows, that the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll from the chamber of Elishama the scribe In the person of Jehoiakim we see how the unbelieving shun and seek God at the same time, but with a confused mind, as they know not what they seek. The king might have heedlessly despised what had been related to him, for if he wished to be free from all trouble, why did he order the roll to be brought to him, and a part of it to be read? We hence see that the unbelieving, though they wish to go as far as possible from God, yet run to him in a sort of blind manner; but this they do not of their own accord; for God by his secret impulse draws them to himself, so as to render them more inexcusable. Hence it comes, that curiosity leads many to hear the truth, and some madly ask, what is the truth to them? like wild beasts when they run against swords. Such was the disposition of Jehoiakim, for he wished all the prophecies of Jeremiah to be buried; and yet he could not restrain himself, but would know the substance or some part of them. He therefore sent Jehudi to fetch the rollIt is then added, that Jehudi read the roll before the king and before his counsellors. Hence it was that his impiety became more evident, as he was not moved by the predictions read to him. He could not indeed endure the recitation, but after some chapters had been finished, he became so enraged, as we shall see, that he threw the roll into the fire and burnt it. It was, however, God’s purpose to take away from the

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king as well as from his counsellors every pretext, that they might not afterwards allege that they had fallen through ignorance, for after the roll had been presented to them, it was their own fault if they were not restored to that state of safety from which they had fallen. He now adds — PETT, "Jeremiah 36:21‘So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll, and he took it out of the chamber of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears 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 It was the ninth month and the king was sitting in the winter apartment, with a fire burning in the firepot in front of him.

BARNES, "The winterhouse - A separate portion of the palace was used for residence according to the season (marginal reference).

And there was a fire on the hearth ... - And the fire-pan burning before them. On the middle of the floor was a brazier containing burning charcoal.CLARKE, "Winterhouse - A warm apartment suited to the season of the year,

(December), when in Palestine there is often snow upon the ground, though it does not last long. A fire on the hearth - a pan or brazier of burning coals. This is the case to the present day. In cold weather the rich burn wood in brass or earthen pans, placed in any part of the room; the indigent burn sticks on the floor.

GILL, "Now the king sat in the winter house, in the ninth month,.... The month Cisleu, which answers to part of November, and part of December; and so was the midst of winter, and a proper time for the king to be in his winter house; though, as this was a fast day, it would have been more proper for him to have been at the worship of God in the temple, Jer_36:9. This winter house probably was a winter parlour, as

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distinguished from a summer parlour, Jdg_3:20; and both might be under the same roof, or parts of the same house; only the one might be more airy and cool, and the other more close and warm. Kings had their summer and winter houses; see Amo_3:15; this circumstance is mentioned for the sake of what follows, the burning of the roll; and accounts for there being a fire at hand to do it: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him; there was a stove, or some such vessel or instrument, in which a large fire of wood was made, at which the king sat to keep himself warm while the roll was reading, and about which the princes stood.

JAMISON, "winter house — (Amo_3:15).ninth month — namely, of the religious year, that is, November or December.fire on ... hearth — rather, the stove was burning before him. In the East neither chimneys nor ovens are used, but, in cold weather, a brazen vessel containing burning charcoal; when the wood has burned to embers, a cover is placed over the pot to make it retain the heat.K&D, "Jeremiah 36:22-32The punishment which is to come on Jehoiakim for his wicked act. - Jer_36:27. After the burning of the roll by the king, Jeremiah received from the Lord the command to get all that had been on the former roll written on another, and to announce the following to Jehoiakim the king: Jer_36:29. "Thus saith Jahveh: Thou hast burned this roll, whilst thou sayest, Why hast thou written thereon, The king of Babylon shall surely come and destroy this land, and root out man and beast from it? Jer_36:30. Therefore thus saithJahveh regarding Jehoiakim the king of Judah: He shall not have one who sits upon the throne of David, and his corpse shall be cast forth to the heat by day and to the frost by night. Jer_36:31. And I shall punish him, his servants, and his seed for their iniquity, and bring on them and on all the inhabitants of Judah and all the men of Judah all the evil which I have spoken to them; but they did not hear." On the meaning of Jer_36:29see p. 316, supra. The threatening expressed in Jer_36:30. is really only a repetition of what is given in Jer_22:18-19, and has already been explained there. "There shall not be to him one who sits upon the throne of David," i.e., he is not to have a son that shall occupy the throne of David after him. This does not contradict the fact that, after his death, his son Jehoiachin ascended the throne. For this ascension could not be called a sitting on the throne, a reign, inasmuch as he was immediately besieged in Jerusalem byNebuchadnezzar, and compelled to surrender after three months, then go into exile to Babylon. On Jer_36:31 cf. Jer_35:17; Jer_19:15.

Jer_36:22-32Thereupon Jeremiah made his attendant Baruch write all the words of the former roll on a new one, "out of his mouth," i.e., at his dictation; and to these he added many other

words like them. כהמה, i.e., of like import with those on the previous roll. Hence we perceive that on the first roll there were written down not all the several addresses fully, but only the most important parts of his oral announcements.

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COKE, "Jeremiah 36:22. Now the king sat in the winter-house— See Amos 3:15. This description of Jehoiakim's sitting in his winter-house in the 9th month, which corresponds to the latter end of November and part of December, with a fire burning upon the hearth before him, answers to Russell's account, who says, that the most delicate in those countries make no fires till the end of November. How long they continue the use of them, he does not say; but we know from other authors, that in Judaea they are continued far into the spring. Bishop Pococke set out from Jerusalem on the 17th of March in the evening, and was conducted by his Arab guide to his tent, which was two or three miles off; and there treated with bread and coffee; he, the Arab's wife, and some other people, he tells us, sitting by a fire: in another place he says, that in the night of the eighth of May, the sheik of Sephonry, a place in Galilee, made them a fire in a little ruinous building, and sent them boiled eggs, milk, and coffee: so that the fire which they had was not designed for the preparing of their food, but for warming them. No wonder then that the people who went to Gethsemane, to apprehend our Lord, thought a fire of coals a considerable refreshment at the time of the passover, (John 18:18.) which must have been earlier in the year than the 8th of May, though it might be considerably later than the 17th of March. See Observations, p. 19. TRAPP, "Verse 22Jeremiah 36:22 Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month: and [there was a fire] on the hearth burning before him.Ver. 22. Now the king sat in the winter house.] There sat he, in that his stately and sumptuous palace built by iniquity, [Jeremiah 22:13-14] curans cuticulam ad focum, keeping himself warm in his winter chamber, and careless of calling upon God; while the people, cold and empty, were fasting and praying in the temple, and hearing the Word read by Baruch.In the ninth month,] sc., Of the sacred year, which month was part of our November and part of December, a cold season; but that thing of naught, his body, which he now made so much of, was shortly after to be cast out unburied, in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost. [Jeremiah 36:30]PETT, "Jeremiah 36:22Now the king was sitting in the winter-accommodation (house) in the ninth month, and there was a brazier burning 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 (a vessel containing burning charcoal, or a hearth containing the same) alight in the room in which there would be a charcoal fire which was there in order to provide warmth (compare John 18:18). Whilst the climate was mild, it was cool in contrast to the hot summers

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(and there was, of course, no glass in the windows).

23 Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe’s knife and threw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire.

BARNES, "Leaves - Columns: literally folding-doors; the word exactly describes the shape of the columns of writing upon the scroll.

Penknife - “Scribe’s knife;” used to shape the reed for writing, and to make erasures in the parchment.On the hearth - Or, in the fire-pan. The conduct of the king shows how violent was his temper.

CLARKE, "When Jehudi had read three or four leaves - Rather columns; for the law, and the sacred Hebrew Books, are written in columns of a certain breadth. דלתות delathoth, signifies gates or openings between column and column, or between section and section.

He cut it with the penknife - bethaar hassopher, “the knife of the בתער הספרscribe,” properly enough penknife.

And cast it into the fire - To show his contempt for God’s words.

GILL, "And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves,.... Either three or four of the breadths of parchment, which were glued together, and rolled up; or three or four of the columns in those breadths. The meaning is, he had read a few of them. The Rabbins (s) would have it, that three or four verses in the book of the Lamentations are meant: he cut it with the penknife; that is, he cut the roll to pieces with a penknife he had in his hand, or lay near him. It is difficult to say who it was that did this; whether Jehudi that read the roll, or Jehoiakim the king that heard it; most interpreters understand it of the latter; but the connection of the words carries it to the former; for the nearest

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antecedent to the relative he is Jehudi; though it is highly probable he did it at the king's command; or, however, saw by his countenance and behaviour that such an action would be grateful to him; and that he was highly displeased with what had been read, and could not hear any longer with patience: and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth; that is, he cast it into the fire, and there let it lie, until it was wholly consumed; a very impious action, to burn the word of God; a full evidence of an ungodly mind; a clear proof of the enmity of the heart against God, and of its indignation against his word and servants; and yet a vain attempt to frustrate the divine predictions in it, or avert the judgments threatened; but the ready way to bring them on.

JAMISON, "three or four leaves — not distinct leaves as in a book, but the consecutive spaces on the long roll in the shape of doors (whence the Hebrew name is derived), into which the writing is divided: as the books of Moses in the synagogue in the present day are written in a long parchment rolled round a stick, the writing divided into columns, like pages.

pen-knife — the writer’s knife with which the reed, used as a pen, was mended. “He” refers to the king (Jer_36:22). As often as Jehudi read three or four columns, the king cut asunder the part of the roll read; and so he treated the whole, until all the parts read consecutively were cut and burnt; Jer_36:24, “all these words,” implies that the wholevolume was read through, not merely the first three or four columns (1Ki_22:8).

K&D, "Jer_36:23Now, "when Jehudi had read three or four columns, he the king cut it the book-roll with a pen-knife and threw the pieces into the fire, in the pot of coals, till the whole roll

was consumed on the fire in the pot of coals." ת ,properly "doors," are not leaves ,דלתbut divisions of a book. The opinion of Hitzig, that leaves are to be understood, and that the Megillah, therefore, was not a roll, properly speaking, but a book with leaves, cannot be substantiated. In the synagogues, the Jews even at the present day, according to the ancient custom, use real rolls, which are rolled up on a stick. On these the Scripture text is written, though not in lines which occupy the whole breadth of the roll; the whole space is divided into parts. "Scribebatur," says Buxtorf in Institutione epistolari Hebr. p. 4, "volumen lineis, non per longitudinem totius chartae aut pergamenti deductis, sed in plures areas divisis, quomodo sunt latera paginarum in libris complicatis. Istae propterea voce metaphoricâ vocanturת januae valvae, quod figuram januaeדלתreferent." The subject of יקרעה is not Jehudi, as Hitzig thinks, but the king, and the word does not signify "he cut it out," but "he cut it in pieces" (the suffix refers to המגלה). We are not, with many expositors, to view the conduct of the king in such a way as to think that, whenever Jehudi had read some portions, he cut these off and threw them into the fire, so that the book was, with these interruptions, read through to the end, and at the same time gradually destroyed. Such conduct Graf justly characterizes as trifling and silly, and not in harmony with the anger of a king having a violent disposition. But we cannot see how the imperfect יקרע (in Nägelsbach's opinion) proves that Jehudi read the whole, when the text states that only three or four columns were read. The meaning, peculiar to the imperfect, of the continuation or repetition of an act, is fully made out by

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supposing that the king cut down the roll bit by bit, and threw the pieces into the fire one after the other. Neither does the expression עד־תם כל־המגלה imply that the whole book was read; for תמם does not denote the completion of the reading, but the completion of the burning: hence the words are to be translated, "till the whole roll had completely got upon the fire," i.e., was completely burnt; cf. תם .Gen_47:18. The inf ,אל־absol. והשל is a continuation of the finite verb, as frequently occurs, e.g., in Jer_14:5; Jer_32:44.CALVIN, "Here Jeremiah shews how little he had effected; for the king not only cast aside but tore the roll into pieces, and after having torn it, he wished its memory to perish, for he cast it into the fire. This trial must have grievously affected the mind of the Prophet; he had dictated that roll by God’s command; he saw now that all his labor had been in vain. He might then have complained to God that so much labor had been spent without fruit. For why had God bidden the roll to be written, except for the purpose of leading the king and his counsellors to repentance. As to the people, the Prophet could not know whether it had answered the end for which he sent his scribe Baruch to them, for no account is given as to the attention paid by them. But Baruch was led to the king’s palace, so the minds of all were kept in suspense: what was now the issue? The king burnt the roll. There is no doubt then but that the mind of the Prophet was much affected. But God thus exercises his servants when he bids them to speak to the deaf or to bring light to the blind.Let us then learn simply to obey God, though the labor he requires from us may seem to be useless. And hence Paul rises above all the ingratitude of the world and says, that the ministers of the Gospel are a sweet odor to God, whether for death or for life, (2 Corinthians 2:15) for though the greater part are rendered worse by hearing the Gospel, yet the obedience rendered to God by ministers is acceptable to him, nor is the event to be looked to. Jeremiah then saw that the king’s mind was exasperated, but he did not on that account repent of his obedience, for he knew that the event was to be left with God and to his will. The duty of men is to execute whatever God commands, though no fruit may appear to proceed from their labors. This then is one thing.Now as to the king, we see in him as in a glass how monstrous is their blindness who are the slaves of Satan. Surely the king, when God so thundered in his ears, ought to have been terrified. He could not indeed treat the word with ridicule, but he became enraged, and acted violently like a rabid wild beast, and vented his rage against the roll itself! If he thought Jeremiah to have been the author, why did he not disregard him as a man of no authority in public affairs? for Jeremiah could not have lessened his character as a king. There is then no doubt but that he perceived, though unwillingly, that he had to do with God; why then did he become thus enraged? what could he hope to gain by such madness towards God? But this, as I have said, was that dreadful blindness which is found in all the reprobate, whose minds the devil has fascinated; for on the one hand they perceive, willing or unwilling, that God is present, and that they are in a manner summoned to his tribunal; and on the

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other, as though they were forgetful of God, they rage madly against him.It is then said of King Jehoiakim, that while he was in his winter-house and sitting before the fire, (106) when three or four pages had been read, he cut the roll with an iron pen, or with the small knife of a scribe. The word תער tor, means often a razor, but is to be taken here for the knife used by scribes, un canivet. The king, in the first place, did not wait until Jehudi finished the roll; after he had heard three or four leaves, or pages, as we call them, he seized the roll and cut it; and in the second place, being not content with this sacrilege he burnt the roll, as though he could abolish God’s judgment together with the book. But we shall hereafter see what he gained by this intemperate spirit in burning the roll until the whole was consumed in the fire It now follows —And the king was sitting in the winter-house, in the ninth month, and at the brasier burning (or, which was burning) before him.It is “a small altar, arula,” in the Vulg.; “fire” in the Syr. and Targ.; but “hearth” in the Sept. — Ed. COKE, "Jeremiah 36:23. Three or four leaves— Their books were in the form of a scroll, and consisted of several pieces of parchment rolled upon each other. It must be likewise noted, however, that by leaves several understand columns or partitions, into which the breadth of the parchment was divided. A variety of Hebrew manuscripts in the Bodleian library, as well as a curious one found at Herculaneum, are evidences for the reality of this manner of writing. Houbigant reads pages; which, says he, were the same with those now found in the parchments called "The volumes of the synagogue;" in which the parchments are not sewn one beneath the other; for if this was the case, the volume would only have one page, whose beginning would be at the top, and its end at the bottom of the parchment: but the parchments are sewn on the side of each other; which are read by unfolding the volume either to the right or left; so that there are as many pages as there are parchments. TRAPP, "Jeremiah 36:23 And it came to pass, [that] when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast [it] into the fire that [was] on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that [was] on the hearth.Ver. 23. When Jehudi had read three or four leaves.] Vespasian is said to have been patientissimus veri, (a) very patient of truth; so was good Josiah, whose heart melted at the hearing of the law; [2 Chronicles 34:27] but so was not this degenerate son of his, Jehoiakim, but more like Tiberius, that tiger, who tore with his teeth all that displeased him; or like Vitellius the tyrant, of whom Tacitus (b) saith, Ita formatae principis aures, ut aspera quae utilia: nec quidquam nisi iucundum et non laesurum acciperet, That his ears were of that temper that he could hear no counsel, though never so profitable, unless it were pleasant, and did suit with his humours.

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He cut it with the penknife.] Why? what could he dislike in that precious piece? Of Petronius’s Satyricon one said well, Tolle obscaena et tollis omnia; of Jeremiah’s prophecies I may safely say, Tolle sancta, et tollis omnia. But this brutish prince could not away with downright truth, &c.And cast it into the fire.] O stultitiam! quid innocentes chartae commeruerant? (c) O madness! what evil had those innocent papers deserved that they nmst die this double death, as it were? Those magical books at Ephesus were worthily burned; [Acts 19:19] Aretine’s love-books are so lascivious that they deserve to be burned, saith Boissard, (d) together with their author; many seditious pamphlets are now committed to Vulcan to be corrected, and more should be; but, O sancta Apocalysis! as that martyr once said when he took up the book of the Revelation, cast into the same fire with himself; so, O holy Jeremiah! what hast thou said or written to be thus slashed, and then cast into the fire? Jehoiakim is the first we read of that ever offered to burn the Bible. Antiochus, indeed, did the like afterwards, and Dioclesian the tyrant, and now the Pope. But though there were not a Bible left upon earth, yet "for ever, O Lord, thy Word is stablished in heaven," saith David. [Psalms 119:89]Until all the roll was consumed.] So far was he from repenting of his wickedness, that he fed his eyes with such a sad spectacle, and was ready to say, as Solon did when he burned the usurers’ bonds in Athens, that he never saw a fairer or clearer fire burn in all his life. WHEDON, " 23. Three or four leaves — Rather, columns. The exact word here is doors. This was a continuous roll, but the writing, as is customary, was in sections or columns. Cut it, etc. — That is, the king, not Jehudi, “cut it.” The act illustrates the violence of the king’s temper. The book had made a deep impression on the princes, and they were careful to provide for its safe keeping when they sent to tell the king, but he incontinently destroys it. It is manifestly an error to interpret, as some do, that as often as three or four columns were read they were cast on the brazier, and that this process was kept up until the entire roll was read through and burned up, as this would be silly and incredible.NISBET, "THE INDESTRUCTIBLE BOOK‘All the roll was consumed.’Jeremiah 36:23We often think the books of the prophets very dry reading; if we studied them more we should find in them incidents and scenes as interesting and suggestive as this. One point only I remind you of now.I. This is the first instance of burning the sacred Book.—Begin by picture of the scene, Jeremiah’s book read by the officers, and making quite an excitement among

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them. Observe what the book contains, prophecies of national woe because of national sins. At last they feel that it must be read to the king. At first they tell him of the contents of the roll, evidently afraid to show the roll itself to him. He angrily orders it to be fetched; they dare not disobey. The king listens to a few lines, then passionately snatches it out of the hands of Jehudi, and begins to cut it up into strips with his knife. Three of the councillors are brave enough to plead with him not to burn the roll; he will not heed them, utterly refusing to receive the Divine truth and message; putting insult on God by his treatment of His Word, the king goes on cutting up the roll, and dropping piece after piece into the flames, until the whole is burnt up. And to the evident surprise of the writer it is added, ‘Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king nor any of his servants.’ The sacred Word has been destroyed or burnt many a time since then. Illustrate by Diocletian, finding it impossible by persecutions to root out all the Christians and destroy Christianity, endeavouring to get possession of all the Christian books; many suffered death for refusing to give them up. Antiochus attempted to destroy the Jewish scriptures. Illustrations also found in martyr ages.II. Reasons for burning the Book.—Jehoiakim’s reason. (1) It testifies against men’s wrongdoing, and points out their danger. Describe how anxious the wreckers who wanted to plunder shipwrecked vessels would be to get the light in the lighthouse put out. (2) It sets men free—from superstition, from error, from bonds, from priests. ‘Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.’III. The wickedness of burning the Book.—We can see the wickedness of setting fire to the tabernacle, or temple, or a church, because each is God’s house. Show why the Word is even more sacred. In it more of God and less of man. We can see how wicked it would be to burn all the barns which stored a nation’s food: how much worse to destroy the truth, which is the food of souls. The reason for killing Jesus is the reason for burning the Bible, ‘men hate the light, and love darkness rather.’IV. The uselessness of burning the Book.—Some Baruch will be set writing another. The true Phœnix tale; from the ashes of burnt Bibles new editions have sprung. Illustrated by Professor Rogers’ dream of the ‘blank Bible’ in Eclipse of Faith. He beautifully shows how every part of it could be fetched back again out of Christian memories. Men may snatch the Bible from our hands, as the king did; they cannot take it out of our hearts.Illustration‘As a contrast, the case of Josiah may be recalled. When the lost Book of the Law had been found, Josiah rent his garments in great distress, because he now saw how he had sinned and that wrath was hanging over his head. Instead of repentance in Jehoiakim, we have defiance and presumption. Instead of listening reverently to the Divine words, he tore the roll in pieces and threw it into the fire.’PETT, "Jeremiah 36:23

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‘And it came about, when Jehudi had read three or four leaves (or ‘columns’, literally ‘doors’), that he (the king?) cut it with the penknife, and threw it into the fire which was in the brazier, until all the roll was consumed in the fire which was in the brazier.’This can be taken in one of two ways.1. It may indicate that the whole scroll was burned once Jehudi had read three or four columns, with that being enough to antagonise Jehoiakim who would know what was coming.2. It may indicate that he read the whole scroll with a portion of it being destroyed piece by piece as it was read.The former would indicate acting in a fit of rage, the latter, which may be suggested by the ‘until’, would indicate a slow and calculated insult to Jeremiah, and of course to YHWH.The scroll may well, when opened, have revealed three or four columns which the reader could read before twisting the rollers to reveal the next three or four columns. This might serve to explain why the king acted after every three or four columns. The word for columns is literally ‘doors’ indicating its oblong nature. And, if this is how we read it, then after the reading of the columns the king (or Jehudi at his command) cut the columns off from the scroll with a ‘pen-knife’ (a sharp instrument normally used for sharpening or splitting the stylus or reed used in writing) and threw them into the charcoal fire where they were burned up. And this continued until the whole scroll had been consumed by the fire.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 The king and all his attendants who heard all 103

these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their clothes.

BARNES, "Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments,.... They were not struck with horror at such an impious action as the burning of the roll; nor afraid of the judgments and wrath of God threatened in it; nor did they rend their garments in token of sorrow and mourning on account of either, as used to be when anything blasphemous was said or done, or any bad news were brought. The Jews from hence conclude, that whenever a man sees the book of the law torn of cut to pieces, he should rend his garments (t). The persons here meant are not the princes that first heard the roll read in the secretary's office, for they were afraid, Jer_36:16; unless they now dissembled in the king's presence, or had shook off their fears; however, if they are included, three must be excepted, whose names are mentioned in Jer_36:25; and those who are more especially designed are expressed in the next clause: neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words; not all that were in the roll, for they only heard a part; but all that were in that part, which was enough to make them fear and tremble; but they were hardened in their sins; and by the hardness and impenitence of their hearts treasured up wrath against the day of wrath. These servants of the king seem to be those in waiting, and not the princes that came to him; however, they were not all of this complexion and character, since it follows: GILL, "Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments,.... They were not struck with horror at such an impious action as the burning of the roll; nor afraid of the judgments and wrath of God threatened in it; nor did they rend their garments in token of sorrow and mourning on account of either, as used to be when anything blasphemous was said or done, or any bad news were brought. The Jews from hence conclude, that whenever a man sees the book of the law torn of cut to pieces, he should rend his garments (t). The persons here meant are not the princes that first heard the roll read in the secretary's office, for they were afraid, Jer_36:16; unless they now dissembled in the king's presence, or had shook off their fears; however, if they are included, three must be excepted, whose names are mentioned in Jer_36:25; and those who are more especially designed are expressed in the next clause: neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words; not all that were in the roll, for they only heard a part; but all that were in that part, which was enough to make them fear and tremble; but they were hardened in their sins; and by the hardness and impenitence of their hearts treasured up wrath against the day of wrath. These servants of the king seem to be those in waiting, and not the princes that came to him; however, they were not all of this complexion and character, since it follows:

JAMISON, "The king and his “servants” were more hardened than the “princes” and councilors (see on Jer_36:12; see on Jer_36:14; see on Jer_36:16). Contrast the humble fear exhibited by Josiah at the reading of the law (2Ki_22:11).

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K&D 24-25, "Jer_36:24-25In order to characterize the conduct of the king, the writer remarks, "Yet the king and his servants who heard all these words (which Jehudi had read) were not afraid, nor did they rend their garments (in token of deep sorrow); and even when Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah addressed the king, requesting him not to burn the roll, he did not listen to them." So hardened was the king, that he and his servants neither were terrified by the threatenings of the prophet, nor felt deep sorrow, as Josiah did in a similar case (2Ki_22:11, cf. 1Ki_21:27), nor did they listen to the earnest representations of the

princes. עבדיו are the court-attendants of the king in contrast with the princes, who, according to Jer_36:16, had been alarmed by what they heard read, and wished, by entreaties, to keep the king from the commission of such a wicked act as the destruction of the book. Ewald, on the contrary, has identified עבדיו with the princes, and thereby marred the whole account, while he reproaches the princes with "acting as the wretched instruments of what they knew to be the sentiments prevailing at court."CALVIN, "The Prophet now connects doctrine with the narrative, for what we have hitherto seen would be frigid were no instruction added. The Prophet then shews why he had related what we have read of the king’s impious obstinacy. But there is more force in a simple statement than if the Prophet in high-sounding words inveighed against the king and his counsellors; for he speaks here as one astonished; They rent not, he says, their garments, nor feared when they heard threatenings so dreadful. And doubtless it may be justly deemed as the most monstrous of things, that miserable men should with such contempt disregard the threatenings of God, which yet they ought to have dreaded no less than instant destruction. That mortals then should not be moved when God fulminates by his threatenings against them, but on the contrary become more hardened — this is an evidence of a diabolical madness. It is hence not without reason that the Prophet says, as one astonished, that neither the king nor his counsellors feared nor rent their garments.Now, we are taught in this passage that it is a sign of reprobation when we are not terrified when God threatens and declares that he will become our judge, and when he brings forward our sins, and also shews what we deserve. When, therefore, all those things produce no effect on us, it is a sure sign of hopeless madness. This is what the Prophet means when he says, they feared not, for his object was to shew that all, as well as himself, ought to stand amazed, that the king and his counsellors could thus fearlessly withstand the threatenings of God.As to the garments, the sign is put for the thing itself; and then a statement of a part is made for the whole: in the first place, to rend the garments is of no great moment, unless the heart be first rent, as Joel says in the second chapter; but though hypocrites make a shew of repentance by fallacious signs, yet when true and sincere repentance is treated of, the sign is put in the place of the thing signified, as in this passage, they rent not their garments, that is, they manifested no fear. And as the

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rending of garments was usually done, he says that they rent not their garments, when God by the mouth of Jeremiah and by the hand of Baruch fulminated against them. There is, in the second place, a part stated for the whole, because they were wont to put on sackcloth, and to sprinkle ashes on their heads. There is here a mention made only of garments; but other signs were also included.He says, When they heard all these words; not that the king heard the whole volume, but three or four chapters were sufficient to condenm him; for there is no doubt but that he was abundantly convicted, and that he threw himself into such a rage as to cut the roll and not to rend his garments, because he dreaded God’s judgment. And there is a striking alliteration in the words קרע koro, to cut, and קראkora, to read, the first ending with ע, oin, and the other with א, aleph,. He had previously said, that when Jehudah read a part of the roll, the king cut it; the one read and the other cut; and he says here, that the king did not cut (it is the same word) or rend his garments. The king had before cut the roll and torn it in pieces, when, on the contrary, he and the rest ought to have cut or torn their garments, and were it lawful, even themselves, when God terrified them with such dreadful threatenings. It follows — TRAPP, "Jeremiah 36:24 Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, [neither] the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words.Ver. 24. Yet they were not afraid.] Ne paulum quidem perculsi sunt. The king and his servants, those court parasites, were not stirred at all at such a Bible bonfire, but jeered when they should have feared, &c.Nor rent their garments.] Such was their stupor seu non-curantia, their security and insensibleness of that high offence, for which their posterity keep a yearly fast. See on Jeremiah 36:6. Rending of garments in token of grief was in use also among the heathens. Homer saith Priamus rent his clothes when he heard of the death of his son Hector. The like hath Virgil of his Aeneas:“ Tum pater Aeneas humeris abseindere vestemAuxilioque vocare deos. ”Suetonius {a} saith the like of Julius Caesar, &c. NISBET, "A FOOLISH BRAVERY‘They were not afraid.’Jeremiah 36:24Jehoiakim is king in Jerusalem. The best of fathers he had—the devout, true-hearted Josiah; but this Jehoiakim turned out to be the worst of sons. Against God,

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King Jehoiakim used his power. And the badness in the lifted places struck infection through the lower orders of the people. Sin was getting everything out of gear in that kingdom of Judah. But Jehoiakim was not going on unwarned. Jeremiah, the Lord’s prophet, was living in Jerusalem, and faithfully Jehoiakim was being told of the Divine displeasure and of the doom for his own and the people’s sins which was surely gathering.And the point is that, notwithstanding such defiance of the Divine will, and such refusal to treat rightly the Divine message, and such childish rage against the mutilation of God’s Word written in the prophetic roll, neither Jehoiakim nor his courtiers were afraid. They were puffed up with a foolish bravery (Jeremiah 36:24).Think a little of such foolish bravery. There is many a modern instance and illustration of it.I. It is a foolish bravery to ignore facts.—Just that did Jehoiakim.(1) It was a fact that he had sinned.(2) It was a fact that Jeremiah was God’s prophet.(3) It was a fact that God, by the mouth of Jeremiah, had spoken doom for the sin of Jehoiakim unless he should repent.But Jehoiakim would have nothing of these facts. He cut the roll to pieces and threw it on the fire, etc. But thus petulantly and wilfully to ignore facts did not change the facts. The facts stood, and it was the foolishest sort of daring thus to ignore them.Think of certain facts.(1) It is a fact that good is what ought to be; (2) that God is the good; (3) that evil is what ought not to be; (4) that the good which ought to be must be against the evil which ought not to be; (5) that God, Who is the good which ought to be, must be Himself against the evil which ought not to be; (6) that if I choose the evil which ought not to be, the good God, who must be against the evil which ought not to be, must be against me.All this is written in two Bibles—in the Bible of the Scriptures, in the Bible of the nature of things.Now, if I just ignore such facts as these and treat them as though they were not, it is the foolishest of bravery; it is poor bravado. Yet multitudes, during the past year and entering on the new year, have been and are doing precisely this. Does not the lapse of an old year and the beginning of a new admonish us it is time to stop such sheer and senseless carelessness of facts?

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II. It is a foolish bravery to imagine yourself an exception from the working of the Divine law.—Doubtless this was a kind of reason prompting Jehoiakim. It is quite likely he thought that the law of doom for sin would not strike him, a king. If he did not think so, multitudes of men do think so.Have you never been subdued into a vast awe, as the absolute irreversibleness of natural law has been pressed upon you? In this changing, transitory world there is one thing we can count on—the laws of physical nature will hold on their courses. The great wheels turn constantly, and they keep turning. It is because natural law is so unchanging that we may build our cities, and send our ships, and plough our fields, and reap our harvests.But there is another and a fearful side to this irreversibleness of natural law. When, for any reason, man stands athwart one of these great natural laws, the penalty for violation is sure to smite.And this is as true in the moral realm. It is a foolish bravery to think yourself an exception to God’s law. He said it—there are many who think it who do not so plainly say it—that young man, whom I was seeking to dissuade from courses of dissipation. ‘Oh,’ he answered, ‘it may hurt other fellows, but it won’t me; I am an exception.’ How crammed with folly such temerity!III. It is a foolish bravery to refuse truth which you dislike.—This Jehoiakim did. The prophet’s roll which warned him he cut to pieces.IV. It is a foolish bravery to go on heedlessly saying, ‘I don’t care.’—Thus did Jehoiakim, and multitudes follow him.V. It is a foolish bravery to refuse repentance.—This Jehoiakim did, but the doom smote (Jeremiah 36:30).Illustration‘Behold a real and a right bravery. In the British Museum I saw the MS. of a letter from General Gordon to his sister, dated Khartoum, February 27th, 1884—“I have sent Stewart off to scour the river White Nile, and another expedition to push back rebels on the Blue Nile. With Stewart has gone Power, the British consul and Times correspondent; so I am left alone in the vast palace, but not alone, for I feel great confidence in my Saviour’s presence. I trust and stay myself in the fact that not one sparrow falls to the ground without our Lord’s permission; also that enough for the day is the evil.All things are ruled by Him for His glory, and it is rebellion to murmur against His will.”’PETT, "Jeremiah 36:24

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‘And they were not afraid, nor tore their robes, neither 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 Even though Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them.

BARNES, "It is remarkable to find Elnathan interceding for Jeremiah after the office he had discharged toward Urijah Jer_26:22.

CLARKE, "Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah - Three of the princes wished to save the roll, and entreated the king that it might not be burnt. They would have saved it out of the fire, but the king would not permit it to be done.

GILL, "Nevertheless, Elnathan, and Delaiah, and Gemariah,.... Three of the five princes mentioned in Jer_36:12; had made intercession to the king, that he would not burn the roll; or suffer it to be burnt; this they did either at first, as soon as the roll was brought, that if the king should not like it, yet they besought him that he would not destroy it; or rather when they saw what Jehudi was going to do with it, either by the express order, or at the connivance of the king; then they humbly entreated that such an action might not be done, which gave them a secret horror, though they might endeavour to hide it as much as possible: but he would not hear them; or he would not receive it of them, as the Targum; that is, their supplication and intercession; but either east the roll into the fire himself, or

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permitted Jehudi to do it; nor would he suffer it to be taken out till it was all consumed.HENRY25-26, "That there were three of the princes who had so much sense and

grace left as to interpose for the preventing of the burning of the roll, but in vain, Jer_36:25. If they had from the first shown themselves, as they ought to have done, affected with the word, perhaps they might have brought the king to a better mind and have persuaded him to bear it patiently; but frequently those that will not do the good they should put it out of their own power to do the good they would.V. That Jehoiakim, when he had thus in effect burnt God's warrant by which he was arrested, as it were in a way of revenge, now that he thought he had got the better, signed a warrant for the apprehending of Jeremiah and Baruch, God's ministers (Jer_36:26): But the Lord hid them. The princes bade them abscond (Jer_36:19), but it was neither the princes' care for them nor theirs for themselves that secured them; it was under the divine protection that they were safe. Note, God will find out a shelter for his people, though their persecutors be ever so industrious to get them into their power, till their hour be come; nay, and then he will himself be their hiding place.VI. That Jeremiah had orders and instructions to write in another roll the same words that were written in the roll which Jehoiakim had burnt, Jer_36:27, Jer_36:28. Note, Though the attempts of hell against the word of God are very daring, yet not one iota or tittle of it shall fall to the ground, nor shall the unbelief of man make the word of God of no effect. Enemies may prevail to burn many a Bible, but they cannot abolish the word of God, can neither extirpate it nor defeat the accomplishment of it. Though the tables of the law were broken, they were renewed again; and so out of the ashes of the roll that was burnt arose another Phoenix. The word of the Lord endures for ever.JAMISON, "(See on Jer_36:16). The “nevertheless” aggravates the king’s sin; though

God would have drawn him back through their intercession, he persisted: judicial blindness and reprobation!CALVIN, "The Prophet aggravates the wickedness of the king by this circumstance, that three men opposed him, though they thereby subjected themselves to great danger. They saw that the king was carried away by the violence of his temper; and when he resisted God in a manner so insolent, what would he not have dared to do to them? That they notwithstanding hesitated not to intercede with him, was an instance of great courage. But it hence appears, that as the king did not attend to their counsel, his impiety was extreme.The particle וגם ugam, is to be rendered nevertheless Many interpreters have not attended here to what is emphatical, and have therefore perverted the meaning of the Prophet, or at least have extenuated it so as not to represent faithfully the object of the Prophet; for there is, as I have said, a very emphatic exaggeration in the word Nevertheless And let us learn from this passage, that when God draws us back from wicked designs, we are less excusable if we persevere in executing what he clearly shews ought not to be done. Conscience will indeed always be to us in the place of thousand witnesses; and though no one be present as a witness or an adviser or a monitor, yet we shall in vain try to escape before God by pretending ignorance or mistake or want of thought: but when the Lord by the instrumentality of men calls

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us back, so that we may not go on in evil ways, if we are not persuaded to desist, then discovered more fully is our incorrigible perverseness, according to what the Prophet intimates here. In short, let us know that any one sins the more grievously, the more means God employs to draw him back from his evil course.Since, then, we see how obstinate Jehoiakim was, there is no reason for us to wonder, that many at this day go on presumptuously in their course, though God as it were checks them, or at least sends men to restrain them. Let us, then, know that it is an old evil, so that we may not be disturbed by such a presumptuous contempt of the ungodly.Let us also notice the example given here of a bold admonition: for it is something like a miracle to find those at this day in the courts of princes, who are bold enough to remonstrate when there is much danger; for, as it has been before stated, every one is ingenious in devising means to flatter; and as this is the best and shortest way to elevation, all apply themselves assiduously to this art. The Prophet had indeed said that the king and his counsellors did not rend their garments, and yet he tells us now of three who openly professed that they feared God: but when he spoke before of all the princes, we must understand him as speaking of them as a body. Then the three, mentioned now, must be excepted; nor is there a doubt but that they incurred the displeasure of all the courtiers, as they had them opposed to them, since they must have been ashamed of their own negligence; but they dared to draw on themselves the displeasure both of the king and of all the rest, for they saw that it was God’s cause. It follows — TRAPP, "Jeremiah 36:25 Nevertheless Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll: but he would not hear them.Ver. 25. Nevertheless Elnathan.] Who had before been active for the king in apprehending and slaughtering the prophet Uriah, [Jeremiah 26:22] but now haply touched with some remorse for having any hand in so bloody an act.Had made intercession to the king.] Verum frigide admodum, but very coldly; and such cold friends the truth hath still not a few, at kings’ courts especially.PETT, "Jeremiah 36:25‘Moreover Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll, but he would not hear them.’There were, however, three present, 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.

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26 Instead, the king commanded Jerahmeel, a son of the king, Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the Lord had hidden them.

BARNES, "Hammelech - Either a proper name or a prince of the blood royal (see the margin; Jer_38:6; 1Ki_22:26).

CLARKE, "But the Lord hid them - They had, at the counsel of some of the princes hidden themselves, Jer_36:19. And now, though a diligent search was made, the Lord did not permit them to be found.

GILL, "But the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech,.... Or, "the king's son", as the Targum; though it rather seems to be the proper name of a person, one of the king's servants; since it is not probable he would send his own son on such an errand; and had he, he would rather have been called his own son than the king's son; besides, Jeconiah, who succeeded him, seems to be his eldest son, and yet he now could not be more than twelve years of age; whereas this Jerahmeel must be a man grown; and had he been an elder son, as he must, he would have succeeded him, unless it can be thought that he died before his father: and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet; in order to bring them before the king, or to imprison them, or put them to death, for which they might have the king's warrant; the one for prophesying, and the other for writing out and reading his prophecies; though Baruch may be called a scribe, not for being the amanuensis of Jeremiah; but because he was one of the scribes of the law, or doctors of the people: but the Lord hid them; the princes advised them to hide themselves, and they did,

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very probably in a house of some of their friends; but this would not have been sufficient, had not the Lord took them under his protection; there was no doubt a special providence concerned for them; but by what means this preservation was is not known. Kimchi suggests that these messengers sought for them in the very place where they were, and could not find them; and conjectures that the Lord set darkness about them, or weakened the visive faculty of those that searched for them, that they could not see them.JAMISON, "But the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech,.... Or, "the king's son", as the Targum; though it rather seems to be the proper name of a person, one of the king's servants; since it is not probable he would send his own son on such an errand; and had he, he would rather have been called his own son than the king's son; besides, Jeconiah, who succeeded him, seems to be his eldest son, and yet he now could not be more than twelve years of age; whereas this Jerahmeel must be a man grown; and had he been an elder son, as he must, he would have succeeded him, unless it can be thought that he died before his father: and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet; in order to bring them before the king, or to imprison them, or put them to death, for which they might have the king's warrant; the one for prophesying, and the other for writing out and reading his prophecies; though Baruch may be called a scribe, not for being the amanuensis of Jeremiah; but because he was one of the scribes of the law, or doctors of the people: but the Lord hid them; the princes advised them to hide themselves, and they did, very probably in a house of some of their friends; but this would not have been sufficient, had not the Lord took them under his protection; there was no doubt a special providence concerned for them; but by what means this preservation was is not known. Kimchi suggests that these messengers sought for them in the very place where they were, and could not find them; and conjectures that the Lord set darkness about them, or weakened the visive faculty of those that searched for them, that they could not see them.K&D, "Jer_36:26

Not content with destroying the book, Jehoiakim also wished to get Baruch and Jeremiah out of the way; for he ordered the king's son Jerahmeël and two other men to go for Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet; "but the Lord hid them," i.e., graciously kept them out of the sight of the spies. בן־המל is not the son of Jehoiakim, -if so, we would find simply את־בנ; but a royal prince is meant, cf. Jer_38:6; 1Ki_22:26; 2Ki_11:1-2; Zep_1:8.

CALVIN, "Here is described the madness of the king, which was so great, that he vented his rage against the Prophet and his scribe; and he chose no doubt those whom he thought to be most ready to obey him. He would have never taken such ministers as Elnathan or Delaiah or Gemariah, for he knew how much they abhorred such a nefarious deed; but he sent those whom he thought most adapted

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for such a service as that of killing Jeremiah and Baruch.It is not improperly conjectured from this passage and a previous one, that Jeremiah was not detained in prison, but that he had been restrained by God from proclaiming his prophecies to the king and from reading thmn to the people. But as the word עצור, otsur, is taken elsewhere for a captive or one bound, we may indeed draw a different conclusion. However, I will not contend on such a point. I have already explained what I most approve, — that Jeremiah was prohibited by a secret revelation, as Paul was forbidden to go to Bithynia. (Acts 16:7) It is certainly not probable that he could escape from the king’s prison, except it be said, that he was not so confined but that he thought himself free to escape when he saw that it was God’s will, or that though Jeremiah would not have departed from prison, he yet privately escaped from the present rage of the king, because he was forced.However this may have been, we ought to notice the words, that God hid them Jeremiah no doubt accepted the counsel given to him, to take care of his life; he however now acknowledges that he had been preserved by God’s kindness, as though he had said, that though there may be many ways by which we may escape from our present dangers, yet our life is in God’s hand, so that he hides and conceals us; for we ourselves would run headlong unto death, were we not covered by the shadow of his hand. But the rest to-morrow. TRAPP, "Jeremiah 36:26 But the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet: but the LORD hid them.Ver. 26. But the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech.] Or, The king’s son, whom he might employ against these two servants of God; as once the King of France sent his son and heir with an army against the Waldenses. It is not for nothing, therefore, that the curse is denounced against Jehoiakim and his posterity. [Jeremiah 36:30-31]But the Lord hid them,] i.e., He provided for them a hiding place in some good man’s house, and there safeguarded them from these bloodhounds who hunted after their precious lives. There is no fence but flight, nor counsel but concealment, to secure an innocent subject against an enraged sovereign.PETT, "Jeremiah 36:26‘And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet; but YHWH 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. ‘The king’s son’ would probably not have literally been the king’s son for Jehoiakim was about

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twenty nine and any son would therefore have been fairly young, (although in those days it is always possible that such a young person acted). It may rather indicate a member of the royal house, a relative of the king. A slab of clay bearing the name ‘Jerahmeel son of the king’, who was presumably the same man, has in fact been excavated. Shelamiah’s son later called for the arrest of Jeremiah under Zedekiah (Jeremiah 38:1-6).

27 After the king burned the scroll containing the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah:

GILL, "Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah,.... In the place where he was hid; the Lord knew where he was, for he hid him, and therefore could send his word to him: after the king had burnt the roll; either with his own hands, or had ordered it to be burnt, or connived at the burning of it: and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah; hence the Jews (u) gather, that when a man sees the book of the law burnt, that he is bound to rend his garments twice; once for the burning of the paper or parchment, and again for the burning of the writing; but no other is meant than the roll, in which the prophecies were written, Baruch took from the mouth of Jeremiah: saying; as follows:

JAMISON, "roll, and ... words — that is, the roll of words.K&D, "The punishment which is to come on Jehoiakim for his wicked

act. - Jer_36:27. After the burning of the roll by the king, Jeremiah received from the Lord the command to get all that had been on the former roll written on another, and to announce the following to Jehoiakim the king: Jer_36:29. "Thus saith Jahveh: Thou hast burned this roll, whilst thou sayest, Why hast thou written thereon, The king of Babylon shall surely come and destroy this land, and root out man and beast from it? Jer_36:30. Therefore thus saith Jahveh regarding Jehoiakim the king of Judah: 115

He shall not have one who sits upon the throne of David, and his corpse shall be cast forth to the heat by day and to the frost by night. Jer_36:31. And I shall punish him, his servants, and his seed for their iniquity, and bring on them and on all the inhabitants of Judah and all the men of Judah all the evil which I have spoken to them; but they did not hear." On the meaning of Jer_36:29 see p. 316, supra. The threatening expressed in Jer_36:30. is really only a repetition of what is given in Jer_22:18-19, and has already been explained there. "There shall not be to him one who sits upon the throne of David," i.e., he is not to have a son that shall occupy the throne of David after him. This does not contradict the fact that, after his death, his son Jehoiachin ascended the throne. For this ascension could not be called a sitting on the throne, a reign, inasmuch as he was immediately besieged in Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, and compelled to surrender after three months, then go into exile to Babylon. On Jer_36:31 cf. Jer_35:17; Jer_19:15.COFFMAN, ""Then the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah, after that the king had burned the roll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying, Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiachim the king of Judah hath burned. And concerning Jehoiachim king of Judah thou shalt say, Thus saith Jehovah: Thou hast burned this roll, saying, Why hast thou written therein, saying, The King of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast? Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning Jehoiachim king of Judah: He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David; and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost. And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them, but they hearkened not. Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiachim the king of Judah had burned in the fire; and there were added besides unto them many like words.""He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David ..." (Jeremiah 36:30). We do not understand the thinking of some writers who declare that this prophecy was unfulfilled, basing their denial upon the fact that a son did succeed him in Jerusalem for a brief three months and a few days; but, in our view, his being deposed in such a short time was more than an adequate fulfillment of what Jeremiah stated here.We are reminded that Jehoiachim was not the last ruler to attempt to rid himself of God's Word by burning the written records of it. Hitler and his evil associates burned the Bible at Nuremberg in 1933, with the same disastrous consequences for himself and his kingdom as those which overcame Jehoiachim and his kingdom.TRAPP, "Jeremiah 36:27 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after that

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the king had burned the roll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying,Ver. 27. Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.] Jehoiakim took an ill course to free himself from trouble, as he counted it, by burning the roll; for God’s Word cannot be burnt, no more than it can be bound. [2 Timothy 2:9] And "shall they thus escape by iniquity?" No, verily; for it followeth, and is not more votum than vaticinium, a wish than a prophecy, "In thine anger cast down the people, O God." [Psalms 56:7]BI 27-32, "Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words.The Word of God cannot be burntI. The Word of God is imperishable. The truth is not pen and ink, parchment and words, but a force of an unchangeable character. It borrows material forms for garments, and uses outward methods for expression; these change, but truth never. Changes are observable in nature, but its laws remain firm. The process of destruction and restitution is ever on the march. The lily will fade, and the rose will perish, but the law of their life will say to the elements, “Take thee another roll,” and write another lily and another rose. The pattern is never destroyed. Truth, law, symmetry, beauty, and life are emanations from the Eternal Mind, abiding immutable in the midst of change. Revelation has assumed aspects, many of which have passed away. The centre of all religious truth is the Saviour—“Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.” Whatever talents we possess, or whatever circumstances affect us, if there is a straight line from the heart to Jesus—if we are bound to Him by the radius of love—our lives will express the old truths, and present the old faith which animated patriarch, prophet, priest, apostle, and martyr.II. Opposition to the Word of God will not avert the consequences of sin. Why did the king precipitate the destruction of the Book before its contents were examined? If the moral condition of the people was wrongly described, facts would have disproved the fiction; if the threatened invasion by the King of Babylon was a myth, time would have revealed it. Evidently Jehoiakim found that the entrance of God’s Word brought with it light, and that the spectacle it discovered was too frightful to contemplate. Either he must burn the roll, or the roll would burn him. Sin prevailed, and the roll was burnt. Was it a victory? Three months before the destruction of the city, Jehoiakim died a miserable death. The Florentine philosopher declined to look through Galileo’s telescope, fearing he might see in the heavens some movement which would contradict his old view that the sun revolved, and the earth stood still Sinners fear to look at themselves through the Word of God. Dr. South wrote many years ago those words, “Truth is so connatural to the mind of man, that it would certainly be entertained by all men, did it not by accident contradict some beloved interest or other. The thief hates the break of day; not hut that he naturally loves the light as well as other men, but his condition makes him dread and abhor that which, of all things,

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he knows to be the likeliest means of his discovery.” God is not in all the thoughts of the wicked, but there is another roll, and God is there. Impressions of sin, of death, and of a judgment to come have suffered violence, and have been wiped off human recollection, at least for a time, but they are written in the other roll. The last vision which terrified the soul of Jehoiakim was the other roll The authority of truth is inviolable, which no penknife can cut, and no fire burn. Let the Word of God shine into our heart, expose its follies and impurities, and the blush on the cheek will be the dawn of a better day.III. There is a gracious purpose in the reiteration of the Word of God. Jeremiah and Baruch retired to re-commit to writing the contents of the first roll This was done to give Judah another chance of escape from the impending storm. Although the roll was fun of denunciation and warning, yet the terms of peace are included in the declaration of war. Prophet after prophet brought to Israel the re-written message. This is set forth in the parable of the barren fig-tree; the end of all God’s dealings is fruit unto life everlasting. What have we done with the second roll? Nature has re-written her message. Providence speaks again in terms of mercy. Gospel truths come up afresh, like the flowers in the garden. True, we have turned a deaf ear; but is it so still? Do we persist in unbelief?IV. All attempts to frustrate the Word of the Lord must ignominiously fail. The Word of God has been assailed by every conceivable opposition. The learned, with the sharp penknife of criticism, and the unlearned, with the fire of raillery, have made the attempt to destroy the authority of God’s written Word, but they no more succeeded than if they had dug a grave in which to bury the law of gravitation. Julian the apostate, and Gibbon the historian, cut and burnt the roll, but they were as grass, “The grass withereth,” &c. There was once a printing-press used solely to manufacture penknives to cut the roll; that press was afterwards used to print Bibles. The house in which Hume wrote against miracles was converted into a committee-room for the promotion of religious truth. Conviction of sin is the voice of God in the soul. Drown it you never can. Close the covers of the Bible, and fasten them with a clasp, but its very silence is louder than thunder. Messages and messengers come anew to remind us of our duty towards God and man. Let us bear in mind that the Word of the Lord is a hammer to break the rock; a fire to consume the stubble. Its wisdom is unbounded, backed by infinite power. Heaven and earth will dissolve before one iota of the Word will fail. Let us surrender our hearts to its power. (T. Davies, M. A.)

The sacred oraclesI. The committing of the mind and will of God to writing. This is important.

1. Because the knowledge of them must be preserved and extended.2. Because there was no way of preserving and extending this knowledge to be compared to this.

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II. What think you of those who would destroy the Scriptures?1. The enemies who deny its authenticity. Surely those precious pieces of antiquity which are found in the Book of Genesis—who would not wish to admire and preserve them? But the Vandalism of infidelity would fling them all into the fire, and fix our eyes on the darkness and dreariness of two thousand years ago.2. View these men as to their patriotism, or their regard to public good. What benevolence was seen in the pagan world? Produce one instance in which the philosophy of Greece or Rome ever established an infirmary or an hospital.3. View the enemies of the Bible, with regard to their charity and compassion. What do you think of the human being that would take away the Bible, dash this only cup of consolation from the parched lip—that would pull down the only refuge to which the polluted sinner can escape from the storms of life—that would deprive him of a resource to which, by and by, there will be an entire enjoyment, and that gives him the consciousness of present support? What can you think of a man that would do this, while he knows that he has nothing to substitute in the room of it, and that if the thing be a delusion, it is a solace which can be obtained in no other way?4. View these men once more as to their guilt. This may be fairly determined from their doom. “Oh,” say some, “we are not accountable for our belief!” To which we answer that if we are not accountable for our belief we are accountable for nothing; for all our actions spring from belief; and infidelity does not arise from want of evidence, but from want of inclination.

III. Some things which seem likely to injure revelation, and which yet prove its advantage.1. The attacks of the infidel on its divinity. What has been the consequence of all his opposition? Why zeal in its diffusion; and able articles brought forth in its favour; for inquiry is always friendly to truth, as darkness and concealment are friendly to error.2. The sufferings of its followers by persecution. The periods of suffering have been always the most glorious for Christianity; the brethren have been united and endeared the more to each other; the Spirit of glory and of God has rested upon them; their sufferings have arrested attention and induced sympathy; the witness of their sufferings has been found to be impressed, and they have been led to inspire the principles that would produce such effects.3. The divisions and parties that have sprung up among its professors. The differences which subsist amongst all those who hold the Head do not affect the oneness of the Church; they are only so many branches which form one tree—so many members which form one body. By these they have always proved stimulations to each other: they have awakened and increased emulation and zeal; and religion has always been upon the

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whole a gainer by them.4. The failings of its members. It would seem impossible any good should arise from these to the cause of the Gospel. And yet what is the fact? No thanks to themselves—even these scandals have been overruled for good. These scandals were foretold by the Scriptures; and, therefore, they are pledges of their truth; these have shown that the Gospel is Divine and almighty—because it can bear to be betrayed from within as well as assaulted from without. The excommunication of these persons has always strikingly shown the purity of the Church, and that they cannot bear those that are evil; while the true professors have been led, by these instances, to fear, and tremble, and pray.

IV. Admonitions.1. Be persuaded of the stability of the cause of revelation.2. Apply Scripture to your own use, and apply it to the purposes for which it has been given.3. Be concerned for the spread and diffusion of it. (W. Jay.)

Cutting up and burning his BibleTrue, those were very anxious times. Party feeling ran high, and we may find this much excuse for the foolish king, that party feeling carried him away. The last days of the kingdom of Judah had come. Two rival nations were seeking her alliance, each as a protection against the other. The good Josiah had favoured Babylon, and even fought against Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt. In the great battle of Carchemish, Josiah lost his life, but the party favouring alliance with Babylon was strong enough to secure the election of his son Shallum as king, rather than the elder son, Jehoiakim, who seems to have favoured the Egyptians. Shallum, however, only held the throne for three months, and then Jehoiakim succeeded. Now Jeremiah, as the prophet of God, had distinctly, and over and over again, advised alliance with Babylon. He was consequently in disgrace when Jehoiakim came to the throne, and the Egyptian party gained the upper hand. He was no longer able to declare the Divine message freely in the streets, and at the court. But what is to be done with the roll? It was a great fast day; a national humiliation on account of the national peril. The people were crowding in from the district round, and were assembling for solemn services in the Temple courts. There the roll must be read. Baruch knew the peril, and shrank from the task, until comforted by an assurance of personal protection. They felt the news of all this must be taken to the king. They knew his impulsive willfulness so well that they feared to take the roll into his presence. Jehudi began to read, and the king began to grow angry at the Divine disapproval of his plans, and presently he seized the scribe s knife, as it lay on the ground, stripped a piece of the skin off, and threw it on the fire; and then, emboldened by his wilful act, proceeded to cut strip after strip, until the entire roll was consumed. What a daring act! And what a foolish act! More foolish than wicked, for he could not silence God’s Word, or alter

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God’s will in that way. It is very important that we should recognise the distinction between the revelation of God’s will to a man, and the particular form in which that will may be made known to him. It is not the mere wording of the message that is our chief concern, it is the message itself. Men nowadays are finding so much to complain of in the mere form and wording of the Bible, that there is grave danger of their failing to heed that Bible as it comes closely up to each one of them, saying, “I have a message from God unto thee. And is our message to be refused because the form of its setting is unpleasing to fastidious tastes?I. God’s message to us may be an offence to us. It is when it opposes our inclinations. It is a wholly wrong attitude in which to stand towards God’s Word, if we think to judge it by our inclinations and preferences, approving it only if it accords with them. God’s will and Word are the standard by which we must test our inclinations, and they are stamped as wrong if we cannot gain the Divine approval. But so often our condition of approving the Bible is, that it shall comfortably allow us to “follow the devices and desires of our own hearts.” We shut it up, we put it on the upper shelf, out of reach, when we have a half fear that it will-speak with an arresting voice, and say, “What doest thou here, Elijah?” And the Bible is an offence when it convicts us of our sins. The sin of our day is this—we are attempting to judge God’s Word instead of to receive it. We conceitedly criticise it, instead of reverently listening to it. We are making ourselves the standard for ourselves; and are determined that we will have nothing in the Bible that we do not like.II. Our offence may end expression in injury to the Word. That injury is not always coarse and vulgar like the injury done to the roll by Jehoiakim.

1. In subtle ways we injure it, nowadays, by making it out to mean what it suits us to think it means, and by picking out bits here and there which are of doubtful authority; and so creating a general suspicion of the authority of the whole.(1) Generally undermining its authority. Men begin at the Old Testament. They cut strips out here and there. They would persuade us that the early chapters of Genesis are only legends, and the history of the patriarchs only uncertain traditions. Oh, poor Bible of our fathers!(2) Evaporating or changing its meaning. If anything strikes hard against sin, explain it away. If any dark shadows are thrown on the eternal future of impenitent sinners, exaggerate your representations of the love of God, be quite unqualified in your statements, and boldly declare that you would not punish sinners so vigorously, and therefore you are sure God will not. If you hardly dare cut a piece out of the Word, use the knife to scratch out what you do not like, and write over what you think would be suitable.(3) Refusing to admit the applications of the Word to ourselves.

2. How utterly foolish all this is! We cannot change one declaration of Holy Scripture. We cannot prevent the execution of one threatening. We 121

cannot, by any of our devices, secure a comfortable arrangement for impenitent sinners in the next life.III. God’s will can never be frustrated by any injury we may do to His messengers, or to His message. Because though it is in a message, it exists apart from the message. Jeremiah can soon write it all over again. Moreover, the attempted injury cannot fail to rouse further vindications of God’s outraged majesty. Kings never pass lightly by the insults that are offered to their ambassadors. And the Word of God does but tell of providential workings that go on, in spite of anything that may happen to the message that reports them to us. To destroy the Word is as foolish and as useless as for the ostrich to hide her head in the sand, and convince herself that there is no danger, when the hunters are every moment nearing her. (The Weekly Pulpit.)

Burning the ScriptureThe 98th annual report (1902) of “The British and Foreign Bible Society” contains the following experience of Colporteur Galibert: “Calling at a handsome house, he explained his object to madame. ‘How much do you ask for your whole load of books?’ she inquired. ‘Nine francs,’ he answered, supposing that the lady wished to make a free distribution of the Scriptures. She paid the price and then called the servant, ‘Take all these books and throw them into the fire.’ ‘Madame’ said Galibert, ‘here is your money; give me back my books.’ ‘No!’ said the lady. ‘I have paid you, and you may go. But when you pass this way again, don’t forget to call; I’ll buy your books again.’ ‘Madame,’ says Galibert, ‘I will go; but let me tell you that the very Word of God which you have destroyed will rise up to judge you at the last day.’”Hatred of the truth tellerMacaulay tells of a rich Brahman who saw a drop of sacred Ganges water under the microscope, and bought the instrument and dashed it to atoms that it might not by its revelations rebuke his superstitious practices. In a similar way did Jehoiakim treat God’s Word because it revealed his character in its true light, and set in array the judgments for sin which were gathering about him. (C. Deal.)

The indestructible power of God’s WordIt was burned, but Jeremiah lived, and Jeremiah’s God lived. Therefore to burn it was not to destroy it. Another spell of work for Baruch, and the loss was repaired. Like the fabled blood-stains on some palace floor where murder has been done, and all the planing in the world will not remove the dark spots, God’s threatenings are destroyed, as men think, and presently there they are again, as plain as ever. It is true of the written Word, which men have tried to make away with many a time in many a way, but it “liveth and abideth for ever.” It is true of the echoes of that Word in conscience, which may be neglected, sophisticated, drugged, and stifled, but still

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sometimes wakes and solemnly reiterates its message. And all that Jehoiakim made by his foolish attempt was that the new roll had added to it “many like words.” The indestructible Word of God grows by every attempt to silence it. Each warning neglected increases guilt, and therefore punishment. The fabled sibyl came back, after each rejection of her offered books, with fewer volumes at a higher price. God’s Word comes back after each rejection with additions of heavier penalties for darker sins. We but draw down surer and more terrible destruction on our own heads by refusing to listen to the merciful voice which warns us that the floods are out, and the ruin of the house impending, and bids us floe from it before the crash comes. (A. Maclaren.)

Efforts to destroy the Christian books in MadagascarThe purpose to extinguish Christianity was firmly determined on. The week after the Queen Ranavalona’s message had been delivered, every person who had received books was ordered to deliver them up, without retaining even a single leaf, on pain of death. This order was severely felt; few obeyed it literally, and in the distant provinces scarcely any obeyed it at all (Jacox.).

PETT, "Verses 27-32

YHWH Commands Jeremiah To Rewrite The Scroll And Declares The Punishment That He Will Bring On King Jehoiakim Because Of What He Has Done (Jeremiah 36:27-32).

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.

Jeremiah 36:27

‘Then the word of YHWH came to Jeremiah, after the king had burned the roll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying,’

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As a result of Jehoiakim burning the scroll YHWH sent a further word to Jeremiah about him. Note the emphasis on Jehoiakim’s actually having burned the words. This was his crime, that he had burned the words of YHWH.

28 “Take another scroll and write on it all the words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah burned up.

CLARKE, "Take thee again another roll - There was no duplicate of the former preserved; and now God inspired the prophet with the same matter that he had given him before; and there is to be added the heavy judgment that is to fall on Jehoiakim and his courtiers.

GILL, "Take thee again another roll,.... Or a piece of parchment; or rather several pieces of parchment glued or rolled up together: and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burnt; just as when the two tables of the law were broken, two others were made, and the same laws written on them; and so here the same Spirit of God, which brought to the mind of the prophet all his former discourses and prophecies, so that he could readily dictate them to Baruch, could and did renew them again; wherefore Jehoiakim's burning of the roll signified nothing: all attempts to destroy the word of God are in vain; they always have been, and will be; for the word of the Lord endures for ever.

JAMISON, "all the former words — It is in vain that the ungodly resist the power of Jehovah: not one of His words shall fall to the ground (Mat_5:18; Act_9:5; Act_5:39).

CALVIN, "By these words the Prophet shews what the ungodly gain by contending against God; for however hard and refractory, they must necessarily be broken down by God’s power. This happened to King Jehoiakim. We saw in yesterday’s

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Lecture how furious he was when he cut and burned the volume, and also ordered the Prophet to be slain. But it now follows, that another volume was written.Now God deals in different ways with the rebellious. For at one time he passes by or leaves timre, when he sees that he spends in vain his labor in admonishing them. He then sends no more his Prophets to reprove or threaten, but silently executes his judgments. And for this reason it is said,“My Spirit shall no more contend with man, because he is flesh.” (Genesis 6:3)And similar examples everywhere occur, that is, that when God saw that the prophetic doctrine was despised, he raised his hand against the ungodly, and at the same time ceased to speak to them. But here he purposed in a different way to break down the violence of Jehoiakim, for he caused another volume to be written He foolishly thought that God’s power was in a manner cut off, or extinguished by fire, because the book was reduced to ashes. But God shews that his word cannot be bound or restrained. Then he begins anew to threaten, not because he hoped for any benefit from this repetition, but because it was necessary to expose to ridicule the madness of the king, who had so presumptuously dared to despise both God and his holy Prophet.The first thing then is, that the Prophet was bidden to write another roll, after the King Jehoiakim vented his rage against the roll read before him; and hence he carefully repeats the words, Take to thee another roll, and write in it the same words which were in the first book; as though he had said, “Let not a syllable be omitted, but let that which I once proclaimed by thy mouth, remain unchanged; and let thus all the ungodly know that thou hast faithfully delivered what thou didst receive from my mouth.” It follows — TRAPP, "Jeremiah 36:28 Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burned.Ver. 28. Take thee again another roll.] Revertere, accipe. God’s ministers must be steadfast and unweariable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as they know that their labour is not in vain in the Lord. [1 Corinthians 15:58]And write in it all the former words.] If all the tyrants on earth should fight against the very paper of the Scriptures, striving to abolish it, yet they could not possibly do it. There will be Bibles when they shall be laid low enough in the slimy valley, where are many already like them, and more shall come after them. [Job 21:31-32]NISBET, "‘BURNED, BUT NOT CONSUMED’‘Take thee again another roll.’Jeremiah 36:28

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God laid it upon Jeremiah’s heart to gather his prophecies into a single roll. For this work the prophet employed Baruch, a man whose business gifts we have already heard of (Jeremiah 32:12). It may be that Jeremiah, like many another prophet, had not the pen of a ready writer. And just as St. Paul employed another hand in writing most of his glorious epistles, so did Jeremiah dictate his summary to his amanuensis Baruch. What a debt do we all owe to Baruch in helping the prophet in this lasting work! Now at this time Jeremiah, though not in prison, was under some restraint from prophesying. So Baruch took the roll and went to the Temple, and there from a balcony read it to the people. Then he was sent for to read it to the princes, for the princes had not been in church that day; and so at last the tidings of the sermon came to the ears of Jehoiakim himself. The king did not summon Baruch to his presence. He sent a courtier to fetch the roll. Probably the courtier then (like many now) was not just a man of first-rate education. And we can imagine how he would halt and stammer, and add to the growing anger of the king, who was lying warming himself beside the brazier, for it was winter time and cold. But the courtier was not left to stammer long—three or four pages was all he stumbled through—when the king snatched the roll from him, and hacked it with his knife, and flung it, roller and all, into the fire. And there it burned, yet it was not consumed, either in its message or its form, for the message was terribly fulfilled, and at God’s bidding it was all rewritten.There are three lessons which we ought to learn here.I. The first is the kindness of severity.—The prophets of God were terribly severe, yet only thus could they be kind to Israel. It was one mark of every false prophet that he was easy and compliant and accommodating. It was one mark of every true prophet that he was terrible in his passion against sin. Yet the latter were the truest friends of Israel, and loved Israel with an enduring love, and were never kinder to their unhappy land than when they voiced the judgments of Jehovah.II. The next is the foolishness of temper, for was not Jehoiakim supremely foolish?—Was anything gained for himself or for his country by this mad act of an unbridled anger? There is an anger which is wise and holy, and a wrath which is as the wrath of the Lamb; but there is an anger far more common than that, in which everything is lost and nothing gained.III. The last is the penalty of rejection.—Do you note what we read in Jeremiah 32:32? Not only did Jeremiah re-write his roll, but he added to it ‘many like words.’ That is to say, the message that was scorned became a message of increased severity. The roll that was rejected with contempt, grew into a roll of sterner judgment. And that is what every one is sure to find who spurns the message of the love of God, and flings away from him, in pride of heart, the summons and the warning of the prophets.Illustration

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‘In many ages there has been this folly of burning Bibles and prophets, but it has only added to the light and fire of the increasing truth. Latimer, when being burned with Ridley at Oxford, in 1555, said: “Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light such a candle by God’s grace in England as I trust shall never be put out.” The well-known words of Fuller, finding in the burning of the bones of John Wycliffe, the great translator of the Bible, when the ashes were cast into the Wye river, and so into the Severn, and at last into the great sea, a symbol of the ever-spreading circle of his influence, illustrate the same thought of the eternity of truth. The all-illuminating case is, of course, the crucifixion of Christ, the Truth.’

29 Also tell Jehoiakim king of Judah, ‘This is what the Lord says: You burned that scroll and said, “Why did you write on it that the king of Babylon would certainly come and destroy this land and wipe from it both man and beast?”

BARNES, "The king of Babylon ... - These words do not prove that Nebuchadnezzar had not already come, and compelled Jehoiakim to become his vassal. The force lies in the last words, which predict such a coming as would make the land utterly desolate: and this would be the result of the king throwing off the Chaldaean yoke.GILL, "And thou shall say to Jehoiakim king of Judah,.... Or, "concerning" (w)him; since the prophet was hid, and he was in quest of him; nor was it safe for him to appear in person before him; though this may be understood as what should be put into the second roll, and in that he addressed to him: thus saith the Lord, thou hast burnt this roll; or "that roll"; or had suffered or ordered it to be burnt, giving this as a reason for it: saying, why hast thou therein written; what the king would have to be a great falsehood, and which he thought never came from the Lord; but was a device of Jeremiah, to whom he ascribed the writing of them, though it was Baruch's, because

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dictated by him: saying, the king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast? by killing some, and carrying off others, so that the destruction should be complete. He takes no notice of himself and his family, as if his concern was only for the nation; and that he took it ill that anything should be said which expressed the ruin of that, and might dishearten the inhabitants of it.

HENRY 29-31, "That the king of Judah, though a king, was severely reckoned with by the King of kings for this indignity done to the written word. God noticed what it was in the roll that Jehoiakim took so much offense at. Jehoiakim was angry because it was written therein, saying, Surely the king of Babylon shall come and destroy this land,Jer_36:29. And did not the king of Babylon come two years before this, and go far towards the destroying of this land? He did so (2Ch_36:6, 2Ch_36:7) in his third year, Dan_1:1. So that God and his prophets had therefore become his enemies because they told him the truth, told him of the desolation that was coming, but at the same time putting him into a fair way to prevent it. But, if this be the thing he takes so much amiss, let him know, 1. That the wrath of God shall come upon him and his family, in the first place, by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. He shall be cut off, and in a few weeks his son shall be dethroned, and exchange his royal robes for prison-garments, so that he shall have none to sit upon the throne of David; the glory of that illustrious house shall be eclipsed, and die in him; his dead body shall lie unburied, or, which comes all to one, he shall be buried with the burial of an ass, that is, thrown into the next ditch; it shall lie exposed to all weathers, heat and frost, which will occasion its putrefying and becoming loathsome the sooner. “Not that his body” (says Mr. Gataker) “could be sensible of such usage, or himself, being deceased, of aught that should befal his body; but that the king's body in such a condition should be a hideous spectacle, and a horrid monument of God's heavy wrath and indignation against him, unto all that should behold it.” Even his seed and his servants shall fare the worse for their relation to him (Jer_36:31), for they shall be punished, not for his iniquity, but so much the sooner for their own. 2. That all the evil pronounced against Judah and Jerusalem in that roll shall be brought upon them. Though the copy be burnt, the original remains in the divine counsel, which shall again be copied out after another manner in bloody characters. Note, There is no escaping God's judgments by struggling with them. Who ever hardened his heart against God, and prospered?

JAMISON, "say to Jehoiakim — not in person, as Jeremiah was “hidden” (Jer_36:26), but by the written word of prophecy.

saying, Why — This is what the king had desired to be said to Jeremiah if he should be found; kings often dislike the truth to be told them.CALVIN, "We now see what reward Jehoiakim brought on himself, by his impiety and perverseness. But there are two clauses; in the first, God reproves him for having insolently dared to impose silence on the Prophet; and in the second, he adds a punishment.

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Thou shalt say to Jeholakim We are to take על ol, here for אל, al, as it appears from the context; it indeed properly means concerning, or upon, as in the next verse, God thus speaks of Jehoiakim. But as the Prophet is here bidden in the second person to address him, the other meaning, to, is better, even that he was bidden to address the king, and to address him by name: Then it is, “Thou shalt speak to Jehoiakim, the king of Judah.” The word king, is mentioned not so much for honor’s sake, as to shew that he in vain gloried in honor, or in a title of dignity; for as we have elsewhere seen, the Prophet had been sent to reprove mountains and hills, and not to spare kings or kingdoms. (Micah 6:1; Jeremiah 1:10) It had then been said to him,“I have set thee over nations and kingdoms.”As then Jehoiakim could not be so filled with pride as to think that everything was lawful to him, God intimates that there was no reason that royal splendor should dazzle his mind and his senses, for he made no account of such masks, and that no elevation in the world could intercept the course of prophetic truth. In a word, Jeremiah is here encouraged to persevere, lest the high position of the king should terrify him, or enervate his mind, so as not to declare faithfully the commands of God.A twofold admonition may be hence gathered. The first belongs to kings, and to those who are great in wealth or power on the earth; they are warned to submit reverently to God’s word, and not to think themselves exempted from what is common to all, or absolved, on account of their dignity, for God has no respect of persons. The other admonition belongs to teachers, and that is, that they are, with closed eyes, to do whatever God commands them, without shewing any respect of persons; and thus they are to fear no offenses, nor even the name of a king, nor a drawn sword, nor any dangers.The crime is in the first place mentioned, Thou hast burnt the book, saying, Why hast thou written in it, By coming come shall the king of Babylon, and shall destroy this city Here God shews what especially was the reason why Jehoiakim cast the book into the fire, even because he could not endure the free reproofs and the threatenings contained in it. When God spares hypocrites, or does not touch their vices, they can bear prophetic teaching; but when the sore is touched, immediately they become angry; and this was the continual contest which God’s Prophets had with the ungodly: for if they had flattered them and spoken smooth words to them, if they had always promised something joyful and prosperous to the ungodly, they would have been received with great favor and applause; but the word of God was unpleasant and bitter; and it exasperated their minds when they heard that God was displeased and angry with them.This passage then ought to be carefully noticed; for the Spirit of God points out, as by the finger, the fountain of all contumacy, even because hypocrites wish to agree or to make a covenant with God, that he should not deal severely with them, and that his Prophets should only speak smoothly. But it is necessary that God’s word

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should correspond with the nature of its author. For, as God knows the heart, he penetrates into the inmost recesses; and so also his word is a two-edged sword, and thus it pierces men even to the very marrow, and discerns between the thoughts and the affections, as the Apostle teaches us. (Hebrews 4:12) Hence it is, that hypocrites become mad, when God summons them to judgment. When any one handles gently a man full of ulcers, there is no sign of uneasiness given; but when a surgeon presses the ulcers, then he becomes irritated, and then also comes out what was before hidden. Similar is the case with hypocrites; for as it has been said, they do not clamor against God, nor even make any complaints, when the simple truth is declared; but when they are urged with reproofs and with threatenings, then their rage is kindled, then they manifest in every way their virulence. And this is set forth here, when the Prophet says, that the book was burnt, because it was written in it that the king of Babylon would come to destroy or lay waste the land, and to remove from it both man and beastSo we see that the prophecy of Micah exasperated all the Jews, when he said that Jerusalem would be reduced into heaps of stones. (Micah 3:12) TRAPP, "Jeremiah 36:29 And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, Thus saith the LORD Thou hast burned this roll, saying, Why hast thou written therein, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast?Ver. 29. And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim,] i.e., Add this doleful doom of his to the new written roll, and direct it to Jehoiakim. Some think the prophet told him these things to his face, like as Eliah presented himself to Ahab, whom before he had fled from, and dealt freely with him; but that is not so likely.PETT, "Verses 27-32YHWH Commands Jeremiah To Rewrite The Scroll And Declares The Punishment That He Will Bring On King Jehoiakim Because Of What He Has Done (Jeremiah 36:27-32).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.Jeremiah 36:27

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‘Then the word of YHWH came to Jeremiah, after the king had burned the roll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying,’As a result of Jehoiakim burning the scroll YHWH sent a further word to Jeremiah about him. Note the emphasis on Jehoiakim’s actually having burned the words. This was his crime, that he had burned the words of YHWH.PETT, "Jeremiah 36:29‘And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, “Thus says YHWH, You have burned this roll, saying, ‘Why have you written in it, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and will cause to cease from within it man and beast?’ ”‘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 actually 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 this is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on the throne of David; his body will be thrown out and exposed to the heat by day and the frost by night.

BARNES, "He shall have none to sit ... - The 3 months’ reign of Jehoiakim was too destitute of real power to be a contradiction to this prediction.

CLARKE, "He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David - He shall have no successor and himself shall have an untimely end, and shall not even be buried, but his body be exposed to the open air, both night and day. He who wishes to hide his

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crimes, or take away the evidence which is against him, adds thereby to his iniquities, and is sure in consequence to double his punishment. See the threatening against Jehoiakim, Jer_22:19 (note), and the note there.

GILL, "Therefore thus saith the Lord, of Jehoiakim king of Judah,.... Or, "concerning" (x) him; for Jehovah is not here said to be "the Lord of Jehoiakim", though he was, being King of kings, and Lord of lords; bat as speaking concerning him, and threatening him, as follows: he shall have none to sit upon the throne of David; that is, none of his issue that should reign after him, or succeed him in the throne of David and kingdom of Judah; for his son Jeconiah reigned but three months, which is reckoned as nothing, and could not be called sitting upon the throne; and, besides, was never confirmed by the king of Babylon, in whose power he was, and by whom he was carried captive; and Zedekiah, who followed, was not his lawful successor, was brother to Jehoiakim, and uncle to Jeconiah, and was set up by the king of Babylon in contempt of the latter; and as for Zerubbabel, he was no king, nor was there any of this family till the Messiah came: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost. The sense is, he should have no burial but that of an ass, Jer_22:18; should be cast into a ditch, and be exposed to the heat of the sun in the daytime, and to nipping frosts at night, and so putrefy and become nauseous; and though the body would be insensible of it, yet would it be very reproachful to the character of a prince, and shocking to any to behold; and very disagreeable and dreadful for himself to hear and think of.

JAMISON, "He shall have none to sit upon the throne — fulfilled (2Ki_24:8, etc.; 2Ki_25:1-30). He had successors, but not directly of his posterity, except his son Jeconiah, whose three months’ reign is counted as nothing. Zedekiah was not the son, but the uncle of Jeconiah, and was raised to the throne in contempt of him and his father Jehoiakim (Jer_22:30).

dead body ... cast out — (Jer_22:18, Jer_22:19).day ... heat ... night ... frost — There are often these variations of temperature in the East between night and day (Gen_31:40).

CALVIN, "But the Prophet immediately shows that the ungodly in vain resist God, when they kick against the goad; they must necessarily be torn in pieces by the stone with which they contend, because their hardness cannot hinder God from executing his judgments. It is therefore added, Thus saith Jehovah of the king Jehoiakim, Be shall have no one to succeed him on the throne of David By saying, that he should have no successor, he means that he should have none of his own posterity; for though his son Jeconiah was made king in his stead, yet as he reigned only for three months, this short time was not counted. Then Jeremiah declares, by God’s cmnmand, that King Jehoiakim should not have a legitimate successor, for his son

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Jeconiah was led into exile at the end of three months; and Zedekiah was not counted as a legitimate successor, because he was the uncle. And there is also no doubt but that Nebuchadnezzar, from ill-will and hatred, set him on the throne, for he thus raised him in order to degrade Jehoiakim and Jeconiah.We now then perceive in what sense God threatened that there would be none to succeed King Jehoiakim; for it is not simply said, “There shall be none to sit on the throne of David;” but, “There shall be none to him,” לא יהיה לו la ieie lu, that is, “There shall be none of his children, or of his offspring, to succeed him on the throne of David.” For the last king was Zedekiah, and he, as I have said, was the uncle; so that the whole royal seed were cast off, for no one after this time ever succeeded to the throne.But it may be asked, How can this prophecy agree with the promise, that the posterity of David should continue as long as the sun and moon shone as faithful witnesses in the heavens? (Psalms 89:37) God had promised that the kingdom of David should be perpetual, and that there would be some of his posterity to rule as long as the sun and moon shone in the heavens; but what does our Prophet mean now, when he says, that there shall not be a successor? This is, indeed, to be confined to the posterity of Jehoiakim; but yet we must bear in mind what we have seen elsewhere, and that is, that he speaks here of an interruption, which is not inconsistent with perpetuity; for the perpetuity of the kingdom, promised to David, was such, that it was to fall and to be trodden under foot for a time, but that at length a stem from Jesse’s root would rise, and that Christ, the only true and eternal David, would so reign, that his kingdom should have no end. When, therefore, the Prophets say, that there would be none to sit on David’s throne, they do not mean this strictly, but they thus refer only to that temporary punishment by which the throne was so overturned, that God at length would, in his own time, restore it, according to what Amos says,“For come shall the time when God shall raise up the fallen tabernacle of David.”(Amos 9:11)We now perceive in what sense hath stood firm the promise respecting the perpetuity of the kingdom, and that the kingdom had yet ceased for a time, that is, until Christ came, on whose head was placed the diadem, or the royal crown, as Ezekiel says. (Ezekiel 21:26) There is yet no doubt but this great inconsistency was made an objection to Jeremiah:“What! can it be that the throne of David should be without a legitimate heir? Canst thou draw down the sun and moon from the heavens?”In like manner, when the Prophets spoke of the destruction of Jerusalem, they said:“What! Is it not said, ‘This is my rest for ever, here will I dwell?’ (Psalms 83:14)

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Can it be that God will be without his habitation on earth, especially when he calls it his rest?” But the answer to all this was not difficult, even that God remained faithful to his promises, though his favor was, for a time, as it were, under a cloud, so that the dreadful desolation both of the city and of the kingdom might be an example to all.There is no doubt, then, but that they shewed to the Prophet that the kingdom would be hid, as though it were a treasure concealed in the earth, and that still the time would come when God would again choose both the city and the kingdom, and restore them to their pristine dignity, as the Papists say, who boast in high terms of everything said in Scripture respecting the perpetual preservation of the Church:“Christ promises to be with his people to the end of the world, that he will be where two or three meet together in his name, that the Church is the pillar and ground of the truth.”(Matthew 28:20; 1 Timothy 3:15)They heap together all these things, in order to shew that God is in a manner tied and bound to them. But we can easily dissipate these frivolous objections; for God does wonderfully and invisibly preserve his Church in the world; and then the outward face of the Church does not always appear, but it is sometimes hid, and afterwards it emerges and recovers its own dignity, which, for a time, might seem to have been extinguished. Hence we give now the same answer to the Papists as the Prophets formerly did to the ancient people, — that God is a faithful preserver of his Church, but not according to the perception of the flesh, for the Church is in a wonderful manner sustained by God, and not in a common way, or as they say, according to the usual order of things.He says that the dead body of Jehoiakim would be cast out, to be exposed to the cold in the night, and to the heat in the day This might seem unimportant, like what we threaten children with, when we mention some phantoms to them; for what harm could it have been to Jehoiakim to have his dead body exposed to the cold in the night? for no injury or feeling of sorrow can happen to a dead body, as a dead man as to his body can have no feeling. It seems then that it is to little purpose that the Prophet says, that his dead body would be exposed to the heat in the day, and to the cold at night. But this is to be referred to the common law of nature, of which we have spoken elsewhere; for it is a sad and disgraceful thing, nay, a horrid spectacle, when we see men unburied; and the duty of burying the dead has from the beginning been acknowledged, and burial is an evidence of a future resurrection, as it has been before stated. When, therefore, the body of man lies unburied, all men shun and dread the sight; and then when the body gets rigid through cold, and becomes putrid through the heat of the day, the indignity becomes still greater. God then intended to set forth the degradation that awaited Jehoiakim, not that any hurt could be done to him when his body was cast out, and not honored with a burial, but that it would be an evidence of God’s vengeance, when a king was thus cast out as an ass or a dog, according to what we have seen elsewhere, “With the burial of an

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ass shall he be buried,” that is, he will be deemed unworthy of common honor; for as it falls to the lot of the lowest of men to find a pit where their bodies lie buried, it was a rare and unusual proof of God’s vengeance, that a king should he exposed as a prey to birds and wild beasts. We know what Jehu said of Jezebel,“Let her be buried, for she is a king’s daughter.”(2 Kings 9:34)She was worthy to be torn to pieces a hundred times. She had been cast out from a chamber, and the dogs licked her blood; yet an enemy ordered her to be buried — and why? because she was a king’s daughter, or descended from a royal family, (1 Kings 21:23 :) then, he said, let her be buried.We now then understand the meaning of the Prophet, or rather of the Holy Spirit, that it would be a remarkable proof of God’s vengeance, when the body of King Jehoialdm should be exposed at night to the cold, and in the day to the heat. This has also happened sometimes to the saints, as we have before said; but it was a temporal punishment common to the good and to the bad. We ought yet always to consider it as God’s judgment. When a godly man is left without burial, we must know that all things happen for good to God’s children, according to what Paul says, whether it be life or death, it is for their salvation. (Romans 8:28) But when God gives a remarkable proof of his wrath against an ungodly man, our eyes ought to be opened; for it is not right to be blind to the manifest judgments of God; for it is not in vain that Paul reminds us that God’s judgment will come on the ungodly; but he would have us carefully to consider how God punishes the reprobate in life and in death and even after death. It follows — TRAPP, "Jeremiah 36:30 Therefore thus saith the LORD of Jehoiakim king of Judah; He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost.Ver. 30. He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David,] i.e., None to make any reckoning of, for his son Jeconiah reigned but three months and ten days. And Zedekiah is not looked upon as his lawful successor, because he was his uncle, and set up likely by Nebuchadnezzar for a reproach to Jehoiakim aud Jeconiah; and in as great spite as once Attilus, King of Suesia, made a dog king of the Danes, in revenge of a great many injuries received by them, appointing counsellors to do all things under his title.And his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat.] This was that infamous burial of an ass wherewith he had formerly been threatened. [Jeremiah 22:19] His father Josiah was one of those few that lived and died with glory; but he did nothing less. Of Jehoiakim it may be said, as was afterwards of Ethelred, King of England, Eius vitae cursus saevus in principio, miser in medio, turpis in exitu asseritur. (a) It was said of his life that is was savage at the start, wretched in the middle and replusive at the end.

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EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMMENTARY, "Verse 30-31CHAPTER VITHE JUDGMENT ON JEHOIAKIMJeremiah 22:13-19; Jeremiah 36:30-31"Jehoiakim slew him (Uriah) with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people."- Jeremiah 26:23"Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim, He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem."- Jeremiah 22:18-19"Jehoiakim did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that his fathers had done."- 2 Kings 23:36-37OUR last four chapters have been occupied with the history of Jeremiah during the reign of Jehoiakim, and therefore necessarily with the relations of the prophet to the king and his government. Before we pass on to the reigns of Jehoiachin and Zedekiah, we must consider certain utterances which deal with the personal character and career of Jehoiakim. We are helped to appreciate these passages by what we here read, and by the brief paragraph concerning this reign in the Second Book of Kings. In Jeremiah the king’s policy and conduct are especially illustrated by two incidents, the murder of the prophet Uriah and the destruction of the roll. The historian states his judgment of the reign, but his brief record [2 Kings 23:34-37; 2 Kings 24:1-7] adds little to our knowledge of the sovereign.Jehoiakim was placed upon the throne as the nominee and tributary of Pharaoh Necho; but he had the address or good fortune to retain his authority under Nebuchadnezzar, by transferring his allegiance to the new suzerain of Western Asia. When a suitable opportunity offered, the unwilling and discontented vassal naturally "turned and rebelled against" his lord. Even then his good fortune did not forsake him; although in his latter days Judah was harried by predatory bands of Chaldeans, Syrians, Moabites. and Ammonites, yet Jehoiakim "slept with his fathers" before Nebuchadnezzar had set to work in earnest to chastise his refractory subject. He was not reserved, like Zedekiah, to endure agonies of mental and physical torture, and to rot in a Babylonian dungeon.Jeremiah’s judgment upon Jehoiakim and his doings is contained in the two passages which form the subject of this chapter. The utterance in Jeremiah 36:30-31, was evoked by the destruction of the roll, and we may fairly assume that Jeremiah 22:13-19 was also delivered after that incident. The immediate context of the latter paragraph throws no light on the date of its origin. Chapter 22 is a series

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of judgments on the successors of Josiah, and was certainly composed after the deposition of Jehoiachin, Probably during the reign of Zedekiah; but the section on Jehoiakim must have been uttered at an earlier period. Renan indeed imagines (3:274) that Jeremiah delivered this discourse at the gate of the royal palace at the very beginning of the new reign. The nominee of Egypt was scarcely seated on the throne, his "new name" Jehoiakim-"He whom Jehovah establisheth" - still sounded strange in his ears, when the prophet of Jehovah publicly menaced the king with condign punishment. Renan is naturally surprised that Jehoiakim tolerated Jeremiah even for a moment. But, here as often elsewhere, the French critic’s dramatic instinct has warped his estimate of evidence. We need not accept the somewhat unkind saying that picturesque anecdotes are never true, but, at the same time, we have always to guard against the temptation to accept the most dramatic interpretation of history as the most accurate. The contents of this passage, the references to robbery, oppression, and violence, clearly imply that Jehoiakim had reigned long enough for his government to reveal itself as hopelessly corrupt. The final breach between the king and the prophet was marked by the destruction of the roll, and Jeremiah 22:13-19, like Jeremiah 36:30-31, may be considered a consequence of this breach.Let us now consider these utterances: In Jeremiah 36:30 we read, "Therefore thus saith Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah, He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David." Later on, [Jeremiah 22:30] a like judgment was pronounced upon Jehoiakim’s son and successor Jehoiachin. The absence of this threat from Jeremiah 22:13-19 is doubtless due to the fact that the chapter was compiled when the letter of the prediction seemed to have been proved to be false by the accession of Jehoiachin. Its spirit and substance were amply satisfied by the latter’s deposition and captivity after a brief reign of a hundred days.The next clause in the sentence on Jehoiakim runs: "His dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost." The same doom is repeated in the later prophecy:-"They shall not lament for him, Alas my brother! Alas my brother! They shall not lament for him, Alas lord! Alas lord! He shall be buried with the burial of an ass, Dragged forth and cast away without the gates of Jerusalem."Jeremiah did not need to draw upon his imagination for this vision of judgment. When the words were uttered, his memory called up the murder of Uriah ben Shemaiah and the dishonour done to his corpse. Uriah’s only guilt had been his zeal for the truth that Jeremiah had proclaimed. Though Jehoiakim and his party had not dared to touch Jeremiah or had not been able to reach him, they had struck his influence by killing Uriah. But for their hatred of the master, the disciple might have been spared. And Jeremiah had neither been able to protect him, nor allowed to share his fate. Any generous spirit will understand how Jeremiah’s whole nature was possessed and agitated by a tempest of righteous indignation, how utterly humiliated he felt to be compelled to stand by in helpless impotence. And now, when

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the tyrant had filled up the measure of his iniquity, when the imperious impulse of the Divine Spirit bade the prophet speak the doom of his king, there breaks forth at last the long pent up cry for vengeance: "Avenge, O Lord, Thy slaughtered saint"-let the persecutor suffer the agony and shame which he inflicted on God’s martyr, fling out the murderer’s corpse unburied, let it lie and rot upon the dishonoured grave of his victim.Can we say, Amen? Not perhaps without some hesitation. Yet surely, if our veins run blood and not water, our feelings, had we been in Jeremiah’s place, would have been as bitter and our words as fierce. Jehoiakim was more guilty than our Queen Mary, but the memory of the grimmest of the Tudors still stinks in English nostrils. In our own days, we have not had time to forget how men received the news of Hannington’s murder at Uganda, and we can imagine what European Christians would say and feel if their missionaries were massacred in China.And yet, when we read such a treatise as Lactantius wrote "Concerning the Deaths of Persecutors," we cannot but recoil. We are shocked at the stern satisfaction he evinces in the miserable ends of Maximin and Galerius, and other enemies of the true faith. Discreet historians have made large use of this work, without thinking it desirable to give an explicit account of its character and spirit. Biographers of Lactantius feel constrained to offer a half-hearted apology for the "De Morte Persecutorum." Similarly we find ourselves of one mind with Gibbon, (chapter 13) in refusing to derive edification from a sermon in which Constantine the Great, or the bishop who composed it for him, affected to relate the miserable end of all the persecutors of the Church. Nor can we share the exultation of the Covenanters in the Divine judgment which they saw in the death of Claverhouse; and we are not moved to any hearty sympathy with more recent writers, who have tried to illustrate from history the danger of touching the rights and privileges of the Church. Doubtless God will avenge His own elect; nevertheless Nemo me impune lacessit is no seemly motto for the Kingdom of God. Even Greek mythologists taught that it was perilous for men to wield the thunderbolts of Zeus. Still less is the Divine wrath a weapon for men to grasp in their differences and dissensions, even about the things of God. Michael the Archangel, even when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, "durst not bring against him a railing judgment, but said, The Lord rebuke thee." [Jude 1:9]How far Jeremiah would have shared such modern sentiment, it is hard to say. At any rate his personal feeling is kept in the background; it is postponed to the more patient and deliberate judgment of the Divine Spirit, and subordinated to broad considerations of public morality. We have no right to contrast Jeremiah with our Lord and His proto-martyr Stephen, because we have no prayer of the ancient prophet to rank with, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do," or again with, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." Christ and His disciple forgave wrongs done to themselves: they did not condone the murder of their brethren. In the Apocalypse, which concludes the English Bible, and was long regarded as God’s final revelation, His last word to man, the souls of the martyrs cry out from beneath

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the altar: "How long, O Master, the holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?"Doubtless God will avenge His own elect, and the appeal for justice may be neither ignoble nor vindictive. But such prayers, beyond all others, must be offered in humble submission to the Judge of all. When our righteous indignation claims to pass its own sentence, we do well to remember that our halting intellect and our purblind conscience are ill qualified to sit as assessors of the Eternal Justice.When Saul set out for Damascus, "breathing out threatening and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord," the survivors of his victims cried out for a swift punishment of the persecutor, and believed that their prayers were echoed by martyred souls in the heavenly Temple. If that ninth chapter of the Acts had recorded how Saul of Tarsus was struck dead by the lightnings of the wrath of God, preachers down all the Christian centuries would have moralised on the righteous Divine judgment. Saul would have found his place in the homiletic Chamber of Horrors with Ananias and Sapphira, Herod and Pilate, Nero and Diocletian. Yet the Captain of our salvation, choosing His lieutenants, passes over many a man with blameless record, and allots the highest post to this bloodstained persecutor. No wonder that Paul, if only in utter self-contempt, emphasised the doctrine of Divine election. Verily God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts.Still, however, we easily see that Paul and Jehoiakim belong to two different classes. The persecutor who attempts in honest but misguided zeal to make others endorse his own prejudices, and turn a deaf ear with him to the teaching of the Holy Spirit, must not be ranked with politicians who sacrifice to their own private interests the Revelation and the Prophets of God.This prediction which we have been discussing of Jehoiakim’s shameful end is followed in the passage in chapter 36, by a general announcement of universal judgment, couched in Jeremiah’s usual comprehensive style:-"I will visit their sin upon him and upon his children and upon his servants, and I will bring upon them and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the men of Judah all the evil which I spake unto them and they did not hearken."In chapter 22 the sentence upon Jehoiakim is prefaced by a statement of the crimes for which he was punished. His eyes and his heart were wholly possessed by avarice and cruelty; as an administrator he was active in oppression and violence. But Jeremiah does not confine himself to these general charges; he specifies and emphasises one particular form of Jehoiakim’s wrong-doing, the tyrannous exaction of forced labour for his buildings. To the sovereigns of petty Syrian states, old Memphis and Babylon were then what London and Paris are to modern Ameers, Khedives, and Sultans. Circumstances, indeed, did not permit a Syrian prince to visit the Egyptian or Chaldean capital with perfect comfort and unrestrained enjoyment. Ancient Eastern potentates, like mediaeval suzerains, did not always

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distinguish between a guest and a hostage. But the Jewish kings would not be debarred from importing the luxuries and imitating the vices of their conquerors.Renan says of this period:"L’Egypte etait, cette epoque, le pays ou les industries de luxe etaient le plus developpees. Tout le monde raffolaient, en particulier, de sa carrosserie et de ses meubles ouvrages. Joiaquin et la noblesse de Jerusalem ne songeaient qu’a se procurer ces beaux objets, qui realisaient ce qu’on avait vu de plus exquis en fait de gout jusque-la."The supreme luxury of vulgar minds is the use of wealth as a means of display, and monarchs have always delighted in the erection of vast and ostentatious buildings. At this time Egypt and Babylon vied with one another in pretentious architecture. In addition to much useful engineering work, Psammetichus I made large additions to the temples and public edifices at Memphis, Thebes, Sais, and elsewhere, so that "the entire valley of the Nile became little more than one huge workshop, where stone cutters and masons, bricklayers and carpenters, laboured incessantly." This activity in building continued even after the disaster to the Egyptian arms at Carchemish.Nebuchadnezzar had an absolute mania for architecture. His numerous inscriptions are mere catalogues of his achievements in building. His home administration and even his extensive conquests are scarcely noticed; he held them of little account compared with his temples and palaces-"this great Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling place, by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty." [Daniel 4:30] Nebuchadnezzar created most of the magnificence that excited the wonder and admiration of Herodotus a century later.Jehoiakim had been moved to follow the notable example of Chaldea and Egypt. By a strange irony of fortune, Egypt, once the cynosure of nations, has become in our own time the humble imitator of Western civilisation, and now boulevards have rendered the suburbs of Cairo "a shabby reproduction of modern Paris." Possibly in the eyes of Egyptians and Chaldeans Jehoiakim’s efforts only resulted in a "shabby reproduction" of Memphis or Babylon. Nevertheless these foreign luxuries are always expensive; and minor states had not then learnt the art of trading on the resources of their powerful neighbours by means of foreign loans. Moreover Judah had to pay tribute first to Pharaoh Necho, and then to Nebuchadnezzar. The times were bad, and additional taxes for building purposes must have been felt as an intolerable oppression. Naturally the king did not pay for his labour; like Solomon and all other great Eastern despots, he had recourse to the corvee, and for this in particular Jeremiah denounced him."Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousnessAnd his chambers by injustice;

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That maketh his neighbour toil without wages,And giveth him no hire;That saith, ‘I will build me a wide houseAnd spacious chambers,’And openeth out broad windows, with woodwork of cedarAnd vermilion painting."Then the denunciation passes into biting sarcasm:-"Art thou indeed a king,Because thou strivest to excel in cedar?"Poor imitations of Nebuchadnezzar’s magnificent structures could not conceal the impotence and dependence of the Jewish king. The pretentiousness of Jehoiakim’s buildings challenged a comparison which only reminded men that he was a mere puppet, with its strings pulled now by Egypt and now by Babylon. At best he was only reigning on sufferance.Jeremiah contrasts Jehoiakim’s government both as to justice and dignity with that of Josiah:-"Did not thy father eat and drink?"(He was no ascetic, but, like the Son of Man, lived a full, natural, human life.)"And do judgment and justice?Then did he prosper.He judged the cause of the poor and needy,Then was there prosperity.Is not this to know Me?Jehovah hath spoken it."Probably Jehoiakim claimed by some external observance, or through some subservient priest or prophet, to "know Jehovah"; and Jeremiah repudiates the

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claim.Josiah had reigned in the period when the decay of Assyria left Judah dominant in Palestine, until Egypt or Chaldea could find time to gather up the outlying fragments of the shattered empire. The wisdom and justice of the Jewish king had used this breathing space for the advantage and happiness of his people; and during part of his reign Josiah’s power seems to have been as extensive as that of any of his predecessors on the throne of Judah. And yet, according to current theology, Jeremiah’s appeal to the prosperity of Josiah as a proof of God’s approbation was a startling anomaly. Josiah had been defeated and slain at Megiddo in the prime of his manhood, at the age of thirty-nine. None but the most independent and enlightened spirits could believe that the Reformer’s premature death, at the moment when his policy had resulted in national disaster, was not an emphatic declaration of Divine displeasure. Jeremiah’s contrary belief might be explained and justified. Some such justification is suggested by the prophet’s utterance concerning Jehoahaz: "Weep not for the dead, neither bemoan him: but weep sore for him that goeth away." Josiah had reigned with real authority, he died when independence was no longer possible; and therein he was happier and more honourable than his successors, who held a vassal throne by the uncertain tenure of timeserving duplicity, and were for the most part carried into captivity. "The righteous was taken away from the evil to come." {Isaiah 57:1-21, English Versions.}The warlike spirit of classical antiquity and of Teutonic chivalry welcomed a glorious death upon the field of battle:-"And how can man die betterThan facing fearful odds,For the ashes of his fathers,And the temples of his Gods?"No one spoke of Leonidas as a victim of Divine wrath. Later Judaism caught something of the same temper. Judas Maccabaeus, when in extreme danger, said, "It is better for us to die in battle, than to look upon the evils of our people and our sanctuary"; and later on, when he refused to flee from inevitable death, he claimed that he would leave behind him no stain upon his honour. Islam also is prodigal in its promises of future bliss to those soldiers who fall fighting for its sake.But the dim and dreary Sheol of the ancient Hebrews was no glorious Valhalla or houri-peopled Paradise. The renown of the battlefield was poor compensation for the warm, full-blooded life of the upper air. When David sang his dirge for Saul and Jonathan, he found no comfort in the thought that they had died fighting for Israel. Moreover the warrior’s self-sacrifice for his country seems futile and inglorious, when it neither secures victory nor postpones defeat. And at Megiddo Josiah and his

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army perished in a vain attempt to come"Between the pass and fell incensed pointsOf mighty opposites."We can hardly justify to ourselves Jeremiah’s use of Josiah’s reign as an example of prosperity as the reward of righteousness; his contemporaries must have been still more difficult to convince. We cannot understand how the words of this prophecy were left without any attempt at justification, or why Jeremiah did not meet by anticipation the obvious and apparently crushing rejoinder that the reign terminated in disgrace and disaster.Nevertheless these difficulties do not affect the terms of the sentence upon Jehoiakim, or the ground upon which he was condemned. We shall be better able to appreciate Jeremiah’s attitude and to discover its lessons if we venture to reconsider his decisions. We cannot forget that there was, as Cheyne puts it, a duel between Jeremiah and Jehoiakim; and we should hesitate to accept the verdict of Hildebrand upon Henry IV of Germany, or of Thomas a Becket on Henry II of England. Moreover the data upon which we have to base our judgment, including the unfavourable estimate in the Book of Kings, come to us from Jeremiah or his disciples. Our ideas about Queen Elizabeth would be more striking than accurate if our only authorities for her reign were Jesuit historians of England. But Jeremiah is absorbed in lofty moral and spiritual issues; his testimony is not tainted with that sectarian and sacerdotal casuistry which is always so ready to subordinate truth to the interests of "the Church." He speaks of facts with a simple directness which leaves us in no doubt as to their reality; his picture of Jehoiakim may be one sided, but it owes nothing to an inventive imagination.Even Renan, who, in Ophite fashion, holds brief for the bad characters of the Old Testament, does not seriously challenge Jeremiah’s statements of fact. But the judgment of the modern critic seems at first sight more lenient than that of the Hebrew prophet: the former sees in Jehoiakim "un prince liberal et modere," (3:269) but when this favourable estimate is coupled with an apparent comparison with Louis Philippe, we must leave students of modern history to decide whether Renan is really less severe than Jeremiah. Cheyne, on the other hand, holds that "we have no reason to question Jeremiah’s verdict upon Jehoiakim, who, alike from a religious and a political point of view, appears to have been unequal to the crisis in the fortunes of Israel." No doubt this is true; and yet perhaps Renan is so far right that Jehoiakim’s failure was rather his misfortune than his fault. We may doubt whether any king of Israel or Judah would have been equal to the supreme crisis which Jehoiakim had to face. Our scanty information seems to indicate a man of strong will, determined character, and able statesmanship. Though the nominee of Pharaoh Necho, he retained his sceptre under Nebuchadnezzar, and held his own against Jeremiah and the powerful party by which the prophet was supported. Under more favourable conditions he might have rivalled Uzziah or Jeroboam II. In

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the time of Jehoiakim, a supreme political and military genius would have been as helpless on the throne of Judah as were the Palaeologi in the last days of the Empire at Constantinople. Something may be said to extenuate his religious attitude. In opposing Jeremiah he was not defying clear and acknowledged truth. Like the Pharisees in their conflict with Christ, the persecuting king had popular religious sentiment on to his side. According that current theology which had been endorsed in some measure even by Isaiah and Jeremiah, the defeat at Megiddo proved that Jehovah repudiated the religious policy of Josiah and his advisers. The inspiration of the Holy Spirit enabled Jeremiah to resist this shallow conclusion, and to maintain through every crisis his unshaken faith in the profounder truth. Jehoiakim was too conservative to surrender at the prophet’s bidding the long accepted and fundamental doctrine of retribution, and to follow the forward leading of Revelation. He "stood by the old truth" as did Charles V at the Reformation. "Let him that is without sin" in this matter "first cast a stone at" him.Though we extenuate Jehoiakim’s conduct, we are still bound to condemn it; not, however, because he was exceptionally wicked, but because he failed to rise above a low spiritual average: yet in this judgment we also condemn ourselves for our own intolerance, and for the prejudice and self-will which have often blinded our eyes to the teachings of our Lord and Master.But Jeremiah emphasises one special charge against the king-his exaction of forced and unpaid labour. This form of taxation was in itself so universal that the censure can scarcely be directed against its ordinary and moderate exercise. If Jeremiah had intended to inaugurate a new departure, he would have approached the subject in a more formal and less casual fashion. It was a time of national danger and distress, when all moral and material resources were needed to avert the ruin of the state, or at any rate to mitigate the sufferings of the people; and at such a time Jehoiakim exhausted and embittered his subjects-that he might dwell in spacious halls with woodwork of cedar. The Temple and palaces of Solomon had been built at the expense of a popular resentment, which survived for centuries, and with which, as their silence seems to show, the prophets fully sympathised. If even Solomon’s exactions were culpable, Jehoiakim was altogether without excuse.His sin was that common to all governments, the use of the authority of the state for private ends. This sin is possible not only to sovereigns and secretaries of state, but to every town councillor and every one who has a friend on a town council, nay, to every clerk in a public office and to every workman in a government dockyard. A king squandering public revenues on private pleasures, and an artisan pilfering nails and iron with an easy conscience because they only belong to the state, are guilty of crimes essentially the same. On the one hand, Jehoiakim as the head of the state was oppressing individuals; and although modern states have grown comparatively tender as to the rights of the individual, yet even now their action is often cruelly oppressive to insignificant minorities. But, on the other hand, the right of exacting labour was only vested in the king. as a public trust; its abuse was as much an injury to the community as to individuals. If Jeremiah had to deal with

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modern civilisation, we might, perchance, be startled by his passing lightly over our religious and political controversies to denounce the squandering of public resources in the interests of individuals and classes, sects and parties.PETT, "Jeremiah 36:30‘Therefore thus says YHWH concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah, “He will have none to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body will be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost.”Jehoiakim himself would receive a twofold punishment. Firstly he would have no one to sit on the throne of David once he was gone, and secondly 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 honoured 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 Jeremiah 22:18-19), and unusually nothing is said about his burial in 2 Kings.

31 I will punish him and his children and his attendants for their wickedness; I will bring on them and those living in Jerusalem and the people of Judah every disaster I pronounced against them, because they have not listened.’”

GILL, "And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity,.... In cutting the roll pieces, and burning it, as Abarbinel interprets it; which

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either was done by himself, or by his order, and with his connivance; and at which perhaps his sons were present, and expressed a pleasure in it; an& his servants that stood by assented to it, excepting three; nor were they afraid of the judgments of God for it, nor in the least shocked at it, Jer_36:24; though this may be understood of all their iniquities they had been guilty of, the singular being put for the plural: and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them; the sword, famine, and pestilence; the destruction of their land, city, and temple; and their captivity in Babylon: but they hearkened not; to what was said to them, neither in the first nor in the second roll.

CALVIN, "Here a reason is given for what the former verse contains; for if the Prophet had only said, that the dead body of the king would remain unburied and cast out in dishonor to be exposed in the night to the cold and in the day to the heat, the narrative would not have produced the effect intended; but God shews here the cause, which was this, that he had forewarned King Jehoiakim and all his counsellors, (called here servants) and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all the Jews universally: as then they had been in due time clearly told what calamity was near at hand, and yet no one had repented, for this so great an obstinacy God says now that he would take vengeance, I will visit him and his seed and the whole people for their iniquity — what was the iniquity? even that they had so grievously and in so many ways provoked God, and had not returned to a sound mind, though reproved by the Prophet, but had become more and more hardened.The extremity of their iniquity the Prophet thus points out, because they hearkened not to the threatenings, by which God had endeavored to rescue them from the coming ruin: for there would have been some hope of deliverance, had they deprecated God’s wrath; but as his threatenings had been despised, it was, as I have said, an extreme iniquity. And we see elsewhere how much God abominates this diabolical presumption of men,“I have called to sackcloth and ashes; but ye have called to the harp and to joy, and have said, ‘Let us feast and drink, for to-morrow we shall die:’ as I live, this iniquity shall not be blotted out.”(Isaiah 22:12)God swore by himself, that this sin should not be expiated, for the Jews repented not when he kindly invited them to himself, and declared to them that they could not escape extreme punishment. It is therefore no wonder that God in this place also represents their obstinate wickedness as being the greatest, the Jews having not hearkened to the reproofs conveyed to them by the mouth of Jeremiah. It follows — TRAPP, "Jeremiah 36:31 And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for

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their iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them; but they hearkened not.Ver. 31. And I will punish him and his seed.] See on Jeremiah 36:26. The like is threatened to Zedekiah, [Jeremiah 21:7] who was therefore the worse, because he should have been warned by his brother’s miseries.And I will bring upon them.] See Jeremiah 35:17. Malis horrendis adobruentur omnes.PETT, "Jeremiah 36:31“And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity, and I will bring on them, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah, all the evil which I have pronounced against them, but they did not listen.”Furthermore 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 theywould not listen.

32 So Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.

BARNES, "Many like words - The second scroll was thus a more complete record of the main lessons taught by Jeremiah during the long course of his inspired ministry.

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CLARKE, "There were added - many like words - All the first roll, with many other threatening and perhaps more minute declarations which were merely of a temporary importance and local application; and the Holy Spirit did not think proper to record them here.

GILL, "Then took Jeremiah another roll,.... Of parchment; several sheets joined together, which made up a roll or volume: and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah; who was by office a public notary or scribe of the law, as well as the amanuensis of the prophet: who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burnt in the fire; not one was lost; all were recovered again, through the fresh inspiration of the Holy Spirit, under which Jeremiah dictated the selfsame things in the same words to Baruch again; so that the king got nothing by burning it, but an addition of guilt, and a heavier denunciation of wrath and vengeance, as follows: and there were added besides unto them many like words; of the same nature and argument, of the threatening kind more especially. The Rabbins (y), who take the roll to be the book of Lamentations, very triflingly observe, that the first roll had only the three alphabets, in the first, second, and fourth chapters that the addition is the treble alphabet, in the third chapter the whole of the fifth chapter. Here it may not be amiss to insert the testimony of Eupolemus (z), an Heathen historian, concerning Jeremiah and his prophecies in the times of Jehoiakim. "Joachim, (for so he calls him,) in his times Jeremiah the prophet prophesied, being sent of God, to take the Jews sacrificing to a golden idol, called by them Baal, and to declare unto them the calamity that was coming upon them; but Joachim would have laid hold on him, and burnt him alive; then he (the prophet) said that with those sticks they should prepare food for the Babylonians, and that they should dig canals from the Tigris and Euphrates when carried captive; wherefore, when Nebuchadnezzar king of the Babylonians heard what was prophesied by Jeremiah, he besought Astibares, king of the Medes, to join his forces with him; and having gathered and joined together the Babylonians and Medes, a hundred and eighty thousand foot, and a hundred and twenty thousand horse, with ten thousand chariots, first destroyed Samaria, Galilee, Scythopolis, and the Jews that inhabited Gilead; and then marched to Jerusalem, and took alive Joachim king of the Jews; and having taken out the gold, silver, and brass in the temple, sent it to Babylon, excepting the ark and the tables in it, for this remained with Jeremiah;'' compare with this Jer_22:18.

HENRY, "That the king of Judah, though a king, was severely reckoned with by the King of kings for this indignity done to the written word. God noticed what it was in the roll that Jehoiakim took so much offense at. Jehoiakim was angry because it was written

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therein, saying, Surely the king of Babylon shall come and destroy this land, Jer_36:29. And did not the king of Babylon come two years before this, and go far towards the destroying of this land? He did so (2Ch_36:6, 2Ch_36:7) in his third year, Dan_1:1. So that God and his prophets had therefore become his enemies because they told him the truth, told him of the desolation that was coming, but at the same time putting him into a fair way to prevent it. But, if this be the thing he takes so much amiss, let him know, 1. That the wrath of God shall come upon him and his family, in the first place, by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. He shall be cut off, and in a few weeks his son shall be dethroned, and exchange his royal robes for prison-garments, so that he shall have none to sit upon the throne of David; the glory of that illustrious house shall be eclipsed, and die in him; his dead body shall lie unburied, or, which comes all to one, he shall be buried with the burial of an ass, that is, thrown into the next ditch; it shall lie exposed to all weathers, heat and frost, which will occasion its putrefying and becoming loathsome the sooner. “Not that his body” (says Mr. Gataker) “could be sensible of such usage, or himself, being deceased, of aught that should befal his body; but that the king's body in such a condition should be a hideous spectacle, and a horrid monument of God's heavy wrath and indignation against him, unto all that should behold it.” Even his seed and his servants shall fare the worse for their relation to him (Jer_36:31), for they shall be punished, not for his iniquity, but so much the sooner for their own. 2. That all the evil pronounced against Judah and Jerusalem in that roll shall be brought upon them. Though the copy be burnt, the original remains in the divine counsel, which shall again be copied out after another manner in bloody characters. Note, There is no escaping God's judgments by struggling with them. Who ever hardened his heart against God, and prospered?JAMISON, "added besides ... many like words — Sinners gain nothing but

additional punishment by setting aside the word of Jehovah. The law was similarly rewritten after the first tables had been broken owing to Israel’s idolatry (Exo_32:19, Exo_34:1).SBC, "I. Baruch, the friend and amanuensis of Jeremiah, was directed in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, to write all the prophecies of Jeremiah delivered up to that period, and to read them to the people, which he did, from a window in the Temple, on two solemn occasions. But where was Jeremiah himself? He was under sentence of death, and the people were infuriated against him. He was in so much danger from the animosity of his opponents that it would have been imprudent for him to appear in public. This prudence was indeed one of the marks of Jeremiah’s piety, as well as his wisdom. Our life and health are not our own. We are stewards of God, and to Him we are accountable for the preservation of the life which He has given us until the time shall come when He shall Himself take it.II. Baruch could probably perform the work in hand better than Jeremiah himself. Had Jeremiah appeared in public, the people would have been so exasperated that they would not even have heard him, for he would have come before them as one under sentence of death, and in defiance of the advice of those powerful friends who would by his conduct have been equally with himself exposed to danger. Wisdom and sound policy are parts of piety. We are not only to do the work which is providentially assigned to us, but to do it in the best and most effective manner.III. Jeremiah foretold destruction to the city unless the people amended their ways. The

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people did not deny that l Jeremiah was an inspired prophet, but they would not heed what he said, and seemed to think that if they prohibited him from speaking, or if they destroyed his book, they would be exempted from responsibility or danger. But the decree of God remained; the words of Jeremiah were fearfully fulfilled. The fact remains the same, whether we believe it or not. The Bible and the preacher do not alter the fact or make the fact.W. F. Hook, Parish Sermons, p. 165.

CALVIN, "Here the Prophet tells us that he faithfully obeyed God in writing another volume; and his constancy in this affair deserves no common praise; for he had lately fled in fear, he knew that the king was his enemy, as he had already ordered him and Baruch to be slain. As then he knew that the king burned with so much rage and hatred, how came he to be so bold as to exasperate him still more? But we see that the Prophets were not exempt from the influence of fear, and were often anxious about their own safety; and yet they ever preferred the duty imposed on them by God to their own life. The Prophet, no doubt, trembled, but as he felt bound to obey God’s command, he disregarded his own life, when he had to make the choice, whether to refuse the burden laid on him, or to provide for his own safety. Thus then he offered his own life as a sacrifice, though he was not free from fear and other infirmities. This is one thing.But Baruch, I doubt not, again proclaimed these words; how was it then that the king abstained from cruelty? Had his madness been by any means mitigated? It is certain that he did not become changed, and that he did not through kindness spare God’s servants; but God restrained his cruelty; for when it is not his will to soften the hearts of the ungodly, he yet bridles their violence, so that they either dare not, or cannot find the way, to execute with their hands what they have intended in their minds, however much they may strive to do so. I therefore consider that the King Jehoiakim was restrained by the hidden power of God, so that he could not do any harm to Jeremiah and his scribe Baruch; and that in the meantime the magnanimity of the Prophet and also of his scribe remained invincible; for it was God’s will to fight as it were hand to hand, with this impious king, until he was ignominiously cast from his throne, which happened, as we shall see, soon after. TRAPP, "Jeremiah 36:32 Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah; who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire: and there were added besides unto them many like words.Ver. 32. Then took Jeremiah.] Who is therefore famous for his obedience; which is then only right, when it is prompt and present, ready and, speedy, without delays and consults, as here.And there were added besides unto them many like words.] So little is gotten by relucting against the Word of God, and persecuting his messengers. What do wicked

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men hereby but entangle themselves more and more, as one that goeth among briers? (a) "Did not my word take hold of your fathers?" [Zechariah 1:6] {See Trapp on "Zechariah 1:6"} What do they else, but as she in the history, who, disliking her looking glass for showing her truly the wrinkles in her old withered face, broke it in displeasure; and then she had for one glass many, every piece thereof presenting to her the decay of her beauty, which she was so loath to take notice of. The best way is to pass into the likeness of the heavenly pattern. See Micah 2:7. {See Trapp on "Micah 2:7"} WHEDON, "32. Were added… like words — Implying that the first record by no means contained every thing which Jeremiah had said as a prophet, but only such things as were especially suited to the uses of this time. The second record received additions, but we are not warranted in concluding that even this was complete.COKE, "Jeremiah 36:32. And there were added—many like words— Many words such as these. Houbigant. I retain, says he, the ambiguity of the words in my version; כהמה kaheimah, signifies either as are these, which are immediately read, and shall be read: or like to these, that is to say, similar threats and prophesies concerning Jerusalem and its kings.REFLECTIONS.—1st, The date of this prophesy is the fourth year of Jehoiakim, probably about the same time that the transaction recorded in the former chapter happened.1. Jeremiah is ordered to take a roll of a book, so called because they wrote on sheets of vellum or parchment, which they rolled one over the other. In this volume he must write all his sermons and prophesies, delivered during a course of two-and-twenty years, concerning Israel and Judah, and concerning all the nations; that the people might hear once more a repetition of all the warnings and admonitions so solemnly given them, as the most likely method to work upon their obdurate hearts, when they heard the evil threatened, and might be induced thereby to turn from the wickedness which they had committed; which if they did, notwithstanding all their provocations, God was still ready to pardon all that was past. Note; (1.) We have abundant reason to bless God for causing his word to be written, and not left to uncertain tradition. (2.) Nothing can work upon the sinner's heart, if God's word does not. (3.) The certain ruin that sin will bring upon us should deter us from it. (4.) Whenever a sinner by grace returns to God, all his iniquity, however great and aggravated, shall be forgiven him.2. Jeremiah instantly obeys, and employs Baruch as his amanuensis, perhaps as the readier scribe, and being himself shut up, either confined by the king's order or some indisposition from appearing at the temple. Baruch must take the roll, and read all the contents of it in the Lord's house, when the people were assembled together on the fasting-day, mentioned Jeremiah 36:9 or on the great day of atonement, and also in the ears of all Judah, who came up out of their cities at the feast of tabernacles; or it may refer to the time when, on occasion of the fast, they

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assembled at the temple. It may be they will present their supplication before the Lord, affected with what they hear, and seek to him to avert the impending judgments; and will return every one from his evil way; turning to God ere the terrible threatenings pronounced take place; and Baruch failed not punctually to perform the prophet's orders. Note; (1.) Whenever the conscience is awakened by a sense of sin, it will appear by an immediate application to God in prayer. (2.) The formalities of religion are often observed where the power of it is lost; but this only more fatally deceives sinners to their ruin.2nd, Some have supposed that the fasting-day, Jeremiah 36:6 was the same as is mentioned Jeremiah 36:9 and that the time, between the date of Jeremiah's being commanded to write and this reading, was employed in finishing the roll; for, if the ninth month refers not to Jehoiakim's reign but to the ecclesiastical year, his fifth year beginning in the seventh month, this might be only two months after. Nor can it well be supposed, but that, if it had been read some months before, see Jeremiah 36:1; Jeremiah 36:6 it would have come, ere this time, to the prince's ears; otherwise this was the second or third time of its being read, see Jeremiah 36:6 line upon line and precept upon precept being needful for men so dull of hearing. We have,1. An extraordinary fast proclaimed, on account, probably, of the threatened invasion, to all the people of Judah and Jerusalem; or, as the text seems to intimate, it was at their request they proclaimed a fast, even all the people, &c. Note; National fasts, without national reformation, will never turn away national judgments.2. Baruch, on that solemn occasion, read out of the roll, at a window, or from a balcony, adjoining to Gemariah's chamber, in the audience of all the people who were in the court of the temple below.3. Michaiah, the son of Gemariah, who seems to have been affected with what he heard, soon carried the report to the king's house, where the princes were assembled, who seemed to have left the concerns of religion to the people, and to have been themselves engaged in consultation. Startled at the contents of the discourse, he repeated them, and thereupon they desire Baruch to attend them and read over the words of the roll; with which he readily complied, not afraid of men's faces when God's word was to be delivered. Note; (1.) The discourse which has affected our own souls, may often be profitably repeated for the good of others. (2.)They who are the faithful ministers of Christ, must be ready to bear their testimony, if called thereto, even before kings, and not be ashamed.4. The princes appear greatly struck with the words that Baruch read; terrified at the threatened judgments, both one and other, good and bad, or a man to his friend, amazed, and looking at one another, as if inquiring what was to be done in this case. Their general resolution was, to inform the king, to whose ill affections they were not strangers; and, therefore, those who were gracious men at least, justly apprehending that he would be exasperated, advised Baruch and Jeremiah to

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conceal themselves, lest in his anger he should murder them. But first, to gain the fullest satisfaction to themselves, and to answer the inquiries which the king might make, they demand how he wrote these discourses; and Baruch informs them, that Jeremiah pronounced them, and he wrote from his mouth; which some regard as an idle question; but it seems to arise from a difficulty started, how Jeremiah could recollect so many discourses, containing such a variety of matter, the remembrance of which so exactly might give them a stronger conviction of the inspiration under which he spoke.3rdly, When Baruch departed to secrete himself, the princes went into the court to the king, to inform him of what had passed, having carefully laid up the roll in Elishama's chamber; and he, curious to hear in full what they summarily reported, immediately dispatched Jehudi for the roll, and bade him read it in his hearing, and before the princes who were with him. Whereupon he gave an account,1. Of Jehoiakim's daring impiety. Two or three leaves were enough to enrage him, and, a fire being on the hearth before him, he cut the roll in pieces and burnt it; or Jehudi, who read it, did it at his command; he could not with patience hear such terrible denunciations: obstinate in his sins, he could not bear to be rebuked, but vented the enmity of his heart against God and his prophets, and hoped to disappoint the predictions, or prevent the knowledge of them from spreading among the people. Note; The despisers of God's word are among those who seem most surely given up to a reprobate mind.2. The princes who were present testified no horror or detestation at this shocking sight: those who were in attendance on the king, not those who came up from Elishama's chamber, seem chiefly intended; at least were deterred from expressing any becoming zeal for fear of offending: three of them, however, with humility interceded with the king not to burn the roll; but he was as deaf to their intreaties as to the prophet's warnings. Note; They who silently sit by, without testifying their abhorrence of the sins which they see committed, are partakers in the guilt.3. Not content with having cut to pieces and burnt the roll, the king in his fury would probably have served the authors no better if he could have seized them, for which he issues immediate orders; but the Lord hid them: whatever care they had taken to conceal themselves, it had been ineffectual, if the special providence of God had not watched over them and rescued them from the malice of this impious king. Note; They who, for God's cause, boldly put their lives in their hand, are often wonderfully protected by him, and saved from the fury of their persecutors.4. Jeremiah has a fresh order to write again the same words in another roll. The burning of the former can neither prevent the judgments approaching, nor destroy the word of God. Jehoiakim was enraged to be told that his country should be destroyed, and left desolate without man and beast; and, not believing it himself, would have others regard it as a falsehood; but it is a fact which will be shortly verified; and himself, his family, and servants, meet their deserved doom. He shall

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be slain with the Chaldean sword, and his corpse, ignominiously exposed, be refused burial, and left to rot a putrid carcase on the earth; his seed be cut off, that none of his posterity should ever sit on the throne of David; his son Jeconiah, in three months, being dragged into captivity, and in the above sense written childless: and all the evils threatened against Judah and Jerusalem terribly overtake them, according to the purport of the words written in the roll which was burnt. Another is provided, the same words dictated by Jeremiah, and written by Baruch, with the addition of many others like them. So that, instead of avoiding the divine judgments, Jehoiakim only added fresh aggravations to his guilt, and drew heavier vengeance on his head. Note; They who contend with God, and obstinately resist his counsel, only treasure up for themselves wrath against the day of wrath. MACLAREN, "EREMIAH’S ROLL BURNED AND REPRODUCEDJeremiah 36:32.This story brings us into the presence of the long death agony of the Jewish monarchy. The wretched Jehoiakim, the last king but two who reigned in Jerusalem, was put on the throne by the King of Egypt, as his tributary, and used by him as a buffer to bear the brunt of the Babylonian invasion. He seems to have had all the vices of Eastern sovereigns. He was covetous, cruel, tyrannous, lawless, heartless, senseless. He was lavishing money on a grand palace, built with cedar and painted in vermilion, when the nation was in its death-throes. He had neither valour nor goodness, and so little did he understand the forces at work in his times that he held by the rotten support of Egypt against the grim power of Babylon, and of course, when the former was driven like chaff before the assault of the latter, he shared the fate of his principal, and Judaea was overrun by Babylon, Jerusalem captured, and the poor creature on the throne bound in chains to be carried to Babylon, but, as would appear, discovered by Nebuchadnezzar to be pliable enough to make it safe to leave him behind, as his vassal. His capture took place but a few months after the incident with which I am dealing now. It would appear probable that the confusion and alarm of the Babylonian assault on Egypt had led to a solemn fast in Jerusalem, at which the nation assembled. Jeremiah, who had been prophesying for some thirty years, and had already been in peril of his life from the godless tyrant on the throne, was led to collect, in one book, his scattered prophecies and read them in the ears of the people gathered for the fast. That reading had no effect at all on the people. The roll was then read to the princes, and in them roused fear and interested curiosity, and kindly desire for the safety of Jeremiah and Baruch, his amanuensis. It was next read to the king, and he cut the roll leaf by leaf and threw it on the brasier, not afraid, nor penitent, but enraged and eager to capture Jeremiah and Baruch. The burnt roll was reproduced by God’s command, ‘and there were added besides . . . many like words.’I. The love of God necessarily prophesying evil.As a matter of fact, the prophets of the Old Testament were all prophets of evil.

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They were watchmen seeing the sword and giving warning. No one ever spoke more plainly of the penalties of sin than did Christ. The authoritative revelation of the consequences of wrongdoing is an integral part of the gospel.It is not the highest form of appeal. It would be higher to say, ‘Do right because it is right; love Christ because Christ is lovely.’ The purpose of such an appeal is to prepare us for the true gospel. But the appeal to a reasonable self-love, by warnings of the death which is the wages of sin, is perfectly legitimate. Dehortations from sin on the ground of its consequences is part of God’s message.Further, the warning comes from love. Punishment must needs follow on sin. Even His love must compel God to punish, and to warn before He does. Surely that is kind. His punishments are made known beforehand that we may be sure that caprice and anger have no part in inflicting them, but that they are the settled order of an inviolable law, and constitutional procedure of a just kind. Whether is it better to live under a despot who smites as he will, or under a constitutional king whose code is made public.Surely it is needful to have clearly set forth the consequences of sin, in view of the sophistries buzzing round us all and nestling in our own hearts, of the deceitfulness of sin, of siren voices whispering, ‘Ye shall not surely die.’God’s prophecies of evil are all conditional. They are sent on purpose that they may not be fulfilled.II. The loving warnings disregarded and disliked. Jehoiakim’s behaviour is very human and like what we all do. We see the same thing repeated in all similar crises. Cassandra. Jewish prophets. Christ. English Commonwealth. French Revolution. Blindness to all signs and hostility to the men that warn.We see it in the attitude to the gospel revelation. The Scripture doctrine of punishment always rouses antagonism, and in this day revolts men. There is much in present tendencies to weaken the idea of future retribution. Modern philanthropy makes it hard sometimes to administer even human laws. The feeling is good, but this exaggeration of it bad. It is a reaction to some extent against an unchristian way of preaching Christian truth, but even admitting that, it still remains true that an integral part of the Christian revelation is the revelation of death as the wages of sin.We see the same recoil of feeling operating in individual cases. How many of you are quite indifferent to the preaching of a judgment to come, or only conscious of a movement of dislike! But how foolish this is! If a man builds a house on a volcano, is it not kind to tell him that the lava is creeping over the side? Is it not kind to wake, even violently, a traveller who has fallen asleep on the snow, before drowsiness stiffens into death?

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III. The impotent rejection and attempted destruction of the message.The roll is destroyed, but it is renewed. You do not alter facts by neglecting them, nor abrogate a divine decree by disbelieving it. The awful law goes on its course. It is not pre-eminent seamanship to put the look-out man in irons because he sings out, ‘Breakers ahead.’ The crew do not abolish the reef so, but they end their last chance of avoiding it, and presently the shock comes, and the cruel coral tears through the hull.IV. The neglected message made harder and heavier.Every rejection makes a man more obdurate. Every rejection increases criminality, and therefore increases punishment. Every rejection brings the punishment nearer.The increased severity of the message comes from love.Oh, think of the infinite ‘treasures of darkness’ which God has in reserve, and let the words of warning lead you to Jesus, that you may only hear and never experience the judgments of which they warn. Give Christ the roll of judgment and He will destroy it, nailing it to His cross, and instead of it will give you a book full of blessing.PETT, "Jeremiah 36:32‘Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote in it from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire; and there were added besides 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.

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