Jeremiah 36
King burns Jeremiah’s prophecies
Jeremiah dictates prophecies to hired scribe
1The Lord sent a message to Jeremiah during the fourth year of King Jehoiakim's [1]reign over Judah. He was the son of King Josiah. [2] The Lord told Jeremiah:2I want you to write onto a scroll all the messages I have given you since the time I started talking to you, back when King Josiah ruled Judah. Write down everything I said that was critical of Israel, Judah, and all the other nations I condemned. 3When Judah hears about the disasters I have in store for them, this could motivate them to change their way of living. If they turn their backs on evil, I'll be able to forgive their sins.
Jeremiah’s secretary, Baruch
4A professional writer, a scribe named Baruch son of Neriah, helped Jeremiah with the project. Jeremiah dictated the content, and Baruch wrote the words on a scroll. He wrote down all the words God spoke to Jeremiah.5Jeremiah told Baruch, “I'm not allowed to go into the Jerusalem Temple. 6So I want you to go to the Temple when the people are there fasting and I want you to read to them everything you've written on the scroll, from my dictation. Don't read it just to the citizens of Jerusalem. I want everyone to hear it, all the people who are worshipping at the Temple from cities scattered throughout Judah. 7Who knows, maybe they’ll straighten up and stop living such rotten lives. Given what the LORD says he’s going to do to these people, he’s incredibly angry with them.”
8Baruch did what Jeremiah said. He read the scroll to the people who came to the Temple to worship. 9Winter was approaching when Baruch read the scroll at the Temple. It was the ninth month [3]on the calendar, and King Jehoiakim was into his fifth year ruling Judah. The people had decided to meet in Jerusalem for a time of fasting and prayer. [4]
10Baruch went to the Temple’s upper courtyard [5] at the top of ridge on which Jerusalem was built. He stood near the New Gate by a room assigned to Gemariah, son of Shaphan, a kingdom secretary.
11Micaiah, a son of Gemariah and grandson of Shaphan, listened to Baruch read the entire scroll. 12Micaiah went directly to the royal palace and into the secretary’s room where many officials were sitting. 12Among them:
- Elishama the secretary,
- Delaiah son of Shemaiah,
- Elnathan son of Achbor,
- Gemariah son of Shaphan,
- Zedekiah son of Hananiah,
- and all the other officials.
16By the time Baruch finished reading the scroll, the officials were sitting there in shock. They said, “We have to report this to the king.” 17They asked Baruch, “Where did you come up with all these words? Were they dictated to you?” 18Baruch said, “Yes, Jeremiah dictated the words and I wrote them onto the scroll.”
19The officials told Baruch, “You and Jeremiah better find a good place to hide. Don't let anyone know where you are.”
Royal book burning of Jeremiah’s prophecies
20The officials left the scroll where it was, at the room of Elishama, royal secretary. They went to the king’s courtyard and reported what Jeremiah had dictated. 21The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll from the secretary’s room. Jehudi then read the scroll to the king while the officials stood nearby.22The king was in a warmer room of the palace, sitting by an open fire in a large brazier. [6] Winter was almost upon them. 23Jehudi read from the scroll a column at a time. As he did, the king would reach out with his small knife and slice off three or four columns. Then he tossed it into the fire that was keeping him warm. By the time Jehudi finished reading, the king had burned the entire scroll.
24This didn't seem to alarm any of the king's officials. No one tore their clothes in grief or shame. [7] 25Several men had tried to stop the king from burning the scroll. They were Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah. The king didn't listen to them.
26The king ordered several of his officers to arrest Baruch and Jeremiah. Those men included the king's own son, Jerahmeel, along with Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel. But the LORD hid Baruch and Jeremiah.
Jeremiah’s new and expanded book
27After the king burned the scroll that Jeremiah dictated to Baruch, the LORD gave Jeremiah another message:28Do it over. Get another scroll and write down all the words you had written on the first scroll, which King Jehoiakim burned. 29Also, give the king this message:
“You burned that scroll and you said, ‘Why did you write that the king of Babylon will come and destroy the cities in this land and will wipe out both the human and the animal population?' 30For that, you’ll have no one left in your family to take the throne of David. Your dead body is going to be thrown out in the heat of the day and buried under the nighttime frost. 31I will punish you and your children and your officials for their sins. I’ll do the same to the citizens of Jerusalem and people throughout Judah. I will unleash all of the disasters I had warned you about in the messages you ignored.”
32Jeremiah got another scroll. He gave it to the scribe Baruch, son of Nariah. Jeremiah dictated everything that had been written on the first scroll, which King Jehoiakim had burned in his open pot fire. But this time, Jeremiah added much more than he had written in the first scroll.
Footnotes
Jehoiakim ruled Judah from about 609-598 BC, a little more than a decade before the Babylonian army destroyed Jerusalem and other walled cities throughout Judah. This story is set in about 605 BC. That’s an important date in Babylonian history. That’s the summer when King Nebuchadnezzar’s army defeated the Egyptian army at a battle near the city of Carchemish along the Euphrates River far north of Judah. After that battle, the Babylonian army started marching south into Syria and toward Judah. In anticipation of what the Babylonians might do to Jerusalem, Jeremiah prepared a collection of his prophecies, as a graphic reminder.
Josiah reigned from about 641-609 BC.
The Jewish calendar was based on the cycles of the moon instead of the seasons of the sun. They call the ninth month Chislev. It ran from mid-November to mid-December.
With invaders on the ground in the land, it’s a fair guess the people of Judah were fasting for protection and asking God to get rid of the Babylonians in the land.
The “upper courtyard” refers to altitude. Jerusalem was built on a ridge. Israel’s original Jerusalem, known as the City of David, was built on a lower part of the ridge. David’s son Solomon expanded the city up the hill. The Temple and its sprawling courtyards sat at the top of the ridge
“Brazier” is a guess. The text says only that it was a fire. But it was common to build a fire in a metal or clay pot, for warmth on cold days. In large houses, such as a king’s palace, some interior rooms were designed for better warmth in the cold seasons.
This king and his officials showed no fear of God’s prophet or of God himself. His father, King Josiah had the opposite reaction when the book of the laws of Moses was read to him. Josiah tore his clothes in grief and launched a religious reform movement to clear the land of idol worship. (2 Kings 22-23).
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