Jeremiah 36

Burned up

DateEventRelation to the TextSummer 605 BCBattle of CarchemishBabylon becomes the world power.Late 605 BC1st Siege of JerusalemDaniel is exiled to Babylon.Early 604 BCScroll DictatedJeremiah records the warnings.Nov/Dec 604 BCAshkelon BurnedThe Babylonian army is "next door."Dec 604 BCThe Scroll Read/BurnedNational fast called; Jehoiakim burns the scroll.

Every Christian must be willing to hear God’s word of judgment upon the Kingdom that they have built up for themselves. Every Christian must be willing to hand over their Kingdom to God’s judgment even if, especially if, it means the destruction of that Kingdom.

Where the Word of God goes, so comes judgment. You can either respond as King Josiah did, with repentance, or ignore it. Jehoiakim goes a step further, and tries to destroy the Word of God. He does not realize he would have a better chance of destroying a mountain than he would the Word of God.

Here in Chapter 36 we have another flashback. Remember that in the context of the book of Jeremiah what is happening currently in the text is that Jerusalem is surrounded by the Babylonians, the rest of the nation of what was once Israel has been destroyed, many of Jerusalem’s inhabitants are already in exile in Babylon because Nebuchadnezzar already took Jerusalem once before. But Jeremiah puts into the narrative at this point flashbacks that underscore and emphasize to the readers, us, the justice, righteousness, and yes even patience of the Lord that is the backstory to Israel and Judah’s destruction.

The first flashback, to the Rechabites in Chapter 35, made the point that the repentance that God was asking of His people was reasonable and attainable, even for sinners like us. And I made the point 2 weeks ago that the story of the Rechabites underscores the importance of boundaries and culture, even for us today. We have to have boundaries in a world that doesn’t know the Lord, and we must foster a culture that is invested in modeling our lives after Christ.

The second flashback, to the fourth year of Jehoiakim makes the point that even when certain groups of people in Israel were wanting to repent, wanting to respond to Jeremiah’s call to repentance, that they were unable to convince the nation of this, in part because of the actions of the King himself. All leaders fall short of the glory of God, and even a good King is severely flawed, but a terrible King wreaks havoc in the land.

1 Samuel 8:4–9 “Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.””

People are generally, in this world, going to serve other gods besides YHWH. People are generally, in this world, not going to want to hand over their life to Jesus Christ. People, generally, in this world, want to indulge their baser instincts and feel uninhibited to do whatever they want to do. They want to hurt their enemies. They want to be rich or powerful. They want to be free to use other people if it benefits them. That is who people, generally, are, outside of the grace of God.

And what the Lord says here in 1 Samuel makes it clear that the reason they are asking for a King is not because they think a King will encourage them to follow YHWH more closely. No, far from it. God says that the reason they are asking for a King is BECAUSE they are rejecting Him as a King. And the implication is, of course, that most of the Kings will not care about the nation of Israel following God’s precepts or worshiping God alone, or caring for the poor in their community, or all the things that are listed in the Law of God, in Genesis through Deuteronomy. And this is because that is not what the people want. They don’t want a Moses or Joshua figure as King, they want a King “like the other nations”.

And so that’s what they got. Now you might say well what about David or Solomon or Josiah? Well it’s true that there were a few Kings who genuinely loved the Lord and searched after God in their lives. But even those Kings, the ‘good’ ones, even those kings acted like worldly kings. David was the best King of all of them when it comes to being a man after God’s own heart and yet he did all the terrible things that Kings do.

You remember that terrible story of how Amnon, David’s son, raped his half-sister, Tamar? Everyone knew he had done it. He should have been killed to satisfy the law, but nothing ever happened to him. Why, because he was a prince and the King never did anything about it. He was above the law.

Of course there is the terrible story of Bathsheba, and how David arranged as King to have Uriah killed so that his affair would not be found out. That is what Kings do.

There is the story of the census that David took, which isn’t inherently evil except the text makes clear that David was taking the census out of pride and a godless self-reliance instead of trusting God. That is what Kings do.

There were other moments as well. And of course Solomon became wise by being profligate and seeing how far the pleasures of this world would take him when it comes to being existentially satisfied. He had wives and concubines in such number, 1,000 total that it beggars belief. His wealth and power he shamelessly utilized for his own comfort and he taxed his people mercilessly and conscripted the Israelites as forced labor to build his palace. And then of course, infamously, he gave into his foreign wives’ requests and built shrines to foreign gods in Israel, beginning the tradition of worshiping evil that would continue until the return of Israel from Exile.

These are the good kings. The bad kings were unspeakable in the evil that they did. And Jehoiakim was a bad king indeed, who cared not one whit for YHWH or the reason that Israel existed at all, to give glory to God and to be a light to the other nations.

So what happens? Well, for the first time in the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah writes down his prophecies. This is the first time that writing is mentioned in Jeremiah. This is a record of how this book came to be. And why did he start writing down the word of the Lord? Because he was banned from the Temple. What Satan intended for evil God intended for good. He is banned, so he writes down the prophecy. God tells him to write it down, of course, but then it becomes clear that the reason God is telling him to write it down is because Jeremiah is banned from speaking in the Temple and so he asks Baruch, a scribe, to not only write down the words of the prophecy, but also to go to the Temple to repeat those words in the hearing of those who are there.

Baruch becomes an evangelist, taking the word of the Lord to a people in hopes that they will repent and change their ways.

And as it happens, in the timing of the Lord, Baruch is going to the Temple to proclaim God’s word of judgment at a time of repentance and fasting in the Temple. So it’s the perfect time to be declaring God’s Word because nothing receives the Word of the Lord like a repentant and humbled heart that is being purified through self denial like a fast.

Now, we aren’t told what this fast is for, but we DO know that it is not a scheduled fast in their liturgical calendar and we also know that at this exact time it is recorded in the Babylonian records that Nebuchadnezzar captured the well fortified Philistine city of Ashkelon and burned the whole city to the ground.

Ashkelon is only 45 miles from Jerusalem, and even though this was some years before Nebuchadnezzar would destroy the Temple, it had to have terrified them. Now at this time Judah was not in open rebellion against Babylon, but it would not have been out of character for Babylon to preemptively attack Jerusalem. He had his army there and Judah had a history of switching allegiances, and in fact they would do just that in a few years.

So a fast to the Lord is declared inJerusalem, asking for God’s mercy and protection. Usually it is the King who proclaims the fast. Not this time.

Jeremiah 36:9 “In the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem proclaimed a fast before the Lord.”

They turn to the Lord because they are afraid. Fear is at the heart of this chapter.

Outline-

I. Jeremiah is banned from the temple- What Satan intended for evil God intends for good. The Lord tells Jeremiah to write down his prophecy. And Baruch will deliver it.

And when Baruch goes to Jerusalem to deliver the prophecy he finds that a fast has been declared. Not by the King, but by the people, who are afraid.