Jeremiah 36
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Chapter 36 may be a kind of parallel to Chapter 25:
Jeremiah 25:1 “1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon;”
605 BC was a really big year in the ancient Near East, centered on the Battle of Carchemish.
The battle: Nebuchadnezzar II (then crown prince of Babylon) crushed the Egyptian army under Pharaoh Necho II and the remnants of Assyria at Carchemish, on the Euphrates in northern Syria.
Egypt retreats from Asia and Assyria is now destroyed for good
Babylon becomes the dominant empire of the Near East.
Jeremiah 46 explicitly addresses the Carchemish defeat of Necho. Judah, under Jehoiakim, went from taking orders from Egypt to taking orders from Babylon.
The Command to Write the Messages on a Scroll (Jeremiah 36:1–3)
The Command to Write the Messages on a Scroll (Jeremiah 36:1–3)
1 And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 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. 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.
During all the things happening in the world I started with, THAT’s when this word from Yahweh comes to Jeremiah to write His word
We see the only passage in the OT that shows one way a prophet’s oral messages reached their written form.
“Book” (KJV) as a translation is an anachronism since the book or codex format did not appear until the first or second century A.D.
the word for a written document that was normal in their day, applied to a scrolled document normal in the biblical author's day
A typical scroll may have been 20-35 feet long and 8 to 10 inches tall.
The Gospel of Luke in its original Greek (~19,482 words) might have taken a scroll around 31 to 32 feet long. A calculated guess from letters per column, column width, etc. not from a physical example.
When fully wound up, its physical diameter was roughly 2.8 to 3.0 inches across. For context a 20 oz Gatorade / Powerade bottle is 2.9 to 3.0 inches wide across the body
“against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations”: this scroll list the judgements coming from Yahweh for their wickedness
and the scope is clear: ALL
“It may be”: vs 3 gives us the Yahweh’s purpose for giving His word: repentance and forgiveness
Baruch Commanded to Write the Scroll (Jeremiah 36:4–7)
Baruch Commanded to Write the Scroll (Jeremiah 36:4–7)
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. 5 And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up; I cannot go into the house of the LORD: 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. 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.
We’re introduced to Baruch, Jeremiah’s scribe
Everybody has a job. Baruch means “blessed one” in Hebrew. We tend to see the one standing and speaking as the “called” but the scribe was called as well
Jeremiah was “shut up” and unable to go to the temple: no record he was actually imprisoned in Jehoiakim’s rule so maybe the guards wouldn’t let him in as a trouble maker, maybe kept from it by the Spirit
Either way, he couldn’t go so he told Baruch to take the scroll to the temple and read the words of Yahweh to the people that were in the temple on the fasting day.
The people there, were ones who were trying to obey the law or ones trying to act like they were
“It may be” the faithful ones pray for the nation and “it may be” the unfaithful ones repent because judgement’s coming
Public Reading of the Scroll at the Temple (Jeremiah 36:8–10)
Public Reading of the Scroll at the Temple (Jeremiah 36:8–10)
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. 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. 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.
we might get some context of why the people were at the temple for a fast day
vs 9 gives us some dating information that puts it about 604 BC, a year or so after the battle of Carchemish
And we’re not told why a fasting day was declared and whether or not the people of Judah actually believed it, it was just the normal practice to declare a fast in times of crisis or emergency
And I’d say Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian army crushing Egypt and by 604 sweeping down the Philistine coast and running over Ashkelon, maybe 40 miles west of Judah as the crow flys, might constitute an emergency
no matter why, it would be a ton of people gathered at the Temple and no matter their internal motive, there for the purpose of help from Yahweh
So Baruch reads the words of judgement in Gemariah’s chamber, at the new gate of the Temple, to the the crowd
Reading of the Scroll Before the Officials (Jeremiah 36:11–19)
Reading of the Scroll Before the Officials (Jeremiah 36:11–19)
11 When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of the LORD, 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.
three generations: Shaphan—the secretary to the good king Josiah when they found the Book of the Law of Yahweh, his son Gemariah lending Baruch his chamber to read the word, and Michaiah taking the word immediately to what we’d call today the king’s cabinet
13 Then Michaiah declared unto them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people. 14 Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, unto Baruch, saying, Take in thine 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. 15 And they said unto him, Sit down now, and read it in our ears. So Baruch read it in their ears.
the cabinet sends for Baruch to read it to them in private. I imagine they are gathered together trying to figure out “this Babylonian army deal”.
If they were already nervous, then a scroll announcing divine judgement naming exactly the disaster bearing down on them “hits a bit differently”
We meet Jehudi and are not real sure why we get all his family detail. What we do know, is he’s the one sent to politely ask Baruch to come and read it to the cabinet. We’ll see him again shortly
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. 17 And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell us now, How didst thou write all these words at his mouth?
The cabinet hears the judgement and rightfully turn to each other in fear and determine the king HAS to know this!
They’re going to tell the king, but they need to know if Baruch wrote them from memory or as a scribe of Jeremiah
18 Then Baruch answered them, He pronounced all these words unto me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book.
Baruch writing what he remembered Jeremiah saying is way different that Jeremiah telling him to write what he said—words of the scribe vs. words of the Prophet
19 Then said the princes unto Baruch, Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah; and let no man know where ye be.
They know the response that’s likely coming from Jehoiakim — “shoot the messenger”; they had seen him do it to the prophet Uriah, hunting him down, had him dragged back from Egypt, and executed
Elnathan — the son of Achbor back in verse 12 — was the one sent to fetch him
The men on the cabinet are caught between a king they fear and the Word they believe
faithful men have to report to the boss, but they also have to shepherd the employees
Reading of the Scroll to the King (Jeremiah 36:20–26)
Reading of the Scroll to the King (Jeremiah 36:20–26)
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. 21 So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll: and he took it out of Elishama the scribe’s chamber. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes which stood beside the king. 22 Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month: and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him.
They go and tell the king, but leave the scroll — boy do they know him well
Here’s Jehudi again, politely bringing Baruch before, standing here reading it to the king and his court
November/December is cold in Judah, nothing like a fire in the firepot by the king to keep him nice and warm;
the same season the Babylonian machine is rolling across the region as the people of Judah face the winter weather outside
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. 24 Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words.
The more likely read is the “he” is king Jehoiakim.
It could actually be Jehudi at the orders of the king, but even if I don’t know him as well as the cabinet, I picture him as a guy that would smile in contempt while making his point by listening to a few lines then using a scribe’s knife to cut off the scroll a few columns at a time after Jehudi read them, and dropping them in the firepot and then repeating until the entire scroll was gone — but that’s my take
the important point is “they were not afraid, nor rent their garments”
Josiah tore his garments when he heard the Word of God; Jehoiakim tore and burnt the Word of God
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. 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.
We find out the cabinet DID plead with him not to burn the scroll, but Jehoiakim ignored them. He didn’t destroy Yahweh’s word in ignorance he did it in rebellion and arrogance
Jehoiakim Jerahmeel (son of Hammelech — the son of the king) and two others to go get Baruch and Jeremiah
debate on if he was Jehoiakim’s son or the son of another king but the point is they heard the orders and were willing to go
confirming the character the cabinet judged when they told them to hide
BUT THE LORD hid them — I keep telling the kids on Wednesday a truth I have to remind myself: The LORD goes before us in every situation and will handle it far better than we can.
Don’t mean it won’t hurt, but it DOES mean it will be good because God IS good!
look at Uriah, being a faithful prophet of Yahweh cost him his life, but we trust the reward of the faithful is being with the LORD for eternity
Rewriting of the Destroyed Scroll (Jeremiah 36:27–32)
Rewriting of the Destroyed Scroll (Jeremiah 36:27–32)
27 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after that the king had burned the roll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying, 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.
Yahweh tells Jeremiah to, pardon the pun I can’t resist, “roll it back”. To write it again!
Jeremiah couldn’t do that himself, only God that gave him the words the first time, could give him the all words the second!
The Word of the LORD WILL be preserved, no matter if kings, or courts, or countries want to destroy it
And there have been and are plenty that hate the word of God because it shines light on their sin and sinful hearts:
John 3:19–20 “19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.”
Doesn’t matter. The Holy God of the Bible is sovereign and just and way back in Genesis a simple question gives us comfort: Genesis 18:25 “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
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? 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. 31 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.
Babylon is coming to destroy this land. He tried to erase the sentence instead of repenting of the sin.
the cold the firepot kept off will freeze his dead body
Jehoiakim refusing the word didn't cancel it; it brought every bit of it down.
The king burned the word to stop the judgment, and the burning became part of the judgment.
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.
By God’s grace and provision His word is preserved. The scroll isn’t just duplicated, more of the words given by Yahweh, spoken by Jeremiah, written by Baruch are recorded
