Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading in the book Yahweh’s words in Yahweh’s house. Now 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 Yahweh. Then Baruch read the words of Jeremiah from the book in Yahweh’s house, in the room of Gemariah the son of Shaphan, the scribe, in the upper court, at the entry of the new gate of Yahweh’s house, in the ears of all the people.
When Micaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all Yahweh’s words, he went down into the king’s house, into the scribe’s room: and behold, all the princes were sitting there, Elishama the scribe, Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, Elnathan the son of Achbor, Gemariah the son of Shaphan, Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes. Then Micaiah declared to 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, to Baruch, saying, “Take in your hand the scroll in which you have read in the ears of the people, and come.” So Baruch the son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand, and came to them.
They said to him, “Sit down now, and read it in our hearing.” So Baruch read it in their hearing.
Now when they had heard all the words, they turned in fear one toward another, and said to Baruch, “We will surely tell the king of all these words.” They asked Baruch, saying, “Tell us now, how did you write all these words at his mouth?”
Then Baruch answered them, “He dictated all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book.”
Then the princes said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah go hide. Don’t let anyone know where you are.”
They went in to the king into the court; but they had laid up the scroll in the room of Elishama the scribe. Then they told all the words in the hearing of the king. So the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll; and he took it out of the room of Elishama the scribe. Jehudi read it in the hearing of the king, and in the hearing of all the princes who stood beside 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. When Jehudi had read three or four leaves, the king cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was in the brazier, until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier. The king and his servants who heard all these words were not afraid, and didn’t tear their garments. Moreover Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the scroll; but he would not listen to them. The king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet; but Yahweh hid them.
Then Yahweh’s word came to Jeremiah, after the king had burned the scroll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying, “Take again another scroll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned. Concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, ‘Yahweh says: “You have burned this scroll, saying, “Why have you written therein, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and will cause to cease from there man and animal?’ ” ’ Therefore Yahweh says concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: “He will have no one to sit on David’s throne. His dead body will be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost. I will punish him, his offspring, and his servants for their iniquity. I will bring on them, on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them, but they didn’t listen.” ’ ”
Then took Jeremiah another scroll, 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 many similar words were added to them.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 Here the promptitude of Baruch is commended, for he…
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 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; 16:25; 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, 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 —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv9, 10, 16, 19, 22, 24, 26, 28, 29, 30 The fast was then proclaimed, and Baruch read this…
The fast was then proclaimed, and Baruch read this rule, which was a little before that Jerusalem was first taken, and then Jehoiakim, and Daniel and his companions were led away captives.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv8–32 Jer 36:8 And Baruch the son of Neriah did…
Jer 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 {Jer 45:5}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32 This fast was appointed upon a particular emergency, whether…
This fast was appointed upon a particular emergency, whether it was for a famine which was then in the land, or to avert the ruin which they justly feared from the king of Babylon, who had lately brought them under his servitude, is not certain; the yearly fast, Lev 23:27, was to be kept in the seventh month, nor did God ever ordain any fast to be kept in the ninth month.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On vv9, 20 It should seem that Baruch had been frequently reading…
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 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 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.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv8–32 And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to…
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.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv10, 18, 22, 23, 25, 26, 30 Then read - Most likely out of some window,…
Then read - Most likely out of some window, or balcony, the people being below, and hearing it.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv9, 10, 17, 19, 22, 23, 25, 26, 28, 30, 32 Verse 9. In the ninth month] Answering to a…
Verse 9. In the ninth month] Answering to a part of our December.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv9, 11, 16, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 30, 32 Jer 36:9-10. In the fifth year, &c., they proclaimed…
Jer 36:9-10. In the fifth year, &c., they proclaimed a fast — “It was customary among the Jews to proclaim anniversary fasts upon certain days, in memory of some great calamities which had befallen them at that time. Of this kind were the fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months, mentioned Zec 7:5; Zec 8:19; the first instituted in remembrance 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; the fourth in memory of the siege which then began. Then read Baruch the words of Jeremiah, in the house of the Lord — It has been before observed, that by the house of the Lord is meant all that is included within the sacred precincts of the temple; not only the sanctuary, or house properly so called, but all the out-buildings, and the courts around, both the inner court of the priests, and the outer court, which was open to all the people. In the chamber of Gemariah the scribe — This chamber was undoubtedly in the great outer court, either close to, or over the gateway of the eastern gate; so that if he read, as is supposed, from a window, or balcony, he would be heard by the concourse of people that came flocking into the court through that gate: see Jer 26:10.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18, 20, 22, 23, 25, 26, 29, 30, 32 Reading - To read.
Reading - To read.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv9, 10, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 30, 32 Fast. Probably on account of the catastrophe the second…
Fast. Probably on account of the catastrophe the second year, Daniel i. 2. Many such were afterwards appointed, Zacharias vii. 3., and viii. 19. All came to Jerusalem on such occasions.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On vv9, 19, 27 9And it came to pass in the fifth year…
2. THE READING TO THE PEOPLE
Jer_36:9-18
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9And 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 peo10ple in Jerusalem and to all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem. Then read Baruch in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the Lord, in the chamber [cell] 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 of11all the people. When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had12heard out of the book all the words of the Lord. Then he went down into the king’s house, into the scribe’s chamber:3 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,13and all the princes. Then Michaiah declared unto them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people.
14Therefore 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 come4 So Baruch the son of Neriah took15the roll in his hand, and came unto them. And they said unto him, Sit down now16and read it in our ears. Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they were afraid both one and other,5 and said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the17king of all these words. And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell us now, How didst18thou write all these words at his mouth?6 Then Baruch answered them, He pronounced7all these words unto me with his mouth, and I wrote them with, ink8 in the book.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
In the fifth year of Jehoiakim and the ninth month Baruch on occasion of a public fast reads to the assembled people in the temple the discourses of Jeremiah, written down by him (Jer_36:9-10). Michaiah, the son of Gemariah, gives notice of this to the princes assembled in the royal chancery, among whom was his father (Jer_36:11-13). Thereupon the princes cause Baruch to be brought with his roll, and commanded him to read it to them (Jer_36:14-15). What he reads fills them with terror. They declare to Baruch that they must inform the king and inquire as to the particular circumstances of the writing (Jer_36:16-17). Baruch replies simply that Jeremiah dictated the words to him and he wrote them down (Jer_36:18).
Jer_36:9-10. And it came to pass … all the people. The rendering of the “ninth month” of the fifth year of Jehoiakim as the ninth month of the civil year, i.e. about December, is favored especially by the circumstance that the statement of the months and days (comp. Jer_39:2), without a previous exact statement of the day and month of the beginning of the reign, would be unintelligible and purposeless, while, if we understand the months and days of the civil year, the matter is clear, provided that the fragments of the initial and concluding years are reckoned as full years.—Proclaimed a fast. It was at any rate an extraordinary fast, such as was not infrequently appointed in times of distress (comp. Joe_1:14; Joe_2:15; 1Ki_21:9; 1Ki_21:12; 2Ch_20:3), then probably occasioned by the danger threatening from the Chaldeans (comp, Jer_36:29). It is therefore very probable, that Nebuchadnezzar then (in December of the fifth year of Jehoiakim) had not yet retired from Jerusalem. This is opposed to those who make the battle of Carchemish immediately precede the siege of Jerusalem (“only a few weeks.” Comp. Gustav Rösch. Art. Bibl. Zeitrechnung [Bibl. Chronology] in Herzog,R.-Enc., XVIII., S. 464). The subject, proclaiming the fast, appears (as in Jon_3:5 colt. Joe_1:14; Joe_2:15) to be the whole people. Elsewhere it is the presiding officers who proclaim the fast (1Ki_21:9; 1Ki_21:12; 2Ch_20:3; Ezr_8:21). Whether by the former mode of expression anything is intimated concerning the suggestion of the appointment, or a rite in proclamations unknown to us, is not clear. Ewald, as it seems to me incorrectly, after the Vulg., connects “all the people” with “fast” as a genitive [jejunium omni populo].—In the chamber of Gemariah, Jer_36:10. Comp. rems. on Jer_35:2; Jer_35:4.—This Gemariah is named immediately afterwards as one of the princes assembled in the royal chancery. He had, it seems, as scribe a room in the temple, and also took part in the official transactions in the scribe’s chamber in the king’s house. (Comp. infra on Jer_36:12). His father appears to have been scribe under Josiah (2Ki_22:3 sqq.). Possibly the family was a priestly one. (Comp. 2Ki_22:3 with 1Ch_9:11-12). His brother Ahikam is mentioned as a protector of Jer_26:24. On the upper fore-court and new gate comp. comm. on Jer_20:2; Jer_26:10. The room was situated not in the entry but at the entry, so that it might probably be entered directly from the gateway. At any rate it was a very frequented spot. As the higher court was that of the priests (comp. Herz. R.-Enc XV., S. 609), which the people might not enter, it is possible that the new gate led from the higher into the outer (Eze_40:17), or great court (2Ch_4:9), and that accordingly the room, from its elevated position, afforded a view over the great court. comp. Hitzig, in loc.
Jer_36:11-18. When Michaiah … in the book. Michaiah, the son of that Gemariah in whose temple-chamber Baruch held his lecture, who was probably present in the chamber, thought himself called upon to inform his father. He found him in the royal chancery (so Luther). According to Jer_36:20, the princes go from the chancery into the court of the palace, to the presence of the king. Accordingly, the chancery appears to have been placed more on the outer side of the palace, probably for the sake of accessibility. The “scribe” Gemariah appears to have had the ecclesiastical department (Jer_36:10, minister of worship), and the “scribe” Elishama the political. The latter was thus chancellor, or Secretary of State. Comp. Herzog, R.-Enc. XIV., S. 2. On the general meaning of “princes” comp. the list of Solomon’s princes, 1Ki_4:2 sqq.—If Elishama is identical with the one mentioned in Jer_41:1 and 2Ki_25:15, which is not impossible, he was a prince of the royal family. Comp. on Jer_41:1.—Elnathan, the son of Achbor, was mentioned before in Jer_26:22.—Jehudi, etc. The name of his ancestor leads us to conclude that he was of Cushite descent. It is not probable that the name Jehudi was given with reference to the injunction in Deu_23:8, for there it is merely said that the descendants of the Edomites and Egyptians are not to enter the congregation of the Lord till the third generation. With respect to the other nations (with the exception of still more strictly excluded Canaanites, Ammonites and Moabites) there was no such limitation. They might be naturalized in the first generation on fulfilment of the conditions. Comp. Saalschuetz, Mos. Recht, Kap. 92, § 3; Kap. 100, § 2. Moreover, both the father and grandfather bear Israelitish names, and Jehudi is a family, not a national name. The feminine, Judith, appears, even in ancient times, as a proper name among the Hittites (Gen_26:34). Comp. Fuerst s. v.—Sit down now. They are evidently friendlily disposed. Comp. Jer_36:19; Jer_36:25.—I do not believe that they were terrified merely in the interest of Jeremiah and Baruch. It was possible to protect them. Without doubt the concentration of the threatenings did not fail of its intended object in their case.—It was clear that after the public reading in the temple, the matter could not be kept concealed from the king. Purposed concealment might be dangerous to those whose duty it was to report.—Rosenmueller, Hitzig, Graf understand the question in Jer_36:17 as if the princes wished to know whether Baruch had not compiled the book against the will and knowledge of Jeremiah, from memory or written documents. But then the reading would have been different. [See Textual Notes]. As the words stand, they seem to me simply to express the curious desire for a peep, as it were, into the prophet’s workshop. They supposed that Baruch must have been a witness of secret transactions, and they, therefore, wish to know how the dictation, on the part of the prophet, was given, whether, ex. gr., consciously or in a state of ecstasy. Baruch answers that Jeremiah simply pronounced the words and he as simply wrote them down with ink. There was nothing wonderful about it. How Hitzig can say that קרא cannot mean speaking, but only reading to another, I do not understand. Dictation requires no less an elevation of the voice than reading aloud, and may therefore be designated as “calling.” The phrase “with his mouth” also seems to imply just the opposite of reading from a book. Comp. Jer_36:4 with Jer_36:6; Jer_36:10.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
1. On Jer_36:2. The object of the writing was not only that “litera scripta manet” (Cramer: “the mouth speaks only to those who are present, but the pen to the absent; the mouth speaks only to the present hours and times, the pen many hundred years afterwards also.” Comp. Exo_34:27; Deu_10:4-5; Deu_17:18; Isa_30:8; Hab_2:2), but also to collect all the single lightning strokes into one grand prophetic tempest. Moreover, it is a matter of course that the written word was of special use, not only to posterity, but also to the contemporaries in so far as it rendered possible continued study, repeated quiet contemplation, and careful comparison. Jeremiah certainly prevented no one from taking copies of his book.
2. On Jer_36:4. Did Jeremiah hold such a relation to the Spirit of God as Baruch to Jeremiah when dictating? Then it was a matter of indifference to whom the dictation was made. Then a Saul would do as well as a Samuel, if he could only write. The best writer would be the most chosen instrument. There was no mingling of the individuality of the prophet except in the MS., and that is lost to us with the original. All prophetic writings must have the same type as to form and purport, which, as is well known, is so little the case that according to the saying of Buffon, le stylec’est l’homme, the portrait of a prophet might almost be drawn from his style.
3. On Jer_36:5. “God’s word is not bound; 2Ti_2:9. Paul for example wrote his most beautiful epistles from prison, as those to the Galatians, the Ephesians, the Philippians, the Colossians, to Philemon, and the second to Timothy.” Cramer.
4. On Jer_36:14. “It is a good state of things when rulers ask for God’s Word, and cannot be answered or helped promptly and quickly enough to the fulfilment of their purpose. So it was a joy to Paul that he could tell Agrippa what the Lord had done for his soul, and his heart yearned after Agrippa, Festus and all those around them.” Zinzendorf.
5. On Jer_36:16. “When a true servant of God gets his superiors so far that they hear him, he may surely not doubt, that he will also bring them to obedience. It is then not his, but the Lord’s affair.” Zinzendorf.
6. On Jer_36:23. “The higher the enemies of God are, the more dangerous; the greater, the more bitterly opposed to the work of the Lord, and the general patience with respect to the wickedness and unrighteousness of men, has certainly given something special to the δόξαις. Procul a Jove procul a fulmine.” Zinzendorf.
7. On Jer_36:23. “Locus maxime principalis in præsenti hoc textu est de combustione sacrorum librorum, quale fatum illi experti sunt non tantum Jeremiah 36, verum etiam 1Ma_1:59 sub Antiocho Epiphane; nec non tempore Diocleliani, qui et ipse multa bibliorum sacrorum exemplaria undiquaque conquisita comburi jussit; quorum vestigiis insistere non dubitarunt Pontifices romani et præsertim Leo X. qui anno 1520 binos legatos emisit ad Fridericum Sapienlem, postulantes ab ipso, ut libros Lutheri combureret … Quid hodie Jesuitæ de librorum combustione, qui a Lutheranis eduntur, sentiant, peculiari scripto Gretserus aperuit, quod de hoc argumento consarcinavit de jure et more prohibendi, expurgandi et abolendi libros hæreticos et noxios. Ingolst. 1603, 40).” Förster.
8. On Jer_36:25. “When John’s head was in question, Herod did not understand how he could resist his magnates. When Daniel is to go into the lions’ den, Darius has not the heart to refuse his princes. When Jeremiah is to be delivered up, Zedekiah says with great modesty to his princes: the king can do nothing against you’ (Jer_38:5). But when anything evil is to be done, the rulers can insist on having their own way. Here we have an instance: he hearkened not unto them.” Zinzendorf.
9. On Jer_36:26. “Dominus eos abscondidisse dicilur, quaratione olim Eliam (1 Reg. xvii. 2 sqq. et xvii. 12), nec non Elisæum (2 Reg. vi.), itemque Athanasium et Augustinum et nostro tempore Lutherum abscondidit.” Förster.
10. On Jer_36:27. [“Here is a sublime specimen of the triumph of God’s Word, when repressed by the power, and burnt by the rage of this world, whether it be in the suppression of the Scriptures, or in preventing their circulation, or in casting copies of them into the fire, or in the imprisonment and martyrdom of God’s preachers. That Word rises more gloriously out of all its persecutions.” Wordsworth.—S. R. A.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
1. On Jer_36:2-3. Sermon at a Bible Society Anniversary. The blessing of the written word. 1. That which it has in common with the spoken word (Jer_36:3): preparation of the heart for the reception of salvation. 2. That which it brings in distinction from the written Word: (a) it is present for every one: (b) it is present at every time and at every place: (c) it is present in all its parts (comparison).
2. On Jer_36:21-32. The majesty of the Word. 1. The power, which the word exercises. 2. The independence, which it maintains. 3. The self-verification which it continually effects. Sermons in Berlin by Fr. Wilh. Krummacher. Berlin, 1849.
3. On Jer_36:24. [“The guilt of indifference to the divine threatenings. It involves: 1, contempt of God; 2, unbelief, making God a liar; 3, extreme hardness of heart.” Payson.—S. R. A.]
Footnotes
[3]Jer_36:12—[Naegelsbach: Chancery chamber or chancellor’s room, according to the original Roman use of the word chancellor for chief notary or scribe, or according to the Scripture use for master of decrees, or president of the council, Ezra 4.—S. R. A.]
[4]Jer_36:14.—According to our idiom the expression designates removal from the speaker. In Hebrew it merely designates the leaving of the former position on the part of the person addressed, the terminus in quem being inferred from the context. Comp. 1Sa_9:9; 1Sa_11:14.
[5]Jer_36:16.—פחדו איש אל־רעהו. On the construction comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 112, 7; Gen_42:28.
[6]Jer_36:17.—מפיו. The LXX. omit the word. So also Ewald. Others take is as=הֲמִפִיו as it must be according to their understanding of the question. [See Exeget.]
[7]Jer_36:18—יקרא. The Imperf. designates duration in the pest, wherefore also the part. כֹתֵב corresponds to it. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 87, f—Jer_13:7, Jer_15:6.
[8]Jer_36:18.—דיו. The word is ἅπ. λεγ. It implies that Baruch only performed the mechanical work. Comp. Winer, H. W. B. Art. Schreibekunst; Herzog, R.-Enc., Art. Schriftzeichen und Schreibekunst, S. 19, [Smith Dict. III. 1802].
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv9, 10, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32 they proclaimed . . . to all the people…
they proclaimed . . . to all the people . . . to all, &c.--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.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 30, 32 PARTICULARS OF THE READING, Jer_36:9-18.
PARTICULARS OF THE READING, Jer_36:9-18.
9. In the ninth month… proclaimed a fast — This would fall about December. The ordinary fast was in the seventh month. Keil conjectures that this was a fast appointed in view of the capture of Jerusalem in the previous year.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, 32 8. And Baruch … did according to all] This…
8. And Baruch … did according to all] This summary statement of the fact that Baruch carried out Jeremiah’s commands is followed by the detailed account in Jer_36:9 f.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 32 (9) It came to pass in the fifth year…
(9) It came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim.—The LXX. gives “the eighth year,” but the Hebrew text gives much the more probable date. What follows refers apparently to the same occasion as Jer_36:8, and is of the nature of a note explaining the circumstances under which the prophetic discourse was read. An interval of some months thus passed between the writing of the book and its delivery in the Temple, during which its substance was, perhaps, made known to the inner circle of the prophet’s disciples. The fast was probably proclaimed on the king’s hearing of the approach of Nebuchadnezzar’s army, as described by the Rechabites in Jer_35:11.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32 In the fifth year of Jehoiakim. It is remarkable…
In the fifth year of Jehoiakim. It is remarkable that the Septuagint has here the eighth year; and Josephus, too, relates that Jehoiakim paid tribute to Nebuchadnezzar in his eighth year. This latter statement seems to tally with the notices in 2Ki 24. The vassalage of Jehoiakim is there said to have lasted three years; this followed the rebellion; while the siege of Jerusalem was reserved for the short reign of Jehoiachin. Now, as this siege must have been the punishment of Jehoiakim"s rebellion, and as the reign of the latter king lasted eleven years, we are brought to the same date as that given by Josephus for the commencement of the vassalage, viz. the eighth year. It is to this year, then, that 2Ki_24:1 refers when it says, "In his days Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant;" and also the narrative before us in the statement that "they proclaimed a fast before Jehovah to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem." What other event would have produced such a concourse of worshippers? The battle of Carchemish (which took place in the fourth year of Jehoiakim)? But it was by no means clear as yet that the consequences of this would be disastrous for Judah. Carchemish was too far off for the people of Judah to show such serious alarm (similarly Gratz, "Monatsschrift," etc., vol. 23. p. 300). If so, Jeremiah kept his prophecy by him for several years, till the fight moment came. The ninth month. As this is a winter month (see ver. 22), Jeremiah evidently reckons by the Babylonian calendar, the ninth month of which, Kisiluv (Hebrew, Chisleu), began from the new moon of December.
Vers. 9-16. Free course of the Word of God.
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The progress made by the messages of Jeremiah when read aloud in the scribe"s cell at the entrance of the higher court of the temple was very remarkable, and fully justified the great care and ingenuity with which it was effected.
I A SANCTIFIED INGENUITY SHOULD BE SHOWN IN TAKING ADVANTAGE OF OR CREATING SUITABLE OCCASIONS FOR MAKING KNOWN GOD"S WORD.
II THE WORD OF GOD IS COMMENDED BY ITS GENERAL AND SPECIAL HUMAN INTEREST.
III WHEN ONE INSTRUMENTALITY FAILS, GOD WILL RAISE UP ANOTHER, UNTIL HIS MESSAGE ATTAINS ITS DESTINATION. M.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv20, 24, 26, 27 He cut it with the penknife, and cast it…
Jer_36:20-26
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
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The burnt roll
I.
The incidents connected with the text.
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 Gods 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.
1. The duty of reverencing Gods 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 Gods commands. (T. Grantham.)
The burnt roll and the Scriptures
I. 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 mens 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 Gods message
I. 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 prophets 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 souls acts now.
2. His excuses.
3. His doom.
IV. Zedekiah hears a message from one whom, on the whole, he owns as Gods messenger, and, by way of reply, he burns it. Countless souls own the Bible, as, on the whole, Gods 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 Gods 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.)
Jeremiahs roll burnt
The 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 Gods most worthy praise. We should also come up to hear His most holy Word.
III. The Lords 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 Lords object in reference to Judah. Judah had sinned; and the Lord had threatened, 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 Gods Word, and hates and persecutes Gods faithful servants.
V. The folly of destroying Gods word. Those men destroy Gods 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 Gods 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 penknife
Jehoiakim 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 prophets 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 monarchs 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 Jehoiakims 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 souls 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 Gods 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 mans 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, 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 Gods 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 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 dying
And 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 heavens 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 Bible
1. 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 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 Book
There 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 maniacs grey locks in the wind--then we will want Gods 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 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 mothers 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 Jehoiakims 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 hearts 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 Solomons Song that they dont 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 Gods 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 Gods 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, 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 Gods 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 Word
Jeremiah continued to prophesy close up to the time of the first captivity. The days were evil, the cup of the nations 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 mans happiness, God would not leave us at the mercy of mans 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 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 mans 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 mans conscience; calculated by its discoveries of a Saviours 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 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 Gods 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 Lords 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 Lords 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 Lords 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 Judahs 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 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 Jehoiakims posterity to captivity and shame, and the exposure of his own body to the burial of an ass, as an eternal monument of Gods 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-burning
We 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 Gods 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 Jehoiakims 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 God to man, the gift which shows us the way of salvation, which tells us of Gods relationship to us as our Father, which tells the story of a Saviours 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 blessings
Time 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 Gods 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 Gods 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.)
Jehoiakims penknife
A homely writer says, Jehoiakims patent has expired, and a whole army of followers of his are fond of cutting at Gods 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 Jehoiakims 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 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 Gods 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 roll
I 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 facts
Jehoiakim 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 Nebuchadnezzars 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 Jeremiahs 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.)
Jehoiakims wickedness
We 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 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 Gods 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 Gods 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 prophets 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 Gods Word was evoked, but the Word of God was not destroyed.
3. The attitude of the witnesses. There were two classes of witnesses present.
(1) The kings 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 Gods Word. We may serve an ungodly king, like Daniel, if we have the courage to take Gods 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 Priests 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 Gods 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 mans hatred and rage against Gods 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 Gods 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 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 Gods 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 Gods Word, will that alter the fact that it will be carried out to the letter? Suppose instead of destroying Gods 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 Gods 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 penknife
I. Jehoiakims 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 engineers tool bag and a portable carpenters 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 kings spiritual suicide.
II. The meaning of Jehoiakims conduct.
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. Jehoiakims 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 Gods 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 madmans 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 Gods messenger. Gods 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. Herods 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, M. A.)
A fool and his penknife
All 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 seers 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 kings 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, 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 Jehoiakims 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 Gods 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 Word
I. 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, as in Jeremiahs 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 vessels 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.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v32
Jeremiah
JEREMIAH’S ROLL BURNED AND REPRODUCED
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Jer 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. 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?
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.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv9, 22 ninth month
ninth month
i.e. December.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v19 The Roll Destroyed and Rewritten
The Roll Destroyed and Rewritten
v. 19. Then said the princes unto Baruch, Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah; and let no man know where ye be. The reading had made a deep impression upon them, but they had an instinctive feeling that Jeremiah and Baruch were in danger of their lives on account of the message which they proclaimed, especially since a report of the happening had to be made to the king.
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v. 20. And they went in to the king, into the court, the great hall or throne-room, but they laid up the roll in the chamber of Elishama, the scribe, leaving it in his office for safe-keeping, and told all the words in the ears of the king.
v. 21. So the king sent Jehudi, who seems to have been the court messenger, 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, literally, "over the king"; for, since they were standing in his presence, their heads were higher than his.
v. 22. Now, the king sat in the winter-house, in one of the inner and sheltered rooms of the palace, where also the great hall was situated, in the ninth month, corresponding roughly to our December; and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him, a brazen vessel with glowing charcoal such as are used in the Orient.
v. 23. And it came to pass that, when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, the writer’s knife with which the reed or style used for writing was pointed from time to time, 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. The king had become so enraged on account of the passage which he had heard that he could not contain himself, but laid blasphemous hands upon the sacred roll, slashing it right and left and destroying it completely.
v. 24. Yet they were not afraid, they were not terrified by the Lord’s threats, nor rent their garments, as they should have done in grief and mourning over their sins and the Lord’s impending punishment upon them, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words.
v. 25. Nevertheless, Einathan and Delaiah and Gemariah, three, at least, of the king’s counselors, had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll, but he would not hear them, he was deaf to all remonstrances.
v. 26. But the king commanded Jerahmeel, the son of Hammelech, and Seraiah, the son of Azriel, and Shele-miah, the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch, the scribe, and Jeremiah, the prophet, that is, to arrest them; but the Lord hid them, He did not permit the searchers to find their hiding-place.
v. 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,
v. 28. Take thee again another roll, a new strip of parchment, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, hath burned.
v. 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? The king had evidently given vent to his anger in exclamations of this kind when he destroyed the roll.
v. 30. Therefore, thus saith the Lord of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David, for his son Jehoiachin was nothing but a vassal of the foreign emperor and could in no sense call the kingdom his own; and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat and in the night to the frost, namely, in the hardships attending his exile.
v. 31. And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity, for by following the king they placed themselves in the same condemnation with him; 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.
v. 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; for Jeremiah had received other inspired messages, and the Lord took this opportunity of embodying them all in the book which was to be preserved as a testimony against the disobedient nation and its king.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv9, 11, 13, 16, 20, 23, 25, 27, 30, 32 It came about
It came about
See how you translated this phrase in Jeremiah 36:1.
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in the fifth year and ninth month of Jehoiakim ... king of Judah
This is the ninth month of the Hebrew calendar. It is during the last part of November and the first part of December on Western calendars. "after Jehoiakim ... had been king of Judah for more than four years, during the ninth month" (See: Hebrew Months and Ordinal Numbers)
of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah
See how you translated this phrase in Jeremiah 25:1.
proclaimed a fast
"told everyone that they were going to fast"
Jeremiah's words
It is not clear why Jeremiah is referring to himself by name here. (See: First, Second, or Third Person)
Gemariah son of Shaphan
This is the name of a person. (See: How to Translate Names)
the scribe
"who was a scribe"
by the gate of the entrance to the house of Yahweh
"in the entrance of the new gate of the house of Yahweh"
He did this
He read aloud Jeremiah's words.
in the hearing of all the people
"where all the people could hear him." See how similar words are translated in Jeremiah 2:2.
translationWords
year
Jehoiakim
Josiah
king
kingdom of Judah
Jerusalem
preach
fast
honor
Yahweh
Baruch
house of God
scribe
court
gate
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv8, 10, 11, 14, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, 26, 27, 29 36:8-9 Baruch filled the columns of the scroll with…
36:8-9 Baruch filled the columns of the scroll with Jeremiah’s messages from the Lord. Finally, a day of fasting was announced toward the end of 604 BC. Baruch faithfully obeyed Jeremiah’s order to read the scroll in the Temple, where many people crowded the courtyard.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.