And Baruch read in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of Jehovah, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court, at the entry of the new gate of the house of Jehovah, in the ears of all the people.
A fast day has drawn crowds into Jerusalem from the towns of Judah, and the man God told to speak cannot get into the temple. The crowds have come in from the towns of Judah, and the man God told to speak cannot get into the temple. So his secretary carries the message in instead, and reads it aloud in a room of the upper court where all the people can hear.
Baruch reads because Jeremiah cannot. One writer makes that restriction the point of the whole scene:
The prophet was bound, but the word of God was not. He is always above the shifting circumstances of man. He is greater than the obstacles that seem to shut out the testimony of His servants.
Commentators differ on what kept Jeremiah out of the temple:
Jeremiah was "shut in." This does not mean that he was a prisoner (see verse 19). It probably means that he was not allowed to enter the LORD's house because of some ceremonial impurity. So he sent Baruch, his secretary, to read the scroll to the people on the fast day.
Months passed between the writing of the scroll and its public reading. The wait was not reluctance:
The spirit of obedience before long finds a fitting moment for serving the Lord.
Writing the scroll took time, and the men doing the work knew what they were handling:
This work clearly took a long time, since Baruch did not read the book publicly to the people until the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim (v.9). One can picture the two men in the house where Jeremiah lived. The Spirit of God guides the prophet as he carefully dictates the words of the Lord. Baruch gives himself to the task of writing on the scroll. All the while both men know they are passing on the very words of God to those who would read the message.
The verse names the room: a chamber belonging to Gemariah son of Shaphan. Behind that name stand three generations of one family, and the message travelled beyond the crowd who heard it:
Shaphan, along with Hilkiah, had found the book of the law at the time when repairs were made in the temple. Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, seems to have followed in the steps of his devout father (v.26). His own son, Micah, hears all the words of the Lord from the book as Baruch reads them aloud. He is so struck by them that he goes down into the scribe's chamber, where all the princes had gathered. There he tells them all the words that he has heard (v.13). In the same way, young people who are able to attend meetings might want to pass on what has been read or said to sick or elderly people who cannot leave their homes. Such quiet service is useful, and those who receive it value it greatly.
The day that gathered the crowd was a fast day. From the outside it looked like repentance:
Outwardly, there was fasting, but the fast did not express the true state of heart of the king or the nation. They were like the disciples of the Pharisees at a later time. Those disciples often fasted (Luke 5:33), but they had no heart for the Son of God who was present among them. Mere outward religious observances are of no value in the sight of God. He wants reality: a heart that is true before Him, and a life that gives Him pleasure.
God had a purpose in this warning, and it was not Judah's ruin:
Jehoiakim had already reigned four years, and God had given him time to turn to Him. But wickedness had increased. So God gave a further warning, in the hope that the king and his people would repent of their sins and return to the LORD their God.
- Unstoppable — Jeremiah could not enter the temple, but the word of God reached it anyway. God is greater than the obstacles that seem to silence His servants.
- Dictated — Jeremiah spoke and Baruch wrote. Both men knew they were passing on the very words of God, not their own.
- Timed — Baruch waited for the fast day. The spirit of obedience finds its fitting moment instead of forcing one.
- Inherited — the room belonged to Shaphan's family. Shaphan had found the book of the law, his son Gemariah lent the room, and his grandson carried the message on.
- Merciful — the reading came after years of patience. Its aim was not to condemn Judah but to bring the nation back to the LORD their God.
And Micah the son of Gemariah the son of Shaphan heard out of the book all the words of Jehovah;
Baruch has just read Jeremiah's scroll aloud in the temple court. Out of the whole crowd, one listener is named: Micaiah, son of Gemariah, son of Shaphan. The verse says only that he heard — yet everything that follows in the chapter, right up to the king's knife, starts with that hearing.
Jeremiah could not go to the temple himself, so he sent Baruch in his place. One commentator draws the contrast:
The prophet was bound, but the word of God was not. He is always above the shifting circumstances of man, and greater than the obstacles that seem to shut out the testimony of His servants.
The reading happened on a day of national fasting, with crowds gathered from the cities of Judah.
Outwardly, there was fasting, but the fast did not express the true state of heart of the king or the nation... Outward religious ceremonies on their own have no value in God's sight. He wants what is real: a heart that is true before Him, and a life that gives Him pleasure.
The verse names Micaiah's father and grandfather, and both names carry history.
Shaphan, along with Hilkiah, had found the book of the law at the time when repairs were made in the temple. Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, seems to have followed in the steps of his pious father. His own son hears "all the words of the LORD from the scroll" as Baruch reads them aloud. He is so impressed by them that he goes down into the scribe's room where all the princes had gathered. There he declares to them all the words that he has heard. (In the same way, young people who can attend meetings might want to pass on what was read or said there. They can carry it to sick or elderly people who cannot leave home. Such quiet service is very useful, and those who receive it value it greatly.)
Yet one writer notes of Shaphan that "this man's son became a leader in idolatry... Over him clearly the Word of God had no power" (W. W. Fereday). Shared ancestry guaranteed nothing.
Many heard the reading that day. The account follows one listener from the temple into the king's house:
Among those who heard the word of God read, one seemed deeply affected by it: Micaiah son of Gemariah... and he went down to the king's house and reported what he had heard to the assembled princes. Six of the princes are named, for the Lord knew every one that was there, and each will have to give account to God for his attitude to His word.
Micaiah's report set off a chain: the princes sent for Baruch, and then went to the king.
Jeremiah had declared these prophecies many times. It may surprise us that the reading of them seems to be something entirely new to the princes. Perhaps they had seldom heard the prophet in person. In any case, this incident shows the power of the written Word of God. The Gospel may be preached, but only the Word of God is "living and powerful." The Lord Jesus called it "the seed." It was this Word that confronted the princes of Judah that day.
The same scroll that moved Micaiah reached King Jehoiakim's winter room. He cut it up and burned it, and no one trembled.
Jehoiakim saw no more than a scroll. But his guilty conscience felt a horror of that scroll. He hid that horror under contempt, cutting the scroll up and burning its pages in the fire — yet the horror gave his fears away.
Destroying the copy changed nothing: "Unbelief never holds back the judgments of God — it brings them about. It may add to them, but it never makes them less" (William Kelly).
- Heard. Micaiah is named for one reason: he took in "all the words of the LORD" while a whole fasting crowd let them pass by.
- Hindered. Jeremiah was shut up and could not speak. The word travelled anyway. God is greater than the obstacles that seem to silence His servants.
- Handed on. He carried what he heard straight to the officials' room. Passing the word on to those who could not be there is real service.
- Held to account. God knew every person in that room. Each of the six named princes would answer for how he treated that word.
- Hardened. A king burned the same scroll that moved a listener. Burning it only brought nearer the judgment it announced.
and he went down to the king's house, into the scribe's chamber, and behold, all the princes were sitting there Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes.
Baruch has just read Jeremiah's scroll aloud in the temple court, and one man in the crowd does not keep quiet about it. He carries it down to the palace, where five named officials sit — and the question is why God records their names at all.
Jeremiah himself could not go to the temple, so his words had to travel by other people. One commentator draws out the contrast:
The prophet was bound, but the word of God was not. He is always above the changing circumstances of man. He is higher than the obstacles that seem to shut out the testimony of His servants.
Micaiah heard the reading and acted on it. That is what moved the word from the temple to the palace. One commentator traces him back to a godly family:
Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, seems to have followed in the steps of his pious father (v.26). His own son, Micah, hears "out of the book all the words of the Lord" as they are read aloud by Baruch. He is so impressed by them that he goes down into the scribe's chamber, where all the officials had gathered. There he declares to them all the words that he has heard (v.13). (In the same way, young people who can attend meetings might want to pass on what was read or said. They can bring it to sick or elderly people who cannot leave their homes. Such quiet service is so useful and so greatly appreciated by those who receive it!)
The verse could have said "the officials were sitting there" and stopped. Instead it gives five names: Elishama the secretary, Delaiah, Elnathan, Gemariah and Zedekiah. Counting Micaiah, who brought the report, one writer sees the list as a record kept on purpose:
Six of the officials are named, for the Lord knew every one that was there, and each will have to give account to God about his attitude to His word. The officials were clearly stirred by the news, for they at once sent Jehudi to bring Baruch and the book that contained the words of God.
No one in this chapter asked the government for a hearing. The message went out to the people at the temple, yet it reached the council room too:
But the ways of God are wise as well as good. Without our own seeking it, He knows how to bring His word before the greatest of men. Paul stood before governors, a king, and an emperor. In the same way, the words of the Lord through Jeremiah came into the council chamber and the court. The servant of the Lord keeps his own place of lowliness, despised and suffering as his Master would be at a later day; but the message reaches the throne just as surely.
The men named here did not all end up in the same place. The king later cut the scroll to pieces and burned it. Three men from this room tried to stop him:
Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah tried to keep him from doing this evil deed, but he refused to listen to them. These three had at least some reverence for the Word of God, and therefore the Holy Spirit records their names.
- Shut in, not shut down. Jeremiah could not reach the temple. The prophet was bound, but the word of God was not. God is higher than the obstacles that seem to block His servants' testimony.
- Carried. The reading gripped one hearer, Micaiah, and he went and told others. That quiet service is open to anyone who passes on what he heard to someone who could not be there.
- Named. The verse names these men because the Lord knew every one in that room. Each would answer to God for how he treated what he heard.
- Reaching. No one engineered this. God knows how to bring His word before the greatest of men, without our own seeking it. Paul later stood before governors, a king, and an emperor.
- Divided. These men all heard the same words in the same room. Three of them later begged the king not to burn the scroll, and the Holy Spirit records their names for that reverence. Their master reached for a knife.