And all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, unto Baruch, saying, Take in thy hand the roll in which thou hast read in the ears of the people, and come. And Baruch the son of Nerijah took the roll in his hand, and came unto them.
Baruch has just read Jeremiah's scroll aloud in the temple on a fast day, and one listener carried the news to the officials in the palace. Now they send a messenger for the scroll and for the man who read it.
Jeremiah never asked for a hearing at court. Yet this verse puts his message inside the government's own chamber. One commentator sees God's hand in that.
But God's ways 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.
Jeremiah himself was shut up. The message moved on anyway, from one audience to the next.
Jeremiah 36 gives us another example of how stubbornly the kings of Judah despised the call and the testimony of God. Jeremiah was shut up. But God can never lack the means to bring His testimony to man, whatever efforts they make to escape it. God uses Baruch to write the prophecies of Jeremiah. Baruch reads them first to the people, then to the princes, and at last to the king himself. But the king, hardened in his evil ways, destroys the scroll. At God's direction, Jeremiah has the same words written again, and others too, for he neglects no means to reach and take hold of the people's conscience afresh.
The officials only send for Baruch because someone else told them what he had read. That small act of reporting is worth copying.
His own son, Micah, hears "all the words of the LORD from the book" as Baruch reads them aloud. The words strike him so deeply that he goes down to the scribe's chamber, where all the princes had gathered. There he declares to them every word he has heard. (In the same way, young people who can go to meetings might want to pass on what they heard to sick or elderly people who cannot leave home. Such quiet service is useful, and those who receive it value it greatly!) The princes send for Baruch himself. They ask him to bring the scroll, so that they can hear from his own mouth the text he read to the people.
The verse names the messenger Jehudi through three generations of his family. It names the officials who sent him too. That detail is not filler.
Six of the princes are named, for the Lord knew every one who was there. Each will have to give account to God for his attitude to His word. The news plainly stirred the princes, for they at once sent Jehudi to bring Baruch and the book that contained the words of God.
What reached these men was not a new preacher but a book.
Jeremiah had declared these prophecies many times. It may surprise us that the reading seems completely 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. It was this Word which confronted the princes of Judah that day.
The reading shook the officials. What they did next shows how far their fear went.
Fear took hold of all the princes when Baruch read them the words of divine judgment. They said to Baruch, "We will surely tell the king all these words." They asked him how he came to have the book, and then told him, "Go and hide, you and Jeremiah, and let no one know where you are." … They felt their king would not welcome those who brought him the word of God that pronounced judgment on him and his people.
The king destroyed the scroll. That was not the end of the story.
Here Baruch wrote down the words of God from the mouth of Jeremiah. He read them to the people, and afterwards to the princes. They showed a certain respect for them, but were afraid to stand against the king. … This is God's answer. None of His words will perish. They increase and prosper in the purpose for which they are sent.
- Written — Jeremiah spoke the words and Baruch wrote them down. A scroll, not a new sermon, confronted the officials of Judah.
- Carried — one young hearer told men who had not been there. Without him, nobody in the palace sends for Baruch.
- Summoned — God brought His word into the council chamber. His servant never sought the opening, just as Paul later stood before rulers.
- Recorded — Scripture keeps the names of the messenger and the officials. Each one must answer to God for how he treated that word.
- Indestructible — the officials hid Baruch, the king destroyed the scroll, and God had the words written again with more added.
And they said unto him, Sit down now, and read it in our ears. And Baruch read [it] in their ears.
Baruch had read the scroll aloud in the temple courtyard. Now it reaches the king's palace, where Judah's officials sit in the scribe's room and send for the reader. Their words — sit down and read it — sound respectful. As the rest of the chapter shows, listening is not the same as obeying.
Neither Jeremiah nor Baruch asked for a hearing at the palace. Yet the words Jeremiah dictated reached the most powerful men in the country.
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. As Paul before governors, a king, and an emperor, so the words of the Lord through Jeremiah came into the council chamber and the court. […] And they said to him, "Sit down and read it." So Baruch read it to them.
Paul, the apostle, also had to state his case before rulers instead of preaching in a pulpit.
The chapter lists who was sitting in that room, name by name.
Six of the princes are named. The Lord knew every one who was there, and each will have to give account to God about his attitude to His word. The news clearly stirred the princes, for they sent Jehudi at once to bring Baruch and the book that contained the words of God.
Jeremiah had spoken these words many times. What confronted these men was hearing them read from a book.
Jeremiah had declared these prophecies many times. It may surprise us that the reading of them seems to be something completely new for the princes. Perhaps they had rarely heard the prophet in person. Either way, this incident shows the power of the written Word of God. People may preach the Gospel, but only the Word of God — "the seed", as the Lord Jesus called it — is "living and powerful". It is this Word which confronted the princes of Judah that day.
After the reading, the officials asked Baruch how the scroll was made.
They want to be sure how the scroll was written. Baruch confirms it plainly: "He spoke all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book."
The words landed. The men were frightened and decided the king had to hear them. Then they told the two men behind the scroll to disappear.
Fear took hold of all the princes when they heard the words of divine judgment read to them. They said to Baruch, "We will certainly tell the king all these words." They asked Baruch how he came to have the book, and then said to him, "Go and hide, you and Jeremiah, and let no one know where you are." Clearly the princes knew what their master's attitude would be when he heard the word of God read.
The king's answer to this scroll was to burn it. That did not end the matter.
God is not mocked! He knows how men are treating His own God-breathed records, making them common and merely human, and He will deal with them accordingly. Here Baruch wrote the words of God as Jeremiah spoke them. He read them to the people, and later to the princes. They showed a certain respect to them, but feared to stand up to the king. "Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it, as Jeremiah spoke, all the words of the book that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire; and many similar words were added to them" (v. 32). This is God's answer; none of His words shall perish; they increase and prosper in that for which they are sent.
Refusing the message did not cancel it — it added to it.
Unbelief never hinders the judgments of God; instead it brings them about. It may add to them, but it never reduces them.
- Delivered. No one campaigned for a hearing, yet God brought His word into the palace council room.
- Read. The princes wanted the book itself read aloud, and the written Word confronted them.
- Verified. When the officials asked how the scroll was made, Baruch answered plainly: Jeremiah spoke, he wrote it in ink.
- Feared. The words frightened every man in the room. They warned Jeremiah and Baruch to hide instead of standing with them.
- Preserved. Jehoiakim burned the scroll. Baruch wrote it again with more words added. Unbelief never reduces God's judgments; it brings them on.
And it came to pass, when they heard all the words, they turned in fear one toward another, and said unto Baruch, We will certainly report to the king all these words.
Baruch read Jeremiah's scroll aloud, and fear went round the room of Judah's ruling officials. They agreed at once to tell the king — but does fear of God's word mean a person has bowed to it?
Baruch was a scribe with a scroll, not a man with access to power. Yet the words reached the rulers of Judah. One writer sees God's own hand in that:
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. As Paul stood before governors, a king, and an emperor, so 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 later; but the message reaches the throne just the same.
The officials were shaken. They promised to report everything — and in the same breath told Baruch to hide. They already knew what their king was like:
Fear laid hold on all the officials when they heard the words of divine judgment read to them. They said to Baruch, "We must report all these words to the king." They asked Baruch how he came to have the book. Then they said to him, "Go and hide, you and Jeremiah, and let no one know where you are." It seems clear that the officials knew what their master's attitude would be when he heard the word of God read. They felt their king would not welcome the men who brought him the word of God. That word pronounced judgment on him and on his people. At this point the officials, moved by some among them, wanted to protect the men who, in faithfulness to God and His people, were not afraid to read His word.
The chapter does not just say "the officials." It names them. One writer sees why that matters:
Six of the officials are named, because the Lord knew every one who was there. Each will have to give account to God for his attitude to His word.
The same men appear a few verses later, watching the king destroy the scroll. What had happened to their fear?
The officials first heard the word of God read to them, announcing the judgments that were to come, and they were all afraid. But when their profane king cut up the Scripture and threw it into the fire, "they were not afraid, nor did they tear their garments." Men soon get used to hearing about judgment, and become indifferent to the warnings God gives them.
Judah had a recent example of what that fear should have produced. An earlier king heard a book read aloud, and it broke him:
Josiah heard the words of the book found in the house of the Lord. He tore his clothes. He sent to enquire of the Lord, saying, "for great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book."
The king burned the scroll. That was not the end of it:
The old scroll was repeated with many like words, and more were added, according to the unchanging way of God. Unbelief never hinders but rather accomplishes the judgments of God. It may add to them, but it never reduces them.
Another writer widens it from one king to every reader:
Man cannot get rid of the Word of God: He knows how to preserve it, just as He did in this case. But by the way he treats it, man shows his guilt and profanity. He secures for himself the very judgments God's word speaks of.
- Reached. God set His word in front of the greatest men in Judah. Jeremiah did not arrange it, and did not need to.
- Feared. Fear took hold of every official present; the word did touch them, and they promised to carry it to the king.
- Named. The record names six of them. The Lord knew each man there, and each must give account for how he treated God's word.
- Faded. By the time the king burned the scroll, that fear was gone. People grow used to warnings of judgment and stop feeling them.
- Refused. Josiah tore his clothes at a book read aloud; this king burned the scroll. Fear that never bends the heart changes nothing — and the word came back, longer than before.
And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell us now, How didst thou write all these words from his mouth?
The king's officials have just heard the scroll read aloud, and they are frightened. Before they take it to the king, they turn to Baruch with one question: where did these words come from?
Jeremiah could not go to the temple himself, so Baruch read for him. The message went further than the temple court. It reached the room where the nation's officials sat.
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.
Their question was not idle curiosity. They already sensed what the king would do with such a document, and their advice to Baruch shows it.
Fear gripped all the princes when they heard the words of divine judgment read to them, and they said to Baruch, "We will surely tell the king of all these words." Having asked Baruch how he came to have the book, they said to him, "Go and hide, you and Jeremiah; and let no one know where you are." It seems clear that the princes knew how their master would react when he heard the word of God read.
One writer pictures Jeremiah and Baruch at work in the house.
So the prophet dictated all the words of the Lord to Baruch his friend, who wrote them down on a scroll. One can picture the two men in the house where Jeremiah lived. Under the guidance of the Spirit of God, the prophet dictates the words of the Lord with care. Baruch gives himself to writing them on the scroll. All the while both men know that they are passing on the very words of God to those who would read the message.
When pressed, Baruch gave them no room to doubt it.
When they seek assurance about how he wrote the scroll, Baruch gives them a plain confirmation: "He spoke all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book."
One writer raises the obvious objection and answers it.
Jeremiah is now commanded to put in writing all the words the Lord had spoken to him. He then dictated all the words to Baruch, who wrote them down. But, asks a critic, how could he remember all he had spoken? The same Spirit who gave the messages to him gave them to the prophet again.
The officials asked about words, and Baruch answered about words. One writer applies that to Scripture as a whole.
An inspiration that covered only the thoughts would be useless for giving us authoritative Scriptures. Suppose Paul and Peter and John received wonderful ideas from God, but had no divine guidance when it came to expressing those ideas for the benefit of others. To assure us of that is to take away with the left hand what is offered by the right.
Baruch's careful answer makes the king's response all the more shocking. Jehoiakim burned the scroll, and the chapter ends by showing how little that achieved.
God is not mocked! He knows how men are handling His own God-breathed records. They treat them as common and make them merely human, and He will deal with them accordingly. Here Baruch wrote the words of God from the mouth of Jeremiah. He read them in the hearing of the people, and afterwards of the princes. They showed a certain respect for them, but were afraid to stand against the king. "Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, who wrote on it, from the mouth of Jeremiah, all the words of the book that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them." This is God's answer; none of His words shall perish; they increase and prosper in what they are sent to do.
- Dictated — Baruch told the officials that the prophet spoke and he wrote. The scroll is no summary and no paraphrase.
- Recalled — the same Spirit who first gave Jeremiah the messages gave them to him again for the writing. Years of preaching went down word for word.
- Worded — if God gave only the thoughts and men chose the wording, one hand would offer us ideas while the other took the authority away.
- Carried — no one planned it. God brought that written word out of the prophet's house into the temple court, then the council chamber, then the palace.
- Preserved — the king burned the scroll and gained nothing. None of God's words perish; the second scroll came back with many more words added.
And Baruch said unto them, He pronounced all these words unto me with his mouth, and I wrote [them] with ink in the book.
The princes of Judah have just heard Baruch read the scroll aloud. Before they take it to the king, they want to know one thing: where did this book come from?
The princes were not asking out of idle curiosity. They wanted to be sure of the chain: was this Jeremiah's message, and had it been recorded exactly?
When they seek assurance of how the scroll was written, Baruch gives them express confirmation: "He pronounced all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book."
(The older translation quoted here reads "pronounced"; the ESV renders it "dictated.")
Baruch's short answer covers months of work. One writer pictures how it was done:
So the prophet dictated all the words of the Lord to Baruch his friend, who wrote them down on a scroll. This work clearly took a long time. The book was not read to the people in public until the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim. One can picture the two men in the house where Jeremiah lived. Under the guidance of the Spirit of God, the prophet carefully dictates the words of the Lord. Baruch gives himself to the work 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.
Baruch names his tools: ink and a scroll. Writers note that finds from Egypt match this everyday detail.
We know from the papyrus rolls found in Egypt that people wrote with pen, or reed, and ink in early times. Jeremiah had Baruch write the condemnations against Israel and Judah in a book with ink, Jer. 36:18. They carried the horn that held the ink in the belt, as people still do in some parts of the East today.
Jeremiah had been preaching for years before this. One writer raises the obvious objection:
The LORD now commands Jeremiah to write down all the words He had spoken to him. The purpose was that the people might hear of all the evil, think about it, and turn to the Lord for forgiveness. How gracious and merciful He is! He then dictated all the words to Baruch, who wrote them down. But, asks a critic, how could he remember all he had spoken? The same Spirit who first gave the messages to him gave them to the prophet again.
The same writer uses Baruch's words as evidence of who wrote the book of Jeremiah:
No other prophet was told to write as often as Jeremiah was… Then Baruch testified that he wrote in a book all these words that came from Jeremiah's lips (36:18). And when the scroll was burned, the Lord said, "Take another scroll and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll" (36:28).
Baruch does not say he caught Jeremiah's meaning and wrote it in his own style. He says the words came from the prophet's mouth to his pen. One writer draws the same point from Paul's letter to the Corinthians:
Here the apostle clearly claims inspiration for what he spoke — and inspiration of the very words at that. Even more so, if that were possible, for what he wrote. The inspiration he claims relates to "words." If the Scriptures, as they were first written, do not give us God's thoughts clothed in God-chosen words, we have no inspiration of any real value at all.
The king would soon burn this scroll. The ink went up in smoke; the words did not.
God is not mocked! He knows how men are treating His own God-breathed records, profaning them and making them merely human. He will deal with such men accordingly. Here Baruch wrote the words of God from the mouth of Jeremiah, and read them in the hearing of the people, and of the princes afterwards. They showed a certain respect for them, but they were afraid to stand against the king… This is God's answer: none of His words will perish. They grow and succeed in the very work He sends them to do.
- Mouth — Baruch's answer traces the scroll back one step at a time: Jeremiah spoke the words, and the scribe took them down rather than composing them.
- Memory — no man could recall years of preaching; the Spirit who first gave the messages gave them again for the writing.
- Ink — the reed pen and the ink-horn in the belt were everyday tools of that world; God's lasting word came through them.
- Words — writers hold that inspiration reaches the actual wording, not just the general sense — God's thoughts in God-chosen words.
- Fire — the king burned the scroll, and God told Jeremiah to write it again; none of God's words perish, and they do the work He sends them to do.
And the princes said unto Baruch, Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah; that none may know where ye are.
The officials have just heard Baruch read the scroll aloud, and it has shaken them. They will report it to the king. First, though, they tell the two men behind the book to disappear. Their warning raises two questions. What should faith do when telling the truth turns dangerous? And who decides whether God's servant is found or not?
The advice was not panic. These men served the king and could see what was coming.
Fear gripped all the officials when the words of God's judgment were read to them, and they said to Baruch, "We will certainly tell the king all these words." … It seems clear that the officials knew how their master would react when he heard the word of God read out. They felt that their king would not welcome men who brought him a word from God that announced judgment on him and his people. At this point the officials, urged on by some among them, wanted to protect men who were faithful to God and His people and were not afraid to read His word.
Their caution went further than a warning.
It almost seemed that the officials sensed what would happen to the Book. When they told the king what it contained, they did not bring it with them. They left it in the room of Elishama the scribe.
Earlier in the chapter, Jeremiah could not go to the house of the Lord himself (verse 5). This verse shows he was not a prisoner. You cannot tell a man to go and hide if he is already locked in a cell.
Jeremiah was "shut in." This does not mean he was a prisoner (see verse 19). It probably means he was not allowed to enter the LORD's house because of some ceremonial impurity.
Some assume a faithful man should have stood his ground. But the Lord's own word to His servants points the other way.
Faith never teaches anyone to go looking for danger and trouble. It teaches us to walk the path of Christ in peace and thankfulness. The Lord has not called His servants to leave that path. Some of us may have been struck by this: the Lord told His disciples that when one city persecuted them, they should flee to another. That is certainly not chasing martyrdom. It is the opposite.
The two men took the advice and hid. Later, no one could find them. Scripture gives the credit to God, not to the hiding place — and God does not always shield His servants this way.
Sometimes the Lord has allowed men to do their worst and kill His servants, just as He allowed them to kill His Son. But when He chose, when it suited His purpose beyond our understanding, He blocked their evil plans. That is what happened here. The servants of the Lord had hidden themselves on the advice of the officials, and now they cannot be found, because "the LORD hid them."
The same hand that hid the men also guarded the message they carried.
Vain hope to escape from the hand of Jehovah, who not only hid His servants, but repeated His threats and yet more.
This work had already cost Baruch something.
Baruch had given noble help to the prophet Jeremiah in his fruitless work, and had shed tears as well. He felt the heavy pressure of the day. Everything had gone bad, as we say. The people were as stubborn as ever, and they had turned a deaf ear to God's calls through His servants.
Baruch had his own lesson to learn, and it was not about his safety.
The great lesson for Baruch was this: in a day of judgment, the right attitude for a servant of God is to stop seeking things for himself. … A lowly mind always suits a believer, but in an evil day it is the only safety. Humility is always right, but it is also the only thing that keeps a person from judgment. I am speaking now not of God's final judgment, but of the judgment He carries out in this world.
- Warned — The officials trembled at the words. They knew their king well enough to see what was coming.
- Free — The order to hide shows Jeremiah was no prisoner. Something kept him from the house of the Lord, but it did not keep him off the streets.
- Fled — Stepping out of danger was not unbelief. Faith does not go looking for trouble, and the Lord told His disciples to move on when one city turned against them.
- Hidden — Men gave the advice, but God did the hiding. He guarded His word as well, and gave it back with more added.
- Humbled — Baruch's lesson was to seek nothing for himself. In an evil day, lowliness is not just right; it is safety.