And Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Nerijah; and Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of Jehovah, which he had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a book.
The scene is the fourth year of Jehoiakim, and the people have stopped listening to Jeremiah. The prophet himself is bound, so he calls for a man with a pen, and a lifetime of spoken warnings becomes a book.
Jeremiah could not move freely. One writer draws the contrast that shapes the chapter:
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.
God had a reason for putting the warnings in writing:
On the instruction of the Lord, His servant Jeremiah wrote down in a book the judgments God had pronounced against Israel, Judah and the nations. His desire was that "the house of Judah will hear all the evil I intend to do to them, and they may return every man from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin" (verse 3). Jehoiakim had already reigned four years, and God had given him time to turn. But wickedness had increased, so God sent a further warning, in the hope that the king and his people would repent of their sins and return to the Lord their God.
How could one man recall years of messages word for word? One commentator raises the objection and answers it:
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 him the messages gave them to him again.
The verse says little about how the work was done. One writer fills in the scene:
One can easily picture the two men in the house where Jeremiah lived. Guided by the Spirit of God, the prophet carefully dictates the words of the Lord. Baruch gives himself to the task of writing on the scroll. All the while, both men are fully aware that they are passing on the very words of God to those who would read it.
Baruch himself gave the detail later: a voice speaking, and ink.
When they seek assurance of how the scroll was written, Baruch gives them clear confirmation: "He spoke all these words to me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book."
Baruch, son of Neriah, was the "faithful secretary to Jeremiah," and he later went with the prophet into Egypt (Morrish Bible Dictionary). He was more than a copyist:
The masses of the people were indifferent, if not hostile, to everything Jeremiah had to say: but not Baruch. He not only wrote down the prophecies of judgment, he felt their weight and sorrow... He at least believed the things he had written, and he knew that the final crash was still to come, and near at hand.
The king later burned this scroll. One writer sees in the chapter how God deals with men who handle His word:
God is not mocked! He knows the way men are treating His own God-breathed records, profaning them and making them merely human, and He will treat them accordingly... This is God's answer; none of His words shall perish; they increase and prosper in the purpose for which they are sent.
Jeremiah wrote it again, and the new scroll came back longer than the first. One writer presses the point further:
Unbelief never hinders but rather carries out the judgments of God. It may add to them but it never reduces them.
- Shut in, sent out. Jeremiah himself was bound, but the word of God was not; He rises above the obstacles that seem to shut out His servants.
- Written to spare. The scroll gathered years of warning so that Judah would turn and receive forgiveness — mercy, not a legal record.
- Dictated, not composed. Baruch wrote from Jeremiah's mouth, with ink, in a book; the Spirit who first gave the messages gave them again for writing.
- Believed by the writer. Baruch was no hired pen — he felt the sorrow of what he copied and accepted it from God.
- Burned, yet unbroken. The king burned the scroll and gained nothing: the words came back, with many more added.
And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up, I cannot go into the house of Jehovah; but go thou in,
God tells Jeremiah to write out years of his preaching in a scroll, but he is banned from the house of the LORD and cannot deliver it. What happens next shows that a silenced messenger is not a silenced message.
The chapter turns on a man who cannot move and a word that cannot be stopped:
The prophet was bound, but the word of God was not. He is always above the changing circumstances of man, and greater than the obstacles that seem to block the testimony of His servants.
Another writer applies this to every attempt to escape God's message:
Jeremiah was shut up; but God can never fail in means to address His testimony to man, whatever efforts they may make to escape it.
Commentators differ on the nature of the restriction. Some read it as imprisonment:
God's prophet Jeremiah was in prison when the word of the Lord came to him. That showed the attitude of the king and his subjects towards the Master whom the prophet served. Jeremiah could not read out the words the Lord had given him, so he told Baruch to go to the house of the Lord and read them to the people.
Another writer disagrees, pointing to verse 19:
Jeremiah was "shut in." This does not mean he was a prisoner (see verse 19). It probably means he was not allowed into the LORD's house because of some ceremonial impurity.
Either way, the temple door was closed to him. Older translations read his words as "I am shut up," which is why these writers use that wording.
Here Jeremiah hands his task to another man. The writing had already begun in private, and it went slowly:
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 people did not hear the book read out in public until the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim... All the while the two men are fully aware that they are passing on the very words of God to those who would read the message.
Baruch did not act at once:
The spirit of obedience before long finds a fitting moment for serving the Lord.
The aim of the scroll was mercy: that the nation might turn and be spared. God had already given the king time:
On the instruction of the Lord, His servant Jeremiah wrote down in a book the judgments God pronounced against Israel, Judah and the nations. The desire was that "the house of Judah will hear all the disaster that I intend to do to them, so that every one may turn from his evil way, and that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin" (verse 3). Jehoiakim had already reigned four years, and God had given him time to turn. But wrongdoing had increased, so a further warning came, in the hope that the king and his people would repent.
The reading fell on a fast day, but fasting is not the same as a turned heart:
On the outside there was fasting, but the fast did not show the real heart of the king or the nation... Outward religious ceremonies have no value in God's sight. He wants what is real: a heart that is true before Him, and a life that pleases Him.
Jeremiah asked only for a reading to the people. It went further:
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 reached the council chamber and the court.
God had the last word:
God is not mocked! He knows how men are treating His own God-breathed records, profaning them and making them merely human, and He will treat them accordingly... "Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them" (verse 32). This is God's answer; none of His words shall perish; they increase and prosper in that for which they are sent.
- Bound. The prophet was shut out of the temple. The word he carried was not — God is above every obstacle that blocks His servants' testimony.
- Banned. Commentators differ: prison, or a ceremonial barrier to the temple. Either way, the door Jeremiah needed was closed.
- Handed on. When one servant is stopped, God uses another. Baruch wrote the words, waited for the right day, and read them aloud.
- Aimed at mercy. God gave the scroll so that Judah might hear, turn, and be forgiven. The fast it was read on was outward only, and God looks for reality.
- Carried further. The message meant for the people reached the princes and the king. The king burned it, so Jeremiah wrote it again with more words added — none of God's words perish.
and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of Jehovah in the ears of the people in the house of Jehovah upon the fast day; and thou shalt also read them in the ears of all Judah that come from their cities.
Jeremiah cannot enter the temple, so God's message must travel by another pair of hands and another voice. His orders to Baruch — read the scroll out loud, then read it again to the crowds in from the towns — turn one man's restriction into the widest hearing his words had yet received.
Commentators differ on the reason Jeremiah could not go. One writer takes the phrase as something short of imprisonment:
Jeremiah was "shut in." That 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.
Others take it as real confinement. Either way, the restriction lands on the man, not the message:
The prophet was bound, but the word of God was not. He is always above the changing circumstances of man. He is above the obstacles that seem to shut out the testimony of His servants.
The chapter is read as one long demonstration that a closed door does not close God's mouth. Where the prophet cannot go, a substitute can:
Jeremiah 36 shows us again the stubbornness of the kings of Judah, who despised God's call and testimony. Jeremiah was shut up. But God can always find a way to bring His testimony to man, whatever efforts people make to escape it. Baruch is given the work of writing down the prophecies of Jeremiah and reading them — first to the people, then to the princes, and at last to the king himself.
Jeremiah does not tell Baruch to summarise or explain. He tells him to read what was written from his own mouth. The care behind that scroll is worth picturing:
Guided by the Spirit of God, the prophet carefully dictates the words of the Lord. Baruch applies himself to the task of writing on the scroll. All the while the two men know they are passing on the very words of God to those who would read the message.
A secretary writing down a prophet's words is not a lesser form of revelation. One writer links Baruch to Tertius, who wrote down one of Paul's letters as Paul spoke it:
This is a prophecy of Scripture — the spoken and the written — the same thing. The Epistles were the same — the "I, Tertius," represents Baruch.
God fixes the day for the reading: the fast, when the crowds are in from the towns. One reading could then reach the whole nation. But a national fast is not the same as national repentance:
God's word to Judah was read to the people on a "fasting day," "at the entry of the new gate of the LORD's house." On the surface 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 God's sight. He wants reality: a heart that is true before Him, and a life that gives Him pleasure.
The reading is aimed at repentance. Jeremiah's own reason, given in the next verse, is the hope that they will turn. Behind the catalogue of threatened judgment sits patience already stretched over years:
Jehoiakim had already reigned four years. 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.
Jeremiah aimed the reading at ordinary people in the temple court. It did not stop there:
But God's ways are wise as well as good. Without our 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.
- Shut up, not shut down. Jeremiah could not enter the temple. Commentators differ on the reason. Either way, the restriction stopped the man, not the message.
- Written, so it travels. Baruch wrote the words down, so they could travel where the prophet's feet could not. The written words carried the same weight as the spoken.
- Read, so it reaches. Baruch read first to the temple crowd and the visitors from the towns. In the end the scroll reached the council chamber and the king himself.
- Fasting is not repenting. The day looked religious. The hearts were not. Outward religion counts for nothing where God looks for reality.
- Warning is mercy. God had already waited years. He sent the words anyway, hoping the king and his people would repent and return to Him.
It may be they will present their supplication before Jehovah, and that they will return every one from his evil way; for great is the anger and the fury that Jehovah hath pronounced against this people.
Jeremiah cannot enter the temple. So he hands his task to his helper Baruch: go and read the scroll aloud on a fast day, when the whole nation is gathered in one place. Everything in the verse hangs on three words — it may be.
The scroll was not an act of God giving up on Judah. One writer links it to the purpose God gave in verse 3, and sees mercy stretched out over years:
The LORD told His servant Jeremiah to write down in a book the judgments God had pronounced against Israel, Judah and the nations. His desire was that "the house of Judah will hear all the evil I purpose to do to them, and they may return every man from his evil way, so that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin" (verse 3). Jehoiakim had already reigned four years, and had been given time to turn to God. But sin had increased, so God gave a further warning. He hoped that the king and his people would repent of their sins and return to the LORD their God.
A warning announced in public is a judgment God would rather not carry out.
What was all this but a warning of judgment — a judgment that man's repentance would gladly stop? It has always been so, and it is so now. Why does He give such wide and public notice that He is going to carry out judgment? So that people will take the sentence to heart, and the actual execution will not be needed. He speaks it aloud. He says it in men's ears, so that they may turn to Him.
Jeremiah hopes the reading will do two things. One is a plea for mercy brought to the LORD. The other is each man turning from his evil way.
God's prophet Jeremiah was in prison when the word of the Lord came to him. That showed the attitude of the king and his people towards the Master whom the prophet served. Jeremiah could not read out the words the Lord had given him. So he told Baruch to go to the house of the Lord and read them to the people. He hoped they would plead with the Lord and "return every one from his evil way."
The reading did take place, on a fast day, in the temple. But the day came and went without the change Jeremiah hoped for:
God's word to Judah was read to the people on a "fasting day," "at the entry of the new gate of the Lord's house." On the outside 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.
Commentators differ on what kept Jeremiah out. Some read it as imprisonment. Another writer says being "shut in" does not mean he was a prisoner; it probably means he was not allowed into the LORD's house (Arno Clemens Gaebelein). Either way, the limit falls on the man, not on the message he carries:
after
The prophet was bound, but the word of God was not. He is always above the changing circumstances of man. He stands over the obstacles that seem to block the testimony of His servants.
Jeremiah answers being shut in by sending someone else. The Word, not the man, was what had to keep going:
What was to continue was the Word of the Lord — not Jeremiah himself so much, but what Jeremiah had been entrusted with. The Lord could do very well without any one of us, but He chooses not to do without us. If He entrusts us with His Word, we should seek help to keep going, despite the captive state of the testimony today.
King Jehoiakim later destroyed the scroll. That did not shrink the anger and wrath this verse speaks of. It made it larger.
The old roll was written out again with many similar words, and more were added, as God always works. Unbelief never holds back the judgments of God; it brings them about. It may add to them, but it never makes them less.
- Written — God had the judgments written down so Judah would hear them, turn, and be forgiven. The record was made for mercy.
- Spoken — God says the sentence out loud so people take it to heart, and the judgment never has to be carried out.
- Sent — the prophet was shut in, the word was not. When one messenger is stopped, the message goes by another hand.
- Heard, not felt — the fast day filled the temple, but the outward show did not match the heart. God looks for what is real.
- Refused — unbelief never took away one word of judgment. The destroyed scroll came back longer than before.
And Baruch the son of Nerijah did according to all that the prophet Jeremiah commanded him, reading in the book the words of Jehovah in Jehovah's house.
Jeremiah cannot enter the temple, so his secretary Baruch carries the scroll there and reads it aloud to the people. It is one line of plain obedience, and it raises a question: what can God do through His word when His messenger is shut out?
One writer draws the contrast between the man and the message he carried:
The prophet was bound, but the word of God was not. He is always above the changing circumstances of man, and greater than the obstacles that seem to block the testimony of His servants.
Commentators differ on why Jeremiah could not go himself. Some read it as imprisonment:
God's prophet Jeremiah was in prison when the word of the Lord came to him. This showed the attitude of the king and his subjects towards the Master whom the prophet served.
Another writer says the reason was ceremonial, not a prison sentence:
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. So he sent Baruch, his secretary, to read the scroll to the people on the fasting day.
Either way, the point stands: the prophet stayed outside, and his message went in.
Baruch obeyed, but he did not read the scroll at once. One writer explains why:
The spirit of obedience before long finds a fitting moment for serving the Lord.
When the day came, he used it:
Baruch seizes the opportunity and reads the words of Jeremiah "in the house of the Lord, 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 the Lord, in the ears of all the people."
The scroll was full of judgment, but the purpose behind reading it was not to crush the hearers. God's stated aim was a change of heart:
On the instruction of the Lord, His servant Jeremiah wrote down in a book the judgments God pronounced against Israel, Judah and the nations. The desire behind it was that "the house of Judah will hear all the evil I purpose to do to them, and they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin" (verse 3). Jehoiakim had already reigned four years, and God had given him time to turn to Him. But wickedness had increased. So God gave further warning, in the hope that the king and his people would repent of their sins and return to the Lord their God.
Baruch was not a neutral clerk delivering someone else's mail. One writer points out how the message had already worked on the man reading it:
The masses of the people were indifferent, if not hostile, to all that Jeremiah had to say — but not so Baruch. He not only wrote down the prophecies of judgment, he felt the weight and sorrow of them... He at least believed the things he had written, and he knew that the final crash was still to come, and near at hand.
Baruch read to ordinary people in the temple. From there the words moved upward — to the officials, and then into the palace itself:
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.
One writer reads this chapter as a warning about how people handle God's word:
This chapter records how men treated the writings of God with contempt. It is a solemn lesson. Men cut up and destroyed the prophetic scroll before the destruction of Jerusalem. 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 disrespect for God, and brings on himself the judgments that God's word speaks of.
- Bound — Jeremiah could not enter the house of the Lord, yet the word he carried was free. God is never limited by what limits His servants.
- Sent — What the prophet could not do himself, a second man did for him. Baruch did all that Jeremiah ordered him, and waited for the fitting moment.
- Felt — Baruch believed what he had written down and carried the sorrow of it. The word gripped the reader before it reached the hearers.
- Read — The reading aimed at repentance and forgiveness, not despair. The warning itself showed patience towards a king who had already had years to turn.
- Reaching — From common people to princes to the throne, God brought His word before the greatest of men, and His servant never arranged it. Men destroyed the scroll; God preserved His word anyway.
And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, in the ninth month, [that] they proclaimed a fast before Jehovah, for all the people in Jerusalem, and for all the people that came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem.
A whole year separates the command in verse 4 from the reading here. Jeremiah dictated the scroll in Jehoiakim's fourth year, and Baruch reads it in the ninth month of the fifth. The occasion is a public fast. Will a nation that can call a fast also listen when God's words are read to it?
The gap between the two dates is not neglect. It marks how long the work itself took.
This work clearly took a long time, since no one read the book to the people until the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim (v.9). You can easily picture the two men in the house where Jeremiah lived. Led by the Spirit of God, the prophet dictates the words of the Lord with care. Baruch keeps at 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.
Baruch had the scroll. What he still needed was the right day.
The spirit of obedience before long finds a fitting moment for serving the Lord.
Conditions in the land were grave. The call drew people in from the towns of Judah — the audience Baruch needed.
Because the circumstances were so serious, a fast before the Lord is proclaimed in the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim's reign. All the people of Judah who come to Jerusalem will be present. Baruch seizes the opportunity and reads the words of Jeremiah in the house of the Lord, "in the upper court, at the entry of the new gate of the house of the Lord, in the ears of all the people" (v.10).
Behind the whole arrangement stands a wider principle.
Jeremiah was shut up; but God can never fail in means to address His testimony to man, whatever efforts they may make to escape it. Baruch is used to write the prophecies of Jeremiah, and to read 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.
Commentators differ on who called this fast. One names Jehoiakim as the caller, with the enemy of Judah already closing in.
The foe of Judah, the chosen instrument of the Lord to carry out His wrath on the people and the city, now comes to the front. Jeremiah had predicted the coming judgment; Isaiah and the other prophets did the same. Then Jehoiakim proclaimed a fast (Jer. 36:9). It was nothing but hypocrisy. Straight after, he cut the scroll to pieces and threw it into the fire.
Another reads it the opposite way — the fast came from among the people, with the king standing outside it altogether:
In the fifth year of his reign his subjects proclaimed a fast (the king seems to have had no part in it). Baruch, Jeremiah's assistant, read God's message to them out of a book, in the hearing of all the people.
Either way, the fast did not match what was in their hearts.
The people heard God's word to Judah read on a "fasting day," "at the entry of the new gate of the Lord's house." On the surface 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 men fasted often (Luke 5:33), but they had no heart for the Son of God, who was present among them. Mere outward religious acts have no value in the sight of God. He wants what is real: a heart that is true before Him, and a life that gives Him pleasure.
- Written — a full year stood between the dictation and the reading. Both men worked knowing they handled the very words of God.
- Timed — obedience found its moment. Baruch waited for the day that would put the largest crowd within earshot of the scroll.
- Gathered — grave conditions drew people in from the cities of Judah. The fast day gave God's message a national audience.
- Unstoppable — Jeremiah was shut in, yet God never lacks a way to reach people with His testimony. No effort to escape it succeeds.
- Hollow — the fast was real on the surface and empty underneath. Outward religious acts count for nothing with God. He looks for a heart that is true before Him.
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.
And Micah declared unto them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read in the book in the ears of the people.
Baruch has just read Jeremiah's scroll aloud in the temple court. Micaiah, one man who heard it, walks straight down to the officials of Judah and repeats every word — and that one step carries God's warning into the seat of government.
Micaiah was not a stranger to the written word of God. His grandfather was the scribe who handled the book of the law when it turned up again in the temple. His father owned the very room where Baruch read.
Shaphan, along with Hilkiah, had found the book of the law when workmen were repairing the temple. 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 Baruch reads them aloud. He is so impressed by them that he goes down to the scribe's room, where all the princes had gathered. There he tells them all the words he has heard (v.13). In the same way, young people who are able to attend meetings might want to pass on what was read or said to sick or elderly people who cannot leave their homes. Such unseen service is so useful, and those who receive it value it greatly!
Three generations, and in each the same book keeps turning up.
What reached the officials that day was not a report about Jeremiah. It was his own words, written down — and they struck the princes as something new.
It may surprise us that this reading seems to be something completely new to the princes. Jeremiah had declared these prophecies many times. Perhaps they had seldom heard the prophet in person. In any case, this incident illustrates 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.
Baruch read to ordinary worshippers in the temple, not to the court. Yet the words reached the council chamber, and no one had planned it.
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. Just 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 officials in that room — the writers also call them princes — are not left anonymous. Scripture lists them one by one, and one writer draws a sobering conclusion from that list.
Among those who heard the word of God read, one was deeply affected by it: Michaiah son of Gemariah, one of the princes. He went down to the king's house and reported what he had heard to the princes gathered there. Six of the princes are named, for the Lord knew everyone who was there. Each of them will have to give account to God for his attitude to His word.
Micaiah's report worked. The officials sent for Baruch, heard the scroll themselves, and were shaken — yet their response was caution, not turning back to God.
Fear took hold of all the princes when they heard the words of divine judgment read to them. They said to Baruch, "We will surely tell the king of all these words." ... It seems clear that the princes knew what the attitude of their master would be when he heard the word of God read. They felt that their king would not welcome anyone who brought him the word of God, since it pronounced judgment on him and his people.
They were right about the king. He rejected the scroll — and gained nothing by it.
The old roll was written out again with many similar words, and more were added, in God's unchanging way. Unbelief never hinders the judgments of God; it brings them about. It may add to them but it never diminishes them.
- Heard. Micaiah listened to a public reading in his father's room in the temple. His family had handled Scripture for three generations.
- Carried. He did not keep it to himself. He walked down to the officials' room and repeated all of it — the same quiet service anyone can do for those who could not be there.
- Reached. That one step carried the word into the council chamber, and then into the palace. No one had planned it.
- Weighed. Every man in that room is named, because each would answer to God for how he treated what he heard.
- Rejected — and enlarged. Fear moved the officials to warn the king. The king rejected the scroll. It came back written out again, with more words added. Refusing God's word never cancels it.
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.
And they went in unto the king into the court, but they laid up the roll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe; and they told all the words in the ears of the king.
Baruch has just read the scroll to the king's officials, and they have sent him and Jeremiah into hiding. Now they go in to report what they heard, but they leave the scroll behind — and that choice shapes the rest of the chapter.
Jeremiah never set foot in the palace. Yet his words reached the king's own courtyard, and he did nothing to arrange it.
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. How wonderful! The servant of the Lord keeps his own lowly place, despised and suffering as his Master would be later. But the message reaches the throne just as surely.
Before going in, these men made two decisions. They would report to the king, and they would get Baruch and Jeremiah out of sight.
Fear took hold of all the officials when the words of God's judgment were read to them, and they said to Baruch, "We must report all these words to the king." They felt that their king would not welcome the men who brought him the word of God, because that word pronounced judgment on him and his people. At this stage the officials, influenced by some among them, wanted to protect these men. In faithfulness to God and His people, they had not been afraid to read His word.
They kept their promise to report. What they did with the scroll itself is the detail to watch.
True to their word, the officials made the matter known to the king, who wanted the word of God brought to him. It almost seemed that the officials had some sense of what would happen to the book, for they did not take it to the king when they told him what was in it, but "laid it up in the chamber of Elishama the scribe."
The precaution gained nothing. The king sent for the scroll, and his response to it exposed him.
The poor king showed his complete unbelief. His way of getting rid of the judgment was to destroy the scroll... This was an act of daring irreverence before God; pointless and complete folly, but no less sin.
That act raises a question worth asking directly.
But did the king destroy the Word of God? One might just as well speak of destroying God Himself. Neither God nor His Word can ever be affected by the efforts of men inspired by the enemy of the truth of God. The Word of God endures forever. It is, like God, eternal. How many times the Bibles have been burned! ... His Word lives on. Emperors and popes, philosophers and unbelievers who attacked the Bible are gone; the Bible is still with us. Jeremiah is told to take another scroll. Once more the Lord gives him the same words, and Jeremiah dictates them again to Baruch, with many similar words added, including a message of judgment about the miserable end of the wicked king.
- Delivered — Jeremiah arranged nothing. God carried His word into the council chamber and the royal court, as Paul later stood before governors, a king, and an emperor.
- Hidden — The officials sent Baruch and Jeremiah into hiding. They knew their king would not welcome men who brought him a message of judgment.
- Withheld — They reported what the scroll said, but left it in the room of Elishama, the king's secretary. They seemed to sense already what the king would do with it.
- Burned — Jehoiakim did not believe the judgment, so he destroyed the document. It was folly that removed nothing, and it was still sin.
- Rewritten — You can burn Bibles; you cannot burn the Word. The men who attacked it are gone. The words Jehoiakim burned were written out again, with more added — and millions still read them.