Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Jeremiah 36:20-25
The Scroll Is Brought To The King And Is Read Before Him And On Hearing Each Section He Cuts It Up With A Knife And Burns It After Which He Calls For The Arrest Of Jeremiah And Baruch Who Are, However, In Hiding And Cannot Be Found (Jeremiah 36:20).
When the king learned about the scroll he commanded that it be brought to him, and called on Jehudi to read it out before him and his courtiers, many of whom had little sympathy with Jeremiah for on the whole they made no protest when Jehoiakim burned the scroll. And while the reading was in process, every time Jehudi had read four columns Jehoiakim cut them off and burned them. His intention may well have been in order to nullify the prophecy. He then called for the arrest of Jeremiah and Baruch, but they could not be found because ‘YHWH hid them'.
‘And they went in to the king into the court, but they had laid up the roll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and they told all the words in the ears of the king.'
Having safely deposited the scroll in the room of Elishama the Scribe, a room which would contain many official documents, they went before the king and informed him about the scroll and what it contained.
‘So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll, and he took it out of the chamber of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes who stood beside the king.'
The king was impressed enough to send Jehudi for the scroll, and called on him to read it out before himself and the courtiers, which, of course, he did. Again we are not told how much he read of it.
Now the king was sitting in the winter-accommodation (house) in the ninth month, and there was a brazier burning before him.'
An explanation is then given of how he had a fire available. It was because he was sitting in his winter accommodation where there was a brazier (a vessel containing burning charcoal, or a hearth containing the same) alight in the room in which there would be a charcoal fire which was there in order to provide warmth (compare John 18:18). Whilst the climate was mild, it was cool in contrast to the hot summers (and there was, of course, no glass in the windows).
‘And it came about, when Jehudi had read three or four leaves (or ‘columns', literally ‘doors'), that he (the king?) cut it with the penknife, and threw it into the fire which was in the brazier, until all the roll was consumed in the fire which was in the brazier.'
This can be taken in one of two ways.
1. It may indicate that the whole scroll was burned once Jehudi had read three or four columns, with that being enough to antagonise Jehoiakim who would know what was coming.
2. It may indicate that he read the whole scroll with a portion of it being destroyed piece by piece as it was read.
The former would indicate acting in a fit of rage, the latter, which may be suggested by the ‘until', would indicate a slow and calculated insult to Jeremiah, and of course to YHWH.
The scroll may well, when opened, have revealed three or four columns which the reader could read before twisting the rollers to reveal the next three or four columns. This might serve to explain why the king acted after every three or four columns. The word for columns is literally ‘doors' indicating its oblong nature. And, if this is how we read it, then after the reading of the columns the king (or Jehudi at his command) cut the columns off from the scroll with a ‘pen-knife' (a sharp instrument normally used for sharpening or splitting the stylus or reed used in writing) and threw them into the charcoal fire where they were burned up. And this continued until the whole scroll had been consumed by the fire.
The aim would be to nullify the prophecy in the same way as Hananiah had broken the symbolic yoke around Jeremiah's shoulders. But it was not to be nullified so easily. On the other hand, to have left it in written form would have seemed to the king and his courtiers, and to all who heard of it, to be an acceptance of the prophecy. It would also have meant that others could have read it and been influenced by it. Thus the king acted in order to rid himself of the hated Jeremiah's influence.
‘And they were not afraid, nor tore their robes, neither the king, nor any of his servants who heard all these words.'
Meanwhile neither the king nor the courtiers reacted in their hearts to the prophecy. They neither ‘feared' (unlike those who had been gathered in the scribes' room who had more confidence in Jeremiah) nor indicated a reaction by tearing their clothes. In other words they did not respond to the prophecy, but mainly (at least outwardly) treated it with contempt, many partly, no doubt, being influenced by the king's presence.
‘Moreover Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll, but he would not hear them.'
There were, however, three present, who had also been present in the scribes' room, who pleaded with the king not to destroy the scroll. These were Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah. It was a brave act, and indicated their high standing in that they dared to do it, but the king refused to listen to their pleadings.
‘And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king's son, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet; but YHWH hid them.'
Then the king sent three of his trusted servants to arrest Baruch and Jeremiah. Arresting important people may well have been one of their duties. ‘The king's son' would probably not have literally been the king's son for Jehoiakim was about twenty nine and any son would therefore have been fairly young, (although in those days it is always possible that such a young person acted). It may rather indicate a member of the royal house, a relative of the king. A slab of clay bearing the name ‘Jerahmeel son of the king', who was presumably the same man, has in fact been excavated. Shelamiah's son later called for the arrest of Jeremiah under Zedekiah (Jeremiah 38:1).