Jeremiah 36:20-26

C. The Word Attacked Jeremiah 36:20-26

TRANSLATION

(20) Then they went unto the king in the court, having deposited the scroll in the chamber of Elisham a the scribe, and they report all the words to the king. (21) And the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he brought it from the chamber of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi read it in the presence of the king and all the princes who were standing alongside the king. (22) Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month, and a brazier was burning before him. (23) And it came to pass, when Jehudi had read three or four columns, he ripped it with a scribe's knife and cast it into the fire which was upon the brazier, until the whole scroll was consumed by the brazier fire. (24) And they did not tremble nor rend their clothes, neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words. (25) Though Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah had entreated the king not to burn the scroll, he did not listen to them. (26) And the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of the king, Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel to take Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but the LORD hid them.

COMMENTS

After depositing the scroll in the office of Elishama the scribe for safekeeping, the princes hastened immediately to royal court to report the matter to king Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 36:20). Why did not the princes take the scroll with them into the presence of the king? Perhaps they feared what the king might do to the scroll and wished to delay as long as possible that violent reaction. Perhaps they reasoned that if the king himself ordered the scroll brought into his presence that they would no longer be responsible for what he did with it. It may be too that they hoped the king would not wish to be bothered by the scroll and would not wish to waste his time having it brought to him and read. The king however was very interested and dispatched Jehudi, who is not further identified, to get the scroll. Then Jehudi is ordered to read the scroll in the presence of the king, the princes mentioned in Jeremiah 36:12, and other princes of the realm (Jeremiah 36:21). Since the temperature was chilly, the king was holding court that day in the winter house, the inner portion of the palace which was shielded from the winter winds. In order to keep warm the king was sitting beside a brazier filled with live coals. Jehudi began to read the scroll. But before he could read three or four columns (not leaves as in KJV)[315] Jehoiakim jumped from his throne, tore the book from the hand of the reader, slashed it to pieces with his penknife, and threw the fragments into the fire[316] (Jeremiah 36:23). The king and his ministers[317] were so calloused that they manifested neither sorrow nor fear that the word of God was being destroyed before their very eyes (Jeremiah 36:24). In spite of the pleas of Elnathan,[318] Delaiah and Gemariah the king persisted in burning the scroll until not a shred remained (Jeremiah 36:25). Having destroyed the written word Jehoiakim gave orders that Baruch and Jeremiah be arrested.[319] The king planned to silence Jeremiah as he earlier had silenced Uriah the prophet (Jeremiah 26:20-24). But the Lord hid His faithful servants and thus frustrated the plans of Jehoiakim (Jeremiah 36:26).

[315] The Hebrew literally says three or four doors. The writing on ancient scrolls was done in the form of columns of prescribed width and height called doors because of their resemblance to small doors.

[316] That it was Jehoiakim who actually burned the scroll and not Jehudi is made clear by Jeremiah 36:25; Jeremiah 36:27-28; Jeremiah 36:32.

[317] This probably does not include the princes who had earlier listened so attentively to the reading of the scroll. They were not of the same mind as the king.

[318] If this is the same Elnathan as is mentioned in Jeremiah 26:22 he certainly seems to have had a change of heart regarding the prophet of God.

[319] Jehameel the son of Hammelech is thought by some to be the son of Jehoiakim since the word Hammelech might be translated the son of the king. However it is best to regard it as a proper name as in the KJV.

The document which Jehoiakim destroyed would not have been very long since it was read three times in one day. No doubt the scroll was made of papyrus (paper) since a document of animal skins would have been very difficult to cut with a knife and burn on a small brazier. A number of passages in the present Book of Jeremiah come from before the time when the scroll was written.[320] Not all of these passages however were part of that first edition of Jeremiah (see Jeremiah 36:32). Certainly Chapter s 30-31 were not in it for they form a sepher (book) in themselves. It seems likely that this scroll consisted only of minatory prophecies. -It did contain prophecies concerning foreign nations (Jeremiah 36:2), but probably not the lengthy oracles which appear toward the end of the present Book of Jeremiah. The scroll doubtlessly included chapter 25 which contains threats against numerous neighboring nations. As for the oracles concerning Israel and Judah it is impossible to identify specifically which Chapter s were part of that early book.

[320] Chapter s 2-18; Jeremiah 21:11-14; Jeremiah 22:1-23; Jeremiah 23; Jeremiah 25; 26:30-31; Jeremiah 46:1-12; probably most of Jeremiah 47:1 to Jeremiah 49:33.

This is the first recorded effort to systematically destroy the word of God. Jehoiakim was the first of a long line of emperors and kings who thought that they would banish the word of God from their realm. Jehoiakim has rightly been called the first Higher Critic of the Bible. He did not like what he heard in the word and therefore he sought to destroy it. An ever increasing number of scholars within theological circles today have dedicated themselves to undermining the confidence of the people of God in their Scriptures. With the penknife of rationalism they have cut out from the Scriptures those passages which describe the mighty acts of God in human history. Without one shred of manuscript evidenceone shed of objective proofthey will label one passage as unauthentic and another as uninspired. They do so without fear in spite of the repeated warnings concerning those who would add to or take away from the word of God.