Jeremiah 36:2

Take thee a roll of a book. — The same phrase meets us in Psalms 40:7 (ascribed by some critics to Jeremiah), but does not occur in any earlier prophet or historical book. It is found in later prophets (Ezekiel 2:9; Ezekiel 3:1; Zechariah 5:1). It probably followed on the introduction of parchment as a material for writing on, and the consequent substitution of the roll for the papyrus books, for which, from their fragile fabric, a different form was necessary. The command thus given to Baruch is interesting as letting us, so to speak, into the “workshop” of the prophet. He speaks probably without premeditation, as the word of the Lord comes to him (Matthew 10:19). A disciple acts as reporter, and preserves the utterance in writing. It is interesting in this respect to note the parallelism between Jeremiah’s modus operandi and St. Paul’s (Romans 16:22; Galatians 6:11; 2 Thessalonians 3:17). From time to time the prophet collects, repeats, revises, and, in modern phrase, edits what he has uttered. We have here accordingly what may be described as the history of the first volume of his discourses — a volume which perished, as the chapter records, but of which the earlier Chapter s of the present book are substantially a reproduction.