Jeremiah 36, The Scroll of Jeremiah

This is the only mention of a prophet’s words being dictated to a scribe, though it is likely the other prophets of Israel also used scribes. Baruch was from a prominent family and a well-known scribe who became an associate of Jeremiah, even persecuted with him. Yahweh told Baruch through Jeremiah that he should not seek great things for himself and that Yahweh would protect his life (Jeremiah 45). This gave him courage to serve Jeremiah and to proclaim Jeremiah’s prophecies.

^36:1 In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh: ² “Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah and all the other nations from the time I began speaking to you in the reign of Josiah till now. ³ Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, they will each turn from their wicked ways; then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin.”

⁴ So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and while Jeremiah dictated all the words Yahweh had spoken to him, Baruch wrote them on the scroll. ⁵ Then Jeremiah told Baruch, “I am restricted; I am not allowed to go to Yahweh’s temple. ⁶ So you go to the house of Yahweh on a day of fasting and read to the people from the scroll the words of Yahweh that you wrote as I dictated. Read them to all the people of Judah who come in from their towns. ⁷ Perhaps they will bring their petition before Yahweh and will each turn from their wicked ways, for the anger and wrath pronounced against this people by Yahweh are great.”

⁸ Baruch son of Neriah did everything Jeremiah the prophet told him to do; at Yahweh’s temple he read the words of Yahweh from the scroll. ⁹ In the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, a time of fasting before Yahweh was proclaimed for all the people in Jerusalem and those who had come from the towns of Judah. ¹⁰ From the room of Gemariah son of Shaphan the secretary, which was in the upper courtyard at the entrance of the New Gate of the temple, Baruch read to all the people at Yahweh’s temple the words of Jeremiah from the scroll.

Yahweh wants Jeremiah’s words to be read out loud to the people when they are gathered in Jerusalem for a called fast. Jeremiah has fallen afoul of the king so he is not permitted to go to the temple, where he had previously prophesied (Jeremiah 7:1-15; 26:1-7). The time of the called fast is the fifth year of Jehoiakim, a time when Babylon’s threat against Judah is high. Baruch reads the prophecy outside the room of Gemariah, an ally of Jeremiah, a room attached to the Temple and facing the courtyard of the Temple.

¹¹ When Micaiah son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of Yahweh from the scroll, ¹² he went down to the secretary’s room in the royal palace, where all the officials were sitting: Elishama the secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Akbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials. ¹³ After Micaiah told them everything he had heard Baruch read to the people from the scroll, ¹⁴ all the officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to say to Baruch, “Bring the scroll from which you have read to the people and come.” So Baruch son of Neriah went to them with the scroll in his hand. ¹⁵ They said to him, “Sit down, please, and read it to us.”

So Baruch read it to them. ¹⁶ When they heard all these words, they looked at each other in fear and said to Baruch, “We must report all these words to the king.” ¹⁷ Then they asked Baruch, “Tell us, how did you come to write all this? Did Jeremiah dictate it?”

¹⁸ “Yes,” Baruch replied, “he dictated all these words to me, and I wrote them in ink on the scroll.”

¹⁹ Then the officials said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah, go and hide. Don’t let anyone know where you are.”

These royal officials are concerned about Jeremiah’s words of judgment on Judah and call to repentance, and they feel the king should hear them, even though they know he is not favorably disposed to Jeremiah’s message. They urge Baruch to get Jeremiah and hide while they go to the king.

²⁰ After they put the scroll in the room of Elishama the secretary, they went to the king in the courtyard and reported everything to him. ²¹ The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and Jehudi brought it from the room of Elishama the secretary and read it to the king and all the officials standing beside him. ²² It was the ninth month and the king was sitting in the winter apartment, with a fire burning in the firepot in front of him. ²³ Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe’s knife and threw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire. ²⁴ The king and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their clothes. ²⁵ Even though Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. ²⁶ Instead, the king commanded Jerahmeel, a son of the king, Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But Yahweh had hidden them.

The king’s reaction is blasphemous. Though he should have torn his clothes in mourning and repentance at Yahweh’s warning, he burns Jeremiah’s words, God’s words without fear. He wants to arrest Jeremiah and Baruch but he can’t find them.

²⁷ After the king burned the scroll containing the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah: ²⁸ “Take another scroll and write on it all the words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah burned up. ²⁹ Also tell Jehoiakim king of Judah, ‘This is what Yahweh says: You burned that scroll and said, “Why did you write on it that the king of Babylon would certainly come and destroy this land and wipe from it both man and beast?” ³⁰ Therefore this is what Yahweh says about Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on the throne of David; his body will be thrown out and exposed to the heat by day and the frost by night. ³¹ I will punish him and his children and his attendants for their wickedness; I will bring on them and those living in Jerusalem and the people of Judah every disaster I pronounced against them, because they have not listened.’”

³² So Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them. (Jeremiah 36)

For Jehoiakim’s rejection of Yahweh’s message he will perish (Jeremiah 22:18,19) and have no heir to sit on his throne. Though his son Jehoiachin did sit on the throne for three months, he too perished and Zedekiah, Jehoiakim’s uncle, was put in charge by the Babylonians.

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Discussion Questions:

1. What do you deduce Baruch’s view of Jeremiah’s prophecies to be?
2. Can you be neutral in proclaiming God’s message?
3. Has God given us assurances that if we preach His message we will be protected from harm?