Chapter 36:20-32 (ESV) - So they went into the court to the king, having put the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the secretary, and they reported all the words to the king. Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it from the chamber of Elishama the secretary. And Jehudi read it to the king and all the officials who stood beside the king. It was the ninth month, and the king was sitting in the winter house, and there was a fire burning in the fire pot before him. As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a knife and throw them into the fire in the fire pot, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the fire pot. Yet neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words was afraid, nor did they tear their garments. Even when Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king's son and Seraiah the son of Azriel and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel to seize Baruch the secretary and Jeremiah the prophet, but the LORD hid them.
Now after the king had burned the scroll with the words that Baruch wrote at Jeremiah's dictation, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: “Take another scroll and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned. And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, ‘Thus says the LORD, You have burned this scroll, saying, “Why have you written in it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and will cut off from it man and beast?” Therefore thus says the LORD concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have none to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day and the frost by night. And I will punish him and his offspring and his servants for their iniquity. I will bring upon them and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and upon the people of Judah all the disaster that I have pronounced against them, but they would not hear.’”
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.
Question to consider: Why did the king burn the scroll?
Back in chapter 22, the oracle of the LORD given to Jeremiah pointed out the fact that Jehoiakim used forced labor to make his own dwelling ornate and was the polar opposite of his righteous father, Josiah. Today’s passage highlights the arrogance of Jehoiakim. The king’s counselors brought to him the scroll read by Baruch because they believed it was the word of the LORD.
Rather than heed the LORD’s call to repentance, Jehoiakim burned the scroll because it said that He would bring disaster upon the land. We have a hard time imagining the impact of this action because our literature is written on a keyboard in a digital format. If someone were to destroy a printed version of it, we could easily print another.
The closest thing with which we could compare this would be an author from the last century who composed their great novel on a typewriter and had their copy destroyed before they could get it to the publisher. Thankfully, Baruch and Jeremiah were in hiding because I’m pretty sure (outside of being killed) they would have been horrified to know that the word of the LORD, and months worth of work, were set on fire.
In the movies where the typewritten manuscripts were destroyed, the authors were able to reproduce a version of their work from memory. I say a version of their work because it is never exactly the same. However, in this case, Jeremiah dictated the very word of the LORD so the new scroll was an exact replica of the original as if printed from a thumb drive. In addition to the original word, the LORD had them add a personal message to Jehoiakim that addressed his burning of the scroll along with Jehoiakim’s own foolish words against it and some additional oracles to reinforce the message.
I have to wonder if it had any impact on Jehoiakim to have the LORD quote back to him his own foolish words which were uttered in private counsel. Did he consider that the omniscient and omnipresent LORD of the universe knew of his blasphemy, or did he believe one of his private counselors betrayed his words to Jeremiah?
Dear heavenly Father, thank You for hearing our prayers which are done in secret as well as our times of corporate prayer and fasting. Please transform us in our prayers into a people that desires to do the things that You have called good and which promote life and salvation. Amen.