Call to Commitment

Chapter 36

A spoken record is not enough

        1.      Now it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying: 

 2.      "Take a scroll of a book and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel, against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah even to this day. 

 3.      It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the adversities which I purpose to bring upon them, that everyone may turn from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin." 

 4.      Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah; and Baruch wrote on a scroll of a book, at the instruction of Jeremiah, all the words of the LORD which He had spoken to him. 

 I have no difficulty at all believing that Jeremiah was still an adolescent, when God called him into a prophetic ministry. The commentators, to which I often refer, see him as being very young, Adam Clarke calculating that he was only 14. The first proof of his age is in the Hebrew word that he used, when he protested his calling, saying “I am a youth” (1:6). The word is nahar, and is best translated a boy.

 Some commentators think that Jeremiah was exaggerating his youthfulness, but I find that that kind of assumption will breed error. You want to be careful of commentators, who infer that the writers of Scripture were exaggerators or even liars. It is a proof of the evil that is entwined with unbelief. Their conclusions mock Peter’s anointed statement: “Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2P.1:21). The book of Daniel clearly states that Daniel and his three companions were taken to Babylon very shortly before the time that Jeremiah 35 and 36 were written. Some liberal theologians teach that Daniel lived at a much later date. By then, most of his prophecies would be history and not future.

 As to Jeremiah’s youth, it is not surprising, when we consider that others were called by God at an early age. Samuel was a child, certainly not over twelve years of age, when God placed a very weighty message on him for Eli and his sons. David must have been an adolescent, as the youngest of eight sons, when he was anointed king. Joseph was 17 when he arrived in Egypt as a slave, and immediately began to manifest the hand of God upon him. Daniel and his three companions, already mentioned, were probably adolescents, when they were taken to Babylon. Isaiah, Hosea and Zechariah were also called at a young age. 

 Let us review the period of Jeremiah’s ministry, which began at the 13^th year of Josiah’s reign. I find it interesting to consider Jeremiah, certainly not initiating, but perhaps entering into the matter of Josiah’s search for God. We want to briefly remember the boyhood of Josiah, who began to reign, when he was eight years old. The account in 2 Chronicles 34 tells us that in the eighth year of his reign, when he was 16, he began to seek the Lord (34:3). In the twelfth year, when he was 20, he began his reforms in Israel.

 It was in the eighteenth year of his reign that the Book of the Law was discovered in the temple, when the king was 26. This was five years after Jeremiah began his prophetic ministry. The scribe, Shaphan, read it to the king, Josiah feared, tore his clothes and wept. He reigned 31 years, so he died at 39 years of age. Jeremiah prophecies continued in the final 18 years of the king’s life and must have had tremendous spiritual influence upon Josiah’s life. 2 Chronicles 35:25 relates that Jeremiah lamented his death.

 This chapter and the next occur before previous chapters, which were written in the time of Judah’s final king, Zedekiah. Let´s continue to follow the time of Jeremiah´s ministry after Josiah’s death. The people of Judah put Jehoahaz, his son, on the throne when he was 23 years of age. He only reigned three months, when the pharaoh of Egypt dethroned him and replaced him with his older brother, Jehoiakim, who was 25. He reigned 11 years and we are studying details during the fourth and fifth years of his reign (1 and 9). It is interesting to see that Josiah was raising up posterity at only 14 years of age, but he had already been king for six years.

 God wants something beyond spoken messages to Judah and Jerusalem from Jeremiah. He is adding his word to the canon of Old Testament Scripture. All that God has spoken to the prophet up to this time, must be recorded in a book. The book was preserved and outlived the author. In fact, we have his inspired word before us centuries later, and have a mandate to teach and learn from it in the 21^st Century (2). We will learn from this chapter that all that was given in the reign of Josiah and into the fifth year of Jehoiakim, has been written twice. Of course, much more will be added to it through the end of King Zedekiah’s reign.

 In verse 3, we have the purpose from the Lord’s heart, for which He gave His word and commanded that it be written. “It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the adversities… that everyone may turn from his evil way, that I may forgive…” I don’t think we would err, if we conclude that this is nothing less than a love letter, just as surely as is John 3:16. God’s heart beats with compassion, as He yearns for His people to repent, so that they will not perish, but be forgiven from their sin.

 We have already learned of Baruch in chapter 32, which chapter actually occurred at a later date. Baruch will be involved in keeping a bill of sale for a piece of property that Jeremiah will buy, at a time very close to that, when Nebuchadnezzar will break into the city of Jerusalem. I don’t see him as a servant, because he is a man of influence (see ch.43:3), but seems to be someone like Timothy was to Paul… a disciple, who is now a partner in the Lord’s affairs. He takes on the task of the prophet’s secretarial work, the actual writing of the book, being more skilled in writing than the prophet. The work involved a great deal of time, several months, beginning sometime in the fourth year of Jehoiakim and ending on the ninth month of the fifth year (4).

 

  God-fearing leadership in the government of wicked Jehoiakim

 5.      And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, "I am confined, I cannot go into the house of the LORD. 

 6.      You go, therefore, and read from the scroll which you have written at my instruction, the words of the LORD, in the hearing of the people in the LORD's house on the day of fasting. And you shall also read them in the hearing of all Judah who come from their cities. 

 7.      It may be that they will present their supplication before the LORD, and everyone will turn from his evil way. For great is the anger and the fury that the LORD has pronounced against this people." 

 8.      And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading from the book the words of the LORD in the LORD's house. 

 9.      Now it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the LORD to all the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem. 

 10.  Then Baruch read from the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the LORD, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper court at the entry of the New Gate of the LORD's house, in the hearing of all the people. 

 11.  When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the LORD from the book, 

 12.  he then went down to the king's house, into the scribe's chamber; and there all the princes were sitting—Elishama the scribe, Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, Elnathan the son of Achbor, Gemariah the son of Shaphan, Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes. 

 13.  Then Michaiah declared to them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read the book in the hearing of the people. 

 14.  Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, "Take in your hand the scroll from which you have read in the hearing of the people, and come." So Baruch the son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and came to them. 

 15.  And they said to him, "Sit down now, and read it in our hearing." So Baruch read it in their hearing. 

 16.  Now it happened, when they had heard all the words, that they looked in fear from one to another, and said to Baruch, "We will surely tell the king of all these words." 

 17.  And they asked Baruch, saying, "Tell us now, how did you write all these words—at his instruction?" 

 18.  So Baruch answered them, "He proclaimed with his mouth all these words to me, and I wrote them with ink in the book." 

 There is no record in this book that Jeremiah is in prison in the time of Jehoiakim, but there is some kind of hindrance, which is keeping him from personally reading his own message in the temple. We will see a little later that he is free to go into hiding. Baruch, deeply involved in the writing of the book, goes in his place to read the book. A book goes where the human vessel cannot. If we know anything about the weight, which God’s word presses upon the heart, we can conclude that Baruch goes willingly. He is not only being obedient, but goes with purpose and passion to lend his voice to the divine attempt to bring the people to repentance (5).  

 Baruch is given the privilege that every servant of God enjoys, not only to write, but to deliver the word of the Lord to his people (6). I am sure that these partners are being led by the Holy Spirit to act on an occasion, when there will be a great assembly in the temple, gathered for a purpose, which will add to the power of the message. A day of fasting, not only for Jerusalem, but for all of Judah, indicates that the nation was seeing a need, the will of the people was softened, and therefore they come in great numbers to seek God’s mercy.

The stage is set for them to satisfy the desire in the Lord’s heart for repentance. Jeremiah relays to Baruch, what the Lord revealed to him in verse 3 with every individual in mind, that everyone will intreat Him and turn from his evil way. God’s love and concern is not separated from His anger and the fury of the prophesied word (7). We do well to learn that spiritual principle.

 The day of fasting arrives and Baruch obediently and thoroughly followed Jeremiah’s instruction (8) in the ninth month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim’s reign (9). Gemariah, the son of Shaphan (we will learn more of him a little later), lends his upper chamber, above the New Gate, from which Baruch can look down upon the people, who will easily be able to hear and pay attention (10).

 Michaiah, Gemariah’s son and grandson of Shaphan, is among the listeners (11). He is mightily impressed… so much so, that he seeks out his father, who is among the princes, gathered in another scribe’s chamber, an apartment in the palace, possibly that of Elishama, mentioned in the text. I think that these scribes and princes were something akin to the king’s cabinet (12). Michaiah is not counseling with them and, apparently, is not one of them. He has been seeking God in the temple and God has not disappointed him. He spoke to him through the word of Jeremiah, delivered by Baruch. We do not know his stature in society, but we do know that he is the son of Gemariah, a scribe, and that is sufficient reason, by itself, to gain an audience with the princes (13).

 Michaiah had the opportunity to interrupt whatever conversation that the princes were holding and give them a word of authority from the throne room of God. Jehudi seems to have a good pedigree, but, apparently, does not have the rank of the rest of the nobles in this meeting, so the princes send him to search for and bring Baruch back with him, and he is to have Jeremiah’s scroll, in order to read it to them. Baruch appears, scroll in hand (14).

 Neither Baruch nor Jeremiah knew that God would sovereignly open a door of opportunity, beyond the temple discourse, giving the freshly-penned word from the Lord to leading authorities, linked to the king. They are men of impressive stature, none higher in all the land. It is not a small document, so Baruch sits down with them, as they give their undivided attention (15). It is an amazing development.

 As Baruch reads the inspired word of the Almighty, under the unction of the Holy Spirit, his listeners are spellbound, as the fear of God comes upon them! Everyone of them! They looked into one another’s faces and saw the same thing that they were feeling, reflecting the same thoughts. They knew that the words must be brought to the king himself to take national action. They saw that the scroll trumped any other activity in their program and in the program of the king. They reasoned that everything else should be laid aside, to give place to the word of the Lord (16)

 I find it extremely intriguing to discover a group of God-fearing nobles in the court of an evil king, but He is well able to arrange such unexpected wonders. I want to take a few paragraphs to zero-in on them, to see if we can find some clue as to the role that they take in this story. A huge factor is found in the father of Gemariah and grandfather of Michaiah.  Shaphan was a very important scribe in the government of King Josiah. Go to 2 Kings 22.

 In verse three, we are introduced to Shaphan, the scribe, who was sent on an errand to the temple, which concerned the high priest, Hilkiah. Hilkiah has just discovered the Book of the Law as he supervised the re-construction of the Lord’s house (2K.22:8). The temple, where the Book was kept, lay in disrepair for years, during the long reign of King Mannaseh.  Centuries before, Moses commanded that the Book of the Law be kept at the disposal of the kings. Moses said, "It shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes” (Dt.17:18-19).

 King Josiah did not know that such a Book even existed, but he had been in a mighty search for God since he was 16 years old. It took a decade, but the Lord eventually led him to His word. Hillkiah gave the Book to Shaphan, who read it, then showed it to the king. He consequently read it to him and Josiah had a violent reaction… he tore his clothes and wept, then sent a delegation to consult the prophetess, Hulda. Shaphan was part of the delegation (2K.22:14).

 Shaphan’s son and grandson listen to the word of God and go into action.  We will have detail later about the scroll, which was brought to the king and burnt, but I need to mention here, that Gemariah was one of three, who implored the king not to burn it. The other two were Elnathan and Delaiah (12 and 26). Elnathan’s father, Achbor, was another in the delegation sent to Hulda by King Josiah, and so was another son of Shaphan, Ahikam. Ahikam protected Jeremiah (see Jer.26:24) and saved his life: “The hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death” (Jer.26:24).