284
Prophets and Kings
every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their
sin.”
Jeremiah 36:2, 3
.
In obedience to this command, Jeremiah called to his aid a faithful
friend, Baruch the scribe, and dictated “all the words of the Lord,
which He had spoken unto him.”
Verse 4
. These were carefully written
[433]
out on a roll of parchment and constituted a solemn reproof for sin, a
warning of the sure result of continual apostasy, and an earnest appeal
for the renunciation of all evil.
When the writing was completed, Jeremiah, who was still a pris-
oner, sent Baruch to read the roll to the multitudes who were assem-
bling at the temple on the occasion of a national fast day, “in the fifth
year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month.”
“It may be,” the prophet said, “they will present their supplication
before the Lord, and will return everyone from his evil way: for great
is the anger and the fury that the Lord hath pronounced against this
people.”
Verses 9, 7
.
Baruch obeyed, and the roll was read before all the people of
Judah. Afterward the scribe was summoned before the princes to read
the words to them. They listened with great interest and promised to
inform the king concerning all they had heard, but counseled the scribe
to hide himself, for they feared the king would reject the testimony
and seek to slay those who had prepared and delivered the message.
When King Jehoiakim was told by the princes what Baruch had
read, he immediately ordered the roll brought before him and read in
his hearing. One of the royal attendants, Jehudi by name, fetched the
roll and began reading the words of reproof and warning. It was the
time of winter, and the king and his companions of state, the princes
of Judah, were gathered about an open fire. Only a small portion had
been read, when the king, far from trembling at the danger hanging
[434]
over himself and his people, seized the roll and in a frenzy of rage “cut
it with the penknife and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until
all the roll was consumed.”
Verse 23
.
Neither the king nor his princes were afraid “nor rent their gar-
ments.” Certain of the princes, however, “had made intercession to
the king that he would not burn the roll: but he would not hear them.”
The writing having been destroyed, the wrath of the wicked king rose
against Jeremiah and Baruch, and he forthwith sent for them to be
taken; “but the Lord hid them.”
Verses 24-26
.
[435]